NCJRS Abstracts Database, compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, is the most complete source for government reports. This database does not allow you to limit your search specifically to reports. However, all searches will yield some reports. In searching for firearms and juveniles, the subject field yields195 matches, many of which are reports.
"High School Youth, Weapons, and Violence: A National Survey of Weapon-Related Experiences, Behaviors, and Concerns -- Final Report," (shown below) is an example of a report found through the NCJRS database. Many of the reports found in this database are also available online as full-text documents.
NCJ
Number: 181053
Title: High School Youth,
Weapons, and Violence: A National Survey of
Weapon-Related Experiences, Behaviors, and Concerns -- Final
Report
Author: Joseph F. Sheley ; James D. Wright
Sponsoring Agency:
US Dept of Justice
National Institute of Justice
United States
Sale: National Institute
of Justice/NCJRS
Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849
United States
National Institute of Justice/NCJRS
Paper Reproduction Sales
Box 6000 Department F
Rockville, MD 20849
United States
Format: document
Publication Date:
05/1998
Pages: 103
Type: Studies/research
reports
Origin: United States
Language:
English
Grant No.:
94-IJ-CX-0033
Annotation:
This study estimates the extent to which some male high school
juniors and seniors were involved in weapons-related activity.
Abstract:
The study was directed at a national sample of 734 male high school
juniors and seniors and concerned specifically their involvement with
firearms and knives. Data were collected by means of a survey
instrument mailed to the students, supplemented by survey data from
administrators of the schools participating in the study concerning the
schools' experiences with weapons-related incidents. Levels of gun
possession and carrying among the respondents were relatively low,
and few carried weapons frequently. While rifles and shotguns were
more likely to be possessed by respondents from smaller
communities, handgun possession was statistically no more likely to
occur in smaller than in larger communities. Despite appeals to
respondents to refrain from references to weapons used for sporting
purposes, many recreationally oriented respondents answered
affirmatively when asked about possession and carrying of weapons.
Recreational weapons-related activities appeared more likely to
characterize respondents from more rural communities, suggesting
that estimates of problematic weapons-related activities that rely on
rural populations may be exaggerated. The degree to which the
respondent's social environment might be labeled dangerous had a
direct and consistent influence on the likelihood that he would engage
in weapons-related activities. Notes, references, tables, appendixes
Main Terms:
Criminology
Index Terms:
Surveys/ ; Weapon offenses ; Juveniles ; Weapons ;
Firearms ;
School security ; Weapon carrying ; Juvenile gun ownership
;
Knives
In a similar manner reports may be identified through Criminal Justice Abstracts with Fulltext. Below is an example of a report in that database. Here we have searched gun or guns and juveniles. Most of the documents in this database are fulltext.
Many reports are available full-text on the Web Site of the publisher. For instance, if you found mention in the news of reports by the Children's Defense Fund (a private organization) on guns and children, you could go to the Children's Defense Fund web site and type Children and Guns in the search box in the upper right corner of the screen, and you will retrieve 5 pages containing 42 documents, with links to similar documents, about children and guns.