VIOLENCE
Fear does not decrease in direct proportion to the decrease in crime rates. Perception is half the battle. On August 2, 1994 across the nation citizens turned on their lights to fight crime. It was a symbolic gesture that offered hope and showed solidarity and determination.
"In downtown Spokane students from Saint Patrick's School marched and prayed. This vigil were held to recognize street kids and downtown residents who are afraid to walk outside alone. The students' slogan was Wake up Spokane. Protect our children." Shanna Mabie, Freeman High School, Rockford, Washington
"The Good Disciples...go around policing the suburbs and take charge of the streets. They are granted some authority by the state to arrest and imprison gangsters who break the law. The group members are aged eighteen and upwards. It is in effect a gang trying to stop a gang, without the guns and violence." Justin Lewis, DeForest High School, DeForest, Wisconsin
*The citizens of Salinas, California are attacking crime on a block by block basis. Block captains are given direct lines to city and county staff to report neighborhood problems. Two uniformed police patrol targeted neighborhoods on bicycles. The city is seeking government funding but started the program with $7,000 in seed money donated by the local Rotary club.
"In Irume, California Police Chief Charles Brobeck says officers blanket a local park on weekends at times when suspected gang members show up. The visibility of officers reduces drug dealing and other crime, so arrest is often not necessary." Chris Brown, Kinsley High School, Kinsley, Kansas
"In Washington...judges now send about 5000 [juveniles] a year to neighborhood citizen committees. These meet with the juveniles and parents, prescribe counseling, educational help, and punishments. In 1991 penalties averaged 12 hours of community service, and $120 in restitution." Keri Wiatrek, Falls City High School, Falls City, Texas
"About half of New Haven's police officers have been trained to go on call to a crime scene, hospital, or precinct to comfort any children who may have witnessed a violent act such as murder. This way, the children aren't overwhelmed by the exposure to violence." Stephanie Wilson, Colby High, Kansas
"A program targeted towards controlling crime in Salem, Oregon is called a Youth Services Team. This approach involves spotting troubled children and helping them early." Chris Brown, Kinsley High School, Kinsley, Kansas
*Early? So far no one is advocating Americans go as far as the 4 year old Welsh boy who called the police asking them for help. It seems his mom insisted he finish his dinner before eating his dessert. He wanted the police to come out and mediate--"straighten out the mess" with his mom. His parents put a lock on the phone.
*We keep searching for ways to make rehabilitation efforts successful. We want to get it right. We desperately need to succeed in this effort in order to avoid the alternatives.
"Instead of sending the offenders to prison, they now [can choose] to be sent to boot camp. This [not] only gives them a 'military-style shock incarceration' program of 3 to 6 months, it also entails programs that include substance-abuse treatment [and teach them] how to persuade a prospective employer to hire them despite their prison record." Kara Krauskopf, Crockett High School, Austin, Texas
"Texas Key is the name of a program that has centers in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. It is offered as an alternative to large detention centers that operate more like prisons. Staff members at the Key centers say [their] programs are tailored to the individual and allow a person to succeed where other facilities have failed." Shane Nichols, Valley Springs High School, Valley Springs, Arkansas
*Schools are not ignoring the violence:
"Of all teenagers surveyed at a local Florida high school, one-fourth admitted to carrying a weapon the month prior. In reaction to such horrifying statistics the community has established a program called Safe Schools, Safe Communities. ...The program will allow $624,833 in federal grants to reach the school districts of Florida helping them to tie links between local schools and police. Such a program makes a prime example of the ladder effect associated with responsibility. When the first notch of the ladder slips the family, the responsibility moves down to the schools. When that notch slips the responsibility descends even lower to the communities." Angela Fletcher, Broken Arrow High School, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
"George Sam, an ex-cop, created SAFE: Schools Are For Education, to clear guns from Chicago schools." Jenifer Roosevelt, Carbondale High School, Carbondale, Illinois
"At Lincoln Elementary School in San Bernardino, California, 'Kids Against Crime' teaches kids how to protect themselves and prevent crime. Kids are the ones who teach and it offers a national hot line, a drop-in center, and crime-prevention training. Membership has grown to 4700 worldwide." Amy Severson, Colby High School, Colby, Kansas
"Walter Annenberg, a publisher, recently pledged $500,000,000 to improve public education. He fears that the violence in schools today is going to ruin America's future. He pledged the money to improve schools all across America. He has also challenged other people to join him and help fight the violence. The violence in public schools today has caused a major decline in education. Annenberg is hoping to improve this problem and eventually put an end to it." Mary Conway, Phoenix High School, Phoenix, Oregon
"A task force appointed by the California governor has made recom- mendations for increasing security in the state's public schools. California's administrators and teachers have to be trained in school crime prevention and safety procedures along with meeting many other requirements. In Oakland, California, schools now practice a 'bullet drill,' in which they move away from windows and crouch under their desks." Michael Kline, Concordia High School, Concordia, Kansas
"Education Secretary Richard Riley has sent Congress two bills that would help educators in their Get Tough crusade. The first: the safe schools act that cleared it's first congressional hurdle last month, will provide one hundred and seventy million dollars to school systems trying to beef up security. The second will launch long term funding beginning in 1995." Shannon Harrah, Meadow Bridge High School, Meadow Bridge, West Virginia
"The Clinton administration recently weighed in with its own plan for a $75 million 'safe schools' fund to help education develop violence- prevention programs." Larry Scott Graddy,Valley Springs High School,Valley Springs, Arkansas
*The President's wants to provide more police and greater opportunities for young people to obtain a higher education at the same time:
"Bill Clinton has just proposed a new program which is called 'Good Cops For Less.' This plan states that selected high school students have their college education paid for and in return they serve four years on a police force. This might turn out ok, but these selected people have to be dedicated, and not just slack off. Some of the kids might just join to get a free college education; if that's the case then this program will be a total failure." Mike Gagliardi, South Kent High School, South Kent, Connecticut
*Crime is a problem on college campuses too:
"In June of 1990, the House of Representatives passed the Student Right To Know And Campus Act that requires all institutions that receive federal aid to publish yearly statistics of crime for their campuses and to let women know of the dangers." Jenna Freeman, Freeman High School, Rockford, Washington
*Child abuse, discussed in the first section, is perhaps the most contemptible sign of our nation's decay. The Civitas Initiative is a program linking law and psychology in an effort to combat child abuse. At the Civitas Child Law Center, law students go on ride-alongs with police and spend time with social workers and emergency-room physicians. At the Baylor College of Medicine, psychiatric residents and psychology students attend law classes and juvenile court proceedings. The goal is to train a new kind of professional capable of dealing with this shameful problem.
GANGS
"A group of gang members form inner city Minneapolis went to Los Angeles to meet with members from other cities to discuss the problem of gang violence. They went as a part of United For Peace, a program that involves gang members from all around trying to work together and do something good for the community. The gangs work together to try to stop the violence and create jobs for black men. During the visit the gang members went to movie star Jim Brown's mansion to discuss this program. The City is a non-profit organization working with inner city kids and their families. The City also works for economic development. The group already offers security services and may try to design a line of clothing representing peace." Scott Arthur Grabe, Barnesville High School, Barnesville, Minnesota
"T. Rogers, who founded the L.A. gang, the Bloods, and who began the bloodshed between the Bloods and Crips, is currently working on reversing the problem he began. He revisits schools that he tormented and tells overcrowded auditoriums about the 'blood, sweat, and tears' of gangbanging. He has also joined forces with ex-football great, Jim Brown. Together the have opened up gang-rehab programs nationwide." Patrick A. Sampson, Concordia High School, Concordia, Kansas
"The man helped teens stay out of gangs by getting involved with them on the personal level. To remember those who fell, he paints a remembrance symbol on the spot sidewalk where the child's life was taken." Jennifer Artemis Carr, Aubrey High School, Aubrey, Texas
"In Seattle, rival gang members are becoming peacemakers at Cleveland High School. They are known as The Council and they represent a half- dozen ethnicity's and more than a dozen rival groups. They care about what happens to their surrounding environment and know its up to them to take action." Shanna Mabie, Freeman High School, Rockford, Washington
"The parents and teachers have put up with gang colors, clothing and fights long enough. Starting in September 1994-95 school year, the students will wear uniforms...This new idea will also cut down on expenses of normal clothes." Kerri Frankling, Pioneer High School, San Jose, California
*A retired attorney was responsible for the start of the Conflict
Resolution and Mediation Center of Monterey County which handles all
sorts of conflict resolution free of charge to people with low to
moderate incomes. The mediators are carefully trained community
volunteers. Eighty-seven to 89 percent of the approximately 1,200 cases
processed each year by the volunteers ends in settlement. The center
receives funds through private grants and contracts with the county and
cities whose courts they unclog. They work frequently with gangs. The
administrator was quoted, "We're like the Patriot Missile. We go in,
we resolve that one issue and then we're back out of it." Gangs like
mediation because it is their choice--force is not used to get them to
come together. The director of a local gang prevention program called
Second Chance, received t