The Bell Foundation
1000 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA, 02138
Phone: (617) 868-1000
Fax: (617) 349-3495
Organization that aims to increase educational and life opportunities and achievements of urban youth through long-term one-on-one relationships between African-American role models and young children.

Big Brother Association of Greater Boston
286 Congress Street, 3rd Floor
Boston, MA, 02210
Phone: (617) 542-9090
Fax: (617) 542-8855
E-mail: mailto:bbassoc@tiac.net
Web Site: www.townonline.com/boston/commres/bigbrother
Volunteers serve as male role models in positive one-to-one relationships with boys.

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston
161 Massachusetts Ave.
Boston, MA, 02115
Phone: (617) 236-8060
Fax: (617) 236-8075
Contact: Patricia Shine
E-mail: mailto:bigsisbos@aol.com
Web Site: www.bigsister.org
Offers the service of a "Big Sister" to girls ages 7-15 who are in need of a consistent, one-to-one relationship with a woman.

Boston Conflict Resolution Program
Boston Area Educators for Social Responsibility
11 Garden Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
(617) 492-8820
Create curriculum based interventions that focus on mediation and conflict resolution.

Co/Motion
Alliance for Justice
Hilary Binder-Aviles, Co/Motion Project Director
Malkia M'Buzi Moore, Youth Gun Violence Prevention Initiative Program Manager
2000 P Street, NW, Suite 712
Washington, D.C., 20036
Phone: 202-822-6070
Fax: 202-822-6078
E-mail: comotion@afj.org.
Organization whose goal is to empower young activists to initiate social change.

Join Together
441 Stuart Street, 6th Fl.
Boston, MA, 02116
Phone: (617) 437-1500
Fax: (617) 437-9394
E-mail: info@jointogether.org
Web Site: www.jointogether.org
Advocacy group fighting substance abuse at community level.

ROCA, Inc.
(CFN contact) Molly Baldwin, Executive Director
101 PRK Street
Chelsea, MA 02150
(617)889-5210
Fax: (617)889-2145
ROCA is a community based violence prevention and intervention program for teens

Urban Peacemakers
(CFN contact) Ted Johnson, Director
9 Waterhouse St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 354-5444 ext. 159
Urban Peacemakers is a community based gang violence prevention program.

Violence Prevention Project
1010 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA, 02119
Phone: (617) 534-5196
Violence prevention program focused on youth activism.

Zumix
202 Maverick Square
East Boston, MA, 02128
Phone: (617) 568-9777
Fax: (617) 568-9797
E-mail: youth@zumix.org
Web Site: www.zumix.org
ZUMIX is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to youth empowerment through the arts. ZUMIX believes that arts and cultural opportunities are fundamental to human progress and are the most powerful means to rebuilding community.

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Story contacts (The following is a list of people who have already been contacted by CFN and have agreed to speak with the press.)

Molly Baldwin, Executive Director of ROCA
101 Park Street
Chelsea, MA 02150
(617) 889-5210 ext.221

Ted Johnson
Director, Urban Peacemakers
9 Waterhouse St.
Cambridge, MA02138
(617) 354-5444 ext. 159

Saroeum Phoung
ROCA Revere
103 Shirley Avenue
Revere, MA 02151
(617)284-6281

"Street Workers" of ROCA
contact through Molly Baldwin (see above)

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Experts (The following is a list of people who have already been contacted by CFN and have agreed to speak with the press.)

Molly Baldwin, Executive Director
ROCA Inc.
101 Park Street
Chelsea, MA 02150
(617)889-5210 ext. 221
Relevant area: Gang and community outreach

Paulette Kohman
Conflict Management and Mediation Services
P.O. Box 428
Helena, MT 59624
(406) 457-9072
Email : pkohman@in-tch.com
Relevant area : conflict management and mediation

Lois Lavinsky, Associate Professor of Social Work and Clinical Social Worker
Boston University
(617)666-2039
E-Mail: llevinsk@gis.net
Relevant area: adolescent and gang-related behavior

Steve Nawojczyk
P.O. Box 1932
North Little Rock, AR 72115
(501) 753-6270
Fax : (501) 753-5296
Email : steve@gangwar.com
Relevant area : renowned gang researcher and educator

Selena Respass
Harvard School of Public Health
Violence Prevention
718 Huntington Ave. Boston, MA 02115
(617)432-3674
Fax# (617)432-3050
E-Mail: srespass@sph.harvard.edu
Relevant area: violence prevention

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Background (The following is a compilation of research, statistics, and clinical data.)

Youth and Guns

The National School Boards Association estimates that more than 135,000 guns are brought into U.S. schools each day. ("Violence in the Schools," National School Boards Association, 1993).

The most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 10% of high school students had carried a weapon (e.g., gun, knife, or club) on school property in the month preceding the survey. (Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1997 Update on Violence, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1997.)

The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence estimates that, of school weapon incidents, 18% are drug- or gang- related, 15 % concern long-standing disputes, 13% involve playing with or cleaning guns, 12% are over romantic disagreements, and 10% are over fights and material belongings. ("Weapons in Schools," National School Safety Center Resource Paper, 1993
Center to Prevent Handgun Violence 1225 Eye Street, NW Suite 1100, Washington, D.C.
20005. Phone (202) 289-7319 FAX (202) 408-1851. http://www.cphv.org)

One of the more effective means of preventing firearm-related juvenile crimes is stringent enforcement of laws against illegal gun carrying (Kennedy, D. M., Piehl, A. M., & Braga, A. A. (1996). Youth Gun Violence in Boston: Gun Markets, Serious Youth Offenders, and a Use Reduction Strategy; Sherman, L. W., Gottfredson, D., MacKenzie, D., Eck, J., Reuter, P., Bushway, S., (1997).Preventing crime: What works, what doesn't, what's promising: A report to the United States Congress. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice. (Download at http://www.ncjrs.org/works/)).

The following statistics about youth violence are from the Children’s Defense Fund website (Children’s Defense Fund. National headquarters. 25 E Street NW. Washington, DC 20001. 202-628-8787. www.childrensdefense.org. E-mail: cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org

• Crime and violence by youth are declining. Violent juvenile crime arrests have fallen by 25% since 1994.

• Children and youth are at a much greater risk of being the victims than the perpetrators of a violent crime. Children and youth ages 12 to 17 are nearly three times as likely as adults to be victims of violent crime.

• Nearly 13 children die each day from gunfire in America, approximately one every 100 minutes. That is the equivalent of classroom of children every two days.

• Gunfire killed 4,643 infants, children, and teens in 1996, dropping below 5,000 for the first time since 1990.

• Of all the children killed by gunfire, nearly two-thirds were victims of homicide and about one-third died from suicide. Guns remain the most common method of suicide for children. Accidental shootings accounted for most of the balance of the gun deaths of children.

• Seventy-nine percent of the victims of juvenile homicide offenders were killed with a firearm. Ten percent of the victims were family members, 54 percent were acquaintances, and 36 percent were strangers.

• Between 1979 and 1996, more than 75,000 American children and teens were killed by firearms. That is almost 20,000 more than died in combat in Vietnam. Between 1979 and 1996, another 375,000 children and teens were wounded by firearms. By comparison, about 150,000 American soldiers were wounded in combat in Vietnam.

• Between 1979 and 1996, 505 American solders were killed in action. During that same period, 1,875 children younger than 5 were killed by firearms, more than three times as many. In 1996, 55 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty. In that same year, more than 4,600 children andteens were killed by firearms, 1 American soldier was killed in action, and 20 soldiers were killed by terrorists.

• Nearly 13 children die each day from gunfire in America, approximately one every 100 minutes.

Research suggests that while factors vary, a need for belonging, poor male role-models, economic struggle, lack of approved social outlets in the community, and media-hype contribute to a young person's desire to enter a gang. (Yablonsky, L. (1997). Gangsters. New York: New York University Press.; Atkin, B. (1996). Voices from the Streets. New York: Little Brown & Company.; Huff, C. R. (Ed.). (1996). Gangs in America (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.)

Research suggests that life in a gang is often violent, but familial. (Yablonsky, L. (1997). Gangsters. New York: New York University Press.; Atkin, B. (1996). Voices from the Streets. New York: Little Brown & Company.; Huff, C. R. (Ed.). (1996). Gangs in America (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.; Scott, K. (1994). Monster. New York: Penguin Books.)

The Boston Globe has included two articles in the past few months suggesting that while Lowell is cracking down on gangs, the greater Boston area "needs to invest more heavily in its front-line violence prevention team." (Farragher, T. (1998, September 9). Lowell cracks down on gang. The Boston Globe, pp. B1, B7.; The front line against youth violence. (1998, August 13). The Boston Globe, p. A19.)

Organized youth gangs are not limited to large, inner-city areas as it is commonly believed, and membership crosses all racial and ethnic boundaries. (The National Center for Victims of Crime. 2111 Wilson Blvd. Suite 300. ,VA 22201. (703)276-2880. Fax: (703)276-2889. http://www.nvc.org.)

Of the 600,000 to 950,000 gang members in the U.S., female gangs make up between 10% and 15%. (National Youth Gang Center. Institute for Intergovernmental Research. Post Office Box 12729. Tallahassee, FL 32317. (850) 385-0600. FAX: (850) 386-5356. E-Mail: nygc@iir.com. website: http://www.iir.com/nygc/)

There are over 25,000 gangs nationwide. (National Youth Gang Center. Institute for Intergovernmental Research. Post Office Box 12729. Tallahassee, FL 32317. (850) 385-0600. FAX: (850) 386-5356. E-Mail: nygc@iir.com. website: http://www.iir.com/nygc/)

13.8% of American high school students joined a gang during the 1993-1994 school year. (The National Center for Victims of Crime. 2111 Wilson Blvd. Suite 300. ,VA 22201. (703)276-2880. Fax: (703)276-2889. http://www.nvc.org.)

The peak times for juvenile crime occur during the hours immediately after school (Snyder, H. N., Sickmund, M., & Poe-Yamagata, E. (1997). Juvenile offenders and victims:

1997 update on violence. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention).

The following are findings from the 1996 National Youth Gang Survey, performed by the U.S. Department of Justice. (National Youth Gang Survey (1996). Shay Bilchik, Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. U.S. Department of Justice. 810 Seventh Street, NW. Washington, DC 2053. http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org.

• The youth gang problem in this country is substantial and affects communities of all sizes. Almost three-fourths of surveyed cities with populations greater than 25,000 (large cities) reported youth gangs in 1996. A majority of suburban counties had gangs, as did a significant percentage of small cities and rural counties. The western region of the United States had the highest percentage (75 percent) of jurisdictions reporting gangs in 1996, while the northeastern region had the lowest percentage (35 percent).

• An estimated 4,824 jurisdictions had active youth gangs in the United States in 1996. In addition, approximately 31,000 gangs and 846,000 gang members were active in these jurisdictions.

• The majority of gang members (71 percent) were reported to be between the ages of 15 and 24.

• The average proportion of adult gang members increased as the level of gang member involvement in drug sales and the degree of gang control of drug distribution increased.

• Females were reported to be substantially less involved in gangs than males in 1996.

• An estimated 2,364 homicides that occurred in large cities and 561 homicides that occurred in suburban counties involved gang members. The larger the population of a jurisdiction, the higher the number of homicides involving gang members.

• Respondents indicated that youth gang members were, relatively, more involved in larceny/theft, followed fairly closely, in the order of degree of involvement, by aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft. The number of jurisdictions that reported a high degree of involvement in aggravated assault, robbery, and motor vehicle theft increased as the population of jurisdictions increased.

• On average, respondents estimated that 43 percent of the drug sales in their jurisdictions involved gang members, although most respondents reported gang member involvement at the high and low ends of the spectrum.

The National Institute for Dispute Resolution estimates that there are over 8,500 conflict mediation programs nationwide. (Cornell, D. G. (1999). What Works in Youth Violence Prevention. Virginia Youth Violence Project. University of Virginia. In (Eds.) D. Cornell, A. Loper, A. Atkinson, and P. Sheras, (in press). Youth Violence Prevention in Virginia: A Needs Assessment, prepared for the Virginia Department of Health. For additional information call 804-924-8929.)

A study of ten Boys & Girls Clubs (which use mentoring strategies to reach at-risk youth) by the U.S. Office of Substance Abuse Prevention reported 22% lower levels of drug activity and increased levels of parent involvement (Schinke, S. P., Orlandi, M. A. & Cole, K. C. (1992). Boys & Girls Clubs in public housing developments: Prevention services for youth at risk. Journal of Community Psychology: OSAP Special Issue, 118-128.)

Multisystemic therapy is one of the most cost-effective and demonstrably effective treatments for high-risk or delinquent children and their families. (Family Services Research Center (1995). Multisystemic therapy using home-based services: A clinically effective and cost effective strategy for treating serious clinical problems in youth. Charleston, S.C.: Author.)

Violence prevention counseling can help aggressive youth cope with their frustration and hostility,and resolve conflicts without fighting. For example, the Duke University "Coping Power" program developed by Lochman (1992) to teach aggressive youth to cope with their anger has been shown to help children correct distortions in their perceptions of social interactions and choose non-violent alternative courses of action. (Cornell, D. G. (1999). What Works in Youth Violence Prevention. Virginia Youth Violence Project. University of Virginia. In (Eds.) D. Cornell, A. Loper, A. Atkinson, and P. Sheras, (in press). Youth Violence Prevention in Virginia: A Needs Assessment, prepared for the Virginia Department of Health. For additional information call 804-924-8929.)

Mentoring is a relatively inexpensive program in which adult volunteers spend time each week with children or adolescents, typically engaged in recreational or educational activities. A controlled experiment with 959 youth in 8 cities found that the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program resulted in a 46% reduction in drug use, a 32% reduction in hitting people, and a 52% reduction in truancy (Grossman & Garry, 1997; Tierney & Grossman, 1995). Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America can be contacted at 215-567-7000.

Atkin, B. (1996). Voices from the Streets. New York: Little Brown & Company.

Chassin, L., Presson, C. C., Sherman, S. J., & McConnell, A. R. (1995). Adolescent Health Issues. In Roberts, M. C. (Ed.), Adolescent Health Issues (2nd ed., pp. 723-740). New York: Guilford.

Children Now and The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (1996). Talking with kids about tough issues [Brochure].

Children’s Defense Fund. National headquarters. 25 E Street NW. Washington, DC 20001. 202-628-8787. www.childrensdefense.org. E-mail: cdfinfo@childrensdefense.org

Committee for Children. 2203 Airport Way South, Suite 500 Seattle, WA 98134 (800) 634-4449.Fax: (206) 343-1445.http://www.cfchildren.org.

Cornell, D. G. (1999). What Works in Youth Violence Prevention. Virginia Youth Violence Project. University of Virginia. In (Eds.) D. Cornell, A. Loper, A. Atkinson, and P. Sheras, (in press). Youth Violence Prevention in Virginia: A Needs Assessment, prepared for the Virginia Department of Health. For additional information call 804-924-8929.

Family Services Research Center (1995). Multisystemic therapy using home-based services: A clinically effective and cost effective strategy for treating serious clinical problems in youth. Charleston, S.C.: Author.

Hagedorn, J. and Macon, P. (1988). People and folks: Gang, crime, and the underclass in a rustbelt city, Chicago, IL; Lake View Press.

Huff, C. R. (Ed.). (1996). Gangs in America (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Kearney, E. M. (1998). Ethical dilemmas in the treatment of adolescent gang members. Ethics and Behavior, 8, 49-57. Kearney discusses the ethical problems that therapists face when treating gang members. Such issues include trust, the large amount of violence the young person has experienced, and the level of criminal activity the individual has or is engaged in.

Kennedy, D. M., Piehl, A. M., & Braga, A. A. (1996). Youth Gun Violence in Boston: Gun Markets, Serious Youth Offenders, and a Use Reduction Strategy

The National Center for Victims of Crime. 2111 Wilson Blvd. Suite 300. ,VA 22201. (703)276-2880. Fax: (703)276-2889. http://www.nvc.org

National School Safety Center (1990). Gangs in schools: Breaking up is hard to do. Malibu, CA: Pepperdine University Press.

The Prevention of Youth Violence: A Framework for Community Action. (1992). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Environmental Health and Injury Control Division of Injury Control, Office of the Assistant Director for Minority Health, Atlanta, GA

Prowell, K. B. (1997). Correlates of violent and nonviolent behavior among vulnerable inner-city youths. Family & Community Health, 20, 38-47.Prowell has found that violent behavior is often found in children and adolescents who are exposed to violence, are gang members, have family or friends in gangs, and have peer support. These findings are then compared to nonviolent youths

Schinke, S. P., Orlandi, M. A. & Cole, K. C. (1992). Boys & Girls Clubs in public housing developments: Prevention services for youth at risk. Journal of Community Psychology: OSAP Special Issue, 118-128

Schorr, L. B. and Schorr, D. (1989). Within our reach: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage. New York: Doubleday.

Scott, K. (1994). Monster. New York: Penguin Books.

Sherman, L. W., Gottfredson, D., MacKenzie, D., Eck, J., Reuter, P., Bushway, S., (1997). Preventing crime: What works, what doesn't, what's promising: A report to the United States Congress. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice. (Download at
http://www.ncjrs.org/works/

Snyder, H. N., Sickmund, M., & Poe-Yamagata, E. (1997). Juvenile offenders and victims:

1997 update on violence. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

Taylor, C. (1993). Girls, gangs, women, and drugs. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.

Taylor, C. (1990). Dangerous society. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press.

Walker, M., Schmidt, L., and Lunghofer, L. (1993). Youth gangs. In M. I. Singer, L. T. Singer, and T. M. Anglin (Eds.) Handbook for screening adolescents at psychosocial risk (pp. 504-552). New York: Lexington Books.

Williams, J. W. (1992). A structured subculture: Understanding how youth gangs operate.

Corrections Today, 54, 86-88.

Yablonsky, L. (1997). Gangsters. New York: New York University Press.

Cohen, Adam. "A Curse of Cliques." Time Magazine. May 3, 1999. Vol 153. No 17.

Describes some of the reasons kids become members of cliques, and how continual rejection of a group can fuel violent behavior. *Although this article is about cliques rather than gangs, most of the information could be generalized to gangs as well.

Farragher, T. (1998, September 9). Lowell cracks down on gang. The Boston Globe, pp. B1, B7.

Glick, B. (1992). In New York: Governor's task force tackles growing juvenile gang problem.

Corrections Today, 54, 92-97.

Hiscock, John. "Pupils massacred by high school gang members." Electronic Telegraph. April 21, 1999.

Discusses the Trenchcoat Mafia of Littleton, Colorado and attributes their brutal attack on vengeance for being ridiculed.

McLaughlin, Stephanie. "Ex-coroner aims to build awareness of gangs." The Boston Globe. March 12, 1995.

Explains renowned gang researcher and educator Steve Nawojczyk’s ideas on the causes and possible solutions for gang violence.

1 in 5 Teen-Agers is armed, a survey finds. (1998, August 14). The New York Times, p. A19.

Stephens, Ronald D. "Gangs, Guns, and School Violence." USA Today. Jan 1994 v122, p 29.

The front line against youth violence. (1998, August 13). The Boston Globe, p. A19.

Vigue, Doreen Iudica. "Spotting troubled child takes resolve by adults." The Boston Globe. April 22, 1999.

Discusses the difficulties in identifying and intervening with children who may be dangerous to themselves or others.