You may be asking yourself what suicide has to do with youth violence, heck, you may not think of suicide as a form of violence at all, but lets face it, suicide is a violent act inflicted upon ones self. An act that leaves people; family, friends, acquaintances, law enforcement, and anyone else who is involved or becomes involved with any particular case, confused, lost, sad, angry, and grief stricken.We are aware that there are suicide victims of all ages, but this senseless act of claiming ones life is more prominent in our youth between the ages of 15 and 24. With males being four times more likely to commit suicide than females. Suicide is the eight leading cause of all deaths for our young people, and in 1997 more teens and young adults died from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDs, birth defects, and more, combined. With firearms being used in three out of five suicides.

So why do our young choose suicide? Is it a way out, and why?

Suicide victims may choose death for several reasons. Stress and peer pressure, the feeling of unimportance, and simply the fact that they fall out of love with themselves, or worse, they were never taught to love themselves to begin with.

Suicide used to be deemed as shameful, another dirty little secret that society kept locked in a closet, and family members where warned not to speak of. Thankfully, in society today, everyone is more outspoken, and more aware of situations that were hush, hush, in the 50's and beyond. We now have the ability to recognize, diagnose, and even treat people with suicidal tendencies. However, there is a bad side to that statement. Most of us don't recognize the warning signs, or know where to get help if they do. Professionals are saying that part of the strategy used to prevent suicide attempts is to make the attempted understand the needs of those they will leave behind. Suicide happens to all kinds of people, from all walks of life. Good people, bad people, famous people, old and young people, it can happen to any of us. Only through education can we stop this violent act that claims the lives of our loved ones.

Tags & Keywords : Is it a way out, and why?