Teenage Suicide Homicide Trends Free Essay Example, 2500 words

Conditions of living or work can be considered as potential reasons for the above differentiation. Towards the same direction, in research made by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention it has been found that ‘a white juvenile between ages 7 and 17 was nearly 1.5 times more likely to commit suicide than to be murdered, while black youth were almost 7 times more likely to be murdered than to commit suicide’ (Youth Violence Research Bulletin, 2004). The research of Grunbaum et al. (2002 in Judge & Billick, 2004) suggests that White and Hispanic adolescents (19.7 and 19.4%, respectively) are more inclined to consider suicide in comparison to Black adolescents (13.3%). In the case of homicides, juveniles also have many chances to be attacked to the point of death. More specifically, in accordance with the data presented in Figure 1 below the percentage of juveniles that were homicide victims was extremely high in 1994 while afterwards it was gradually declined reaching in 2002 a relatively low level. Figure 1 – Juvenile homicide victims, 1980-2002, USA (source: Statistical Briefing Book. We will write a custom essay sample on Teenage Suicide & Homicide Trends or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now 2007) To a more accurate explanation (in terms of data involved) of Figure 1 above, it is noticed in Statistical Briefing Book (2007) that ‘homicides of juveniles peaked in 1993 at 2,900; the number of juvenile homicide victims in 2002 was 44% below the 1993 peak, reaching its lowest level since 1984; juveniles represented about 10% of all murder victims in 2002; in 2002, 36% of murdered juveniles were female, 45% were black’. In accordance with the above data, race can be considered as a criterion when evaluating homicides and suicides in juveniles. As for the criterion of age, this is represented in Figure 2 below where it is made clear that in juveniles the number of victims both by suicide and by homicide presents a continuous growth until the age of 18. However, it should be noticed that the rate in the relevant increase is higher regarding suicides than homicides. In fact the difference between these two categories is high as it can be observed in Figure 2 below. However, it should be noticed that the data presented below refers to juveniles that are White and Non-Hispanic. This notion is of particular importance if Figure 2 is compared with Figure 3 in the next page. Figure 2 – Victims by age, White-Non Hispanic, 1990-2004, USA (source: Statistical Briefing Book. 2007) Figure 3 – Victims by age, Black -Non Hispanic 1990-2004, USA (source: Statistical Briefing Book.