It's a fact: teenagers (ages 12 through 19) are more frequent targets of crime than any other age group in the U.S. In a gym filled with 2,000 teens, between 358 and 362 were probably victims of personal crimes in the past year.
Once every 19 seconds, a teen in the U.S. is a victim of crime. In 1983, over 1.7 million crimes of violence and 3.6 million crimes of theft were committed against teens. In 1984, 1 in 4 rape victims was a teenage girl and 1 in 5 assault victims was a teenage boy. Teenagers represent only about 10% of our population.
Why don't police do something? Many times teens do not tell anyone when they are victimized. Teens report crimes of theft and violence far less often than adults. For some types of crimes, they report them less than half as often.
Teens can reduce their chances of being targets by following common sense tips to prevent crime. Using your head to keep your body out of crime's way is good advice for people of all ages.