The Problem

A comprehensive approach is required to stem the tide of violence in Illinois – especially in Chicago neighborhoods that have seen a recent spate of violence. A solution must address a range of factors including the lack of employment opportunities, lack of safe social opportunities, and disengagement from their community.

What contributes to the problem?

• Youth unemployment in the inner city is nearly 70 percent. When young people work, they learn, they grow and they stay away from negative influences.
  • A survey of employed youth conducted by the Youth Violence Prevention Center and the University of Michigan found that youth who worked were less likely to engage in risky behaviors during the times they were employed as compared to before they had employment. There were also significant decreases in substance use, sexual activity, and exposure to violence.

• The hours away from school are the most dangerous, when young people who are not involved in activities are most likely to get in trouble.
  • A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study found that, after controlling for a variety of factors, tenth graders who spent no time in school-sponsored extracurricular activities were 27 percent more likely to have been arrested than students who spent one to four hours in extracurricular activities.

• Community-based programs keep our children safe and have a positive impact on them.
  • The non-school hours are the time when juvenile crime hits its peak, but through attentive adult supervision, quality after-school programs can protect our children.
    
    
  • According to a joint report from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice, youth ages 10-16 who have a relationship with a mentor, an important component of a quality after-school program, are 46 percent less likely to start using drugs and 27 percent less likely to start drinking alcohol.
    
    
  • According to the New York Times Magazine, research suggests that peer or social pressure is the most effective way to change behavior, whereas law enforcement does little to disrupt a street code.
    
    

• In neighborhoods, the surroundings have an impact on the community:
  • A National Institute of Justice study concluded that community disorder, such as littering, graffiti, and broken windows and more violent crime are manifestations of the same phenomena: concentrated poverty and the lack of social resources such as areas with low incomes or high unemployment, and areas that lack investment potential
    
    
  • According to an article in the National Review, after implementing the broken windows theory, a study that showed the effects of keeping buildings repaired and communities clean, New York City murders plunged from 2,262 in 1990 to 629 in 1998.
    
    

• Some neighborhoods need more help than others.
  • According to the New York Times Magazine, in Chicago, where on average five people were shot each day last year, 83 percent of the assaults were concentrated in half the police districts.
    
    
  • For 25 years, murder has been the leading cause of death among African-American men between the ages of 15 and 34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.