Essay on Violence is the Enemy of Today’s Youth

Assessing potentially violent students is one thing, but determining what is causing these high-risk teens to act out is another. Numerous reasons have been suggested as to why teenagers kill. One possibility could be the media. This includes music, movies, books and video games. Social science research conducted over the past 40 years supports the conclusion that viewing violent television programming has negative consequences for children, and the research suggests three factors in which watching violent television programs can impact young viewers. (Aidman, 1997) These factors say that media violence can encourage children to learn aggressive behavior and attitudes, media violence can cultivate fearful or pessimistic attitudes in children about the non- television world, and media violence can desensitize children to real-world and fantasy violence. One very controversial music artist made headlines when the Columbine massacre occurred. From day one,

Teenage murders may be unprecedented, but violence is not. The past has followed us right up to today. Several national magazines recently ran alarming stories about the epidemic of criminal and group violence. Rolling Stone in "A Pistol-Whipped Nation" and both Time and Newsweek ran alarming cover stories about the "virtual epidemic of youth violence." Newsweek's "Teen Violence: Wild in the Streets," decried the number of young people carrying guns, using them, being shot, and being killed. Accompanying all this was a casual if not blase attitude indicating that, as one expert quoted in Time put it, "Violence is hip right now."

     Ever since the terrible tragedy at Columbine High School, there has been a numerous list of recent school shootings in America. Youth violence is a major issue in today’s society. Many people dread what causes adolescents to be so violent, committing horrible crimes.     

The starting point of violence takes place in communities and at home--not at school. Youth take what they hear and see at home and in their communities to school. The environment in some communities and households are positive and the presences of protective factors outweigh the high risk factors. However, there are communities and households where there is a lack of informal social control and high risk factors exist more than protective factors--, which affect youth in a negative manner.

Dr. Garbarino (1999) proposes common factors that are trending when it comes to an increase in violence among young boys, but does not state that such trends are causes of violence. Risk factors, especially in inner-city neighborhoods, such as poor quality of education, low socioeconomic status, limited healthcare options, multiple family residences, lack of a father figure, and high crime may lead an increase in violent nature for male youth. In addition, the book mentions four specific problems that provide a foundation for violence. These four problems include, attachment, abandonment by mother, abandonment by father, and

If the youth’s family has a drinking problem or involved with selling or using drugs or alcohol. The cause of violence in young youth is from violent hostile families, violent friends, this will change the perception and attitude of the youth’s life. The problem with these families is that it is hard to get out of a situation like that. when you were raised like in a hostile environment you adapted to doing these things and you think it is right but in reality it is

Teen Violence is a big dilemma in today’s society. Violent behaviors usually start from family and peers, as well as teens observing it at there neighborhoods or communities. These behaviors are reinforced by what youth see on television, on the Internet, in video games, movies, music videos, and what they hear in their music. When children are disciplined with severe corporal punishment or verbal abuse, or when they are physically or sexually abused, or when they witness such behavior in their home, it is not surprising that they behave violently toward others. Teen Violence has had such an impact in our youth today that it leads many destructive things and that’s why we have so much violence today.

Kids this day are seen in different crimes ranging from fighting to killing of innocent people. Kids now shoot and kill people willingly or mistakenly because they have access to a gun. Some of the kids that carried out this inhuman act, are possibly to have been involved in a violence before, or perhaps they are ignorant of some basic morals of life, or they are being neglected by their parents. A longitudinal research conducted by Jeffrey B. Bingenheimer (Holden, 2005), a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor, shows “that a single exposure to gun violence will double the chance that such person will engage in gun violence. This research was carried out on more than 1000 adolescents for a period of 5 years. Furthermore, the researcher explained that the exposed victim is likely to engage in any other criminal acts.” Based on this research, violence can be a chain reaction, because an exposure to a violence can further cause the victim to do the same, especially when kids are

According to the World Health Organization, around 43% of all homicides in the world occur amongst children ages ten to twenty-four every year. In the United States alone, an average of twelve people between the ages of ten to twenty-four are killed each day according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Youth violence is a term that is defined by the CDC as “a significant public health problem that affects thousands of young people each day, and in turn, their families, schools, and communities”. Violence among youth can be a result of drug use, familial issues, or anti-sociality. Although the trend for youth violence is currently declining, youth violence is still a major issue among communities as children exposed to violence can have physical and/or psychological problems later on in life.

Youth violence has become a growing issue in the United States. According to the U.S. Secret Service, “in the previous decade, the odds of a high school student being injured or threatened with a weapon were about 1 in 14, and the odds of a teen being in a physical fight were 1 in 7” (Youth Violence Statistics 18). Statistics has also proven that youth violence and bullying within school environment intensified in recent years and has remained high. Indeed, youth themselves are the group allegedly affected by youth violence; however, they are not the only one. For instance, youth violence influences communities and the country as a whole by increasing the cost of health care, interfering social services, and curtailing

Everyday we are hearing more and more about a child or teen that has committed some horrible act. On Tuesday April 27, 2004 a twelve-year-old Georgia boy was arrested for allegedly using “his hands to strangle a third grader who disappeared while riding her bicycle”(McLaughlin, 2004). In February, a twelve-year-old girl was beaten to unconsciousness by a group of adolescents and young adults while at a birthday party in Baltimore. The question we must ask ourselves is where are the parents? Sadly, in the case of the Baltimore girl, one of the young adults was the parent of one of the children. How do children learn that violent and socially deviant behavior is acceptable? Both of these scenarios

The Media of today is so open to violence that it’s almost impossible to avoid. Through movies, Violence is another issue that needs to be censored in the media. It is exposed through music’s, with lyrics that refer to violent mental pictures of rape, sex, and money. In Movies, violence is shown through scenes where people are getting their head cut off, using of guns and knives, and violence against woman. The problem is that many of us look into these exposures has influences and role models, which is why we emulate them and as a result, breeding violence against ourselves. Many rap music show today are simply about drugs, jail, woman and killing, and because teenagers look up to them, it’s inevitable that they will soon practice life expressed through the lyrics. But violence is nearly impossible to get rid of. Just by watching the news, you can see and hear about violence that occurs every day. So, until society is peaceful, violence will not be off of

The media is a part of everyday life in American kids. Children are surrounded by technology, entertainment, and other media that is full of violence. Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the internet all contain violence. Today's media has a negative influence on children. The media does have an influence on them, but does it really influence them to act out even though they know it's wrong? Mass media, and its components, are very powerful and can influence one's mind, as well as their behavior. Children that imitate characters who use violence in the media and display aggressive behavior, tend to give them reason to believe that violence can happen without consequence. For children who grow up with poor adult examples or an

            From a scientific standpoint, however, defined causes for youth violence simply have not been found. In fact, a study of youth violence held in 2014, focusing around candid conversation with youths between the ages 14 and 22 who had been involved in violent behavior and fights about the causes of youth violence, found “...no predominant cause of violence emerged from the discussion” (Cheng, et al. 288). Simply put, evidence pointing out any primary cause of youth violence does not exist. With mental illness, poor lifestyle choices, hostile environments, ineffective parenting, and peer pressure all playing roles, one must consider whether violent media and entertainment are primary causes of youth violence. Even if sufficient evidence existed to prove violent media was a significant factor in causing youth violence, one cannot claim that it causes more youth violence than other

In the book Critique of Violence ,author Walter describes Violence as "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, male development, or deprivation .The violence that is portrayed in the media has been debated for decades ,and it has rose a question about how does it influence the youth?. From movies to video games society has been accustom to seeing violence in their everyday entertainment. Since children are easy to be influence by their environment, it is safe to say that violence in the media can and will contribute to violent behavior.