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Too little, too late:Prevention and Intervention in

Addressing Youth Violence

Report presented toThe Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation

Prepared byMark A. Biernbaum, PhD

Institute for Strategic Inquiry and Study (ISIS)

Too Little, Too Late,

Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………. 3

Terminology and other considerations…………………………………….. 5

Characteristics of Violent Youth…..………………………………………... 9

The Development of Violent Youth…………………………………………. 10

Family Environments of Violent Youth…………………………………….. 14

The Communities of Violent Youth…………………………………………. 16

Sociocultural Factors…………………………………………………………. 17

Chronically Violent Kids…………………………………………………….. 19

Key Loci for Intervention……………………………………………………. 22

What About Prevention?.............................................................. 27

Concluding Remarks……………………………………………………….... 30

APPENDIX A: Special section on truancy: Eight models that work.……………….... 33

Notes……………………………………………………………………………. 51

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Introduction

According to the Department of Justice, in 1970, 168,504 youth (all childrenup to 24 years in age) were arrested for violent crimes. By 2000, that numberhad jumped a full 40% to 276,920 youth arrested for committing a violentcrime.1 Data now available from the FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual UniformCrime Report for the frst half of 2006, shows an increase in violent crimes of2.3% -- the largest such increase since 1991. In a 2007 interview on this topic,former Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales cited statistics that suggested thatthe country’s increasing level of violent crime was being fueled largely byincreases in violence by youth. The federal government has pledged over $80million dollars this year to address youth and gang violence.2

Research on violent youth has been going on actively since the 1940s. In1996, researchers Stephen P. Hinshaw and Carolyn A. Anderson observed:3

The Unites States is currently witnessing an unprecedentedsurge in rates of violent crime among youth…, with ever-increasing numbers of children and adolescents serving as perpetrators of aggression, assault, and murder…Indeednewspaper headlines that include graphic descriptions of violence among children and adolescents are commonplace…Among youth, the highest rate of referral for mental healthservices involve aggressive, acting-out, and disruptive behavior patterns, tendencies that have shown a detectableincrease over the past 20 years…The threat—or reality—of violence has created climates of fear, intimidation, and deprivation in many communities.

What is startling about this paragraph, is that over a decade later, the statisticsand sentiments expressed by Hinshaw and Anderson continue to motivatefunders, policy-makers, and agencies; in other words, our deep concerns aboutyouth violence have not abated in the intervening decade. Clearly, we havenot found, as a nation, the answers we sought to curb youth violence. We dohave a handful of programs that show good outcomes, but too many goodprograms are not funded adequately or at all in these diffcult economic times.Thus, overall, we are left with the same “climates of fear, intimidation, anddeprivation” discussed by Hinshaw and Anderson.

It is the hope of this report to shed some light on the characteristics of thoseyouth who engage in aggressive, violent, and delinquent behaviors, and that

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some information regarding potentially promising avenues for prevention andintervention can be offered for consideration by funders, agencies andgovernments, as we all struggle with this particularly wrenching societal ill.2

Terminology and other considerationsIt is important to discuss terms used in this area, and general approaches aswell. There are four primary ways we attempt to infuence unwantedconditions, like youth violence, in our society.4

Primary Prevention refers to the amelioration of the conditions that cangive rise to an increased risk of youth crime and violence. Theseinclude, but are not restricted to: poverty, violent communities, racism,fractured family environments, child abuse, malfunctioning parent-childrelations, and parental psychopathology. Addressing these factors isaddressing those things that establish fertile ground for the developmentof violent youth in our society.

Secondary Prevention refers to the amelioration of behaviors that arenot aggressive or violent, but that serve as risk factors for thedeve lopment o f such behav io r . These inc lude schoo labsenteeism/truancy, defant and unmanageable classroom and homebehavior, poor peer relationships, drug use, and academicunderachievement. These situations foreshadow the potentialemergence of aggressive and violent behaviors.

Early Intervention occurs when programs intervene after early signs ofviolence and antisocial behavior have already emerged, includinggetting into fghts at school, vandalism, stealing, and other behaviorsoften associated with the term delinquency.

Late Intervention refers to those programs that intervene after there havebeen serious consequences for violent behavior, like incarceration andprobation. These programs have as a goal the reduction or eliminationof the already present violent behaviors and the prevention ofrecidivism.

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These strategies are then focused on addressing problems within a particular locus for intervention. There are 4 major loci:4

Individual approaches to violence focus on characteristics of violentyoung people as the primary venue of investigation andprevention/intervention.

Familial approaches look at the family systems of at-risk youth andattempt to make changes to those systems that will favor more positiveyouth development.

Community models put their focus on making larger-scale changes indiscrete communities as a way of discouraging youth violence andencouraging positive youth development.

Sociocultural models focus on addressing key cultural and socialvariables, like poverty and racism, and in their attempts to reduce thosecultural-level conditions, they indirectly create policies that diminishyouth crime and violence.

We can observe these 4 methods of infuence along with the 4 loci of change, in the fgure below:

Method of Infuence

Location of interventionIndividual Familial Community Cultural

Primary Prevention ASecondary Prevention BEarly Intervention CLate Intervention D

“A” in the table above, might be a public awareness program delivered to new mothers regarding the importance of attachment and love for proper braindevelopment. “B” could represent a community-based strategy for reducingtruancy, where all neighborhood residents agree to call a truancy offcer toreport any youth they see who are not in school. Program “C” could be afamily therapy that focuses on reducing the expression of aggression by familymembers while increasing family cohesion. “D” could be a piece of legislationthat creates special resources for job placement and training for juveniles

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leaving secure facilities and returning to the community. All the variousprograms and interventions that are available could be located somewherewithin the fgure.

Undoubtedly, all types of prevention and intervention and all approaches tothe problem of youth violence are necessary for a community’s strategy to becalled comprehensive. And although programs and funders often choose tofocus on discrete areas of impact, an examination of their work often showsthat while, for example, their direct focus may encompass primary preventionby funding early childhood programs that help young children prepare forschool, therefore decreasing the possibility of academic underachievement,suspension, and school drop out, there are often indirect positive effects of suchprograms, on things like child self-esteem and parental involvement in theirchild’s education. Thus, most funders and most programs are operating onmultiple levels of prevention/intervention, and from multiple perspectives atonce.

However, the literature o n youth violence is clear on one thing for certain:prevention beats intervention in terms of long-term, positive effects.4,5 This isintuitively understandable and should guide program and funding priorities,but it doesn’t always do so. This is because evidence of the positive impact ofprevention programs is often years in the future, and intervention programslook attractive because they address an already visible problem. Society hasto move, however, towards prevention as primary – to lose the obsessive focuson change now and think clearly about how to not end up in a place where anintervention program is necessary. The long-term positive effects of preventionprograms are often amplifed and diversifed across time, while lateintervention can only hope to remediate an already established problem.

Characteristics of violent youthWhom are the youth committing violence acts in our society? Where did theycome from and how did their violent behavior patterns develop? The answer isnot simple. In fact, the general rule in research on child development statesthat there are multiple pathways to violent behavior and multiple differenttypes of young people engaging in such behavior, for a variety of reasons.6

Some of these young people have psychiatric conditions which contribute totheir antisocial behaviors, while some are motivated by involvement in gangsand other deviant peer groups, and still others are involved in delinquentpatterns of behavior which include some violence. Given that this group isheterogeneous, is there anything that can be said regarding these youth in

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general? The answer is “yes”—each of these groups shares certain overlappingrisk factors in the development of their violent behavior.

The Development of Violent YouthResearchers in child development, psychology, and education have created asubstantial literature on the development of aggressive and violent behavior.Across a multiplicity of studies, several fndings emerge as hallmark in thedevelopment of violent youth.

Risk for developing into a violent young person begins in infancy with theformation of key relationships with caregivers and others.7 “Attachment,” hasto do not with the intensity of these affectional bonds, but with their quality. 8

Many studies on violent young people indicate that those bonds with primarycaregivers were insecure or disorganized, rather than secure. Having aninsecure or disorganized attachment is thought to impact brain developmentnegatively, resulting in problems with impulsiveness and self-regulation ofemotions. They are also associated with an increased risk of mental illness, aswell as underachieving in school – among many undesirable outcomes.9

Insecure infants experience rejecting, punitive, neglectful, and/or potentiallyabusive relationships with primary caregivers.10 Also, it is these primary infantrelationships that serve as general relationship models – guiding both thedeveloping brain and the developing child -- in future relationships, thusperpetuating the insecurity or disorganization and its associated risks.11

Science has confrmed that those earliest social relationships have long-termand profound effects throughout life.12

Some research has indicated that there is an in-born tendency towardsaggression and violent behaviors. Many theorists assume that aggression is anatural human instinct,13 which emerges slightly differently across individualsand circumstances. Researchers are beginning to gain information on geneticcontributions to aggression and violence. The study of Temperament in infancyassumes that some biological given creates the main aspects of our emergingpersonalities. Some babies have what scientists call Diffcult temperament.These babies are born arrhythmic, tend to distress, seem hypersensitive, andare diffcult to calm. They are not always gratifying to parent. Having adiffcult temperament can predispose babies to form insecure attachmentrelationships with caregivers. Later in life, infant temperament is predictive ofimpulsivity, hostility, poor coping skills, mental illness, and other unfavorableoutcomes.14 As infant temperament becomes adult personality and seemsbiologically-driven, people assume that a diffcult personality cannot be

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modifed, which is incorrect. Therapies have been developed that don’tnecessarily “change” personality, but that create coping skills to modify itsimpact and increase awareness.15

Existing data also suggest that having a lower IQ and/or learning diffcultiesand underachievement in school, can contribute to the development ofviolence.16 A lower IQ undoubtedly makes learning harder, and can thereforemake school a place that is disliked by children who struggle academically, asthey don’t receive much positive reinforcement from academic work. Thesekids experience academic failure more regularly and more frequently, andthose experiences can negatively impact self-esteem development, as well associal opportunities.17 Less intelligent kids are disadvantaged in some socialinteraction.18 Poor social and academic skills are often reasons for teasing andexclusion by other, more capable kids. These fndings support the use ofeducational remediation programs for those who don’t learn as well or asreadily.

Socially, young people who exhibit violent behavior show a pattern of poorand confictual social relations. Insecure and disorganized attachmentscombined with diffcult temperaments produce kids that interact awkwardly,confictually, or not at all with peers. Some violent kids are part of deviantpeer groups that engage in delinquent behaviors, with group pressures tendingto promote more delinquent behavior in group members than would befacilitated without the group.19 Other violent kids are more likely to be sociallyisolated and ridiculed/tormented by their peers. In both cases, the impact ismanifold and resoundingly negative. These kids develop a hostile attributionalbias in social interaction.20 They assume, even if there is no evidence of this,that the other party in the interaction has hostile intent towards them. Theypreemptively respond to this assumption --- and not in the most optimal ways.They show evidence of having developed poor coping skills for confictsituations, so they often escalate the confict with an impulsive and hostileresponse.21

Family Environments of Violent YouthAggressive youth are more likely to have been raised by a parent with mentalillness.22 Parental Psychopathology creates inconsistency in parenting,especially if left untreated, which is unfortunately the case for the majority ofmental illness in our country. We say that we want to raise healthy kids, bothphysically and mentally, but we underfund mental health and substance abuseservices, and we allow the continuation of our society’s negative attitudestowards mental health treatment, psychiatry, and psychology. These negative

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attitudes create a stigma regarding behavioral health that discourages peoplefrom getting the help they need.23 And this stigma is especially pronounced incertain segments of society, including those from which violent kids are mostlikely to emerge.

Even when no mental illness or substance abuse is present, parents of violentkids are less likely to engage regularly in positive interactions and activitieswith their children.24 This lack of regular positive interaction can have multiplecauses, including impossible work schedules or other demands, like having tocare for an elderly relative, parental psychopathology, and marital discord. Itcould also be one long-term impact of insecure and disorganized attachments– in that parents that are not adequate to the parenting task when theirchildren are infants, simply continue to parent poorly. Parents also mightsimply not understand the vital importance of positive interactions with theirchildren for their child’s healthy development.

Parents of violent youth also show defcits in parental monitoring – meaningthat they are less likely to know where the kids are, who their kids hang outwith, and what activities they engage in.25 Again, the causes of this lack ofclose monitoring are many. Whatever the reason, poor parental monitoringleaves kids out supervising themselves, often in situations with adults and otherkids, forced to make decisions which they are likely not equipped to makewithout good parental support. Lack of parental monitoring also has anemotional impact, in that parents who are poor monitors, convey by this lack ofmonitoring that their child is not good enough or important enough to be kepttrack of. This can contribute to the development of low self-esteem becauseself-esteem, especially in the early phases of its development, is alwayspartially defned by the caregiver’s attention and interest, which are equatedwith love by the child. Children whose parents fail to monitor their activitiesare more likely to feel unloved and unsupported by their parents, and aretherefore more likely to turn to a gang or deviant peer group for a sense ofbelonging.

The Communities of Violent YouthViolent youth are more likely to live in neighborhoods and communities thatare low on resources and high on need.26 These youth are concentrated inurban areas. Schools in the immediate area are more likely to be sub-standard. Crime rates in their neighborhoods tend to be higher – violencetends to breed more violence. There is a lack often of community cohesiveness,which is evidenced by low levels of organized community activity and lack ofcooperation with law enforcement offcials during the investigations of violent

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crimes. Unemployment levels are likely to be signifcantly higher, andopportunities are likely to be signifcantly lower. The neighborhood is alsomore likely to be in disrepair, containing more substandard housing, boardedup houses, and empty lots. Overall, conditions in the communities andneighborhoods of violent you are depressing and oppressive. Strategies toprevent violence in youth must focus not just on the youth, or the youth andtheir parents – but in fact, the entire neighborhood as well.

Community development agencies can play an important role by working todraw down funds for new housing development and existing housingrehabilitation. They can act as community organizers, bringing neighborhoodresidents together to discuss important issues like public safety and drug use.They can facilitate helpful contact between local law enforcement andresidents. Finally, they can also institute programs, like after-school andsummer enrichment programs that are preventative in nature. Because somany of the problems existing at the community level are so diffcult to tackle,the important role of community development organizations cannot beunderstated. One of the greatest advantages community-based agencies have,is that they are trusted within the community they want to change, and thushave access and intimacy with residents that local governments often do nothave.

Sociocultural FactorsThe burned out cores of many small industrial cities contain amazing numbersof people living in poverty. In Rochester’s central core, it is estimated by theFederal Reserve that up to 80% of the people are living in poverty. 27 Theseare ghetto-ized environments – they do not attract visitation by those who livein other areas – in fact, they tend to repel such behavior. Simple familyeconomics create miles of economically-depressed homes in cities likeRochester. There is a sense of hopelessness that can’t help but develop inthese poor urban centers.

In Rochester, the issue is also a racial one – as center city’s youth arepredominately African-American. The wide economic divide between the city’sCaucasian and African-American residents agitates the relationships betweenthe “haves” and the “have-nots.” And the have-nots often have very littlepolitical power to implement change. For the middle and upper-classes, theseghettos in the center of our cities are too easy to ignore. We ignore them atour own peril, because out of these ghettos, violence grows too easily. Povertyrobs a person of hope for the future, so they strive for less, and as a result,generations have grown up under these conditions. Generations of people

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have come up in extreme poverty. That’s a hard fact to face when we sit andwonder why certain programs and initiatives seem ineffective in the face ofsuch multigenerational adversity. Crime is the culture in these neighborhoods,gangs are the keys to membership and all too often, criminal activity is theprimary way to achieve any type of economic prosperity. None of this everexcuses violent behavior, but it goes a long way towards explaining it.

Municipal governments can begin to address poverty – but doing so oftenmeans taking money away from other programs and services. In these days ofmunicipal budget defcits, there is little call to address urban poverty, much lessto create policy that when implemented, might ameliorate it. But all taxpayerspay for this lack of attention, as the effects of allowing large numbers ofpeople to live in poverty creates a burden in the hearts, minds, andpocketbooks of the more economically stable in our community. Funds arediverted from programs that might reduce poverty, to those that deal with theconsequences of poverty, like the court system and law enforcement. Andthose consequences come with very high price tags. Although researchershave demonstrated the enormous cost savings of prevention, the messageappears not to be getting through to those who create economic and socialpolicies for our region, as well many others in the nation. New York City isembarking on a controversial new program where the city is actually paying itslowest-income residents in order to elevate their standard of living. Theoutcome of this new policy should be closely watched by all municipalitiesstruggling with high levels of urban poverty.

Chronically Violent KidsDecades of developmental research has demonstrated that there are 4 centralcharacteristics that distinguish the most seriously aggressive and violent youthfrom the less dangerous delinquents:4

Frequency: The most serious youth commit crimes more often. In other words, a lotof crime is explained by a few criminals who commit frequently.

Chronicity:Violent criminals have a long history of engagement in violent,

aggressive, and hostile behavior – these violent behaviors did notappear overnight. Violent youth may have a history of getting intofghts at school and in the neighborhood, as well as bullying andintimidation. The problem is long-standing.

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Severity:More severe forms of violence are demonstrated. Although we mightview all incidences of violence as “severe,” the worst offenders areleaving serious impairment and even death in their wake. Violentbehavior emitted in a group setting can become particularly severe asthe energy of the group reinforces the violence and creates a groupthinksituation that can create a dangerous escalation in the violence.

Early vs. Late Onset:This would seem intuitive and has also been demonstrated extensively inresearch, but the earlier in life antisocial behaviors occurs, the morelikely the child is to become increasingly antisocial over time. Researchshows that there are indeed two groups of violent youth – onedemonstrating early onset with chronic, severe, and frequentpresentation – and the other demonstrating sporadic, less severeantisocial behavior that does not emerge until adolescence.

Summing up, the youth engaged in serious violent behavior have oftendemonstrated a pattern of antisocial behavior that could be reliably identifedas early as the preschool years.28 In their lives, there are multiple risk factorsfor violence. They are more likely to be growing up in a poor urbanenvironment. They have diffculties with social relationships and historically,failed to securely attach to a caregiver. Their caregivers, for multiple reasons,were more unavailable than available to them. These youth have a history ofstruggling in school, and for all their apparent confdence and bravado, theyhave low self-esteem, and are hopeless concerning their future; many aredepressed as well as antisocial.29 They are more likely to be truant from schooland engaged in deviant activities as part of a group in their out-of-school time.They have a long history of acting antisocially. It should be no surprise thatyouth facing these developmental conditions end up displaying violence. Thequestion becomes – what can be done about it?

Key Loci for InterventionIntervention and prevention programs must address issues at 4 different levels: Individual Functioning

Psychotherapeutic work, both individually and in groups, is a must. Thetherapy must address depression, self-esteem, and perception – thehostile attributional bias of violent youth can be changed so that they nolonger pre-judge the actors in their world as hostile towards them.Several different variants of Cognitive-Behavioral therapy have beensuccessful with violent youth.30 These young people must have access to

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psychotherapy, substance abuse treatment, and psychiatry, shouldmedication be indicated.

These youth will also require academic remediation. They need helplearning how to learn – tutoring within content areas is not enough andwill only result in a return to underachievement once the tutoring ends.Teaching these youth strategies for learning, whether directly orindirectly, can have long-term positive benefts on both academics andself-esteem, as improvement in school creates more mastery and lessfailure experiences for these youth.31

Family FunctioningChronically violent youth come from seriously dysfunctional familyenvironments. Parents may not even be in the picture, and if they are,they are more likely to be involved with antisocial activities themselves,as well as drug use and mental illness. In less severe cases where thoseconditions are not necessarily present, the family tends to function as arelationship system characterized by anger, hostility, coercive parentingtactics, escalation, and manipulation. These environments serve toincrease hostility and negative behaviors in children. The children’sincreasingly coercive and hostile behaviors enhance these behaviors inthe parents, and a vicious cycle is established.32

The Annie E. Casey Foundation – a national leader in innovativeresearch and programming on juvenile offenders, has offcially endorsed3 types of family therapy that have demonstrated success with offender’sfamilies. Multisystemic Therapy, Multidimensional Treatment FosterCare a n d Functional Family Therapy. These three share manyoverlapping features, including taking place in the home, using acollaborative process between the therapist and family to set treatmentgoals, an emphasis on the functioning of the whole family, and a focuson skill building for all family members through improvements in familyfunctioning. For the target youth, goals focus on giving the youth newcopings skills that are effective in multiple environments, like school andhome. These therapies have been empirically validated multiple times.For example, Multisystemic Family Therapy has been shown to reducejuvenile recidivism and drug use and signifcantly improve familyfunctioning. Additionally, it is not expensive to administer. Cook andMultnomah Counties in Oregon have implemented programs containingMultisystemic Family Therapy for juvenile offenders and have found thatthe therapy returned $2.64 to the community for every dollar spent.33

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Social RelationshipsViolent youth are disadvantaged in relationships from the start – beingmore likely to be insecurely attached or disorganized when it comes tosocial relations. They show early diffculties in relations with their peersexhibiting defcits in both universal and specifc aspects of socialinteraction; they utilize inappropriate methods for initiating interactionand are not as competent in sustaining interactions. Violent youthdemonstrate very few coping skills for use when interactions containconfict. And their hostile attributional bias makes these youthunattractive in interaction to their peers.

These defcits encourage violent youth to either affliate with a group ofsimilarly disadvantaged youth – or to withdraw from the majority ofsocial interaction with peers. Depression, which is present in asignifcant percentage of these youth (some studies estimate close to50% also have serious depression34), negatively impacts socialinteraction as well. Depression can creates serious impairment in socialinteractions, as depressed individuals tend to avoid interaction and haveproblems when they do interact.35 Depressed children have also beenshown to be undesirable to interact with in the view of their peers.36

Adventure therapies have been shown to be effective in promotingbetter self-concept and improved social orientation and relations. Thesegroup therapies create challenge situations – both indoors andoutdoors, with varying degrees of complexity and need for cooperation.For young people who struggle with social relationships, adventuretherapies create a safe group environment for explorations of pro-socialbehavior. They increase self-esteem because of the positive feedbackreceived by mastering program challenges. Participants are also helpedby working over a period of time with the same group – providing timeto learn new interaction skills within an environment of increasing trustand intimacy. Adventure therapies have been empirically validated witha number of treatment populations, including court-referred youth.37

Community InfuencesIt must be acknowledged that all of the aforementioned family andindividual dysfunction is taking place within a larger community contextthat is profoundly shaping the situation. Community intervention is anecessity too.

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The vast majority of violent youth come from urban environmentscharacterized by extreme poverty, lack of job opportunities, lack ofhealth care, and high crime rates. These neighborhoods are often cutoff both physically and psychologically from surrounding areas.Alienation from/strained relations with law enforcement is a commonproblem. Neighborhood residents do not experience as sense ofcohesion – community identity is diffused, which does not promotecommunity organizing.38

The importance of community and neighborhood developmentorganizations and associations cannot be understated. Because theseneighborhoods have been so ghettoized, programs delivered byneighborhood residents (paraprofessionals) – familiar with the peopleand the problems, have the best chance at success.39 Programming thatprovides opportunities for neighborhood residents to get together forboth formal and informal socializing is highly desirable, as it buildscommunity identity and cohesion. The emphasis is often placed onformal occasions – like town hall-style meetings, but informal socialevents are just as important as tools in community repair andempowerment. For a community to effectively lobby local governmentfor assistance with their needs, community organizing is a must. And forthe residents of these urban neighborhoods to work together toeffectively fght youth violence, then they must know and trust oneanother.

What About Prevention?There are a multitude of opportunities to prevent youth violence. Communitiesaround the country – including Rochester – have initiated empirically basedvisiting nurse programs during the frst two years of life. These programs bringa professional into at-risk homes to help parents and other caregiversunderstand the importance of positive interactions with their infants for propersocial and emotional development. They teach how to establish secureattachments between infants and their caregivers.

Five decades of Head Start and other preschool programs have also proventhat enhancing school readiness results in long-range positive outcomes – likehigher graduation rates and better socialized kids – so these programs arebenefcial both academically and socially.40 We also know from extensiveresearch, that antisocial problems can be identifed reliably as early aspreschool – and should be. Preschool children who display highly

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oppositional and defant behavior are the most likely to develop into hostileand aggressive youth. If preschools have access to psychologists and otherinterventionists, then perhaps these children could receive the attention theirearly-onset problems demand.

Schools also need support. As stated earlier, many of these youth come upthrough schools that are inadequate in multiple ways. These schools are oftenresource-poor, and yet are exactly the schools that need additional resources.Academically, they are often the schools that grade-advance students who areinadequately prepared to advance – resulting in widespread academicunderachievement. Schools often need more academic support, in the form ofteacher’s aides and tutoring programs that can be fexibly individualized to suitstudent needs, as well as other types of support, like facility repair and evenfunds to purchase adequate numbers of quality instructional materials.

Many of these schools lack good after-school programming, and research hasdemonstrated many positive effects of participation in academically-enrichedafter-school programs.41 Most obviously, students involved in after-schoolprograms are not on the street during these hours. They are also receiving abolstering of their academic skills -- and in the best programs, are havingenrichment experiences that can include music training, athletics, and arts andculture. After-school programs seem like an obvious good choice forcommunity investment, but in Rochester, for example, less than 15% of districtstudents participate in an after-school enrichment program. It is also importantto note that “enrichment” programs focus on more than just academics. Not allafter-school programs would qualify as “enrichment” programs, and it isenrichment programs that are shown to have the best outcomes across multipledomains, not just academics.

An excellent place to intervene early is around issues of school attendance,out-of-school suspensions, and truancy. Patterns of school absenteeism emergeand consolidate early – with research demonstrating predictable patterns bythe 6th grade.42 Violent youth often have histories full of suspensions andtruancy issues.43 This only serves to compound their existing academicdiffculties, and makes it less likely that they will graduate. A high drop-outrate in a school district indicates that too many children and youth are beinglost along the way, with too little done to both prevent excessive absenteeism,or to address it when it’s present. Parents have an important role to play hereas well, and there are also likely roles for community agencies, police, and thejuvenile justice system. Truancy will be the focus of a special section later inthis report (see Appendix A).

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Concluding RemarksIn research conducted in Rochester that examined violent youth offenders, theirvictims, and peers from their neighborhoods, it was found that all three groups– not just the violent youth -- had records of school failure. Although one mighthave thought that the violent youth would have signifcantly worse academicrecords, this data proves that the community and school district as a whole arevital places for prevention and intervention programs – not just for violentyouth, but for all of Rochester’s youth. After all, it must be remembered thatalthough only a small percentage of youth are violent, many youth areexposed to violence – at home, in school, and on the street -- as observers andas victims. When these youth lose out on the benefts of school, they lose toomuch.44 Appendix A in this report explores 8 successful truancy programswhich, based on the data above, Rochester should consider.

Despite the fact that the violent youth in the Rochester study were notdifferentiated from their peers on academic failure rates, these youth havebeen shown to be more likely to have a history of violence, to have diffcultiescoping constructively with confict in social interaction, and to come from highlydysfunctional families. The warning signs of future youth violence seem clear.Children can be identifed as early as age 4 who are more likely to engage inviolence later in life. Attendance patterns in school, identifable as early as 6 th

grade, can predict which students are more likely to drop out of school andengage in violent behavior. Too many families are living in poverty inRochester, and too many of these communities seem broken and low on hope.We cannot say that we did not see the signs.

For any community to hope to cope with the tragedy of youth violence, acomprehensive vision must obtain. Youth violence is not going to be curbed byone-time-only, high-profle municipal interventions, or solely by changes inschool programs, or by more police involvement – or by any single factoroperating alone. Community decision makers must be both preventative andinterventionist in their strategies, which they must deploy at individual, family,community, and cultural levels. Then a community’s approach to youthviolence can be called comprehensive.

This comprehensive approach calls for a high level of coordination andcooperation between many parties, including government, social and humanservices, police, schools, the court system, the communities affected, and thefamilies in those communities. Youth violence is everyone’s problem andeveryone has a role to play in creating a real and enduring solution.

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APPENXDIX A

Truancy: Eight Models that Work

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Truancy is defned as a documented pattern of unexcused absences from school.45 Truant students miss out on academic training and fall behind in their studies, and also give up all the rich social interactions provided in the school environment. And longitudinal data on truant students shows that they are at higher risk for early pregnancy, dropping out, criminal behavior, and increased depression and suicidal thoughts.46 Schools suffer from truancy as well, as their share of federal and state aid is partially determined by how many students are in school.47 Communities and neighborhoods suffer becausetruant youth are more likely to engage in deviant and criminal behavior when not in school.48 Studies have estimated that 75-85% of all serious juveniles have a chronic history of school absenteeism.49

There are state and local laws that provide a judicial means to deal with truancy. The judicial system has the power of enforcement or consequences in the event that one violates a demand of the court to attend school. Consequences can include foster care and institutionalized care. Most states also have laws that allow for the prosecution of the parents of truants as well. Removing a truant student from home and school – often the result of PINS petitions in New York State, seems an ironic solution to the problem and an ineffective one as well. The Vera Institute of Justice documented serious declines in school attendance when young people were placed in foster care ina 2001 study.50

Even though the law provides a method for dealing with truants, states are motivated to foster the development of truancy prevention and intervention programs that attempt to intervene prior to the need for court involvement. These approaches lower the number of truancy cases resulting in court petitionsand save money for the community. They also focus on community-based resources that can provide concrete assistance to youth and families.

School drop out of truant youth generally results in lower socio-economic status, signifcant increases in involvement with the courts, higher numbers of unplanned pregnancies, signifcantly higher divorce rates, and increased risk for substance abuse.51 Where drop-out rates have risen – looking at preventing and intervening with truancy is a logical place for action – truant youth are much less likely to graduate, unsurprisingly. Failure to graduate from high school severely curtails future opportunities.

The center of any good truancy intervention is the school and the mission is to get the student back to school regularly and their family ready to make sure they attend. New York needs new solutions to truancy, as the State does not

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require the school to take any actions on truancy prior to the fling of a PINS petition. And even when a petition is fled and a judge orders a student to attend school, there is no way to enforce this order, except through out-of-home placements in either detention or foster care.

Here are 8 programs that have demonstrated success in diverting truants awayfrom the courts, while unmasking the underlying, likely familial, reasons for truant behavior, and addressing them. They are a blend of prevention and intervention-type programs.52, 53

Ohio: Truancy Prevention Through Mediation ProgramOhio’s program is preventative, in that it focuses predominately on elementary school students, as well as middle school students. There are core program components that all municipalities must implement, but the exact details of the program are determined locally. All programs utilize mediation in attempting to address truancy, rather than fnding fault, either with the child or the parents.

On the frst day of classes, letters are sent home to explain how seriously the school district takes absenteeism and what is done when there is a problem. This sets a tone of high expectations and enlists parental support in achieving them. After 3 unexcused absences, another letter is sent to parents outlining the problem and informing them that the situation is being monitored closely. Once a critical number of absences are recorded (and that number is determined locally), parents are sent a letter on court stationary, signed by the school, inviting them to attend a mediation session at the school. Parents, school representatives, and sometimes a truancy offcer and a representative from social services attend the mediation. Children in elementary school do not attend these sessions. The session focuses on understanding the underlyingcauses of the student’s absenteeism. Once causes are identifed, a plan is created and formalized in an agreement that all parties endorse.

If the agreement is violated, schools have the option of setting up a second mediation session or sending the case to the courts. The courts can impose fnes on the parents and jail time. Some counties have implemented “fast-track” systems, in which violation of the agreement results in a court date withinone month, so the process does not lose momentum.

Evaluation of this program has shown it to be highly successful in reducing school absenteeism – signifcant reductions in absences and tardies were foundin each county implementing the program. The program is administered by the

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Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Confict Management with assistance from the Ohio Supreme Court’s Offce of Dispute Resolution. Operating costs are minimal and consist mostly of payments to professional mediators (although some volunteer their time), plus some funds for substitute teachers when regular classroom teachers are called into mediation sessions. One paid program coordinator manages the logistics of the program, includingscheduling mediations, hiring and training mediators, and facilitating communication between the schools and the court system.

Broward County, Fl: Broward Truancy Intervention Program (BTIP)BTIP was established in 1997 as a partnership between the Broward County School Board and the state attorney general’s offce with funding from the Florida Department of Education’s Safe and Drug Free Schools. Its focus is at the elementary level – making it a prevention program.

After 3 unexcused absences, a district computer system generates a letter to parents alerting them to the absences. If fve absences are reached, another letter is sent to parents – this time, by certifed mail. At the same time, lists of students with more than fve absences are sent to the state attorney general’s offce, which in turn, issues a subpoena to the school requesting more information on each individual referral.

Once there have been 10 unexcused absences, the school’s student services coordinator arranges for a meeting between parents, the school social worker,a school representative, a representative from the local police department, andthe assistant state attorney general assigned to the truancy unit. Again, the child does not attend the meeting. Parents are told what the potential consequences of continued absences could be for them. The reasons for the absenteeism are explored, and parents are referred to community-based services that can assist them in addressing issues contributing to the truant behavior. If the attendance problem continues after this point, misdemeanor charges may be fled against the parents – and Broward County reports very few such charges fled.

In addition to the assistant attorney general who is assigned to the truancy unit,BTIP employs 6 retired police offcers to lead the investigations that provide information to the assistant attorney general, and one full time administrative assistant. BTIP has also been evaluated and found to be very successful at ameliorating truancy.

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Ramsey County, MN: Truancy Intervention Program (TIP)The Truancy Intervention Program was initiated by the Ramsey County Attorneyin St. Paul to focus on school absenteeism in children between the ages of 12 and 16. Because of the program’s initial success, it was expanded to address truancy in children ages 6 to 18. At the program’s core are 3 increasing levelsof intrusive intervention.

After 3 unexcused absences, parents are encouraged to attend a group meeting at school where compulsory attendance laws are explained to them, along with the consequences of violating those laws. They are given a description of TIP as well.

If the absenteeism continues, the case is referred to the School Attendance Review Team (SART), which holds a hearing attended by school representatives, the parents and child if old enough, and an assistant county attorney. Together, they discuss the particulars of the situation, and referrals tosocial services are also made; parents are expected to follow through on thesereferrals. All of this material is put into a written attendance contract. Parents agree to execute the contract. If the contract fails to ameliorate the truancy problem, then a Truancy Petition is fled in juvenile court.

Evaluation of TIP has demonstrated drastic reduction in the number of Truancy Petitions. In the 2000-2001 school year, out of the 2,192 students referred to the program, there were only 668 SART meetings and only 309 referrals to juvenile court.

In 1999 the program was expanded for elementary school students as the Family Truancy Intervention Program; (FTIP). FTIP and TIP are essentially the same program, with the exception -- that a SART referral in FTIP also results in a report of maltreatment to the Ramsey County Community Human Services Department, where the case is assigned to a social worker who participates in the SART meeting, assesses the family, and along with the school, continues to monitor the situation.

Fremont, CA: Truancy Intervention Program (TIP)This program is a creative collaboration between the schools, the police, and the department of human services. The central component of the program is a truancy center. Although such centers can be found all over the U.S., Fremont’s is different in that the center has a built-in counseling program. This program is staffed and managed by the Youth and Family Services offce of thecounty’s department of human services.

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Truant youth are picked up by police and are taken to the center where an arrest report is completed. While the youth are waiting for their parents to arrive, marriage and family therapists talk with the student to attempt to determine the causes of the truant behavior. When parents arrive, an assessment is completed and a parental intervention is conducted, where parents are made aware of the potential consequences of continued truancy. Half of the families are referred for more counseling (usually 5 sessions), while some families are asked to return to the center for more intensive assessment and planning. A verbal agreement is made concerning next steps and a contract period for these next steps is established. Counselors follow-up duringthe contract period, as do school personnel. If no progress is made, the centerrefers the case back to the originating school, which can then refer the case to the district attorney.

TIP receives grant funding (aimed at status offenders), money from the city budget, and YFS funds to pay for the work of the counselors. The counselors supplied to the center by YFS do not work exclusively on TIP.

Phoenix, AZ: Court Unifed Truancy Suppression Program (CUTS)CUTS is a diversion program that works with juvenile youth and community programs in order to avoid court involvement as status offenders. Schools are referred to the program based on attendance statistics. One a school has been referred, a probation offcer is assigned to that school and a letter is sent out to parents describing the new program.

Once a student has amassed 3 unexcused absences, a letter of warning is sent to parents and a meeting is convened at the school with the CUTS probation offcer and school representatives. The group works to identify those problems contributing to the school absenteeism.

If the pattern of absenteeism continues, the school issues a truancy citation. A hearing is convened at the school. The goal of the hearing is to link families to services that will help them solve the problems underlying the truancy, including counseling and substance abuse treatment. The child is assigned a number of “consequences” which must be completed within 60 days of the hearing. These are meant to keep the child and parent accountable – as parents are expected to monitor their children’s progress on their consequences. Consequences can include things like essay assignments, additional tutoring, and attending seminars and classes. If parents fail to follow-though on the community service recommendations, and/or the student

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fails to complete the consequences assigned at the hearing, the case can be referred to court.

CUTS has been evaluated and found to be extremely successful. For example, of students who went through the program --- a full 97% reestablished regular attendance and the district’s graduation rate increased by almost 15% in four years, while less than 5% of CUTS cases ended up requiring a court referral.This program is administered by the division of community services working under the direction of the Maricopa County Juvenile Probation Department. There are currently 9 probation offcers that work exclusively on CUTS.

Atlanta, GA: Fulton County Truancy Intervention Project (TIP) This program operates after a PINS petition is fled, but creates alternatives to out-of-home placement. It was started by the Atlanta Bar Foundation in 1991. Money for the initiative was originally provided by a major law frm which established a 501(c)3 organization to coordinate services on the project.

Initially, when students demonstrate an absenteeism problem, the program assigns a mentor (these are generally attorneys donating their time) to the student. The mentor works with the school and the youth to attempt to address the issues surrounding the truancy. If this initial intervention is unsuccessful, the school social worker fles a truancy petition, and a volunteer attorney represents the child in this petition and ensuing hearing.

The flling of the truancy petition results in the referral of a TIP probation offcer, who makes an initial contact with the family. At the truancy hearing, the judge has options other than out-of-home placement. He or she frst places the child under the supervision of the court, and then refers the family and childto a complement of community social services. The TIP probation offcer, with the help of the attorney-mentor, monitor the family’s progress in complying withthe court-ordered services.

TIP has been evaluated and has a 70% success rate in turning truants into high school graduates. Seventy-fve percent of students who go through the TIP process have no subsequent contact with the courts. There are currently 6 probation offcers that are assigned solely to TIP and other education-related issues. Attorneys that volunteer as mentors receive CLE credits for their participation.

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Adams County, CO: Seventeenth Judicial District Truancy Reduction ProjectThe goal of this program is to reduce the number of truancy petitions fled by addressing the underlying causes of student absenteeism. Schools must initiate the process – meaning that each school in the district must have their own program for truancy and must implement their program prior to seeking projectresources.

Once a school has exhausted all the measures at its disposal, then a truancy petition is fled. The court refers the case to a Truancy Case Manager (TCM) who makes an initial contact with the parents, explaining that they can participate in the Truancy Reduction Project or move directly to a court hearing.

If the family chooses to participate in the project, they receive an assessment that leads to the design of a specifc treatment plan. The assessment takes place at the school and is led by the TCM, with input from school representatives and human services. The treatment plan usually contains conditions for both the student and parents. To ensure compliance, the TCM then monitors the case for 12 weeks.

If the process works, a memorandum of accomplishment is fled with the school district and students and family attend a graduation ceremony to celebrate their accomplishments. The ceremony takes place at the county courthouse. If the process fails to produce the required changes, then at least one attempt is made to modify the treatment plan to better suit the family’s capabilities and issues. If after this modifcation, the absenteeism continues, then the case is referred to court. This often results in out-of-home placement for the child and jail time for the parents.

Evaluation data indicate that approximately 85% of families successfully complete the program. The Truancy Case Manager is an employee of the court paid through grants. The TCM deals solely with truancy cases and workswith an average of 85 families each year. The program has received a Judicial Conference Award for its success.

Kansas: Truancy Diversion ProgramThe establishment of this program was driven by community concern for the number of students dropping out of school. Community review of research led to a focus on truancy, as research indicated that most drop outs had a history of school absenteeism beginning in the elementary and middle school grades. Emphasis was placed on better community-level coordination between the

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schools, the courts, and the social services available – thus, in the planning stages, each system’s specifc responsibilities in the new program were carefully laid out. When program design was completed, the community engaged in a comprehensive public relations campaign on the importance of school attendance and family monitoring and involvement.

After 5 unexcused absences, the school makes contact with the parents to encourage them to make sure their child attends. This contact is sometimes by phone, or by in-person meetings at the school or family’s home. If the situationdoes not change, and the child accrues 10 absences, the student is reported astruant to the county attorney, who notifes parents of the impended legal action. The case moves to a hearing within two weeks. If the student is found to be truant, the judge gives the parents two alternatives – either they can choose to participate in the diversion program and potentially have the matter expunged, or their child may be placed outside of the home.

Families choosing to participate are assigned to a court services offcer, who organizes a meeting attended by the family, school representatives, a county attorney, the director of a local family counseling training program, and participating therapists (graduate students in training). This group collectively creates an agreement regarding how the family is going to address underlying issues impacting the truancy. Multiple services are available – including familytherapy, social skills training, after-school programs, and tutoring. The group decides on the blend of services to be applied, and then a contract is signed byall parties. All families receive referrals to family counseling and their attendance at these sessions, along with the target child’s school attendance and grades, are reported back to the court. Families successfully completing the program attend a graduation ceremony

This program was studied empirically by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh. According to their data, absenteeism decreased by 90% in familiesparticipating in the program. Data also showed that the earlier a child is referred to the program, the better the outcome. The program was initially supported by grants from the Kansas Offce of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

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SummaryTruancy is indeed an excellent place to intervene in the lives of children and youth that are not proceeding positively. There are a multitude of approaches – some that are more preventative, others that are clearly interventions, with each type reporting admirable rates of success. Across all the programs discussed here, certain general principles can be discerned:

The problems that result in truant behavior are family-based and oftentimes, complex. All of these programs made strong efforts to enlist parents in workable solutions, and the majority of programs either have family therapy as a component or make referrals for family therapy.

Schools must take the lead and act as the center. Since school attendance is the problem, schools must be equipped with ways to approach truancy. When these methods fail, schools must have the support of other players, including the courts and social services.

Collaboration among the various players promotes success. In each of these programs, collaborative arrangements between systems were establishedso that these interventions could proceed smoothly and no system “dropped the ball,” anywhere along the way.

Addressing the underlying causes of truancy is critical. Each of these programs focused on problems in families and ways to address them. Truancy is not an individual issue – it is a family and community issue.

Reducing truancy can have multiple, long-term positive benefts for youth, families, schools, and communities. But doing so requires a multi-systemic approach that acknowledges the complexities involved in reducing school absenteeism.

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