Richters J E
Psychiatry. 1993 Feb;56(1):3-6. doi: 10.1080/00332747.1993.11024616.
The United States is the most violent country in the industrialized world-particularly for young people. Homicide in the United States ranks as the second leading cause of death among those between 15 and 24 years of age (Earls et al. 1991). Males, especially, are at high risk. As indicated in Figure 1, those between 15 and 24 years of age were more likely to be murdered than their counterparts in all 22 other developed countries for which comparable homicide statistics were available during 1986-1987 (Fingerhut and Kleinman 1990). Young males were 4 times more likely to be murdered than their counterparts in the next highest country, Scotland; 7 times more likely than young males in Canada; 21 times more likely than those in West Germany; and 40 times more likely than same-age males in Japan. Moreover, the U.S. homicide rate for Black males (15 and 24 years) was more than 7 times the homicide rate for White males in this age range. These figures are all the more alarming in light of the fact that homicide rates in major U.S. cities have increased steadily since these data were recorded.
美国是工业化世界中暴力最严重的国家，尤其是对年轻人而言。在美国，凶杀是15至24岁人群中第二大主要死因（厄尔斯等人，1991年）。男性，尤其是年轻男性，面临的风险很高。如图1所示，在1986年至1987年期间有可比凶杀统计数据的其他22个发达国家中，15至24岁的美国人比同龄人更有可能被谋杀（芬格赫特和克莱曼，1990年）。年轻男性被谋杀的可能性是凶杀率次高的国家（苏格兰）同龄人的4倍；比加拿大的年轻男性高7倍；比西德的年轻男性高21倍；比日本同龄男性高40倍。此外，美国15至24岁黑人男性的凶杀率是该年龄段白人男性凶杀率的7倍多。鉴于自记录这些数据以来美国主要城市的凶杀率一直在稳步上升，这些数字更加令人担忧。
