• In a nationwide survey of high school students, about 6% reported not going to school on one or more days in the 30 days preceding the survey because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to and from school (CDC 2010).
• Nearly 700,000 young people ages 10 to 24 are treated in emergency departments each year for injuries sustained due to violence-related assaults (CDC 2009).
• On average, 16 persons between the ages of 10 and 24 are murdered each day in the United States (CDC 2009).
• In addition to causing injury and death, youth violence affects communities by increasing the cost of health care, reducing productivity, decreasing property values, and disrupting social services (Mercy et al. 2002).

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (b). Youth risk behavioral surveillance—United States, 2009. MMWR 2010;59 (No. SS–5).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Online]. (2009) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (producer).
Available from URL: http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html. [Accessed 2010 July 07.]

Mercy J, Butchart A, Farrington D, Cerdá M. Youth violence. In: Krug E, Dahlberg LL, Mercy JA, Zwi AB, Lozano R, editors. World report on violence and health. Geneva (Switzerland): World Health Organization; 2002. p. 25−56.