NCJ Number
224212
Journal
Crime Prevention & Community Safety Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: 2008 Pages: 249-270
Date Published
2008
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article describes a recent project in which the author worked with policymakers, practitioners, and citizens in developing a youth violence prevention plan for a small but growing rural city.
Abstract
The authors role in the City Youth Initiative was to help identify the risk factors in the community, tally the protective factors already available, help provide insight into citizen perceptions of youth violence, and offer recommendations that would help the city work to decrease youth violence and promote healthy outcomes. The process developed is referred to as an “empowered approach” for preventing youth violence. On the one hand, involving policymakers, practitioners, and residents in the research and planning process provided an opportunity for the authors to ensure that their research would be useful to those formulating policy. On the other hand, a number of challenges arose to make the nature of the research substantially different from other projects in which the authors had been involved. Recommendations are offered for other criminologists in using an empowered approach in their research. One recommendation is to establish partnerships with members of the media. Other recommendations to criminologists are to define clearly all participants’ roles, ensure that the goals of the process are clearly defined, become involved in building community partnerships, and define the boundaries and parameters for the criminologists themselves. In adopting a case study approach, this article describes the “empowered process.” It begins by highlighting the process used. Next, the authors discuss the various themes that arose, which could be a part of any process in which researchers work with policymakers, practitioners, and community members. This is followed by a discussion of the challenges that the authors confronted. 2 tables, 1 figure, and 30 references