DOJ: 95% Drop in Youth Victimized by Guns; Youth 6 Times More Likely to be Victimized by Knife Than Gun

Terence P. Jeffrey

(CNSNews.com) – A new Justice Department study looking at violent crimes committed against "youth"--defined as Americans from 12 to 17 years of age--discovered that “serious violent crimes” committed against youth by a perpetrator using a firearm dropped by 95 percent from 1994 to 2010.

The study--"Violent Crimes Against Youth, 1994-2010"–also discovered that American youth who were victims of a serious violent crime in 2010 were six times more likely to have been attacked by a perpetrator wielding a knife than one wielding a gun.

Serious violent crimes against youth perpetrated at schools dropped 62 percent from 1994 to 2010, said the study, and students were less likely to become victims of a serious violent crime at school than they were away from school. In 2010, 6.6 out of every 1,000 youth became victims of a serious violent crime at school while 7.4 of every 1,000 became victims of a serious violent crime away from school.

The study, released Dec. 20, also discovered that an American youth was 3.8 times more likely to become the victim of a serious violent crime if he or she lived in a home where the householder was unmarried than if he or she lived with married parents. In 2010, 7.4 out of every 1,000 youth living with married parents became the victims of a serious violent crime. At the same time, 27.8 out of every 1,000 living with an unmarried householder became the victims of a serious violent crime.

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