Youth Violence

This is something I originally wrote in 2007, in my blog (if anyone's interested, the link is http://raving_wench.livejournal.com, but I haven't posted in nearly a year) in response to the spike in youth violence that has been escalating over the past year. I've edited it some, adding new information to make it more applicable. This weekend, a 19 year old woman was shot and killed in Dorchester, by gunfire which wounded her 18 year old sister. On November 9, two men- one 41, one 17- were found in Roxbury with gunshot wounds. Earlier this fall, a 6-month-old girl was killed by a stray bullet. You see these stories in the paper every day- at least, you do in Boston, and since Boston has a mild crime rate compared to other cities, I'm assuming you see them in other papers. Teenagers shooting each other, raping, stealing. Teenagers shooting each other over the stupidest things- I remember one case in which the offender testified that he had shot another teenager because he "looked at him wrong". For crying out loud, he looked at him wrong?. If that's justification for killing, well, I'll start packing heat and shooting every guy who catcalls or whistles at me in the street. According to http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/youth-crime/, some of the major risk factors that increase the chances of young people committing crimes are: troubled home life poor attainment at school, truancy and school exclusion drug or alcohol misuse and mental illness deprivation such as poor housing or homelessness peer group pressure I think it's safe to assume that the first and last items are most likely the most common. Troubled home life is definitely a big one- according to http://www.parentswithoutpartners.org/Support1.htm, single parent households increased from 9% in 1990 to 16% of all households by 2000. 77% of single mothers work, and because they are supporting a family, they tend to work long hours and difficult shifts. The number of mothers in single-parent homes is 2.5 times that of fathers; I don't think, therefore, that it's a coincidence that youth crime is mainly perpetrated by teenaged males. These kids are often working to help their families out; because of this, they often end up doing poorly in school or dropping out altogether. Because their fathers are not in the picture, these guys often don't have good male role models. Often, they turn to celebrities for inspiration- and unfortunately, today's celebrities are not the best role models. Fifty Cent, a popular rap mogul, has an album out called Get Rich or Die Trying, often is photographed with a gun, and has tons of songs, like Candyshop and Magic Stick that are horribly degrading towards women. With these templates, it's no wonder our generation is messing up in a big way. This leads to another huge factor in violence- peer group pressure. Because a lot of kids don't have an available family core, they turn to peer groups to support them- groups bound by fierce loyalty. If anyone challenges a member, it is each member's responsibility to stand up for it. This often leads to violence, sometimes to death. If any member refuses to partake in this violence, they will be ostracized and turned on for disloyalty. I don't think governments are doing a good job of following up on the issue of violence. All they do in pour more money into the police forces; that's not what we need. Well, it is a necessary factor, but it's like using a cough drop for a cold- it reduces the symptoms, but does nothing for the cause. I have seen the effects of these disintigrating societies first-hand. I go to an inner-city school, with an extremely diverse student body [see, Institute peeps, that's you] Sure, we have the rich kids from Newton, but we also have a ton of Dorchester and Jamaica Plain kids who honestly don't know where their next meal is coming from. I know kids who have gotten in trouble with the cops for doing illegal things with honorable means. One acquaintance in particular had a part-time job at Burger King to keep food on the table at his house, which made his grades drop because he had no time for homework. In addition, he was selling drugs to support a friend of his whose boyfriend had disappeared when he learned she was pregnant. This boy was always exhausted, which affected his performance in school, keeping him in trouble; what's more, he was always at risk of arrest. But he's a really good kid, honest and hard-working, with a huge heart. He was doing this because it seemed he had no choice- and maybe he didn't. The law demonizes these criminals. They do awful things, certainly. They kill and steal, they rape, they sell life-destroying drugs. But more police forces aren't going to fix things. Sending in more cops is not the ultimate answer. Beating on these kids is not going to make them want to be sweet and compliant with the laws; it's going to make them bitter and restless. We need to address the root of the problem. We need to work on family awareness- on teaching guys of their duty in the home, of their importance as fathers. By encouraging families. I think a huge part is the disintegration of the family. We need to work on cultivating good friendships. Schools need to be more aware of their students' home lives, and more sensitive to them. We cannot condemn the effects of situations without working to better the situations themselves.