Youth violence is recognized as a serious health and social problem. Research in the past few decades has brought significant attention to the value of prevention efforts for youth who are at risk for delinquency and violence, as well as efforts that are of benefit to all of society.
Violence cannot and will not be solved "after the fact". While there is a place for law enforcement in the violence cycle, this approach in isolation will not reduce violence.
Effort towards preventing violence "before it occurs" is a necessary component to a community-wide comprehensive youth violence prevention effort.
Violence prevention efforts are commonly presented at three main stages:
From this perspective, the entire population is considered, as well as additional attention for those youth that are at increased risk or already involved in violence.
For an example of the application of interventions along these three stages, consider the chart below which shows the similarity between prevention efforts for the flu virus and youth violence:
Flu | Youth Violence | |
---|---|---|
Primary Prevention (Before it Occurs) |
Vaccines for all | Policy, education and supportive environment for all |
Secondary Prevention (In the Thick) |
Targeted vaccine efforts for high risk groups (e.g. babies, elderly) | Targeted interventions for high-risk youth (e.g. living in high-crime neighborhoods, low family attachment) |
Tertiary Prevention (After the Fact) |
Treat patients who have the flu and limit exposure to others | Rehabilitate young offenders and provide services for youth victims of violence |
Adapted From: A Public Health Approach to Preventing Violence: FAQ Prevention Institute, 2009.
For a more in-depth look at youth violence prevention across these stages of prevention, please see the Youth Violence Prevention Continuum. This "Continuum" was developed by the Community Health Initiatives Team at the Region of Peel to highlight all of the evidence-based effective and promising strategies for youth violence prevention along these stages of prevention.
Risk and Protective Factors for Youth Violence
From a prevention perspective, it is critical to understand the risk and protective factors for youth violence because this helps to inform the strategies to reduce youth violence.
Personal characteristics and environmental conditions can lend insight to predicting the onset, continuity, or escalation of violence; however, they cannot be deemed as the cause of violence. No single risk factor or set of risk factors is powerful enough to predict with certainty that youths will become violent.
Violence is the result of the complex interplay of individual, relationship, social, cultural and environmental factors, as the following diagram displays.
Within the levels of individual, relationship, community and society, the factors can either be presented as a risk (i.e. increasing the likelihood of being involved in violence) or as protective (i.e. decreasing the likelihood of being involved in violence).
The following table provides more detail into specific risk factors and protective factors at the different levels of influence:
Domain | Risk Factors | Protective Factors |
---|---|---|
Individual |
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Relationship |
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Community |
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Society |
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Source: Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General, US Department of Health & Human Services, 2001.
Coordinated and Calculated Efforts
Overall, in order for the Peel community to tackle youth violence prevention in a comprehensive way, we will have to continue to work together and include the following approaches:
Adapted From: A Public Health Approach to Preventing Violence: FAQ, Prevention Institute, UNITY, 2009.
Reports on Youth Violence Prevention
The following reports provide the background and high-level perspective on youth violence prevention including:
These reports, among others, have been influential in the development of the Youth Violence Prevention Continuum.