Thursday February 16, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Over 60% of kids in U.S. exposed to violence

World Oct. 08, 2009 - 04:15AM JST ( 5 )

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5 Comments

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rajakumarOct. 08, 2009 - 10:43AM JST

100 percent of rest of the world's kids, also may be in same boat.
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SuperLibOct. 08, 2009 - 11:26AM JST

The survey’s authors defined exposure to violence as being a victim, or having witnessed violence, or learning about violence against a relative, friend, or hearing about a threat to their school or home.

So you're saying that 40% of kids had no exposure to violence or didn't even hear a story about a friend being exposed to violence in the last year? Do these people live in a Disney cartoon or something?

I went to a mostly white upper-middle class high school and even we had the odd fight every now and then. Simply saying "I'm going to kick your ass" is assault, and 40% of kids in high school or younger never heard that on campus or heard about it from a friend?

Equally absurd is this statistic:

One in five of those between the ages of 14 and 17 reported they had seen a shooting.

I'm an American and I've never seen a shooting in my life. Have any other Americans here seen a shooting? You're 4 times more likely to die in a car accident than by a gun, and that includes suicide. And you're saying that 20% of kids have seen a shooting while 40% of kids haven't even heard a story of violence from a friend or relative?
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TriumvereOct. 08, 2009 - 12:09PM JST

What, consitutes "violence"? Or "assault" for that matter?

More than one-half of the children, about 57%, reported having been assaulted at some point in their life.

Could this be translated as "57% of kids have been in a fight at least once in their life?"
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LFRAgainOct. 08, 2009 - 12:18PM JST

Just for the record, I've also never seen a shooting in my life. Nor has anyone close to me, to my knowledge.

These statistics are dangerous. On the surface, it suggests that danger exists all around us and that children are at constant risk of directly experiencing violence.

Okay, yeah. probably. And so? My household saw assault between two or more family members on an almost daily basis. In a family of 8, it wasn't unusual for my brothers and sisters to take turns beating the crap out of each other to make a point. It was part and parcel of carving out our place in the family heirarchy, as well as growing up and learning to get along with each other. Naturally, as we got older, we learned there were better ways to solve disagreements than to simply punch each other.

Imagine what these figures must have been like a scant 40 years ago when corporal punishment was rampant in schools, and spankings at home were commonplace.

This survey is too broad and too vague to be of much use other than to shock and titilate.
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SuperLibOct. 08, 2009 - 11:54PM JST

Assault is making a threat or making someone in fear of physical violence, like chasing after them. Battery is actually hitting someone. So as I said above assault can be something as simple as saying, "I'm going to kick your butt."

LFR...yeah, I wasn't even thinking about that. I grew up with two sisters. We didn't have physical fights very often, but we had at least one during our 4 years in high school. About the shootings....I just don't understand how 40% of kids can live in a completely violent free world while 20% have seen a shooting. Both numbers are shockingly high.