NCJ Number
178625
Date Published
1994
Length
33 pages
Annotation
During a 2-month period beginning in late April 1994, staff from the New York City Council's Office of oversight and Investigation surveyed 800 youths citywide on the issues of guns and violence; this report presents the methodology and findings of this survey.
Abstract
Of the 800 youths between the ages of 12 and 21 surveyed, two-thirds personally knew someone under the age of 18 who had a gun. More than one-third had themselves carried a gun in their lives; 99 of them were carrying a gun at the time of the survey. Of these 99 youths, 18 said they had taken their gun to school. A comparison of responses from youths in contrasting neighborhoods show that youth in communities with fewer homicides may have a bigger problem with gun possession than juveniles in communities with more violence crimes. More than half of the youths surveyed reported that they had been involved in an incident in which someone was shot during a crime, fight, or argument. In 51 percent of the 447 incidents, a shooting victim reportedly died. Half of those who had carried a gun said they carried it for "protection," and 14 percent said they carried it out of "fear." Another 20 percent of the youths who had carried a gun reported that they carried it for "status." Of the 99 youths who reported that they still carried a gun, 69 percent said that it was a 9-millimeter handgun; 27 percent said they carried a .22 caliber. 8 figures and 20 footnotes