Children and Violence

I decided to research a little bit about children that are subjected to violence in Jamaica. I was appalled by murder rates among children. According to http://www.unicef.org/jamaica/violence.html, over the past five years over 300 children have been murdered and the majority of that is boys. Another statistic the website showed was that in 2006, children and adolescents made up 78 percent of all sexual assaults and rape cases.
And to think that those are only the ones reported. I think it would be hard to live in a place that you would have to fear. Because of this violence many adolescent boys turn to gang behavior because people expect them to underachieve. Lastly, the website told of thousands of children living in residential care and over 200 that live in institutions where family care is not available. This absence of family makes them more vulnerable to violence and abuse. I know that the U.S is not perfect, however, this seems like a lot of high numbers for such a little country.