What You Need to Know About Youth Violence Prevention

Surgeon General's Report

Continue to build the science base.
Accelerate the decline in youth gun use.
Facilitate the entry of youths into effective intervention programs, rather than incarcerating them
Disseminate model programs with incentives to ensure fidelity to orginal program design when implemented broadly.
Improve awareness of effective interventions.
Provide training and certification programs for intervention personnel.
Convene young people and families, researchers, and private and governmental organizations for a periodic youth summit.
Improve Federal, State, and local strategies for reporting crime information.

A series of deeply troubling school shootings planned and carried out by young people prompted the investigations of Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General. In its conclusion, the report suggests some potential next steps — courses for action — that build on existing violence prevention evidence. These represent the U.S. Surgeon General's vision for the future.

Policymakers, service and treatment providers, researchers, youth advocates, parents, and individuals affiliated with schools, the juvenile justice system, law enforcement, and the health care community - and other concerned citizens—can take on the challenge of youth violence prevention in the many ways shown below.

CONTINUE TO BUILD THE SCIENCE BASE.

Evaluate systematically and scientifically the effectiveness of all untested violence prevention programs used in schools, communities, and the justice system today. Investigate factors related to dating violence.
Investigate the impact of violent interactive media, such as computer games, on serious violent behavior.
Find new ways to use tools, strategies, and insights from multiple disciplines to reveal the causes of youth violence.
Invest in cross-level research designs to examine individual, family, and community factors simultaneously.
Devise ways of giving people with diverse interests (for example, in firearm use and media violence) a voice in identifying urgent research questions.
Inform the public about research findings.

ACCELERATE THE DECLINE IN YOUTH GUN USE.

Seek to understand why youth decide to carry or not to carry guns.

FACILITATE THE ENTRY OF YOUTHS INTO EFFECTIVE INTERVENTION PROGRAMS, RATHER THAN INCARCERATING THEM

Increase awareness of effective intervention programs.
Provide technical assistance and information to communities about effective intervention programs.
Devise incentives for States and communities to invest in tested programs (for example, require evidence of effectiveness as a condition for receiving Federal or local funding).
Inform the public about effective alternatives to incarceration to build support for the alternatives.

DISSEMINATE MODEL PROGRAMS WITH INCENTIVES TO ENSURE FIDELITY TO ORIGINAL PROGRAM DESIGN WHEN IMPLEMENTED BROADLY

Encourage legislators, agency administrators, and program directors to identify incentives for ensuring that the integrity of a model program is not compromised when it is replicated.
Encourage program directors to avoid subtle modifications in implementation of a proven program.

IMPROVE PUBLIC AWARENESS OF EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS

Youth advocacy organizations: Educate citizens on how to interact effectively with their local schools and juvenile justice systems, with appropriate sectors of the elected government, and with private organizations involved in youth violence prevention.
Use media campaigns and public service announcements to improve local awareness of and funding opportunities for model programs.
Feature model youth violence prevention programs in popular films (as in, for example, the 1938 film Boys Town).

PROVIDE TRANING AND CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS FOR INTERVENTION PERSONNEL.

Establish formal training programs and university-level certification.

CONVENE YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES, RESEARCHERS, AND PRIVATE AND GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS FOR A PERIODIC YOUTH VIOLENCE SUMMIT.

Involve new players and collaborative partnerships across disciplines in a public health focus on youth violence prevention.
Disseminate information on new research findings, effective programs and strategies, best practices, and related information for diverse audiences through the media.
Increase interaction between academic research centers and community-based agencies responsible for implementing youth violence prevention programs or providing medical services to victims, which can result in considerable cost savings.

IMPROVE FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL STRATEGIES FOR REPORTING CRIME INFORMATION

Improve the proportion of law enforcement agencies that report arrests to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports program. In 1999, participating agencies represented only 63 percent of the U.S. population.
Include arrest rates for all racial and ethnic groups.
Encourage law enforcement agencies to participate in the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System to track violent crime.
Develop and implement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s proposed National Violent Death Reporting System to help monitor the magnitude and characteristics of youth violence on a timely basis to facilitate more effective planning and evaluation of programmatic and policy responses.
Develop a standard set of questions for national self-report surveys that include serious violent offenses for all adolescents ages 11 to 17, with follow-up questions on details.

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