Violent Neighborhoods Violent Kids

The United States is a nation that has been facing a crisis of violence within its school system for decades. This disruptive and traumatic phenomenon has had lasting impacts on the systems in which educations must exist, but the ripple effects of this require an extensive analysis. To advance society, quality education is necessary, and ensuring that quality demands that experts take a step back and look at the bigger picture. In the wake of rising concerns over safety in educational environments, Impact of Gun Violence in School Systems delves into the urgent issue of gun violence within the United States' school systems. As educators, administrators, counselors, social workers, and policy makers grapple with the complex challenges presented by violence, this book serves as a comprehensive guide to understanding the multifaceted dimensions of the issue. Examining topics such as gun violence, mental health, school suspension, student success, bullying, violence reduction programs, alternative schools, inner-city youth programs, and zero-tolerance policies, the manuscript synthesizes current research, real-world examples, and innovative solutions. Impact of Gun Violence in School Systems not only sheds light on the root causes of violence within educational settings but also provides actionable insights and recommendations, making it an indispensable resource for those committed to creating safer and more conducive learning environments for our youth.

Even though youth crime rates have fallen since the mid-1990s, public fear and political rhetoric over the issue have heightened. The Columbine shootings and other sensational incidents add to the furor. Often overlooked are the underlying problems of child poverty, social disadvantage, and the pitfalls inherent to adolescent decisionmaking that contribute to youth crime. From a policy standpoint, adolescent offenders are caught in the crossfire between nurturance of youth and punishment of criminals, between rehabilitation and "get tough" pronouncements. In the midst of this emotional debate, the National Research Council's Panel on Juvenile Crime steps forward with an authoritative review of the best available data and analysis. Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents recommendations for addressing the many aspects of America's youth crime problem. This timely release discusses patterns and trends in crimes by children and adolescentsâ€"trends revealed by arrest data, victim reports, and other sources; youth crime within general crime; and race and sex disparities. The book explores desistanceâ€"the probability that delinquency or criminal activities decrease with ageâ€"and evaluates different approaches to predicting future crime rates. Why do young people turn to delinquency? Juvenile Crime, Juvenile Justice presents what we know and what we urgently need to find out about contributing factors, ranging from prenatal care, differences in temperament, and family influences to the role of peer relationships, the impact of the school policies toward delinquency, and the broader influences of the neighborhood and community. Equally important, this book examines a range of solutions: Prevention and intervention efforts directed to individuals, peer groups, and families, as well as day care-, school- and community-based initiatives. Intervention within the juvenile justice system. Role of the police. Processing and detention of youth offenders. Transferring youths to the adult judicial system. Residential placement of juveniles. The book includes background on the American juvenile court system, useful comparisons with the juvenile justice systems of other nations, and other important information for assessing this problem.

This is a study of successful youth development in poor, disadvantaged neighborhoods in Denver and Chicago - a study of how children living in the worst neighborhoods develop or fail to develop the values, competencies and commitments that lead to a productive, healthy responsible adult life. While there is a strong focus on neighborhood effects, the study employs a multicontextual model examining both the direct effects of the neighborhood ecology, social organization and contexts embedded in the neighborhood. The unique and combined influence of the neighborhood, family, school, peer group and individual attributes on developmental success is estimated. The view that growing up in a poor, disadvantaged neighborhood condemns one to a life of repeated failure and personal pathology is revealed as a myth, as most youth in these neighborhoods are completing the developmental tasks of adolescence successfully.

Despite a drop in the overall crime rate in America, juvenile crime is rising. Not petty crimes, but heinous murders as the shootings in Jonesboro, Arkansas and Springfield, Oregon attest. From negative influences in popular culture to broken homes result in violent children in today's society.

Detailed and comprehensive, this volume presents authoritative discussions by leading scholars on issues surrounding serious and violent juvenile offenders. This population is responsible for a disproportionate percentage of all crime and poses the greatest challenge to juvenile justice policymakers. This volume integrates knowledge about risk and protective prevention programs, so that conclusions from each area can inform the other.

Explains the neurological, emotional, and behavioral impacts of violence and trauma experienced by newborns, infants, children, and teenagers. Traumatic events known as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can affect children physically, mentally, and emotionally, sometimes with long-term health and behavioral effects. Abuse, neglect, exposure to community and domestic violence, and household dysfunction all have the potential to alter brain development and behavior, but few people are able to recognize or respond to trauma in children. Given the prevalence of childhood exposure to violence—with one in four children ages 5 to 15 living in households with only moderate levels of safety and nurturance and infants and children ages 0 to 3 comprising the highest percentage of those maltreated—it is imperative that students and professionals alike be able to identify types and consequences of violence and trauma. This book provides readers with the information they need in order to know how to detect and prevent ACEs and to help children who have lived through them.