You're both wrong. Violence by gang members peaked in that year. Many of the murders of "children" that contributed to the high homicide rate were actually murders of gang members by rival gangs during turf wars.
Some generations seem to have a predilection to crime, shaped by the unique social and environmental conditions that shape them. As a result, crime rates tend to fluctuate, more or less continuously. Such fluctuations are not easy to predict, despite what sociologists and criminologists say to the contrary. For instance, if widespread poverty is the root cause of rising crime rates, then how does one explain the decade of the 1930's, when crime rates were level across the board, or even declined in some categories? How does one explain the fact that much of the juvenile crime in the last decade can be attributed to the children of affluent upper and middle-class children?
Not only are these trends difficult to predict, they are difficult to control. No one approach to solving crime will be successful by itself. A variety of approaches are needed; rehabilitation, education, and long-term incarceration of repeat offenders, used together, seem to yield the best results. The impact of each of these methods is lessened when they are used in isolation.
Regards, Shuckins
