'Safety and Happiness' for D.C. Kids

" . . . organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

-- The Declaration

of Independence

"Safety and happiness." Words from another time, about different circumstances, involving dissimilar people. Words that hardly apply to many of today's children.

Last week's column, "A City Lost to Shame," offered some of my own perceptions of what is going on with children in the District. After reading the piece, a longtime D.C. resident directed me to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance -- United States, 2003" for more information on District teens. "You should check out the numbers" and see how they match your personal observations, the reader suggested.

So I did. Last year's CDC-sponsored study of risky behavior in youth encompassed 32 states and 18 cities and counties, including the District. Students participating anonymously and voluntarily completed a self-administered questionnaire during a class period, recording their responses directly on a computer-scannable booklet or answer sheet.

The results were startling, especially when our children are compared with their peers around the country. In a nutshell, when it comes to behaviors that contribute to violence, D.C. teens are national standouts.

Last year the District led the nation in the percentage of high school students who carried a weapon outside school and ranked second only to New Orleans in the percentage of high schoolers who carried guns.

District teens were No. 1 among high school students who were physically injured in fights; experienced dating violence in which the student was hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend; carried a weapon on school property; were threatened or injured with a weapon on school property; injected illegal drugs; took steroids; and used heroin.

And District teenagers ran a close second to Philadelphia's in the percentage of high school students who attempted suicide and required medical attention.

Now, let's be clear about these numbers. They weren't manufactured by some detractor out to make the city's youth look bad. The figures are contained in a national study published on May 21, 2004. They confirm what some of us have, because of anecdotal information, long feared: Violence-prone behavior by District youth is above the national norm, even by comparison with cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.

Any time 14 percent of District high school boys don't go to school because they feel unsafe either in class or on their way to or from school -- and that's what the survey showed -- our city is in a class by itself. And when 14 percent of District high school girls say they were physically forced to have sexual intercourse -- which ties them for the lead with girls in Philadelphia -- we have a horrible and poisonous situation on our hands.

After last week's column, another regular reader weighed in with the complaint that I never propose a solution beyond hand-wringing, blaming ourselves and asking, "What's become of us?"

That may or may not be true. This I know: I don't write these columns to get a load off my chest or to prove how right I am.