Nearly 40 percent of incarcerated youths carried hidden weapons at least once a day in the year before they were jailed, a new study says.
A history of trauma, being victims themselves, gang involvement and drug use greatly increased the likelihood of the 13-17 year olds arming themselves, according to the study by a U-M professor and other colleagues.
They looked at self-protecting behavior and overt delinquent acts among 723 incarcerated youths. The results provide social policy implications in that strategies to reduce gang involvement and substance abuse may interrupt the cycle of violence by weapons, says Matthew Howard, professor in the School of Social Work.
Questionnaires asked respondents in youth service facilities how often they carried a hidden weapon in the year before incarceration. Questions also dealt with substance use—such as alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines and ecstasy—trauma, victimization and gang involvement.
Males had higher frequencies of occasional and daily weapon-carrying, at 27 percent and 40 percent, respectively. The percentage of women who carried weapons occasionally was 21 percent; 22 percent for daily. Urban youth had the highest frequency of daily weapon-carrying (51 percent), while suburban youth had the highest frequency of occasional weapon-carrying (34 percent).
Respondents who had been victims of repeat or extensive abuse were about 3 1/2 times more likely to carry a weapon daily. Those who had been in a gang fight or used drugs were almost eight times and nine times, respectively, more likely to be daily weapon carriers, said Howard, also a professor in the Department of Psychiatry.
The authors note that the study is limited without information about the type of weapon carried, where it was obtained and events surrounding the use.
Howard co-authored the paper with lead author Michael Vaughn, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, and Lisa Harper-Chang, a graduate student at Washington University. The research appears in October issue of Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice.
