A survey was conducted among 92 junior and senior high school students in California. Also, persons directly or indirectly responsible for handling youth--probation workers, teachers, principals, community workers--were interviewed. They indicated that early intervention is essential, and that easy access to guns and media glamorization of violence have a profound influence on random youth violence. Fundamentally, the officials proposed that prevention discussion with youths should aim to raise their self-esteem and change their nihilistic view of life, and recommended a cooperative effort among community groups, schools, and public and law enforcement agencies. They identified some important changing trends: parenting responsibility, teaching in traditional institutions, youth respect for authority, dysfunctional families, parental involvement with their children, interracial violence, sense of community, and availability of alternative youth programs. They listed the following developments as likely: armed confrontations with radical groups in rural areas, legalization of possession of automatic weapons in the home, cancellation of high school ethics class, reduction of State school budgets, media portrayal of an assassin of a racial figure as a role model, expansion of city day care hours for employees, discontinuation of high school sports, legalization of cultivation of marijuana for private use, extension of the unemployment insurance period, and granting of immigration status to 200,000 refugees. 25 references, 28 endnotes, 6 appendixes, list of official interviewed, sample questionnaire with filled-in results