Group Aims To Prevent Youth Violence UW Expert Hired To Design, Implement Area Programs
A researcher who has studied the causes of youth violence has been hired to direct a regional effort at stopping youth violence and gangs before they get started in local communities.
David Shavel, 38, worked for more than three years on a research team led by a University of Washington professor conducting some of the leading studies into causes of youth violence in America.
The research served as the basis for delinquency prevention programs mandated by Congress.
Two years ago, a Sea Tac City Council member gathered a group of community leaders from South King County cities and told them some regional plan was needed to head off the escalation of youth violence. As a result, the South King County Youth Violence Committee was formed. It received a federal grant to hire Shavel a year ago.
Since then, he has worked with volunteer groups from Renton, Kent, Auburn, Maple Valley, Black Diamond, Enumclaw, Federal Way, Highline and Tukwila.
Citizens have been trained to recognize and deal with the risk factors associated with youth violence. In the coming year, Shavel will be helping the eight communities develop pilot programs to stop problems before they start.
“It’s exciting that there is interest in prevention,” Shavel said. “Politically, it’s easier to talk about building more jails. It’s harder to say we need late-night basketball programs. People have called that social pork. But we want to start effective prevention programs that have the research behind them that shows they work.”
“You often hear people say that in the old days they couldn’t get away with what kids get away with now, because their parents knew everyone in town and would definitely find out,” said Jerry De Grieck, an administrator for the Seattle-King County Department of Public Health.
“We want to work toward that again,” said De Grieck, who serves on the south county committee. “The idea is that by communities working together, they’re going to take an interest in what youth are doing.”
Judith Black, director of the Black Diamond Community Center, said she would rather spend a little money to prevent youth violence than a lot of money to jail violent youth.
Lori Keller, public education director for the Kent Police Department, said the region’s correction officials are counting on the success of such programs.
Art Wallenstein, the King County jail director, has become a pal of our effort. He would love to shift some of his funding over to prevention,” Black said. “What we need is public support for that philosophy.”
Statistics show South King County areas still fall slightly below the rest of the state in the rate of juvenile arrests for serious violent crimes. But the rate of juvenile arrests for simple assaults is higher than in the rest of the state.
Shavel said the growing population, mobility associated with the freeways, and proximity of major urban areas that have more serious youth crime rates are factors that place the region’s youth at risk.
To combat escalating violence, he said, research shows the communities need to provide three things:
Opportunities to get involved.
Skills to succeed.
Recognition.
“A lot of this is just common sense,” Shavel said.
xxxx PROJECTS Here are some of the projects in the works: In Renton, a group known as Communities in Schools will be using some of Shavel’s research in a program to help fifth- and sixth-graders moving to a new middle school. Studies suggest that changing schools and leaving behind friends and favorite teachers make some young people more vulnerable to the camaraderie offered by gangs. In Federal Way, a group will match young people with mentors and offer training in social skills and leadership to help young people prevent violence themselves. In Black Diamond, the community center will expand its offering of parenting classes to include sessions for parents of teens and grade-school children - the ages at risk for violent behavior. In Kent, school district bus drivers and food service workers are being trained to spot youth at risk and to deal with them. “The bus driver might be the first person a kid sees in the morning and if you can create a situation where the youth feels welcome and bonds, that’s a protective factor,” Shavel said.