Violent Youth Trends
To schedule a speaker, please email Sgt. Jesse Hambrick or call him at (770) 577-5106.
On Friday, June 17th, 2011 Sgt. Hambrick spoke at the monthly meeting of the West Georgia Gang Task Force at the request of the Villa Rica Police Department. Sgt. Hambrick spoke on the topic of I.C.P. and gangs. Click here to read complete story online.
This class in designed to educate parents, teachers, and other attendees the dangerous activities that young adults engage in. This class is always evolving to cover the latest trends and can be conformed to fit the attendee's needs. Some of the topics include internet dangers that include online predators, the dangers of social websites and online bullying. Other topics include the latest drug trends, gang related trends, violent music, and Goth and vampirism behavior. A dangerous youth trends class can be added onto a gang or drug presentation or can be a stand alone class ranging from 30 minutes to several hours. This type class is for anyone that deals with youth on a regular basis.
Information from STRYVE - Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere. STRYVE is a national initiative, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which takes a public health approach to preventing youth violence before it starts. To support this effort, STRYVE Online provides communities with the knowledge and resources to be successful in preventing youth violence.
Youth violence may be defined as the intentional use of force—whether threatened or real—against a person, group, or community that results in—or has a high likelihood of resulting in—injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation by persons between the ages of 10 and 24. Youth violence takes many forms. This section provides more information about specific forms of violent behavior, such as assault, rape, and homicide, as well as the factors that increase or decrease the chances for such behaviors to arise. Specific forms of delinquent behavior, such as drug abuse, truancy, and vandalism, as well as how certain delinquent behaviors may be related to youth violence are also included in this section.
Risk factors give us insights into what may increase the likelihood of a young person becoming violent. Risk factors do not cause youth to become violent. However, the presence of risk factors increases the chances for violence. Research on youth violence has increased our understanding of factors that make some populations more vulnerable to victimization and perpetration. Risk factors increase the likelihood that a young person will become violent. However, risk factors are not direct causes of youth violence; instead, risk factors contribute to youth violence. Research associates the following risk factors with perpetration of youth violence (source: CDC):
Individual Risk Factors
- History of violent victimization
- Attention deficits, hyperactivity or learning disorders
- History of early aggressive behavior
- Involvement with drugs, alcohol or tobacco
- Low IQ
- Poor behavioral control
- Deficits in social cognitive or information-processing abilities
- High emotional distress
- History of treatment for emotional problems
- Antisocial beliefs and attitudes
- Exposure to violence and conflict in the family
Family Risk Factors
- Authoritarian childrearing attitudes
- Harsh, lax or inconsistent disciplinary practices
- Low parental involvement
- Low emotional attachment to parents or caregivers
- Low parental education and income
- Parental substance abuse or criminality
- Poor family functioning
- Poor monitoring and supervision of children
- Peer/Social Risk Factors
- Association with delinquent peers
- Involvement in gangs
- Social rejection by peers
- Lack of involvement in conventional activities
- Poor academic performance
- Low commitment to school and school failure
- Community Risk Factors
- Diminished economic opportunities
- High concentrations of poor residents
- High level of transiency
- High level of family disruption
- Low levels of community participation
- Socially disorganized neighborhoods
