Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Making Youth Violence Prevention a National Priority

2008; Elsevier BV; Volume: 34; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.amepre.2007.12.018

1873-2607

Arlen Specter,

Suicide and Self-Harm Studies

Youth violence has finally been recognized as the public health issue that it is, underscored by the publication of the papers in this supplement on community mobilization to prevent youth violence.1Kim-Ju G. Mark G.Y. Cohen R. Garcia-Santiago O. Nguyen P. Community mobilization and its application to youth violence prevention.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S5-S12Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (30) Google Scholar, 2Meyer A.L. Cohen R. Edmonds T. Masho S. Developing a comprehensive approach to youth violence prevention in a small city.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S13-S20Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar, 3Hertz M.F. De Vos E. Cohen L. Davis R. Prothrow-Stith D. Partnerships for preventing violence: a locally-led satellite training model.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S21-S30Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar, 4Hernández-Cordero L.J. Fullilove M.T. Constructing peace: helping youth cope in the aftermath of 9/11.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S31-S35Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar, 5O'Neill K. Williams K.J. Reznik V. Engaging Latino residents to build a healthier community in mid-city San Diego.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S36-S41Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar, 6Payne P.R. Williams K.R. Building social capital through neighborhood mobilization: challenges and lessons learned.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S42-S47Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar, 7Lai M.H. Asian/Pacific Islander youth violence prevention center: community mobilization efforts to reduce and prevent youth violence.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S48-S55Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar, 8Mirabal B. López-Sánchez G. Franco-Ortiz M. Méndez M. Developing partnerships to advance youth violence prevention in Puerto Rico: the role of an Academic Center of Excellence.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S56-S61Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar, 9Zirkle D. Williams K. Herzog K. Sidelinger D. Connelly C. Reznik V. Incorporating the experiences of youth with traumatic injury into the training of health professionals.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S62-S66Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2) Google Scholar, 10Akeo N.P. Bunyan E.S. Burgess K.N. et al.Hui Malamo o ke Kai: mobilizing to prevent youth violence and substance use with passion, common goals, and culture.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S67-S71Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (15) Google Scholar, 11Watson-Thompson J. Fawcett S.B. Schultz J.A. A framework for community mobilization to promote healthy youth development.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S72-S81Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (28) Google Scholar, 12Sobredo J. Kim-Ju G. Figueroa J. Mark G.Y. Fabionar J. An ethnic studies model of community mobilization: collaborative partnership with a high-risk public high school.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S82-S88Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar, 13Griffith D.M. Allen J.O. Zimmerman M.A. et al.Organizational empowerment in community mobilization to address youth violence.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S89-S99Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar It is also a public policy issue that has deeply concerned me during my entire career in public office. When a child becomes a victim, witness, or perpetrator of violence, families and communities suffer for that child's loss of innocence. When a young person chooses a path of crime and violence over going to school and becoming a productive member of society, our nation bears the loss of its greatest human resource.As a country, we are working to understand the causes and effects of youth violence. We know from experts how to identify many of the factors that put children at risk of becoming involved in crime and violence. We know that children who are chronically truant, who drop out of school, and who use drugs and alcohol are at greater risk of being victims or perpetrators of violence. In my opinion, some of the biggest risk factors reveal themselves in the makeup of our social fabric: Many of today's children grow up in single-parent homes where their mother or father works long hours; they often live far away from their extended families; and they lack meaningful connections to their churches, synagogues, mosques, and communities. Many children today lack critical connections to society.We are also learning which prevention and intervention strategies are most effective at targeting these risk factors. The National Institutes of Health's report14Johnson R.L. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) State-Of-the-Science Conference on Preventing Violence and Related Health-Risking Social Behaviors in Adolescents — A Commentary.J Abn Child Psych. 2006; 34: 471-474Crossref PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar on successful intervention strategies, together with a growing body of work by nonprofit organizations, has enabled policymakers and youth-serving organizations to determine how best to combat youth crime and delinquency.But the fact remains that our children live in an increasingly dangerous world – tormented by escalating crime, violence, and delinquency, where dropout and truancy rates are on the rise. Teens and young adults experience the highest rates of violent crime: In 2005, the most recent year for which the Bureau of Justice Statistics has released the results of its annual National Crime Victimization Survey (ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_v.htm#age), youth aged 12–24 were victimized nearly twice as often as any other age category. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2006 Uniform Crime Report (www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/index.html), arrests of juveniles (under 18 years of age) for murder rose 3.4% in 2006 compared to 2005; for robbery, arrests of juveniles increased 18.9% over the same 2-year period. In 2003, there were 5570 murders of young people aged 10–24—an average of 15 youth homicide victims every day. More than 772,500 juveniles are members of gangs (www.policyalmanac.org/crime/archive/gangs.shtml). Experts have estimated that the direct and indirect cost of youth violence exceeds $158 billion every year (www.edarc.org/pubs/tables/youth-viol.htm).It is incumbent on community leaders—parents, teachers, pastors, rabbis, coaches, and troop leaders—and on local, state, and federal elected officials to develop and implement policies to combat youth violence. We must make youth violence prevention a true national priority. In doing so, I believe that our approach must be coordinated and cohesive; and that we must focus on implementing strategies that are proven to be successful.During the first 5 months of 2007, I held roundtable discussions focused on youth violence across the state of Pennsylvania: in Philadelphia, Reading, Lancaster, York, Lehigh Valley, and Pittsburgh. These roundtables gathered representatives of law enforcement (including the United States Attorney Offices; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; Secret Service; local and state police; and the District Attorney's office); state and local departments of education; youth-serving prevention and intervention organizations; correctional facilities; and re-entry programs to discuss causes of and cures for youth violence.Those roundtable meetings revealed that truancy, dropout rates, youth involvement in drugs and alcohol, and youth delinquency are problems with which communities of all shapes and sizes must grapple. Experts testified about the kinds of strategies that had proven to be successful, and those that had failed to yield results. It became clear to me that there is an abundance of knowledge and insight into how to address the causes of youth violence. However, this knowledge is fragmented. It is vital that we address youth violence through a coordinated approach that encourages collaboration, information sharing, resource pooling, and collective strategizing to allow each sector—law enforcement, schools, and youth-serving organizations—to maximize their strengths.Philadelphia's Youth Violence Reduction Program (YVRP) is a good example of community mobilization— a collaborative, multi-agency approach to youth violence reduction. YVRP targets youth in four of Philadelphia's most violent police districts who are under court supervision and have a probation or parole officer. YVRP provides extensive supervision and monitoring of participants as well as social and educational services and positive social supports for all its participants. YVRP relies on a coalition of police officers, probation and parole officers, and "street workers." The street workers, paid neighborhood young adults, interact with participants daily to help them stay out of trouble and get involved in positive activities such as school and sports. By engaging professionals who are involved in all elements of these young peoples' lives, Philadelphia has been able to significantly decrease homicide rates in the districts in which YVRP operates. We should be pursuing this kind of collaborative effort in more police districts, in more cities across Pennsylvania, and in more states across the nation.I believe that one of the most promising strategies for addressing youth violence is mentoring. Adult mentors have the ability to bring compassion, caring, opportunity, and hope to children growing up in this difficult environment. Mentoring relationships have been proven to steer children away from the dangers of gangs, violence, and crime and toward a productive and happy adulthood. The presence of a caring adult in a child's life builds self-confidence and provides the guidance that a child needs to make decisions that will improve his/her future. Mentored youth are 46% less likely to start using drugs and alcohol, 33% less likely to act violently, and more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college, and become a productive member of the workforce (www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/111_publication.pdf). In fact, 85% of mentored youth go on to higher education. Yet despite the evident successes of mentoring, only 8% of young people aged 6 to 17 have a formal mentor in their lives (www.mentoring.org/leaders/files/pollreport.pdf).Because of the great promise that mentors hold, I have launched a campaign for mentors across the state of Pennsylvania. I am working with volunteer organizations, school systems, faith-based organizations, and athletic teams in a quest to provide a mentor for every child who needs one. I am working to ensure that the federal government provides states with the resources they need to expand existing successful mentoring programs, to create new mentoring programs, and to get adult volunteers involved as mentors.With the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act this coming year, Congress has the opportunity to focus the nation's attention on the issues of juvenile delinquency and youth violence. In doing so, we must encourage a collaborative approach to youth violence that relies on proven methods such as mentoring. Prioritizing youth violence prevention is prioritizing our future. Youth violence has finally been recognized as the public health issue that it is, underscored by the publication of the papers in this supplement on community mobilization to prevent youth violence.1Kim-Ju G. Mark G.Y. Cohen R. Garcia-Santiago O. Nguyen P. Community mobilization and its application to youth violence prevention.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S5-S12Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (30) Google Scholar, 2Meyer A.L. Cohen R. Edmonds T. Masho S. Developing a comprehensive approach to youth violence prevention in a small city.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S13-S20Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar, 3Hertz M.F. De Vos E. Cohen L. Davis R. Prothrow-Stith D. Partnerships for preventing violence: a locally-led satellite training model.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S21-S30Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar, 4Hernández-Cordero L.J. Fullilove M.T. Constructing peace: helping youth cope in the aftermath of 9/11.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S31-S35Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (8) Google Scholar, 5O'Neill K. Williams K.J. Reznik V. Engaging Latino residents to build a healthier community in mid-city San Diego.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S36-S41Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar, 6Payne P.R. Williams K.R. Building social capital through neighborhood mobilization: challenges and lessons learned.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S42-S47Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar, 7Lai M.H. Asian/Pacific Islander youth violence prevention center: community mobilization efforts to reduce and prevent youth violence.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S48-S55Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (11) Google Scholar, 8Mirabal B. López-Sánchez G. Franco-Ortiz M. Méndez M. Developing partnerships to advance youth violence prevention in Puerto Rico: the role of an Academic Center of Excellence.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S56-S61Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar, 9Zirkle D. Williams K. Herzog K. Sidelinger D. Connelly C. Reznik V. Incorporating the experiences of youth with traumatic injury into the training of health professionals.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S62-S66Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (2) Google Scholar, 10Akeo N.P. Bunyan E.S. Burgess K.N. et al.Hui Malamo o ke Kai: mobilizing to prevent youth violence and substance use with passion, common goals, and culture.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S67-S71Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (15) Google Scholar, 11Watson-Thompson J. Fawcett S.B. Schultz J.A. A framework for community mobilization to promote healthy youth development.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S72-S81Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (28) Google Scholar, 12Sobredo J. Kim-Ju G. Figueroa J. Mark G.Y. Fabionar J. An ethnic studies model of community mobilization: collaborative partnership with a high-risk public high school.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S82-S88Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar, 13Griffith D.M. Allen J.O. Zimmerman M.A. et al.Organizational empowerment in community mobilization to address youth violence.Am J Prev Med. 2008; 34: S89-S99Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar It is also a public policy issue that has deeply concerned me during my entire career in public office. When a child becomes a victim, witness, or perpetrator of violence, families and communities suffer for that child's loss of innocence. When a young person chooses a path of crime and violence over going to school and becoming a productive member of society, our nation bears the loss of its greatest human resource. As a country, we are working to understand the causes and effects of youth violence. We know from experts how to identify many of the factors that put children at risk of becoming involved in crime and violence. We know that children who are chronically truant, who drop out of school, and who use drugs and alcohol are at greater risk of being victims or perpetrators of violence. In my opinion, some of the biggest risk factors reveal themselves in the makeup of our social fabric: Many of today's children grow up in single-parent homes where their mother or father works long hours; they often live far away from their extended families; and they lack meaningful connections to their churches, synagogues, mosques, and communities. Many children today lack critical connections to society. We are also learning which prevention and intervention strategies are most effective at targeting these risk factors. The National Institutes of Health's report14Johnson R.L. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) State-Of-the-Science Conference on Preventing Violence and Related Health-Risking Social Behaviors in Adolescents — A Commentary.J Abn Child Psych. 2006; 34: 471-474Crossref PubMed Scopus (5) Google Scholar on successful intervention strategies, together with a growing body of work by nonprofit organizations, has enabled policymakers and youth-serving organizations to determine how best to combat youth crime and delinquency. But the fact remains that our children live in an increasingly dangerous world – tormented by escalating crime, violence, and delinquency, where dropout and truancy rates are on the rise. Teens and young adults experience the highest rates of violent crime: In 2005, the most recent year for which the Bureau of Justice Statistics has released the results of its annual National Crime Victimization Survey (ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_v.htm#age), youth aged 12–24 were victimized nearly twice as often as any other age category. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2006 Uniform Crime Report (www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/index.html), arrests of juveniles (under 18 years of age) for murder rose 3.4% in 2006 compared to 2005; for robbery, arrests of juveniles increased 18.9% over the same 2-year period. In 2003, there were 5570 murders of young people aged 10–24—an average of 15 youth homicide victims every day. More than 772,500 juveniles are members of gangs (www.policyalmanac.org/crime/archive/gangs.shtml). Experts have estimated that the direct and indirect cost of youth violence exceeds $158 billion every year (www.edarc.org/pubs/tables/youth-viol.htm). It is incumbent on community leaders—parents, teachers, pastors, rabbis, coaches, and troop leaders—and on local, state, and federal elected officials to develop and implement policies to combat youth violence. We must make youth violence prevention a true national priority. In doing so, I believe that our approach must be coordinated and cohesive; and that we must focus on implementing strategies that are proven to be successful. During the first 5 months of 2007, I held roundtable discussions focused on youth violence across the state of Pennsylvania: in Philadelphia, Reading, Lancaster, York, Lehigh Valley, and Pittsburgh. These roundtables gathered representatives of law enforcement (including the United States Attorney Offices; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Drug Enforcement Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; Secret Service; local and state police; and the District Attorney's office); state and local departments of education; youth-serving prevention and intervention organizations; correctional facilities; and re-entry programs to discuss causes of and cures for youth violence. Those roundtable meetings revealed that truancy, dropout rates, youth involvement in drugs and alcohol, and youth delinquency are problems with which communities of all shapes and sizes must grapple. Experts testified about the kinds of strategies that had proven to be successful, and those that had failed to yield results. It became clear to me that there is an abundance of knowledge and insight into how to address the causes of youth violence. However, this knowledge is fragmented. It is vital that we address youth violence through a coordinated approach that encourages collaboration, information sharing, resource pooling, and collective strategizing to allow each sector—law enforcement, schools, and youth-serving organizations—to maximize their strengths. Philadelphia's Youth Violence Reduction Program (YVRP) is a good example of community mobilization— a collaborative, multi-agency approach to youth violence reduction. YVRP targets youth in four of Philadelphia's most violent police districts who are under court supervision and have a probation or parole officer. YVRP provides extensive supervision and monitoring of participants as well as social and educational services and positive social supports for all its participants. YVRP relies on a coalition of police officers, probation and parole officers, and "street workers." The street workers, paid neighborhood young adults, interact with participants daily to help them stay out of trouble and get involved in positive activities such as school and sports. By engaging professionals who are involved in all elements of these young peoples' lives, Philadelphia has been able to significantly decrease homicide rates in the districts in which YVRP operates. We should be pursuing this kind of collaborative effort in more police districts, in more cities across Pennsylvania, and in more states across the nation. I believe that one of the most promising strategies for addressing youth violence is mentoring. Adult mentors have the ability to bring compassion, caring, opportunity, and hope to children growing up in this difficult environment. Mentoring relationships have been proven to steer children away from the dangers of gangs, violence, and crime and toward a productive and happy adulthood. The presence of a caring adult in a child's life builds self-confidence and provides the guidance that a child needs to make decisions that will improve his/her future. Mentored youth are 46% less likely to start using drugs and alcohol, 33% less likely to act violently, and more likely to graduate from high school, go on to college, and become a productive member of the workforce (www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/111_publication.pdf). In fact, 85% of mentored youth go on to higher education. Yet despite the evident successes of mentoring, only 8% of young people aged 6 to 17 have a formal mentor in their lives (www.mentoring.org/leaders/files/pollreport.pdf). Because of the great promise that mentors hold, I have launched a campaign for mentors across the state of Pennsylvania. I am working with volunteer organizations, school systems, faith-based organizations, and athletic teams in a quest to provide a mentor for every child who needs one. I am working to ensure that the federal government provides states with the resources they need to expand existing successful mentoring programs, to create new mentoring programs, and to get adult volunteers involved as mentors. With the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act this coming year, Congress has the opportunity to focus the nation's attention on the issues of juvenile delinquency and youth violence. In doing so, we must encourage a collaborative approach to youth violence that relies on proven methods such as mentoring. Prioritizing youth violence prevention is prioritizing our future.