THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 20, 1994 TAG: 9407200391
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. LENGTH: Short : 30 lines
The number of juveniles committing homicides more than tripled between 1984 and 1991, and handguns made the jump possible, a University of Virginia researcher says.
Dewey G. Cornell, a clinical psychologist at the university, spoke about his findings Monday with a group of Virginia educators as part of a conference on youth violence.
Cornell said he used FBI reports to study the characteristics of more than 2,400 juvenile killers.
He found that homicides committed with handguns increased by 375 percent over the period, and more than 61 percent of the youths who committed murders in 1991 used handguns.
``There are many at-risk youths who would not commit a violent crime without access to weapons that empower them,'' Cornell said.
The conditions behind the increase in homicides are most evident in cities, but those elements also exist in suburbs and rural areas, Cornell said. by CNB