Kids Join Gangs for Protection, Respect & Friends, Report Says

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There's some new nationwide research on why kids are involved in gangs and how to stop them from joining up. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention released its December 2010 report called Gang Prevention: An Overview of Research and Programs.

The report highlights why kids join gangs and how communities can best combat gang activity. The OJJDP found that not all strategies work. But, here are a few that do:

Parent and family involvement
Training teachers and parents to manage unruly young people
Providing education that teaches kids interpersonal skills

For some insight on how to rescue a teenager from a gang, check out the column from Sedgrid Lewis in Ideas and Opinions at JJIE.org.

Sedgrid Lewis: A Different Approach to Gang Prevention

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With gang intervention on the rise, former gang member and Vietnam veteran, Louie is helping the gang influenced youth in Clayton County, GA.  Louie, now a therapist practicing Multisystemic Therapy (MST), first met Patricia when she was a young gang member in Clayton County.  Patricia, like many youth, had been gang affiliated at an early age and was yet another statistic in the county having the largest gang growth rate in Metro Atlanta. The Clayton County Police Gang Intelligence unit estimates there are 1,200 gang members and 47 criminal street gangs in the county. The gang members range in age from 13 to 22. Patricia unfortunately fit into this segment of the population and began leading a life of crime and a gang influenced lifestyle. Despite her gang involvement the Clayton County Juvenile Court placed Patricia in the Multisystemic Therapy Program (MST) funded by the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.

Teen Unemployment At An All Time High

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Teen unemployment has never been worse. This year with only 1 in 6 high school kids have been able to find and hold a job. Black and Asian teens have had the hardest time getting jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is bad news for teens who may decide not to go to college or who need to support themselves while getting a higher education. Youth Today writes about the problem, urging state and national workforce development agencies to pay special attention to the teen unemployment problem.

Clayton Faith Forum to Keep Kids Out of Trouble

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Churches and faith-based groups will get together to January to map out anti-gang and youth violence strategies. Several Clayton County public service agencies, leaders of churches and faith based groups are collaborating on January 22 to hold the 2011 Clayton County Community Faith Forum. The forum will teach churches and parents how to keep kids out of trouble. Here are details:

Date: January 22, 2011

Time: 10am – 1pm

Location: Morrow Center

1180 Southlake Circle, Suite 100

Morrow, Georgia 30260

To check out the flyer, click here.

Southern Poverty Law Center Sues Birmingham Schools for Using Mace on Children

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Teens in Birmingham, Ala. schools have been routinely sprayed with mace and pepper spray as punishment for minor offenses. The Southern Poverty Law Center has now filed a federal class action lawsuit against the Birmingham City School District on behalf of students who've had chemicals used on them. “We must ask ourselves, what kind of school system allows armed officers to come in and use mace on its children,” said Ebony Glenn Howard, lead attorney on the case for the Center. Hundreds of students were arrested in the Birmingham City Schools last year for minor offenses that could have been taken care of in the principal’s office, according to the Center.

Teen Murder Suicide Leaves Macon Community Baffled

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Families are struggling to figure out what happened to cause 19-year-old Vonn Gibbons to kill his 7-year-old son and then turn the gun on himself Saturday night. The murder suicide occurred at Gibbons home in Macon, Ga at 12:22 a.m., according to police. Authorities determined that Gibbons shot his son in the head and shot himself in the chest, but have not yet determined why Gibbons committed the acts. Gibbons’ neighbor Darnell Cummings saw a cream colored car that may have been leaving the Gibbon’s home between 12:20 and 12:30 a.m Sunday morning, the Macon Telegraph reports. Cummings noticed the car because she witnessed two young men beating Gibbons in his front yard a few weeks earlier.

Bullying Horror Stories: Civil Rights Workers Get Personal

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A new anti bullying video is out from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. It focuses on fighting the harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender kids and those who don’t conform to gender stereotypes about male or female behavior or appearance. The video features several Division employees sharing their childhood struggles with being bullied and harassed. In this short video, the staff was surprisingly candid about not only being attacked by other kids, but by parents and teachers as well. Staffers go on to encourage young people who are bullied and harassed, by letting them know their futures are still bright.

Author of Pedophilia Guide Arrested by Outraged Sheriff 1,800 Miles Away

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When “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure” showed up for sale on Amazon.com in November, there was a flood of disgust and anger across the country. Facing threats of a boycott, the online retail giant dropped it. But the Sheriff of Polk County Florida did not. Sheriff Grady Judd used Florida’s obscenity law to get a warrant for author Phillip Greaves and charge him with a felony, even though Greaves lives 1,800 miles away in Pueblo, Colorado. Judd says Florida has an unusually detailed law that prohibits selling, giving or transmitting child pornography.

TV Shows Sexualize Images of Teenage Girls, Study Says

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Television shows are featuring teenage girls involved in sexual situations a lot more often than adult women.  

Out of the sexual incidents young girls were portrayed in, 98 percent of them occurred outside of a committed relationship and 73 percent were presented in a humorous manner, such as a punch line to a joke. This data comes from a study conducted by the Parents Television Council. The study, called Sexualized Teen Girls: Tinseltown’s New Target, looked at the top 25 primetime shows aimed at teenagers in the 2009-2010 season. The study targets popular shows such as Glee, Gossip Girl and 90210.

The Glee Effect: Singing Teens Do Better in School

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Students are finding musical inspiration from shows like “Glee” and “The Sing-Off” and studies show that singing kids do better in school and are more diverse. Ninety percent of educators believe singing in a choir can keep some students engaged who might otherwise be lost, according a nationwide study. The Atlanta Journal Constitution profiled Marist High School in Atlanta, which has caught “The Glee Effect” where stereotypes are being broken. A variety of students, from teens who play sports to more reserved teens, are participating in school choirs. Thirty-one percent of kids between 8 and 18 say that movies like Disney’s “Camp Rock” and shows like “Glee” make them want to get involved in music making, according to a recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive.