Violent acts of sadness: The tragedy of youth suicide; youth violence is increasingly turning inward, and kids are killing themselves at an alarming rate. Can lawmakers do more to prevent youth suicide?

• Author: Thomerson, Julie

More teenagers and young adults die from suicide each year than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza and chronic lung disease combined. The sad reality is that youth suicide is a growing epidemic, ending young lives and leaving heartbroken families and communities. It is currently the third leading cause of death of 15- to 24-year-olds, and the fourth leading cause of death among 10- to 14-year-olds. Nearly 4,600 kids killed themselves in the United States in 1998, and approximately 46,000 others tried. Most give warnings; some do not.

Teenage suicides seldom make the front pages. Or do they? Andrew Wurst, 14, talked to his friends about taking his own life a month before he shot and killed a teacher and wounded three students at a high school dance. Luke Woodham, 16, told investigators that he shot nine students--killing two--because he was so miserable that he "just couldn't take it anymore." He later confessed that he had wanted to die. Another teenager who had already attempted suicide asked his parents for a gun. They gave it to him. Soon after, he took it to school, wounded a fellow student, then shot and killed himself.

More recently, Jason Anthony Hoffman took a firearm and wounded five at Granite Hills High School in San Diego. He then hanged himself in jail. He had a history of mental illness and was taking antidepressants months before the shooting.

"Without exception, every juvenile I've represented in a murder case has tried to kill himself," said Hoffman's attorney, William Lafond. "Many of these kids feel helpless and depressed and don't understand why they did what they did. When they try to understand their feelings, they can't handle it."

Research shows that up to 60 percent of school shooters may have been suicidal before they shot others, and a majority of them gave clues. Most had a history of depression and were desperate to end their emotional pain, and many communicated their agony to someone else in some way. They directed their aggression toward more than just those who hurt them. They had specific targets: themselves.

No one means to absolve these kids from responsibility for their horrific acts. They usually planned ahead, knew what they were doing, had given up on life and were not concerned about the consequences. And most planned to kill themselves before they were done.

"I didn't really see my life going on any further," Luke Woodham now says. "I thought it was all over with ... I couldn't find a reason not to do it."

We focus more on troubled children killing others than the thousands of children privately taking their lives every. year. In reality, youth violence is a tremendous problem, and suicide is a big part of it. For lawmakers, the questions are how to design policies to prevent young people from getting to this point of desperation, and how to intervene when they do.

WHAT'S GOING ON?

Suicide among children ages 10 to 14 increased nearly 100 percent between 1981 and 1998, jumping from 163 deaths per 100,000 to 317, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Suicide among African American males ages 15 to 19 rose at an even higher rate, increasing from 81 deaths per 100,000 to 164. One youth commits suicide every two hours in the United States.

There are several theories about why this happens. One is that some children are growing up without meaningful connections to adults or the support they need to successfully navigate the process of growing up. Another is that kids are impulsive and can react to a moment of crisis in their lives--such as trouble in school, relationship problems or bullying--without stopping to really think about the consequences. In some cases, impulsive behavior and access to guns is a dangerous mixture. Others blame substance abuse, media violence or copycat actions.

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