Epidemiology of juvenile violence

This article reviews the epidemiology and development of juvenile violence, together with key risk factors and risk assessment. Juvenile violent offen ders tend to be persistent or frequent offenders with concurrent problems. There is considerable continuity from childhood aggression to juvenile viol ence, and an early age of onset of violence predicts a large number of viol ent offenses. The major risk factors are individual (high impulsiveness and low intelligence), family (parental criminality, poor supervision, harsh d iscipline, child maltreatment, disrupted families, large family size, and f amily poverty), peer delinquency gang membership urban residence, and Livin g in high crime neighborhoods. New longitudinal studies focusing specifical ly on juvenile violence are needed to advance knowledge of this subject.