Prevention Works

Train Wreck

Last night, some friends of mine and I were on our way home from a late dinner in the city. Being college students without vehicles of our own, we get around Washington, D.C., where we study, by public transportation. And so, we boarded the train at the Metro station. Because it was the late evening on a week night, there were only a few other people at the other end of the car. We were laughing and talking when a young kid, probably 16 at the most, jumped onto the car with us looking completely panicked. Following him was a group of about 10 or 12 other kids his age, male and female, snickering and mocking him. The young man ran towards around end of the car.

“They’re trying to jump me! They’re gonna jump me!”

His voice was desperate and frightened. The group following him simply stood threateningly at the other end of the car, laughing and taunting him. My heart pounded as I realized there was a good chance I was about to see this young kid get beaten. Suddenly, he ran out the door and leapt onto the train on the other side of the platform. He was immediately followed by the group at the other end of the car. The doors to our train quickly closed and we pulled away from the platform. My friends and I just sat looking through the window. It was like watching someone on the other side of a crowded street who was about to get hit by a bus. You know something horrible is about to happen, but there’s nothing you can do about it.

When we got to the next stop, we got off and reported the situation to a station manager, who told us he would do his best to get it taken care of. Somehow, that just didn’t settle the knot left in my stomach. Between the fact that there had been a rather large gap in time between witnessing the incident and being able to report it, and the fact that we had no idea if this kid stayed on the train we saw him jump onto, it was impossible to know if someone would be able to find him and help him.

This event was a slap in the face about the real effects of gang violence (PDF). This was a lost, scared kid who felt like he needed to get onto a subway train full of strangers to feel safe instead of seeking help from an authority figure like a security guard. And if he wasn’t able to outrun his attackers, then what? Would he feel like he could go to the police afterwards and report the incident? Doubtful, seeing as how that would leave him open for retaliation.

We need to get involved to prevent these things from happening. It can be as big as creating or volunteering for programs geared at young kids who are most at risk for gang activity. Or, it can be as small as not falling subject to bystander syndrome. If you ever find yourself in a situation like this, report it immediately. You might be getting help for someone who feels like they can’t.

Community Guns

On May 29, 2008, a 10-year-old girl named Kathina Thomas was shot and killed while riding her bike in front of her home in Albany, NY. After a two-week investigation, police finally arrested 15 year-old Jermayne Timmons for this horrendous crime. According to the statement he gave the police, Timmons explained that he fired a shot at a group of teenagers when he thought he saw one pull out a gun. Instead, he missed, and that bullet traveled a block, hitting Kathina Thomas in the back.

The death of this young girl has left an entire city in mourning. However, as disturbing as her death is, what’s worse are the circumstances surrounding it. In his statement, Timmons told the police that he had obtained the gun used to kill Thomas from a garbage can. As he explained, it was a “community gun” available for everyone in the neighborhood.

With the growing crackdown on gun control by police, gang members have been forced to find new ways to obtain weapons. This system of “community guns” is rapidly becoming a solution to their problem. They make weapons available to a large group of people and have the added bonus of preventing weapons used in crimes from being obtained by police. But this scheme is not native to Albany. According to ABC News, police in Suffolk County, NY, recently recovered a gun they believe was used on three students in a Newark, NJ, schoolyard and possibly in another two out-of-state murders. Officials believe that this one gun was carried across New York through a gang network known to recycle guns used in violent crimes. And New York is not alone. Police in cities such as Philadelphia, PA; Cleveland, OH; Trenton, NJ; and Boston, MA have discovered mounds of weapons hidden in abandoned buildings. Officials believe the weapons are shared by criminals and gang members.

Community guns encompass a multitude of problems we are currently facing. Gun control, gang violence, and neighborhood safety are all issues that plague our society and foster a fear in citizens for their protection. And while some of these problems can sometimes seem much bigger than the individual, there are things each person can do to help stop the violence in their communities. Stay connected with leaders in your neighborhood, whether they are police, a minister or an educator. Let them know if you have suspicions of illegal activity, even if you are not totally sure. Get involved with the youth in your community. Kids fall into lives of crime in violence when they have nowhere else to go, so give them new options. Volunteer at a local afterschool club such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, or start one of your own.

For more information on how to help the youth in your community avoid a life of violence, check out this article by NCPC called “Strategy: Gang Prevention Through Community Intervention With High-Risk Youth.”

Containing the Epidemic of Domestic Violence – Part 2

Obviously, domestic violence is always committed by a partner of the victim. However, what most women don’t realize is that domestic violence is not the only kind of brutalization that is carried out by someone the victims knows and trusts. The fact is that the most common types of sexual assault are committed by a friend, family member or loved one of the victim. This kind of sexual assault is known as “acquaintance rape,” or, as it is more popularly referred to, “date rape.” A study done by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that 67 percent of sexual assaults were acquaintance rapes.

Most preconceived notions about date rape include the use of “roofies,” which is the slang term used for drugs used by rapists to incapacitate their victims. And while date-rape drugs such as GHB or Rohypnol are sometimes used, the most common type of date-rape drug is alcohol. Thus, parties, clubs, and bars are prime locations for sexual assault to occur. To protect yourself, try some of these steps suggested by the Butler County Rape Crisis Program:

• Don’t go to parties or clubs alone, especially ones where you don’t know many people.
• When you go out with friends, set up a buddy system that includes a designated driver. Agree that you will all leave together.
• Talk to your friends before you go out. Discuss how much alcohol you want to drink that night and what you want to do. Agree that you will be supportive of each other and reinforce the guidelines each of you set up before leaving.
• NEVER leave your drink unattended. If you get up to go to the bathroom or chat with someone, get a new drink. Date-rape drugs are odorless, colorless, and tasteless, and dissolve rapidly. It takes only seconds for a rapist to slip one in your drink when you’re not around.
• Know the amount of alcohol you’re drinking. If someone else is making your drinks for you, watch them. Take note of how large the glass is and how strong they are making the drink.
• If you feel uncomfortable, follow your instincts. If you are alone with someone or just in a situation that you don’t feel comfortable with, get out. You don’t need to provide an explanation, just go.

By using all of these tactics, you make it much more difficult for a rapist to get you alone and in a state where you cannot defend yourself.

However, an important idea to take into account is that no matter how much a woman does to protect herself, it is not solely up to her. Because most attackers are male, we must also look at the male perspective of violence. Men need to be taught that, as much as women can try and prevent themselves from being assaulted, in the end, it is not up to women not to be raped; it is up to men not to rape.

For more information check out the informative brochure from NCPC titled Rape: Tough Questions, No Easy Answers [PDF].

Containing the Epidemic of Domestic Violence – Part 1

This is the first part of a two-part blog.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 511,000 women were violently assaulted on average each year between 2001 and 2005 by a spouse or intimate partner. In fact, studies show that one in four women will be violently assaulted in her lifetime. And while these numbers seem enormous on their own, we must also keep in mind that domestic and sexual assault are the most underreported of all crimes, so it is more than likely that these reported statistics are significantly less than the actual number of crimes committed.

Given this information, it is undeniable that domestic assault against women is an incredibly pertinent problem in the United States. Unfortunately, however, many women believe that violent assaults can be avoided by simply not walking down dark alleys at night. They do not realize that most assaults are inflicted by people they already know and trust. So what can we do to shed light on the issue? The first step is to teach women how to protect themselves from sexual and domestic violence. In order to do so, they must recognize the different kinds of abuse.

• Physical Abuse – using physical pain or physical force to intimidate
• Sexual Abuse – any unwanted sexual contact on a victim by a perpetrator
• Emotional /Psychological Abuse – insults, mind-games, manipulation, etc.
• Financial Abuse – abuser uses money as means of controlling their partner

Domestic violence can combine any or all of these types of abuse. For example, when women are being physically abused, some form of emotional or psychological abuse is usually present as well. While each type of abuse is terrifying in its own way, the National Domestic Abuse Hotline suggests these ways that women can protect themselves or escape from these situations.

• Look for signs in your significant other. Do they want to know everything about where you were during the day or get jealous easily? Did they push for a quick serious involvement in your relationship or have unrealistic expectations of you? Do they try to isolate you from your friends and family or seem to have substance abuse issues with drugs or alcohol? These are all signs that your partner has significant potential to become abusive.
• Call a domestic violence or rape crisis hotline. The people that work these lines are trained and can help women find places to go where you’ll be safe. If you don’t know a local number, you can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE.
• Pack a bag with some essential items you’ll need in order to be free of your abuser. These items include money, identification, birth certificate, and clothes. Keep this bag in a safe place such as the trunk of your car.
• When you call a domestic violence hotline, ask them about shelters in your area. If there’s no room in the one closest to you, they can find you another one nearby. Domestic violence shelters can also set you up with an advocate, a therapist, child care, and legal aid.

For additional resources, check out this brochure from the National Crime Prevention Council’s website, The Hidden Crime: Domestic Violence [PDF].

Who’s to Blame?

Over the past week there have been several national headlines about crimes committed by children and teens. There was the story about a group of third graders who plotted to kill their teacher after being disciplined during class time, the murder of Chicago public school student , Chavez Clarke, who was fatally gunned down as he left school (which led to another story—20 Chicago public school students have been fatally shot over the past three months), and in our own backyard, the story about a local 15-year-old student fatally stabbed just minutes after school dismissal.  Mental health practitioners, law enforcement personnel, and school administrators have gone on record attributing these acts of senseless violence on a number of factors, including undiagnosed mental illness and learning disabilities, gang affiliations, and lax gun control policies.

These may all very well be contributing factors, but if we’re talking about reducing, preventing, or eliminating these types of violent crimes and delinquent behavior, it has to start in the home. Children need parental guidance, love, and support to thrive in school and their communities. I believe most parents strive daily to provide their children with a safe and loving home environment, but when parents are faced with social and economic hardship, many struggle to provide the consistency in rule setting, discipline, and interaction and communication essential to the healthy development of a child.

As a full-time working parent I understand how difficult it can be to find and maintain a balance. Good parenting is not easy. Good parenting requires sacrifice, commitment, and discipline. Good parents live a positive lifestyle that their children can emulate. Good parents listen to their children. Good parents show affection to their children. Good parents set boundaries. Good parents find a way to be involved in their child’s life. And finally, good parents are those who recognize when their children need help and responsibly use “the village”. The village (attributed to the African proverb: "It takes a village to raise a child”) may include extended family members, close friends, or spiritual leaders who can support parents or a combination of the many social services programs designed to support the healthy development of a child. The concept of the village and its place in child rearing cannot be overstated although some conservative thinkers believe that the responsibility for child development should lie solely in the hands of the family. Many of today’s family dynamics are complex and many exist in circumstances that place it outside what may be considered the traditional family structure. Thus, parents need to be able to look to the village--the schools, faith community, community centers, and social service agencies that can provide them with the support they need.

I’ll conclude by sharing the comment (posted by a reader, in response to the Washington Post’s coverage of the recent Chicago students murders) that struck me as so poignant and kindled my need to really think about who’s to blame, “Where are the biological creators of these killers?”

Strike One on "Three Strikes" Laws?

One law that is never enacted by a legislature, signed by an executive, or put on the ballot is the law of unintended consequences.  California’s 1994 Three Strikes and You're Out law has produced a reduction in crime (28 percent) but, a Harvard researcher, Radha Iyengar, PhD, in a Tipping Point /Freakonomics vein, has published a report citing California’s three strikes sentencing law as a law with costly criminal and social ramifications.  In California, the three strikes clock starts ticking on the offender’s first serious (“record aggravating”) charge.  After that clock starts ticking, any felony conviction starts the tally towards Three Strikes and You’re Out! — a mandatory sentence of 25 years to life imprisonment.

In her paper entitled  “I’d Rather Be Hanged for a Sheep than a Lamb —The Unintended Consequences of  Three Strikes’ Laws,”  the author asserts, through mathematical and statistical analysis, that the third strike has an increased probability (9 percent) of being a more violent crime with the accelerated and attendant court, incarceration, and victim costs associated with violent crime.

Iyengar’s research, based on California data, says that criminals knowing that they are facing a third strike are more likely to commit a serious, forceful, or violent crime rather than a lesser crime. In essence, the criminal will assess the risk/reward factor in the crime and go for broke. Since a car theft conviction or a murder conviction will result in the same lengthy mandatory sentence, there is no incentive to tone down the third offense.

Iyengar writes, “…criminals respond to incentives…criminals are aware of the sentencing structure and their own eligibility for punishment.”

Another unintended consequence of the California three strikes law, says Iyengar, is that criminals facing the law take their law-breaking out of state. Fifty thousand more crimes are committed in Arizona (which does not have a three strikes law) and Nevada (which has a milder version) because criminals want to avoid the risk of being convicted of a third crime in California.

To date, 26 other states have enacted some form of a three strikes law, but that trend is shifting, as Connecticut and Kansas, for two, have recently backed away from legislative proposals to enact such laws.  Washington State has revised its law to make it work better to include those out-of-state convictions in the consideration of sentencing.  California has sentenced 40,000 people to “Three Strikes and You’re Out” sentences. No other state has come close to sentencing 1,000 individuals to such laws.

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.

Evaluate or Else

Educators, community center directors, diversion coordinators, and other adults who work with young people are under increased pressure to offer programs that have received appropriate validation.  Scientifically based programs, promising programs, best practice programs, and evidence-based programs are all labels that have become increasingly important for those interested in implementing violence prevention programs in any given setting or those seeking funding to support program development. 

There are hundreds of programs out there that address a myriad of topics and that claim to have some kind of positive effect on the participants. Most violence prevention programs include elements that are believed to improve a young person’s attitude or behavior and it's important to know (beyond a general belief) that the change has occurred. But good evaluations cost money, a lot of money, and there are few schools or organizations that have the capacity to manage the type of evaluation that could withstand the rigorous standards established by such organizations as the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence or the Department of Education.  So what’s to become of the hundreds of un- or under-evaluated programs out there?

On the one hand, some implementers seem to be unaffected by the movement and are willing to continue using an unevaluated program they believe to be valuable and having the desired effect. Others are forced to choose from the small pool of rigorously evaluated programs that do not really meet their needs.  As funding becomes increasingly difficult to secure, schools, community centers, and others who administer these programs will soon be forced to make a difficult decision—reallocate scarce funds to pay for an evaluation or risk the elimination of these programs entirely.  The evidence-based movement is strong and evolving very quickly. Therefore, the prevention community needs to become more familiar with the evaluation process and build in evaluation strategies in the very beginning in order for our important programs to survive.

The Case Against Student Profiling

The students at Northern Illinois University have been on my mind a lot lately. I went to college just 55 miles away from NIU, so I couldn’t help thinking how much their campus looked like my own and how much the NIU students looked like the ones I went to school with. I suppose that’s why these school shootings affect us so—it makes us realize that it could have happened just as easily at our schools or our children’s schools.

As I was searching online for more information about the shootings, I happened across a series of columns by Jon Katz on slashdot.org called Voices From the Hellmouth that talked about the aftermath of the Columbine High School killings in 1999. After the shootings, schools, parents, law enforcement, the news media—everyone was looking for a way to prevent school violence. Unfortunately, it ended up being a panicked, hysterical hunt for oddballs and geeks—kids who played video games like Quake, kids who were bright but didn’t seem to fit in, kids who were loners, kids who were different.

One student wrote that his private school guidance counselor told him that he would have to give up playing Dungeons and Dragons or be suspended. During a class discussion about the Columbine shootings, another student tried to express his opinion that although he didn’t condone killing anyone, he knew what the shooters must have felt like, being hated and belittled for being smart and different. The student was sent to the principal’s office and told that if he didn’t attend five sessions of counseling, he would be expelled.

In an attempt to prevent future tragedies from occurring, “geek profiling” made these lonely kids feel even more alienated. One student was sent home for wearing a black, ankle-length raincoat to class. A Quake enthusiast from New York City wrote on slashdot, “People were actually talking to me like I could come in and kill them. It wasn't like they were really afraid of me—they just seemed to think it was okay to hate me even more? People asked me if I had guns at home. This is a whole new level of exclusion, another excuse for the preppies of the universe to put down and isolate people like me.” Another slashdot reader said that his school guidance counselor encouraged him to try to be more “mainstream.”

“The real story of Littleton [where Columbine High School is located] wasn't about violence but was about that high school [being] . . .  a nightmare for kids who are different,” Katz said in an interview with The Village Voice.

Geek profiling hasn’t eliminated violence from our schools and universities. Targeting a particular subculture doesn’t prevent violence. Actions are better clues to finding troubled kids than outfits. Supervisory Special Agent Mary Ellen O’Toole, a behavioral analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shared her insights in the FBI’s Headline Archives.

First, be vigilant. “People who act out violently don’t wake up one morning and snap. There are clues,” O’Toole says. School shootings take planning and coordination. Weapons have to be purchased or collected, and some attackers will write suicide notes warning of an attack.

Second, take all threats seriously, especially those leveled by teens, and have a strategy in place to deal with them. There is no single profile for a potential mass killer, young or old. “There is no typical school shooter. They don’t fall within a set of traits and characteristics,” says O’Toole. “That’s why it is so important for schools to have a fair, rational, and standardized method of evaluating and responding to threats.”

Some of the kids who wrote in to slashdot would also add, “Instead of blocking computer games or the ‘Net, support your kids and their culture and work to make your local school more humane, creative, and responsive to the many students who choose individualism.”

Exploring the Bystander Effect

"'I didn't want to get involved,' he sheepishly told police."

That was the telling line in the New York Times front page story 44 years ago this month that depicted the brutal slaying of one Kitty Genovese in a Queens, New York neighborhood.  The young woman's death illuminated an all-too-familiar attitude in her neighbors. They didn't want to get involved.  The circumstances of her death are painful to relate. She was murdered, at random, by a psychotic killer in an attack that lasted an estimated 35-50 minutes, knifed during three separate episodes, sexually assaulted, and left to die. Original newspaper accounts reported that 38 people witnessed the attack, yet did nothing. Subsequent investigation indicates that the number 38 may be an exaggeration; no one person observed the entirety of the attack, as the victim was able to crawl away from her attacker (who left and returned) in an attempt get to her apartment nearby.  Notwithstanding, numerous people heard and saw something terribly amiss that early morning in March 1964 and did nothing to aid her or call for help.

The outcry from that event shaped a psychological phenomenon called the "Genovese Syndrome" or the "Bystander Effect."  Simply stated, the larger the group of people observing a misdeed, the lesser the chance that anyone will intervene. Numerous psychology experiments since then have confirmed and continue to confirm this reality of human nature. Unfortunately, that phenomenon has not diminished in us despite awareness, study, and other enlightenment.  After a June 2007 murder in a Wichita, KS, convenience store, a handful of people stepped over the victim’s body and one person even photographed the victim with a cell phone camera.

There were a few positive developments in the wake of the Genovese tragedy. Police telephonic response systems were improved as a forerunner to the 911 system we know today and the Neighborhood Watch movement grew as a response to this event.

Kitty Genovese's roommate and partner Mary Ann Zielonko said in an interview on the 40th anniversary of her death, "…I still have a lot of anger toward people because they could have saved her life. I mean, all those steps along the way when he attacked her three times. And then he sexually assaulted her too, when she was dying. I mean, you look out the window and you see this happening and you don't help. That's—how do you live with yourself, knowing you didn't do anything?"

The question remains for us all.

Genovese’s murderer, Winston Moseley (a 29 year-old at the time, and a husband and father of two), is serving a life sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility in New York State near the Canadian border. He will attend his 14th parole hearing this month.