Rachael Aram recently reported statistics from a year 2000 Justice department Report. She reported the following disturbing statistics:
-Forty percent of teenage girls ages 14 to 17 say they know someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend. In one study, from 30 percent to 50 percent of female high school students reported having already experienced teen dating violence.
-Teen dating violence most often takes place in the home of one of the partners.
-In 1995, 7 percent of all murder victims were young women who were killed by their boyfriends.
-One in five, or 20 percent, of dating couples report some type of violence in their relationship.
-One in five college females will experience some form of dating violence.
-A survey of 500 young women, ages 15 to 24, found that 60 percent were currently involved in an ongoing abusive relationship and all participants had experienced violence in a dating relationship.
I hope these statistics help illustrate the terrible plague of teen violence and dating violence. We need to put an end to the violence. We have to educate children as well as adults about all the different forms of violence and how to prevent it. We also have to put more resources towards investigating claims of violence, tracking down the offenders, arresting them, convicting them, jailing them, and rehabilitating them. If the offenders cannot be rehabilitated, then let’s not let them out of jail.
What do you think?
