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A new report by the American Psychological Association [PDF] says self-injury among teens seems to be growing. Whether they call it "cutting" or "self-harm," the injuries can come from anything from drinking toxic substances to breaking one's own bones on purpose. The experts say it is not typically a suicidal action. The report says:

The relationship between self-injury and suicide is important but not clearly understood. Persons who engage in self-injury are more likely to consider or attempt suicide... Nevertheless, in the vast majority of cases self-injury is used to alleviate distress temporarily rather than to signal the intention to end one's life.

The report contains this fairly amazing line:

Large studies in Britain estimate that approximately 10 percent of youth 11 to 25 years of age self-injure.

The study also looks at how online message boards sometimes act as support groups for teens who self-injure, but they sometimes also expose readers to even more disturbing fantasies about cutting and injury. The Kansas City Star wrote:

[The study's lead author, Janis] Whitlock, said many teens and others who use Internet chat rooms and bulletin boards are looking for some type of connection, especially people with whom they can be candid about their habit. In her article, she wrote that the Internet "may be especially advantageous for shy, socially anxious or marginalized youth, enabling them to practice social skills without the risks associated with 'on-the-ground' interactions."

In addition, the article says, young people who find their way to self-injury Web sites may find the kind of support they need. Some of the self-injury Web sites are monitored by professionals or other people who want to and can provide support to teens wishing to stop hurting themselves. Of the 3,200 postings that Whitlock and her associates studied on self-injury Web sites, about 28 percent of the messages were supportive.

Other postings, however, are much less benign. In her article, Whitlock quoted an exchange among three persons, who described in great detail how to cut oneself and increase the bleeding.

Of great concern to Whitlock is evidence that when some susceptible people hear or read about self-injury, they tend to try it. That dimension of self-injury "suggests that the Internet may spread or deepen the practice among the adolescent population," she said.

Whitlock told about a woman she met at a workshop. The woman told her that after she found a self-injury Web group, she began cutting herself more frequently.

Resources:

• Self-Injury Journals -- Self-injury journals and bulletin boards. It is disturbing reading.
• Self-injury: You are NOT the only one
  
• Self-Injury.net -- Another self-injury journal and Web site.
  
• SelfInjury.org -- American Self-Harm Information Clearinghouse
• Safe Haven -- Self-injury discussion board.
• Bus Central -- Discussion board on self-injury, related psychiatric disorders, abuse, etc.
• Stop Harm Forums -- Community of self-injurers looking for support in recovery. Thousands of entries.
• Razor Blade Beat -- Support site for self-injurers.
• Bleeding Hearts-Cutters -- Online community for self-injurers. 

The Silence of the Street Snitches 

Cliff Jenkins, Web content producer at Fox19.com in Cincinnati, says that, increasingly, cops are finding that witnesses to crimes are clamming up. This week, NPR's "Talk of the Nation" looked at the "Stop Snitching" movement. Listen to the program.

We've covered this before on Al's Morning Meeting. See our previous coverage here.

Like all popular movements, there is a T-shirt to go along with it. (And, apparently, audio. You might want to turn down your computer's speaker volume before you click on this link.)

In March, NPR reported on the issue:

In Baltimore, prosecutors say the "stop snitching" culture has forced them to throw out major felony cases. They helped push legislation that toughened the penalties for witness intimidation. Boston, too, is backing legislation aimed at tackling the problem.

A handful of cities and states are using public funds to help protect threatened witnesses who are willing to testify and who are not considered a flight risk. These programs are different from the federal witness protection program operated by the U.S. Marshals Service.

In Pennsylvania last year, for instance, a witness relocation program operated by the state attorney general helped move 100 witnesses of crimes and their families -- most of them from Philadelphia. It paid security deposits and even helped find schools for the children of those families.

The National Center for Victims of Crime has focused on safe housing for intimidated witnesses; it has worked with authorities in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Portland, Ore.; and pre-Katrina New Orleans to find ways to better help witnesses. It's planning a program to interview teenagers in gang-ridden communities in Massachusetts. The idea is to give authorities street-level information to help combat gang intimidation.

The Daily Local News (Chester County, Pa.) reported:

A "snitch" is a person who cooperates with police during the investigation of a serious crime, such as murder or rape. A "snitch" is weak, according to some people, because that person is giving information about someone who he or she grew up with.

"There's an animosity toward police in larger urban communities," said West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn. "These people don't view cooperation with police as a good thing. They may be looked at as having a soft reputation or a person who's breaking street code."

More and more, [Chester County District Attorney Joseph] Carroll said, people are choosing to keep quiet and protect their reputation[s] rather then assist authorities. Carroll added that this attitude is slowing investigations to the point where area communities are becoming more and more susceptible to crime.

"It's a bad cultural phenomenon that will lead to poor law enforcement and a dangerous community," he said. 

Online Colleges Growing

Al's Morning Meeting reader David Studinski, the editor in chief of The Ball State Daily News, sent a story idea about the dramatic growth of schools that now offer courses online. Nationwide, online student enrollment grew more than 18 percent between 2004 and 2005, the story said.

Even The Poynter Institute has an online learning site. Take a look at NewsU.  

Old Buses Exposing Kids to Fumes

A new lawsuit in California says children are being exposed to high levels of dangerous diesel exhaust fumes in aging school buses. 

Fuller Flights?

Last month, airplane flights were about 80 percent full. It was a new record for April. USA Today says:

Seven airlines that have reported for April all show fuller planes. No. 4 Northwest ran fullest: 84.9 percent. No. 1 American filled 81.7 percent of its seats. And No. 5 Continental filled 82.9 percent. No. 3 Delta, despite a public battle with pilots over cost cuts that included threats of a strike or shutdown in mid-April, filled 77.6 percent of its seats. Even discounters Southwest and AirTran, which normally record load factors lower than the big network carriers, came close to filling 80 percent of their April seats.

USA Today also says you can pretty much count on a record number of mishandled bags this summer.  

What the Airplane Ticket Stub Says About You

My Poynter pal Larry Larsen (the all-seeing, all-knowing online guru here) passed this on to me.

It is a piece about what ID thieves could learn about you -- just by picking your discarded plane-ticket stub out of the trash.

Hint: They can learn just about everything. But I add this note of caution: I have no reason to believe that huge numbers of people are being victimized this way.