In a guest column, Gabriella Celeste, Policy Director of the Schubert Center for Child Studies at ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½, calls for more efforts to engage local youth positively outside the justice system with investments in peer support and culturally responsive programs like violence interrupters and credible messengers, behavioral health, mobile crisis response, and living wage jobs. She points to the significant drop in juvenile crime since the mid-1990s and highlights research showing how young people are traumatized and are more likely to be victimized by violence. Celeste concludes by asking, "So where to go from here? In a word: connection. Our communities are 'safe' only when the most vulnerable are safe. This starts by connecting with our youth."
Article Date
February 25, 2022
