Highlighting the plight of urban youth, a new study tracking kids that spent time in juvenile hall showed an apparent increase in the likelihood to die gruesome deaths before they reach 30.
The most surprising revelation in the study, published in the journal Pediatrics by Northwestern University, was that juvenile girls showed an eight-fold increase in violent death risk.
A $15 million dollar project funded by several different federal agencies like the National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the study followed 1829 youths from the Chicago area for a total of eight years.
With offenses documented between 1995 and 1998, 65 youths had died by March 2004. All had served time between 10 and 18 years old.
Of the total number of children offenders studied, over half were African American, 28% were Hispanic, and 16% were white. Twenty-three of the 65 that had died were African American males, 21 were Hispanic males. Ninety percent died of gunshot wounds.
“The ironic thing is that these kids are at great risk for physical diseases like diabetes and asthma, but nobody died from physical disease. Everyone died awful, violent deaths — run over by gang members, stabbed by a boyfriend,” said Linda Teplin, co-author of the study and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University.
Researchers believe that inner city juvenile delinquents are overlooked and virtually ignored by government agencies while less frequent suburban violence is spotlighted. It is hoped that the government will take the results of the study and begin planning for cost-effective prevention.
“There are successful prevention models out there, many of which are very cost-effective,” said Daniel Webster, associate professor at the Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “You prevent not only the criminal acts, but you also could in essence be doing a lifesaving kind of work, not to mention the positive impact it has on the communities