Experts have said that adolescents face more pressures now than ever before.

Gail Williams, of Strongsville, is the mother of a 13-year-old boy. She told NewsChannel5's Tracy Carloss that drugs and gangs make it a lot harder to be a teenager today than when she was a teen.

"His father works a lot of hours, so he's mostly with me," Williams said. "You can't use a single parent as an excuse."

Child psychologist Jacqueline Warren agreed that children are dealing with more pressure, and that's one possible explanation for the rise in juvenile violence.

"I would venture to say that eight out of 10 cases can be traced back to the home ? traced back to a lack of supervision, a lack of discipline, a lack of moral teachings," Warren said. "They don't know right from wrong, so they have no conscience, and they don't care if they shoot you."

Warren had some advice for parents to help them and their kids get through the turbulent teenage years.

"You have to be in touch with what your child's doing," Warren said. "This does not include asking little Johnny or Mary what they're doing -- you have to know what Johnny and Mary are doing."

Warren recommended that parents get their child involved in religion and get them interested in an activity. She said that parents often go too far, however, increasing their child's stress level by pressuring him or her to be an overachiever.

Williams' son Josh said that he feels lucky to have such a caring family.

"Some teenagers don't have parents that love them, and they're on the street," he said.