NCJ Number
147320
Date Published
1991
Length
20 pages
Annotation
The escalating level of violence associated with drugs, gangs, and organized crime, particularly in urban areas like Chicago, is having a profound effect on poor children who live in public housing developments.
Abstract
Taylor Homes, the largest public housing development in Chicago, has 28 buildings that house approximately 20,000 people. In the first quarter of 1988, 26 major crimes were reported in the development. In 1989, the police district serving another Chicago public housing development recorded 318 aggravated assaults. Public housing developments in Chicago and throughout the United States are home to about 1.6 million children who suffer economic deprivation and sociocultural risk. Black children have a one-in-two chance of being poor, and children who attend Chicago's inner-city public school system have low national reading scores and high dropout rates. Chicago's public housing developments are plagued by inadequate maintenance and security and by high personal and property crime rates. The effect of violence-related stress on children's learning and psychological well-being is addressed, and programs funded by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to focus on high-crime urban neighborhoods are noted. The effectiveness of parental security precautions is discussed, as well as the victimization of professionals who provide services to urban families, gang-controlled communities, and drug-related crimes.