Posted by Scott on March 17th, 2008 — Posted in Teen Violence
I just read a great article by Dawn Turner Trice about Dr. Carl Bell’s teen violence prevention principles. Bell works as a respected psychiatrist, violence-prevention expert and president of Chicago’s Community Mental Health Council. He also wrote the book, The Sanity of Survival: Reflections on Community Mental Health and Wellness
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Perhaps referencing Bell, the author of the article wrote that, yes, we do need to strengthen the enforcement of gun laws and put people who commit crimes against children in jail. However, we usually cannot curtail illegal gun possession until after the gun has been used, and the threat of jail does not effectively deter most violent crimes but instead only does something after-the-fact.
As the means of effectively preventing teen violence, Bell recommends that we find ways to ensure that young people have a sense of connectedness; have access to medicines and counseling; have a sense of power, self-esteem and community; and have the skills needed to communicate when they need help. Bell has more expertise than I, but it reminds me of a post I recently made in which I said that, to effectively prevent violence, we need to provide psychological treatment to dangerously wayward kids.
Bell also explains that preventing violence with those methods will also help other problems. For example, providing help to troubled children will also prevent them from using drugs, having sex too soon, and committing suicide. So putting resources into teen violence prevention will not take them away from those other prevention needs.
What do you think? Do you also agree with Bell?
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Posted by Scott on January 24th, 2008 — Posted in Teen Violence
A recent news story from Toronto quotes the police there as saying that adults can prevent violence by joining kids online.
Scott Mills, who runs the Toronto Crime Stoppers school program, said, “I could prevent violence more so from my desk than I could driving around to schools. Just by being out there, engaging with kids online, you build relationships.”
He also describes how he uses social networking websites such as Facebook to find warning signs of violence, to provide adult advice to the kids, and to tell the kids where and how they can report tips and information to law enforcement.
Mills also point out that parents and other adults can use this method of violence prevention.
It seems almost common sense to me. Adults must build a foundational relationship with kids to help and advise them, which they need to do to prevent violence. Because of the newness of the technology, some adults may not realize how much children socialize online. Adults can befriend or otherwise build personal relationships with kids using the internet and online communities. With those relationships, the adults can advise children, spot problems, and prevent violence.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on August 9th, 2007 — Posted in Teen Violence
Dennis O’Brien recently wrote about teenage sexual assault victims and their need for parental support. I include an excerpt:
Teens are victims of sexual assault more frequently than many adults realize, said Dawn Jonas, a therapist at Bridgeway Counseling Services who deals exclusively with survivors of rape, incest and other types of sexual abuse.
Bridgeway serves individuals who experience domestic violence, sexual assault or addictive disorders.
According to the recent National Crime Victimization Survey from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in six American women is sexually assaulted in her lifetime; 10 percent of sexual assault victims are men; 44 percent of rape victims are younger than 18; only 36 percent of sexual assaults get reported; girls ages 16 to 19 are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted; and 15 percent to 20 percent of teen pregnancies occur as a result of rape.
Dennis O’Brien goes on to point out that some parents “blame the victim,” especially when the teenager partook in alcohol, drugs, or other riskier behavior.
Remember to give young victims the emotional support they need. Resist the temptation to use them as a scapegoat for your anger.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on May 5th, 2007 — Posted in Teen Violence
Brittany Robinson recently wrote about teen violence. I include an excerpt:
[…]the number of student victims lost in the Virginia Tech massacre is the same number of teen victims we lose to gun violence in our country every four days.
That may be a little hard to swallow. These are the kinds of statistics that we sometimes don’t want to know, because we’d rather be in denial about the state of violence among our country’s adolescents than to know the extent to which their lives are being lost everyday.
[…]
Full-blown massacres on college campuses may warrant extensive coverage, because they involve so many deaths occurring at once. But is it any less significant that we’re idly sitting back as teenagers pick each other off one at a time? Waiting for climactic gunning events to discuss teen violence should not be the strategy of our nation. The young lives we lose every day deserve attention and solutions, as well.
Read entire article by Brittany Robinson.
I completely agree with what Brittany Robinson says in that article.
For the sake of ratings, major news outlets over-report shocking stories, such as incidental massacres. However, the mega-corporations that own the major news outlets have no interest in changing our society for the better. They’re lazy and rich, and they don’t want anything to change. As a result, these news outlets don’t report on the major but fixable problems that plague our world on a day-to-day basis, such as teen violence.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on March 19th, 2007 — Posted in Teen Violence
The ASA reports that violent video games do not cause teen violence:
The American Sociological Association (ASA) has published a report claiming that there is no link between violent video games and homicidal behaviour in children.
Following high profile school shootings in the US, most famously at Columbine High School, many reports have attempted to create a link between such events and violent video games such as the first person shooter Doom.
The ASA article focuses on why people are so ready to blame video games for violent attacks by troubled teens, pointing out that in the 10 years following Doom’s 1993 release, homicide arrest rates among juveniles fell by 77 per cent.
School shootings remain extremely rare; even during the 1990s, when fears of school violence were high, students had less than a seven in 10 million chance of being killed at school.
The ASA said that video games and other violent entertainment are being used as a “folk devil” and have no real impact on the behaviour of children.
Read entire article at itnews.com.au.
I cannot say this surprises me. Those who blamed video games and such almost always relied on post hoc fallacies. Most students who shoot up schools played violent video games, but that in no way implies that the video games caused it. Similarly, most students who shoot up schools were breastfed as children; surely we can see the idiocy in saying that implies that breastfeeding causes school-shootings.
It appears they used video games as a scapegoat. School-shootings have decreased steadily for a long time. Still, they occasionally happen. Who do we blame beside the disturbed children? How about the neglectful parents, incompetent schools, and the bad example of our offensively violent governments?
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on February 9th, 2007 — Posted in Teen Violence
For the last day of Teen Violence Awareness and Prevention Week, I give you the following list from Focus Adolescent Services of risk factors that can condition children to violence.
Research studies have shown that violent behavior can be decreased or even prevented if these risk factors are significantly reduced or eliminated:
- Being the victim of physical abuse and/or sexual abuse
- Exposure to violence in the home and/or community
- Exposure to violence in media (TV, movies, etc.)
- Use of drugs and/or alcohol
- Presence of firearms in home
- Combination of stressful family socioeconomic factors (poverty, severe deprivation, marital breakup, single parenting, unemployment, loss of support from extended family)
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on February 8th, 2007 — Posted in Teen Violence
John Coté recently reported about the start of a 24 hour teen violence hotline:
Females between the ages of 16 and 24 are more vulnerable to intimate partner violence than any other age group — at a rate almost triple the national average, according to a 2001 U.S. Department of Justice report.
About 1 in 3 teenagers reported knowing a friend or peer who had been hit, punched, kicked, slapped, choked or physically hurt by their partner, according to a February 2005 study on teen dating abuse from Teenage Research Unlimited, a national research firm specializing in youth.
“It’s something that we cannot ignore any longer,” said Sheryl Cates, chief executive officer of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The organization, a nonprofit that provides crisis intervention and information for domestic violence victims, is launching the first 24-hour, national call-in service that focuses on teen dating violence.
The launch of the teen hot line and a related Web site is expected to be announced today, and it coincides with an effort dubbed “Love Is Not Abuse” to educate teens about preventing dating violence and how to seek help.
Read entire San Francisco Chronicle article by John Coté.
Hopefully, this 24-hour national call-in service will prevent teen violence. A hotline may offer the perhaps inexperienced teens the advice, help, and information required to avoid teen violence and abusive relationships.
what do you think?
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Posted by Scott on February 7th, 2007 — Posted in Teen Violence
A recent Siskiyou Daily reports on teen dating violence for Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week:
Teen dating violence, a silent epidemic, affects one in three U.S. teens, boys and girls alike.
February 5 – 9 is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Week, and it is the perfect time to help teach parents and teens ways to achieve and maintain positive relationships.
A recent National Crime Prevention Council press release reported that teen dating violence includes physical, emotional, and sexual assault.
It is also preventable.
As teens start romantic relationships, they apply social and parental norms to these new, unfamiliar relationships.
Teens learn how to behave by watching how their parents and their friends conduct themselves in their relationships.
Dating violence is a learned behavior, according to the press release.
The National Crime Prevention Council provided the following tips for parents to help their teens during a confusing time in growing up:
- Talk about the values of healthy relationships; partners show each respect, are honest, trust each other, share thoughts and feelings, and are willing to compromise.
- Educate your teen on the signs of an abusive relationship. Abuse takes many forms.
Read entire Siskiyou Daily article.
Unfortunately, teens lack the experience to understand the problem fully. They often fail to prevent, identify, and stop abusive relationships. Accordingly, parents, guardians, and supervisors must intervene to help youths stop and avoid violence.
What do you think?
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Posted by Scott on January 30th, 2007 — Posted in News, Teen Violence
Marilyn Henry wrote an informative article about teen violence. She says:
…for the second year the U.S. Senate has designated the week of Feb. 5 as Teen Violence Awareness and Prevention Week.
Teen violence is a significant problem often not recognized by teens, parents, teachers and others who have daily contact with adolescents. According to the American Bar Assn., about one in five female high school students report being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner, and teens have a higher risk of intimate partner abuse than adults.
Fifty-nine percent of all teens report knowing friends or peers who have been victims of dating violence.
Patterns of dating violence often start early, with victims as young as 11 or 12, and carry through into adult relationships. Violent relationships in adolescence have serious consequences for victims, many of whom will continue to be abused in their adult relationships and are at higher risk for substance abuse, eating disorders, risky sexual behaviors, serious injury and suicide.
Read entire Times Reporter article by Marilyn Henry.
I did not even know about teen Violence Awareness and Prevention Week until I read the above article. I hope the week raises awareness about this important topic. Because of their inexperience, teenagers lack the knowledge to identify, avoid, and escape abusive relationships. Additionally, the emotional scars of victimization affect teens worse than more mature adults.
What do you think?
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