Youth, Guns, and Violence in Urban America

• NCJ Number: 138725
• Date Published: 1992
• Author(s): J F Sheley; J D Wright
• Length: 18 pages
• Grant Number(s): 90-IJ-CX-0024
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

Results from a survey of 835 male inmates in six juvenile correctional facilities across the country and 753 male students in 10 inner-city public high schools near the correctional institutions surveyed were used to study the types, numbers, and logistics of juvenile firearms use.

Abstract

Both groups of respondents came from families where gun ownership was the norm and backgrounds featured violence and victimization; gun use was also widespread among their peer groups. Over 80 percent of the inmate sample had owned a gun at the time they were incarcerated while 30 percent of the student group had owned at least one gun in their lives. The most commonly owned gun among members of both groups was the revolver. The preference seemed to be for high-firepower handguns that were well-made, accurate, easy to shoot, and difficult to trace. Family, friends, and street sources were the main avenues to obtaining a weapon. While 63 percent of the inmates had committed crimes with guns, both groups cited self-protection and self-preservation as the main reasons for firearms possession. The survey results confirmed other evidence pointing to the large street market in guns; the relationship between drugs and guns, particularly alcohol and marijuana; the connection between drug dealing and gun activity; and the links between gangs and gun-related violence. 3 tables