Understanding Societal Trends in Adolescent Violence

Abstract

Adolescent violence is a considerable burden for society worldwide. The economic toll of adolescent violence is high (Institute for Economics & Peace, 2014), and violence-related injuries are a major cause of early death and disability among young people (Gore et al., 2011). The level of adolescent violence in a society varies considerably over time and in different cultural contexts. Violence levels are lower in the Nordic countries compared to many other similar countries around the globe (Tonry, 2014). Yet, violence is still one of the most prevalent types of crime among young people, particularly among boys (Statistics Norway, 2020). Youth violence also receives a great deal of media attention, and when crime rates are on the rise, we often hear voices arguing for »getting tougher on crime« and stricter sentencing (Estrada, 2019). One of the main aims of my PhD thesis (Frøyland, 2020) was to investigate how and why the societal level of adolescent violence changes over time.