What can we do about youth violence?

Although juvenile crime and school violence in general are down, the images of the rare but horrifying incidents in schools continue to haunt us--from Columbine, Colo., to the fuzzy photo of a Michigan first-grader killed by a gun-toting six-year-old classmate.

Is there hope that we can stop these terrible events?

A new discussion guide published by Public Agenda, "Violent Kids: Can We Change the Trend?" offers some insights into the underlying causes of youth violence and what can be done to address it. The guide, released last month to coincide with the anniversary of the Columbine shootings, provides thoughtful discussion on three possible approaches to dealing with youth violence. They include:

• Kids need a nonviolent popular culture. This viewpoint stresses that the nation's culture of violence is just that--a cultural problem. Wanton violence saturates our TV programs, news programs, movies, music lyrics, video games and the Internet. Studies show clear links between dramatized violence and juvenile violence. Possible solutions include banning all violent entertainment to children under 17 and increasing investment in public television programs for children and in after-school programs to provide healthy alternatives to the violent popular culture.

• Kids at risk of violence need more help. This explanation emphasizes that there is no system for helping the relatively few troubled kids before they slip into serious trouble. Health experts can spot many of the warning signs that a young person is about to snap and which children are at greater risk of becoming violent. This viewpoint calls for a systematic approach to identifying troubled at-risk children and rescuing children from chronically abusive homes.

• Kids need more moral discipline. This approach points to the "alarming moral meltdown" in society. Violence in America reflects a massive breakdown in respect for authority and a failure to raise moral kids. Permissiveness abounds, and children are not given boundaries. Solutions include public education campaigns to teach kids right from wrong with strict discipline, enacting more laws to hold permissive parents accountable for supervising their children, tightening school discipline and expanding character education to instill core civic principles like respect and self-reliance.

The guide offers the pros and cons of each explanation of youth violence and can be used in conjunction with "national issues forums" (www.nifi.org) on the topic that are sponsored by civic, service and religious organizations, as well as schools and colleges.

The complete guide is available for $6 plus shipping and handling; to order, call Public Agenda at 212/686-6610 or visit the organization at its Web site at www.publicagenda.org.

American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001