Murder Is No Accident : Understanding and Preventing Youth Violence in America

Rating:
Summary: Very readable understanding of a complex issue
Review: I was pleasantly surprised to find this book so readable. This issue is a concern for all parents, educators, youth group leaders, and others who care about raising responsible citizens. Drs. Prothrow-Stith and Spivak write as if they are talking to you over a cup of coffee and explain the multi-faceted, grass roots, common sense approach to understanding why violence is so much a part of American society. While the statistics are frightening, the over all tone of the book is positive. They describe what can be done and encourage us to do it.

Rating:
Summary: Murder Is No Accident : Understanding and Preventing Youth V
Review: Prothrow-Stith (public health practice, Harvard Sch. of Public Health) and Spivak (pediatrics & community health, Tufts Univ. Sch. of Medicine) begin with the premise that violence is not inevitable. They describe "a world gone mad" where murder and violent death are common aspects of children's lives, citing a recent study of 26 industrialized nations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating that about 73 percent of all child homicides occur in the United States. Why? Several risk factors are delineated: poverty, alcohol use, guns, media, and witnessing violence. The authors point to the great success of Boston officials in decreasing juvenile murder rates over the last 20 years; also offered are compelling arguments against zero-tolerance policies, TV violence as entertainment, and demonizing young black men. No single explanation as to why the "Boston Model" works as well as it does is given, implying that dealing with youth violence requires sensitivity of thought. A concluding chapter summarizes lessons learned, e.g., that forgiveness is a strategy. An excellent addition to public libraries, this work is far more comprehensive than Betsy McAlister Groves's Children Who See Too Much, which describes Boston's Child Witness to Violence Project