Prevention Works

You Can Never Be Too Careful

In the past few weeks I have been traveling quite a bit.  Therefore, I have been spending a lot of time in airports, car rental offices, Super Shuttles, and hotels.  When I travel by myself, I am a fan of reading, listening to music, and people watching.  It is this last activity that has prompted me to write this blog. 

While at the airport, I realized that several people were holding their driver’s licenses (for security screening purposes).  The problem however, was that had I been a more dishonest person, I could have easily recorded the names and addresses of several people for future use.  One person sat down next to me at the airport, put down his bags, ticket, license, and credit card, then turned to his back on all of it to talk to his travel partner.  While waiting in line at the car rental office, I listened to one person read off their entire credit card number, including the three-digit security code on the back, over their cell phone.  In the hotel restaurant, while I was having dinner, I watched a woman walk off and leave her purse sitting at the table unattended, and before she returned to the table, the server brought back her check with her credit card sitting on top.  During check-in at the hotel, had I wanted to, I could have documented one gentleman’s information from both his driver’s license and his American Express card, as he left both sitting on the counter next to me. 

With all the information out there about identity theft, credit card fraud, health insurance fraud, and more, why are people still being so careless with their personal information?  NCPC has an entire campaign on identity theft, which tells us, among other things, that according to the U.S. Postal Service, in 2004 consumers spent $5 billion to resolve identity theft problems, and almost 10 million people were victimized.   So here is your reminder: be careful with your personal information!  And just in case you need a refresher, check out this guide on preventing identity theft (PDF).

Solving the World's Problems, One Preschooler at a Time

I was watching the documentary, The World According to Sesame Street the other day. It’s part of PBS’s Independent Lens series and shows how Sesame Street Workshop, the company that created Sesame Street, is adapting the program to air in other countries in other languages. One such country is Bangladesh, and the filmmakers take us through all the cultural, political, production, and bureaucratic obstacles the coproducers had to overcome to create Sisimpur for preschoolers in Bangladesh. As the creators worked with the Bangladesh government to get approval to air the program, one government official voiced her concern about street urchins who had turned into “terrorists,” and said she had hoped that Sisimpur would be able to address such issues as well. This caught my interest, as I realized how important it is to teach conflict resolution at a very young age.

When I think of conflict resolution programs, I usually think of programs aimed at teenagers and older students. But really, conflict resolution programs need to start right at the preschool level! Have you ever met a preschooler who had never fought over a toy or favorite crayon? Why not teach kids how to resolve conflicts amicably right at that young age when they’re first learning social skills? Why wait until kids are older and have already formed poor habits? Sure, you can’t use the same materials to teach preschoolers that you would use with 12th graders, but the basic ideas—active listening, cooperation, acceptance of each others’ differences, and creative problem solving—can be taught to any age group.

Children need to learn certain skills before they can learn to manage conflicts cooperatively. These skills are

• The ability to listen. Children must be able to communicate their own ideas and feelings as well as listen and understand others.
• The use of certain language concepts. In order to generate ideas and evaluate consequences, children must understand concepts such as “same/different,” “if/when,” and “why/because.”
• The ability to understand certain emotional concepts. Children need to be able to identify and label feelings, their own and others’, and be able to distinguish between feelings and actions.

Preschoolers are still learning empathy skills and vocabulary skills, and can do so by labeling things and feelings using words. “Adults can step in as a mediator for creative problem solving by asking leading questions,” says Joselle Shea, Manager of the Children and Youth Initiatives of the National Crime Prevention Council. “Ask the child to use their words to label how they’re feeling, comfort the child, and guide him or her toward making the choices that will resolve the conflict.” Offering choices gives children control and leads them to learn how to focus on solving the problem creatively.

NCPC has a few resources on teaching conflict management to children in preschool, HeadStart, and kindergarten. In Helping Kids Handle Conflict, Scruff® lists six steps for managing conflict. These steps involve calming down and investigating the tenets of the problem, brainstorming solutions, and working out which of those solutions will produce the best outcome.

Our natural reaction to conflict is to either confront it (fight) or avoid it (flight). One approach to settling conflicts may work for some situations and not in others. Children need to learn that they are capable of managing their own problems. And adults can teach children how to solve problems, step by step, resulting in satisfactory solutions for all sides. With the help of the adults in their lives, even very young children can learn problem solving, anger management, and other skills that will help them cope with the conflicts they have today as well as those they will face as teens and adults.

Resources
Being Healthy and Safe With McGruff® and Scruff®

2nd International Summit on Conflict Resolution Education, Youth and Conflict: Global Challenges, Local Strategies

Killen, Melanie and Turiel, Elliot: Conflict Resolution in Preschool Social Interactions. Early Education and Development. Vol. 2, No. 3, 1991, pp 240-255

Curfews to Prevent Youth Violence

Teen violence has been a problem for years, yet there is still no consensus about how to solve the problem.  One way that has been met with some success is the use of teen curfews, which have been used more commonly over the years to prevent violence in volatile areas in times of riots, war, and other disruptions in public safety. 

When I was in high school, an act of teen violence spurred Prince William County, VA, to institute a curfew, which local police strictly enforced. It prevented other such acts from occurring. Today, it seems as though the county and teens throughout the community are safer.  The curfew was successful in the county because police and parents both enforced it.

In Annapolis, MD, local community, police, and government leaders are considering a curfew for a public housing complex in which an eleventh grade student was the second person fatally shot. There are two proposed curfew plans.  The first plan, sponsored by Mayor Ellen Moyer, calls for a youth curfew in the housing complex itself. The second plan, sponsored by Alderman David Cordle, Sr., would expand the curfew city-wide from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. for youth. Serious crime in Annapolis dropped by 10 percent in 2007, but homicides rose. Both plans are being explored and a decision is expected soon. 

In Chicago, crime has risen slightly (3 percent) but homicides have increased by 14 percent. Although shootings of minors are down (there were 14 in the first two months of this year as compared to 25 last year), a curfew law was enacted in late 2007 requiring anyone under 18 to be home by 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 10 p.m. every other day of the week.  Police in the city have issued 3,000 curfew-related citations in the first two months of 2008.

Does a curfew curb violence on its own? Does a curfew work without the entire community participating in enforcing it? Does a curfew solve the problems of a violent neighborhood? No, but if a youth curfew is enforced properly by parents and police, it can be successful in preventing violence among youths.

Victim Compensation: A Surprising Discovery

In each of our 50 states, federal and state government-supported programs provide some compensation to victims of personal or violent crime.  These programs, generally, act as a resource of last support for people who have suffered a loss from being the victim of crime, once the avenues of Worker’s Compensation, Medicaid, insurance, and other resources have been exhausted.  Much of the money that is provided to these victims comes from offenders’ fines, court costs, fees, and the federal Office for Victims of Crime. Usual expenses can range from compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and funeral expenses.

Would it surprise you to learn that in 42 of our states, drug dealers, armed robbers, drunk drivers, and other criminals are eligible for compensation, as well?  Reporter Josh Mitchell of the Baltimore Sun analyzed the Maryland Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund and found that in about 10 percent of cases, victim's compensation had been provided to a person who had previously been on the victimizer side of the ledger.  (Eight states prohibit the distribution of any funds to a convicted felon.)  One previously incarcerated Maryland citizen, Deandra M. Gaskins, was shot in an unprovoked attack in 2005.  Although he had done prison time and was currently facing drug dealing charges at the time of the shooting, he stated that since he was not committing a crime when hurt he should be compensated.

The dilemma posed by Gaskins’ case is common in the majority of states. Researcher Lisa C. Newmark, author of a 2003 Urban Institute evaluation of states' victim compensation programs stated, “There is a lot of fluidity between being a victim and being a criminal."

In 2007, Maryland paid out $5.84 million in victims’ compensation to all categories of victims.  Nationally, the usual payout per victim is in the low four figures (about $2,800) and the payouts are capped at $35,000 on average.  Some payouts have been made to felons who were victimized or injured while incarcerated.  But now, some states are adjusting their eligibility criteria to exclude the currently incarcerated and disqualify convicted felons no matter the circumstances.

In general, individuals injured in the commission of a crime, or while acting as an accomplice, are not eligible for victim’s compensation.  In the majority of states, however, a prior criminal record or parole or probation status does not disqualify one from applying for victim’s assistance.  In the mean streets of our nation, a victimizer one day can be a victim the next.

Here’s the recommended March 16th Baltimore Sun article and a resourceful National Center for the Victims of Crime website.

Attack of the Blog

“If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” We’ve all heard this saying before; in fact, I’m sure most of us have even repeated it to a family member or a friend at one time or another. It’s a simple statement that seems pretty obvious — don’t say mean things about people; it hurts their feelings and in the end, doesn’t make you feel very good either.  Unfortunately, as simple as this statement is, many people fail to follow it. And with the rapidly growing popularity of social websites and blogs, bullies of every age have now become cyberbullies, and are able to verbally attack their victim on a variety of platforms.

A couple weeks ago, the New York Times published an article that looked at whether the content posted on a particular advertising blog may have pushed Paul Tilley, the creative director of DDB Chicago, to commit suicide. According to the Times, “Before his death, Mr. Tilley had come under particularly harsh criticism on advertising blogs.” The site posted 13 comments that bashed Tilley’s name and work, one of which contained an excerpt from an email Tilley had sent to his employees. Three days after the first offensive comment was posted, the Times says Mr. Tilley “apparently jumped from an upper floor at the Fairmont Chicago hotel.”

No one will ever know why Paul Tilley decided to end his life or if the blog postings had anything to do with it, but whether they did or not, there is still an important issue at hand.  When does criticism become a personal attack, and whose responsibility is it to distinguish between the two?  According to the article, “Mediabistro’s senior vice president and founder, Laurel Touby, said she did not think that the remarks” made towards Tilley “were that bad,” but that “the anonymous comments from others had given her reason to reconsider the company’s posting policies, and perhaps require those who ‘say something nasty’ to include their names.”

Web hosts can do their part by monitoring the kinds of comments that get posted on their blog. Policing their sites can help decrease the amount of personal attacks that make it on the Internet, but the real focus needs to be educating people about the real dangers harsh words can cause. Public humiliation at any age is a hard thing to get over, especially when it is broadcast on a platform that lives on indefinitely. As I said, monitoring blogs can only do so much, but wouldn’t it be better if it was never written in the first place? 

For more information on cyberbullying visit http://www.ncpc.org/newsroom/current-campaigns/cyberbullying/. The tips are focused towards teens, but adults can learn a few things from this advice too. For more information on bullying in the workplace, view my previous blog Keep Bullies Out of the Workplace or visit http://bullyinginstitute.org/.

Stir Crazy

One of the sweetest surprises of my childhood was snow days.  I would wake up early in the morning only to hear that school had been canceled.  Those were days to revel in pancake breakfasts, grilled cheese sandwiches, and snowmen.  I remember some big storms that closed schools for a week or more.  During those times, however, the excitement of having a snow day faded away.  By Day three or four of being cooped up in the house, I began to go a bit stir crazy.  I wanted to go back to school—to see my friends and do something (other than watch TV).

I was reminded of this stir crazy feeling as I read a Washington Post article this weekend.  The article discussed a fifth-grader who had been suspended for 11 days.  The boy, James, had seen another boy picking on a girl and had told the boy to stop.  The conflict escalated into a fight.  The other boy then followed James and James’s younger brother as they walked home from the bus stop.  James was afraid of the boy, and told his brother that he would go home, get a gun, and call 911.  When school officials learned that James had made a gun threat, they suspended him and sent him for a mental health evaluation to assess his level of threat to other students.  James was a good student who had no previous behavior problems, but he was still suspended. 

Such is the nature of zero-tolerance policies, which are a reality in schools across the country.  In the wake of serious incidents of school violence, weapons threats and fighting are dealt with swiftly and unequivocally.  The conditions surrounding the threat or fight are considered only after the punishment has been dealt.

A few lessons come from this incident.  First, students need to know and understand their school’s discipline code.  School teachers and administrators may review this code and suspension policies at the beginning of the school year, but the information should be reviewed throughout the year.  Educators can have discussions with children about what constitutes a threat, what will happen if a threat is reported, how to report threats, and how to get help if they face bullying or other dangerous situations.

Second, we need to teach children appropriate ways of dealing with bullying and harassment.  Children should know safe places, both in school and in the neighborhood, where they can go if they are being bullied.  They should also have adults they can talk to who they know will help them deal with bullying incidents.  Standing up for someone who is bullied is admirable, but we need to teach children how to do that in nonviolent ways.  Unfortunately, many children who intervene in bullying situations do so in an aggressive manner that can escalate the situation instead of ending it.  Children can help others who are bullied by helping the target get away from the bullying child, or getting an adult to help.

Finally, we need to remind children of the seriousness of making threats.  Many young people use the Internet to post threats against others that they may or may not intend to follow through with.  Some youth may see these threats as simply venting.  They may rationalize the behavior saying, “It’s better to write a threat against someone than to actually beat them up.”  However, outside observers may not know the motivation for making such aggressive statements.  (The Secret Service and Department of Education have an excellent report on assessing threats of school violence.)  The target of the threat, that person’s family and friends, and others who read it may become afraid of actual violence.  Young people who write such threats need to understand the consequences and punishments that could be imposed against them.  In these days of terrorists and school shooters, the feeling is “better to be safe than sorry”; better to take the threat at face value and respond, than to wait and risk that the threat will be carried out.

James’s situation raises many questions.  Do you think his 11-day suspension was a fair punishment for the threat he made?  What impact should the context of the situation (fear of a bully) have on determining the punishment?  What impact should James’s academic achievement and past behavior have?  What other steps should be taken to deal with the root cause—the bullying—of this situation?  If this situation had occurred in your town, what would your local school have done?  Do you know your local school’s safety policies that relate to making threats and dealing with bullying?  I hope these questions prompt discussions that help your community prepare for preventing and managing threats and bullying situations.

Stay Vigilant During Tax Season

It’s the middle of tax season, and you may have noticed more junk mail in your mailbox than usual or more phishing emails in your inbox.  Perhaps you’ve even experienced an increase in those pesky telemarketing calls lately.  As a fellow NCPC blogger pointed out last month, tax season can offer more opportunities for scammers trying to rip people off.  These criminals trust that the average American taxpayer is stressed at this time of year, and hope that we might be more prone to slip up and make mistakes under the additional pressure associated with preparing our sensitive tax documents.

That is why, as you finish preparing your taxes, it is important to be vigilant in protecting your personal information.  Don’t let your guard down in the home stretch and allow identity thieves to exploit you. Luckily, organizations such as the National White Collar Crime Center release information to keep consumers aware of some of the scams in circulation. Recently, they warned of a certain telephone-based phishing scam (PDF) in which data thieves impersonated IRS officials. Be sure to read the press release, and keep an eye out for similar ruses over the next couple months.

But, be careful not to limit your scope. Just because there is an influx of tax-related scams doesn’t mean that scammers have stopped coming at you from other angles as well.  Check out this recent Washington Post article about another bizarre phishing scam.  If you receive that one, you will have plenty of reasons to report it to the authorities. Just keep your eyes open and always think twice before opening emails from unknown or unfamiliar sources!

Addiction at Any Age

I work with programs for children and youth, and am well versed in the current statistics and trends of drug abuse by young people. That being said, I have apparently neglected to learn how addiction and drug abuse affects senior citizens. A recent article in The New York Times highlighted the growing number of cases of addiction among the older generations (the majority of the substances being alcohol, opiates, and cocaine), as well as inadequate treatment for these people.

Lately, when I think of drug treatment and substance abuse, my mind immediately flashes pictures of celebrities in rehabilitation clinics—who I am not mocking. I applaud anyone who can recognize and get treatment for, or at least attempt to get treatment for, their disease. It’s often easy for the public to recognize drug abuse problems (or at least symptoms) among the young. But in the elderly population, many symptoms of addiction can be masked by, or misdiagnosed as, other illnesses. Society has to be ready to see and treat the substance abuse diseases of older generations and must do so in a manner that doesn’t involve a rehab center rife with young people who are yelling, telling stories of sexual conquests, and physical violence. Moreover, the article pointed out that older citizens have different needs: “different health issues, different emotional issues, [and] different grief issues.”

Moreover, people who have been drinking responsibly all of their lives may realize at an elderly age that they now have a problem. According to the National Institute on Aging, “some research has shown that as people age they become more sensitive to alcohol’s effects.” While we have to raise awareness of addiction among the elderly, we also have to raise awareness among their spouses, children, grandchildren, and caregivers. Society has accepted the role reversal that children take care of their parents after a certain age. But elderly parents, maybe having experienced loss, or able to give good excuses as to why and how they fell, are often able to tug at their children’s emotions. Adult children may not want to intervene in what seems like a few harmless drinks, or they honestly don’t see the problem—which is the sole reason why I am blogging. Just as you would pay attention to signs of addiction in your teenage children, pay attention to the possible signs coming from your spouse, your parent, or your grandparent. Anyone, at any age, can become an addict.

If you or someone you know has a problem with addiction, please seek help.

Claim Your New IPOD Now!

They come by the hundreds, sometimes within seconds of each other.  They send you over your limits, call you by the wrong name, and no matter how many you delete, 50 more will replace them in no time at all. They are uninvited, pushy, and I for one absolutely loathe their existence. Email scams are indeed no friend of mine.

As the Internet continues its explosive development, so do the cons of present day society. If you’re like me your personal email address is constantly flooded with requests from unknown parties telling you that you’ve won a contest that you’ve never entered or that you should give money to someone you’ve never met.

Most of these scams are easy enough for many of us to spot and do away with. Yet, there are those select few emails that some of us also consider or even act upon. These particular emails may attempt to stroke the strings of our hearts by describing various desperate situations such as a terminally ill child or the death of a loved one. Naturally, we can all empathize with such situations and therefore we open up, just a little. Then there are the emails that prey on our material desires and the need to obtain such things quickly and easily. These are the ones that offer you that money that you could use or that iPod that you want. Occasionally, these emails will even toss in a reputable name like Microsoft or Apple in an attempt to gain your confidence so that you will give—just a little.

The reality is that the “just a little” that you decide to give is just enough to make you a victim. Con artists are often smart and very cunning. They know how to entice you and make you feel comfortable that what they are offering is legitimate. The best thing that we can do for ourselves is to learn how to recognize phony emails and to share that knowledge with everyone we know.  A few tips on how to recognize phony emails follow:

• They address you by the wrong name.
• They misspell words throughout the email.
• They contain links to false websites.
• They ask for information on your bank accounts or for your Social Security number.

To gain additional information on how you can do your part to keep yourself safe from email scams visit http://onguardonline.gov.

New Approaches to an Old Problem

For years, local, state, and federal leaders have looked for ways to reduce crime and poverty. Are scare tactics like a night in jail the way to help at-risk youth across the country? What can we do to provide youth with the opportunity to stay out of trouble, or give a second chance to inmates who have seen the error of their ways and want to better their lives?

In Jackson, MS, and Harrisonburg, VA, officials have decided to try a different approach— education. Lanier High School in Jackson, MS, a school in which 82 percent of the students fall below the poverty line, took 10 of its lowest-performing students and enrolled them in an after-school mentoring program. These students began to improve their grades and a few even made the honor roll. The Lanier High School Quantum Opportunities program is one of eight serving 240 students across the country. Students in the program take field trips to colleges, museums, and restaurants and are provided with computers. The Ford Foundation found that 63 percent of the students enrolled in the program graduated from high school and 42 percent went on to college or vocational school. Marisol Bello, in a USA Today article, highlighted one particular student, Jonathan Jones. Jones, 17, was once a “C” student who has now made the honor roll twice and is beginning to think about which college he would like to attend. 

At a regional jail in Harrisonburg, VA, 60 inmates awaiting release are seeking ways to make themselves a benefit to the community rather than a detriment. These 60 inmates are using their time while incarcerated to be a part of the Gemeinschaft Home program, where they can earn advanced degrees and get job training. The Gemeinschaft Home itself opened in September 1986 in Harrisonburg with its first resident. Over the past 15 years the facility has grown to accommodate 41 men. Its program includes transitional services that continue instruction in therapeutic community principles and goals to former inmates who received this training while still incarcerated. William Lucas, a former member of the home who had fought drug addiction and spent nine years in prison, has returned to the Gemeinschaft Home to help the current residents as a counselor. Lucas says “If every town had a Gemeinschaft, guys wouldn’t be going back to prison.”

Rather than scaring an at-risk youth straight or letting an inmate leave a prison with no new skills, education can open new doors to them, make them marketable job seekers, and make them positive influences in the community.