As students at Dartmouth, we are relatively sheltered from the violence which plagues our country like a horrible disease. If one does not read the paper, listen to the radio, or watch television, it is easy to forget about the realities of the terror which sweeps urban and rural centers.
Violence is a national problem, and the use of drugs and guns has exacerbated and heightened it. In the 1980s, widespread crack-use led to illegal gang activity, kids with guns and an increase in the number of guns in circulation.
Although statistics show a decrease in violent crime in most urban centers, youth violence is on the rise. This problem needs to be addressed, and it should be an important issue in the upcoming presidential election.
Today, more youth are committing crimes and more are being killed. According to a recent Time Magazine article on violence, the homicide rate for youths aged 14 to 17 rose 16% between 1990 and 1994. In a Children's Defense Fund report , approximately 50, 000 kids died between 1979 and 1991.
Many kids today live in terrible conditions with negative factors that outweigh their chances of survival. Most of these kids lack a family structure. They do not eat nutritious meals. A lack of loving supervision forces them to grow up too quickly. They are forced to tackle responsibilities that they are not yet ready to handle. Many of them are abused, mentally or physically, and do not receive a decent education.
Society has an obligation to help address some of these factors, irrespective of race, gender, religion, or socio-economic status. Even though poor inner-city youths, who are mostly people of color, are being hit the worst, violence still permeates throughout all communities, and people cannot escape it. Violence is contagious. Therefore, we need to find a way to minimize it, reverse it and eventually find a cure for it.
Every American can, and should, take an active role in fighting against youth violence. We need more effective gun control because this will reverse the flow of guns to kids and gang members. Citizens should criticize the National Rifle Association (NRA) for targeting young people in their campaign advertisements and making guns more attractive to them. More people would stop buying guns for self-protection if they felt safer on the streets and in their own homes.
Education is an important aspect of preventing violence. We all need to reach out to children who are at risk of being a perpetrator or a victim of violence. Adults can serve as mentors and role models for the kids who lack families through Big Brother and Big Sister programs. Children need to learn that it is immoral to use a gun on another human being.
We must advocate for educational reform and change, because education has failed so many young people. Schools could be used in a more comprehensive way to fight violence by functioning as community centers where parents, kids and the community are involved in making their lives better. This can only happen with the moral, and economic support of the entire country, the federal government and individual citizens included. Young people at risk do truly want to better their lives, but they need the help and support of adults to get themselves through the process.
It is clear that more prisons and more police are only partial answers to the problem of violent crime. We need to start thinking about violence as a complex and diverse problem, not as something that has an easy solution. We can only fight crime through patience, understanding, and a commitment to investing our time and money to find solutions to the problems. We must force elected officials and influence the presidential candidates to come up with long term solutions.
Otherwise, we are throwing away the future of America.
