NCJ Number
118703
Journal
School Safety Dated: (Fall 1985) Pages: 28-29
Date Published
1985
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article contends that teaching students the value of human life, nonviolence, and human dignity will minimize the involvement and loss of inner city youth in gang violence.
Abstract
Mass murders and serial killings receive news prominence, but too little attention is paid to routine brutality that exists within inner city communities where poor and minority children live. The solution to youth gang violence is in a cooperative, coordinated, and well-funded effort by educators, parents, the public, the church, the media, and politicians. Since young males are the primary perpetrators and victims of gang violence, they must be targeted for positive support, love, compassionate, and nonviolent deprogramming. Gang violence will be minimized or eliminated only if recruitment efforts influencing young men are destroyed. An educational approach is preferred over punitive measures; police and more jails cannot solve the problem of why young men join gangs and thus cannot permanently remove gang violence from the community. In addition to a school program that includes gang diversion counselors, exchange programs to acquaint children from different neighborhoods in a positive atmosphere are needed to offset "street lessons." Role models, peer counseling, incentives, summer camps, and family violence can also be effectively incorporated into the home and school environment. Effective alternatives to violence and the need for gang affiliation can be taught and learned.