The statistics are sobering. Thirty percent of children in 6th to 10th grade are involved as perpetrators or victims in bullying, according to the Centers for Disease Control, or CDC. Thirty-six percent of high school students reported in a national, 2005 study that they had been in a fight within the prior 12-month period. The CDC reports that in 2005, an average of 16 American children were murdered each day by other children.
Violence transcends national borders. Worldwide, as violent children grow up, they become violent adults. Each day, about 4,400 people die due to intentional, interpersonal or collective violence toward others. Though stunning, these few statistics barely begin to convey the reach and consequences of youth violence.
Distress and Trauma
Children direct their violent impulses against objects in the environment--pets, siblings, peers, parents, strangers and other adults in the community. No matter their age or relation, the human victims of youth violence experience a range of emotional and other responses. Victims experience fear, anxiety, anger, hopelessness, sadness, depression, low esteem, nightmares, insomnia and poor school or work performance. Victims can develop post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or other psychiatric conditions.
Observer Trauma
Even those who are not direct victims, but who simply observe violence, can experience emotional trauma. Like the direct victims of violence, observers can develop enduring psychiatric conditions that color the remainder of their life.
Lost Relations
Violence breaks bonds and rips families asunder. The damage caused to trust and to relations is sometime irreparable. For example, siblings who are victimized by a sibling carry memories of their early victim experiences into adulthood. Even when the perpetrators of violence own up to their misdeeds, the victims' wounds often are too deep to allow for forgiveness. Siblings become alienated from one another and lead separate lives.
Financial Cost
The Centers for Disease Control, focusing primarily on medical and legal costs, estimates that violent children cost close to $160 billion per year. Including direct and indirect expenses, child violence costs about $425 billion per year, according to the U.S. Surgeon General's Office.
Unbroken Circle
Children who view or experience violence at the hand of children, bear the burden in different ways. Some become vulnerable to further victimization. Others become violent themselves. In either case, victims of violence are more likely to develop a tolerance toward violence and to view violence as an acceptable way to deal with problems, according to the World Health Organization. Consequently, victims of violence tend to contribute to the cycle of violence by becoming violent and creating more victims, or by tolerating violent attitudes and behavior, setting themselves up to become victims yet again.
Social Problems
Violent children experience consequences for their behavior. If they persist with their violent behavior, others identify them as violent and aggressive. They can become ostracized, isolated and alienated from others. They find social solace in the company of other violent and aggressive children. Isolated from the main stream social groups, they can tend to develop what has been termed secondary deviation by sociologist Edwin Lemert. Labeled and separated from others, they develop an identity couched in a subculture of deviant, violent behavior. They become, in short, criminals in training.
Legal and Financial Problems
Child perpetrators of violence who do not learn to control their impulses eventually experience harsher negative sanctions for their violent and aggressive behavior. As their behavior escalates, so do the legal and institutional sanctions against them. Once they enter the criminal justice system, they must deal with the harsh consequences of the judicial system. They also must face the economic and social consequences exacted by the remainder of society, which tends to marginalize them due to their criminal past. Should they obtain an adult criminal record, which can happen with violent crimes even if they are under the age of 18, the social sanctions burden their future career and earnings potential.
References
- Centers for Disease Control: Understanding Youth Violence
- Sage Publications: The Incidence of Adolescent Maltreatment in Arab Society and Some of its Psychological Effects
- Surgeon General: Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General
- Sociology Index: Secondary Deviance
- World Health Organization: The World Report on Violence and Health
