U.S. Cities List Youth Crime as Their Biggest Problem

Crimes committed by America’s youth lead the list of problems that are becoming increasingly acute for cities across the country, according to a nationwide survey released Thursday by the National League of Cities.

Of more than 400 city officials participating in the survey, 62% said that youth crime became more severe in 1995, placing it at the top of 26 issues of concern to municipal leaders. Youth crime also was cited as the problem that has worsened most over the last five years.

Other issues involving young people--including gangs, drugs, teen pregnancy, school violence and family stability--ranked among the top 10 conditions most frequently described as having grown worse in the past year.

Municipal leaders also expressed increasing concern about racial and ethnic issues, unemployment and local economic conditions.

The growing anxiety over youth crime at the local level echoes sentiments expressed by the nation’s top law enforcement officials.

Although the most recent national figures indicate that reported incidents of violent crime fell 5% during the first half of 1995, some experts have predicted that the decline is only temporary.

The next decade will witness a drastic increase in the size of the 16- to 24-year-old age group, one of the most crime-prone segments of the population. FBI Director Louis J. Freeh has cited the demographic change as an “alarming indicator of future trends.”

The League of Cities survey notes that one top concern of city leaders, unfunded mandates imposed on local governments, has abated somewhat since Congress approved legislation last year restricting Washington’s ability to issue such requirements.

The study also reported continuing improvements in the level of concern about police-community relations, neighborhood vitality, economic conditions and violent crime in general.

But local officials voiced a higher degree of uneasiness about whether they will be able to provide adequate services in their communities and the general direction in which the country is heading.

Besides youth crime, the issue viewed as most important to address in the coming two years is quality of education.

“There may not be a single solution to what these findings tell us,” said Gregory S. Lashutka, mayor of Columbus, Ohio, and president of the League of Cities. “But some of them suggest that many young people in our communities are becoming hostile, alienated or isolated in their outlook on life.”

Lashutka cited the federal budget stalemate and the resulting lack of resources for summer jobs programs for city youths as one factor that hurts efforts to provide young people with “opportunity for personal security and enrichment.”

Such efforts, he said, are critical to improving a child’s “despondent outlook and attitude.”

Donald J. Borut, the league’s executive director, also pointed to “partisan political wrangling” over the federal budget as a factor contributing to “the anxiety and creeping pessimism” among city leaders.