High School Youth, Weapons, and Violence: A National Survey of Weapon-Related Experiences, Behaviors, and Concerns - Final Report

摘要

In short, weapon-related violence is not unknown to most schools and students like those we sampled. Further, to the extent that it is known, it is influenced by the same variables that have influenced it in more troubled environments: crime, drug sales, gangs, and the perceived need for protection in a hostile world. While communities must do what they can to remove guns from the hands of juveniles, they likely will not accomplish this goal until they have removed the structural and cultural conditions that now promote gun-related activity in the youth population. If we are correct in this assessment, and correct as well that most of our current research sites have not yet 'crossed the line' into truly unsafe situations, then the key to warding off problems lies in discouraging the conditions that have produced them in other settings, that is, in discouraging the development of a youth culture that defines gun-possession as necessary to one's survival. Once such a culture exists, criminal justice attempts to disrupt gun sales and acquisition markets may succeed partially, but will not rid communities of the problem because demand for weapons will remain. The issue for communities, then, is how to dissuade youths from resolving disputes through violent means and thereby convincing them that weapons are not necessary to the conduct of everyday living.