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Juvenile Delinquents and Violent Death

NCJ Number
124862
Journal
Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 10 Dated: (1982) Pages: 147-170
Author(s)
R C Marohn; E M Locke; R Rosenthal; G Curtiss
Date Published
1982
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Research studies and case histories demonstrate that violent death by murder, suicide, or accident is a serious mental health problem for adolescents and young adults.
Abstract
Among adolescents, overt intentionality or a clear "wish to die" is probably less frequent than among adults. Adolescents' concern with power and powerlessness, their reluctance to admit limitations, their impulsivity and lack of judgment, and their proclivity toward recklessness play a part in a certain number of violent deaths. These adolescent characteristics are exacerbated by alcohol and drug abuse. Many adolescents and young adults continue to live unhappy, deviant lives and, for some, the seriousness of their psychiatric disabilities becomes even more apparent as they grow older. When working with behaviorally disordered adolescents, it is necessary to confront the destructiveness and hostility toward others that are expressed in much of their behavior. It is equally necessary to treat depressive, self-destructive components of their lives and their need to master despair by engaging in risk-taking behaviors. For some adolescents, death is intimately connected to their own psychopathology. Self-destructive tendencies, whether presented as overtly or classically suicidal in nature, must be carefully delineated in the course of initial and ongoing treatment. 63 references.

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