What can we do about the crisis of youth violence? | GUEST COMMENTARY (original) (raw)

I agree with The Baltimore Sun’s May 20 editorial arguing that America’s youth are in crisis, although I believe people have said that throughout history. Today’s outlook, however, does seem much more bleak. This particular article by the editors mentions the recent violent attack by teenagers against a San Diego mosque, but there is a multitude of recent news events within recent weeks that can lead us to the same conclusion.

Law enforcement officers nationwide are dealing with what are termed “teen takeovers” at malls and public places, where social media is used to communicate dates and times for a meet-up of hundreds of kids without any parental supervision in sight. Unfortunately, violence erupts at a number of these gatherings.

Around the nation, especially at this time of year, there appears to be a spike in teen violence. In North Carolina, two teenagers were killed and five were injured after a planned fight in a public park in April. Visions of “West Side Story” come to my mind.

In Austin, Texas, in May, there was a weekend shooting spree where three teenagers allegedly stole a gun and proceeded to steal vehicles and injure others.

Also in May, a teenager in Memphis was charged with attempted murder for firing upon a vehicle. Also in Memphis, a 15-year-old is a suspect in the fatal shooting of another teen, a relative. And, to add to all this tragedy, another Memphis teen was shot that month at a graduation party.

There has also been a string of shootings involving teenagers across Maryland, including several last month in Laurel, Owings Mills, Baltimore and Towson.

Recently, a fight involving teens broke out in a Washington, D.C., Chipotle, endangering customers, staff and other bystanders. While the participants used chairs and furniture against each other, fortunately, there were no reports of guns or knives.

In a relatively quiet Baltimore County suburb last month, four middle school students ranging in age from 12 to 14 were arrested for an assault on a minor from another school.

This accounting is not all-inclusive, and reports of these crimes continue as I write this.

Relatedly but not unexpectedly, there is an uptick in school violence. What makes all this even more disheartening is the recording and posting of these incidents to social media, thus amplifying the spectatorship and widening the attention. I can’t bear to watch.

Two fights broke out at the beginning of May at Laurel High School in Maryland. In spite of the number of faculty, staff and security personnel, police needed to be called.

While conducting research for this piece, my stomach turned as I discovered the online “Gun Violence Archive,” which lists all school incidents. There were over 100 incidents in only the last two months, as of this writing. You can click on “View Incident View Source” for the details of each. Thankfully, as you can see by the list, not all had people who were injured or killed.

Ironically, a week in April was designated National Youth Violence Prevention Week. Thousands of students from Students Against Violence Everywhere Promise Clubs (an initiative of the Sandy Hook Promise) gathered to raise awareness and acquire commitments from people to help put an end to this behavior. Let’s give kudos to those students (and their parents, teachers and other mentors) who participate in these summits and work for such a good cause.

This Oct. 17 in Las Vegas, the International Conference on School Violence, Bullying and Education will be held. This event is organized by the International Alliance for Academic Research, and details can be found on their website. Anyone with an interest can and should attend.

There are multiple programs throughout the nation attempting to curb this violence. To name a few, in Maryland, there is the Saving Maryland At Risk Teens program focused on Baltimore City. Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services has a THRIVE program for gun violence reduction. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds Youth Violence Prevention Centers.

Some programs are community-wide while others are school or after-school programs. What else can be done?

Some people ascribe to the belief that we should hold parents accountable. And, indeed, some have been indicted for allowing their child access to their weapons or other acts of neglect.

We all ask why these children resort to violence? Is it learned? Has it been modeled? Why do they possess such a lack of conflict resolution skills? Is it their upbringing? Lack of a family unit? A result of environment, such as poverty, gangs or something else? Is it related to technology? Have these kids lost their sense of reality? Or is it just an overall moral decline in our society?

It is known that there is a shortage of pediatric therapists and mental health professionals. Of course, that also means that children with their parents and caregivers in need of help would need to be identified and/or seek help. Guidance counselors, social workers and others within school systems and other programs need to be vigilant in identifying these kids and getting them help. Even classmates who notice something amiss must be taught to confide their observations to a trusted adult.

Along the same lines, I recommend training to parents and caregivers. We always say that children aren’t born with manuals. Many young parents, in particular, could use tips on child-rearing and upbringing. I attended many parenting workshops when my children were younger. We could all use the help. The question would be how to bring those services to those in need and how to incentivize the parents to attend.

There are no easy answers. But we can all agree that it must be a priority to keep our children safe. Unfortunately, sometimes we need to keep our children safe from themselves when they are in distress, have suicidal thoughts, low self-esteem or feelings of alienation, isolation or depression. It is important for every parent or caregiver to keep a close watch on their own children. And it is equally important that parents who are owners of handguns and other weapons ensure that they are out of reach of children.

Everytown for Gun Safety and Project Childsafe advocate for those policies and provide help in that area.

It is no easy task to raise a child. We all must be that “village” and safe haven for children in our community and everywhere.

Diane Gensler (dianebgensler@gmail.com) lives in Baltimore and is the author of “Forgive Us Our Trespasses: A Memoir of a Jewish Teacher in a Catholic School.”