Violent crime has been rising nationally because the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,1 and lots of elected officials, policymakers, and media outlets have mistakenly placed the blame on young people.2 For much too long, youth have been a simple scapegoat for the rising violence in America.3 Although the true drivers of this devastating trend are complex and far-reaching,4 the political motivation to point to a single reason for violent crime has spawned public discourse and policy developments which have harmed generations of youth, and particularly youth of color, for an issue they didn’t cause.5
In line with a recent Sentencing Project evaluation, only 7 percent of the people arrested in the US in 2019 were younger than 18, a much smaller share than in years past. This trend continued across offense categories in 2020, with the share of crime committed by youth continuing to say no. In actual fact, from 2017 to 2020, the entire variety of youth arrested fell by 50 percent, the variety of youth arrested for serious crimes fell by 38 percent, and the variety of youth arrested for homicides fell by 8 percent.6 The general variety of homicides committed by youth did rise barely from 2019 to 2020 together with the national trend, however the share of youth arrested for homicide was only 7.5 percent in 2020 and stays lower than within the preceding years.7
Although the trends in youth arrests are stepping into the fitting direction, the info on youth victims of gun violence tell a distinct story. Gun violence was the leading explanation for death amongst children and teenagers in 2020.8 Black youth are 14 times more likely and Hispanic youth are 3 times more likely than white youth to die in consequence of gun violence.9 Violent crime is the consequence of historic underinvestment in communities of color. A comprehensive approach to handle crime and violence should direct resources back into communities of color which were disproportionately affected and where historic divestment has resulted in an absence of proven public health and community safety infrastructure.
This issue temporary highlights the importance of taking a comprehensive approach to gun violence to satisfy the needs of young people. It discusses how community violence intervention (CVI) programs are a very important a part of that approach to stop the present cycle of violence and spotlights two programs which might be working to satisfy youth where they’re.
A comprehensive approach to gun violence would save young lives
The impact of increased gun violence, particularly on young people of color, must not be missed.10 Efforts to scale back gun violence need to handle the underlying societal conditions which might be causing violence—akin to concentrated poverty,11 gaps in available public health resources,12 and community trauma13—lots of which have only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.14
Reducing the variety of youth who’re likely to interact in or develop into victims of gun violence requires an interdisciplinary approach. As a part of a comprehensive approach to stop youth violence and associated risk behaviors, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized the necessity to give attention to evidence-based strategies that each prevent violence before it happens and intervene to handle immediate and future harms.15 Prevention strategies that promote healthy families, improve early education, provide skills-building opportunities, connect youth to supportive adults, and improve community environments have long been recognized as key to combating youth violence in the long run.16 Nonetheless, a comprehensive approach also requires programs to intervene in breaking the cycle of violence by meeting the needs of at-risk youth and helping them change their lives.
These more immediate interventions, referred to as community violence interventions, have shown success at engaging individuals most probably to take part in gun violence and addressing its root causes. Nonetheless, local, state, and federal government in addition to private philanthropy must provide greater resources to support CVI models specifically dedicated to serving young people.
CVI programs meet community members, particularly youth, where they’re
CVI refers to a variety of program models that each one work to scale back homicides and shootings through established partnerships between government stakeholders, community leaders, trusted service providers, and folks most probably to be affected by gun violence.17 CVI programs are staffed by people rooted within the communities they serve, with the local knowledge vital to mediate conflicts and discover supportive services for participants. CVIs also help individuals deal with the trauma related to living in neighborhoods beset by routine gun violence: Such programs have been shown to curb violence by as much as 60 percent in areas where they’re implemented.18
Various evidence-based CVI programs have been or are being implemented in communities nationwide:
- Hospital-based violence intervention programs work with individuals who have been admitted to the hospital for intentional injuries, in addition to their families, in an effort to stop retaliation and connect patients and families to community-based care.19
- Community-driven crime prevention by environmental design programs give attention to neighborhoods’ physical environment, addressing issues akin to blight and vacant lots to create protected public spaces and reduce the variety of areas where activity that results in gun violence can occur.20
- Violence interruption programs, also referred to as street outreach programs, employ staff who’re closely related to the dynamics of neighborhood gun violence and may thus construct close relationships with participants. Such relationships mean that participants trust staff to de-escalate or resolve conflicts, provide resources to stop and disrupt cycles of violence, and halt retaliation.21
- In group violence intervention programs, community leaders and law enforcement programs work together to interact with individuals most connected to group violence. To discourage violence, these programs depend on each enforcement measures and supportive services delivered by messengers with credibility locally.22
Youth CVI initiatives built on these evidence-based models are only after they take a public health approach to gun violence that appears at population-level aspects that influence access to firearms and the basis causes of gun violence.23 The many years of lessons learned from existing evidence-based prevention strategies also can inform the delivery of supportive services to supply results and save young lives.
Components of youth-focused CVI programs
Youth-focused CVI programs take a mix of the next approaches:
- Engage and offer support on to those young people most probably to interact in or be victims of gun violence.
- Employ trusted and revered members of the community to work directly with youth who could also be skeptical of presidency or law enforcement.
- Provide school-based services to make sure participants attain their educational goals.24
- Prioritize community needs by engaging participants, program staff, and residents in efforts to enhance their neighborhoods through blight remediation, addressing abandoned property, beautification efforts, and more.25
- Provide workforce development, job training, and employment opportunities for youth.26
- Increase access to recreation and community centers, parks, and other prosocial development opportunities.27
- Improve relationships between participants and their families, friends, and bigger communities.
- Include youth directly affected by community violence in program design and implementation.
- Be certain that implementation is outcomes-driven and that a performance management and evaluation plan has been established that assesses violence reduction and neighborhood improvement metrics.
Case studies of youth-serving CVI programs
Two youth-serving CVI programs, one in Los Angeles and one in Chicago, are illustrative examples ofprograms that take a comprehensive approach to working with youth in need, providing a variety of services and supports to handle the basis causes of violence. This section considers each these programs in turn.
Los Angeles: The gang reduction and youth development strategy
Town of Los Angeles’ Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GYRD) Office was established in 2007 and commenced funding community-based services in 2009 “to enhance the general health and well-being of youth, young adults, families, and communities and supply positive alternatives to advertise prosocial decisions.”28 GYRD implements a comprehensive strategy focused on community engagement, gang prevention, gang intervention, and violence-interruption activities. This system grew to cover 23 service areas in 2020, and the town currently contracts with 25 community-based providers to deliver services, akin to family case management, proactive peacemaking, and crisis intervention, to program participants. Town also hosts a variety of community engagement activities and coordinates a strong research and evaluation effort.
Goal demographic
Interventions with gang-involved youth ages 15–25 in 23 service zones across the town
Program design
Along with its robust community engagement and violence prevention programming, GRYD provides the next community and individual-level intervention and interruption activities:
- Community-level interventions: Through the summer and fall seasons, when rates of violence are at their highest, GRYD coordinates a variety of activities through government and community partnerships. These activities are focused on creating protected public spaces, constructing trust between community members and law enforcement, and creating opportunities for youth employment and profession development.
- Intervention family case management program: Family case management services are offered to youth who’re energetic gang members to assist them increase their engagement in prosocial relationships and stop involvement with gang activities.
- Proactive peacemaking: Community intervention staff—who’ve previously been involved in a gang or who’ve credibility locally—monitor local gang activity and conduct impact sessions and outreach events in key geographic areas. Additionally they proactively work to barter peace treaties amongst rival groups.
- Incident response program: Program coordinators, community intervention staff, and law enforcement collaborate to reply immediately after a violent incident and forestall retaliation. Efforts include short-term interventions akin to responding to the scene and quelling rumors, in addition to long-term interventions akin to assisting with funeral arrangements and connecting families to services.
Stakeholders
The Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development, 25 community-based service providers contracted to offer service delivery, California State University, Los Angeles, and community engagement partners
Outcomes
GYRD’s success has been well documented in a series of evaluation reports conducted by California State University, Los Angeles and funded by the town.29 Specific successes include:
- From 2011 to 2016, people receiving GRYD family case management services were 22 percent less likely to interact in nonviolent criminal behavior and 17 percent less likely to interact in violent criminal behavior after participating in this system for six months.30
- From 2014 to 2017, involving the incident response team in responding to violent incidents within the service area reduced retaliatory violence by 41 percent. It also reduced retaliatory violence by 18 percent immediately across the event (inside a single block) and by 22 percent in areas at the very least one block away from the violent incident.31
- From 2010 to 2019, calls for service in response to violent crimes and incidents of violent crime were reduced 4 percent within the areas where Summer Night Lights (SNL) programming was offered.32 SNL began in 2008 at eight Los Angeles parks and grew to 32 sites in 2013. SNL provides a big selection of summer activities for youth and other neighborhood residents that happen through the hours when most gang violence takes place. This system helps construct meaningful prosocial connections. Community intervention staff intervene in gang quarrels and mitigate violent activity within the parks where the programs are offered.33
- From 2011 to 2016, 58 percent of prevention program participants saw such a big reduction in risk level that they were not eligible for services.34
Chicago: Decide to Change program
The Decide to Change (C2C) program serves youth impacted by violence and trauma of their communities, providing “intensive advocate and wraparound supports together with trauma-informed therapy” to interrupt the cycle of violence, increase connections to educational opportunities, and help young people succeed.35 C2C is a partnership between Youth Advocate Programs, which provides wraparound services, and Children’s Home & Aid, which provides trauma-informed therapy. C2C was established in 2015 as a part of a citywide design competition held by the University of Chicago, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and Get IN Chicago; it was chosen because the competition winner from amongst 200 applicants. Since being established, C2C has served greater than 800 youth ages 13–18 in a six-month program. It focuses heavily on peer engagement and support for each youth and their families.36
Targeted demographic
Youth ages 13–18 within the Englewood, West Side, and South Side neighborhoods of Chicago who face a wide range of challenges, including trauma, involvement with the legal system, and disconnection from school
Program design
C2C works with youth from high-need neighborhoods who’ve experienced significant trauma, educational hardship, juvenile justice system involvement, or other barriers of their communities. It engages with young people through a variety of approaches, including advocacy and self-empowerment, relentless engagement, opportunities for peer support amongst participants, and basic needs assistance for youth and families. C2C staff also develop individualized service plans with participants and supply trauma-informed group therapy. This system employs staff to be advocates and coaches; the incontrovertible fact that they’re from the identical neighborhoods as participants—and have similar life experiences—enables them to construct trust and supply mentorship. Staff are also available on a 24-hour basis to assist youth in crisis develop latest ways of responding.
Stakeholders
Children’s Home & Aid, Youth Advocate Programs, University of Chicago Crime Lab, the City of Chicago Office of the Mayor, Chicago Police Department, Chicago Public Schools, MacArthur Foundation, and Get IN Chicago
Outcomes
To guage this system’s impact, Decide to Change partnered with the University of Chicago Crime Lab.37 Preliminary findings show that:
- Through the course of this system, youth have 48 percent fewer arrests for violent crimes than their nonparticipant peers. One and a half years after program completion, they’ve 38 percent fewer arrests for violent crime.
- Participants are 39 percent less likely than other youth in the world to experience arrest through the course of program participation, in addition to 33 percent less more likely to experience arrest two and a half years after completing this system.
- C2C increases school attendance by 6 percent, and participants have 32 percent fewer school-related disciplinary incidents.
Conclusion
As communities work to stem gun violence and the devastating impact that it has on young people across the country, community violence intervention programs, coupled with more comprehensive public health and prevention efforts, have demonstrated success. While data show that youth aren’t accountable for the recent surge in gun violence nationwide, a comprehensive approach to prevention and intervention is critical to handle its root causes. At a critical moment in young people’s lives, CVI programs can meet people where they’re and make a big difference within the lives of each individual participants and full communities.