Curbing Boston's Youth Violence

Boston – once a national model of youth violence prevention – must jumpstart its efforts following a rise in juvenile crime, says a Tufts expert.

Boston [08.06.03] During the first week in July, two high-profile shootings thrust youth violence back into the spotlight in Boston. Once a national model for its preventative programs, the city is facing a rise in violence among its young people. Curbing the crimes, says a Tufts child development expert, will require collaboration across the city.

“Like it or not, we are being jolted once again,” wrote Tufts’ Howard Spivak – the director of the Tufts University Center for Children – in a Boston Globe op-ed.

After successfully curbing a wave of youth violence in the 1980s and late 1990s, the city’s past success is eroding, Spivak wrote.

“Unfortunately, with success came a feeling that the problem was resolved,” he wrote in the Globe with a colleague from the Harvard School of Public Health. “Complacency set in, and efforts waned.”

The violence was not far behind.

Three-year-old Kai Leigh Harriott and 15-year-old Tony On were both shot within five days of one another, propelling the issue of youth violence to the center stage in Boston.

“While things are not nearly as bad as they were in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the need to respond was urgent, there are clearly warning signs that all is not well,” he wrote. “Over the past year we have seen a growing number of children and teenagers killed or severely injured by gun violence at levels we have not seen for awhile. The recent shooting of Kai Leigh Harriott is the most current reminder that we cannot relax and continue to rely on the successes of the past.”

City leaders and community organizations need to work together, wrote the Tufts expert.

“We must reinvigorate our efforts and get back to basics,” Spivak, who is chief of general pediatric and adolescent medicine at Tufts-New England Medical Center, wrote in the opinion piece. “We cannot fall back on any one or two ‘magic programs’ that were misleadingly and inaccurately given credit for the city’s success. Everyone must have a role and take responsibility for their part in making this city safer for all children and youth.”

Among the key groups: schools, faith-based organizations and, most importantly, young people.

“Youth must be involved, as must families, especially those who understand this issue at its most intimate level – those who have experienced the consequences of violence and violent death,” Spivak wrote in the Globe. “They are the heart and soul of the movement; they bring passion and commitment that can teach all of us.”

Spivak suggested that schools remain open after classes finish for the day to provide safe environments and that neighborhood groups increase the safe activities they provide for kids. The presence of adult role models and supervisors is critical.

“Young people need jobs as well as clear opportunities to contribute to their communities, again with the involvement of adults as role models and for safety,” he wrote.

Short term commitments won’t be effective over the long-run, he wrote.

“We don’t just need a summer of responsibility – we need a lifetime of responsibility,” Spivak wrote in the Globe.