Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews - Volume III - Responding to the Problem: Coordinating a Continuum of Services

The success or failure of community strategies to address the youth gun violence crisis is often attributed in part to how well the problem is understood and diagnosed. With support from The New York Community Trust, the Crime Commission has undertaken an analysis of youth gun violence and crew activity -- violent turf rivalries among less-organized, smaller and normally younger groups than traditional gangs -- in select New York City communities. Our initial findings from available data, existing research and interviews with stakeholders are presented in a series of papers titled, Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews

Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews - Volume I - Defining the Problem: Crews and Gun Violence

The success or failure of community strategies to address the youth gun violence crisis is often attributed in part to how well the problem is understood and diagnosed. With support from The New York Community Trust, the Crime Commission has undertaken an analysis of youth gun violence and crew activity -- violent turf rivalries among less-organized, smaller and normally younger groups than traditional gangs -- in select New York City communities. Our initial findings from available data, existing research and interviews with stakeholders are presented in a series of papers titled, Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews

Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews - Volume II - CompStat for Violence Prevention Programs: Collecting Program Specific Data to Manage Performance and Inform Policy

The success or failure of community strategies to address the youth gun violence crisis is often attributed in part to how well the problem is understood and diagnosed. With support from The New York Community Trust, the Crime Commission has undertaken an analysis of youth gun violence and crew activity -- violent turf rivalries among less-organized, smaller and normally younger groups than traditional gangs -- in select New York City communities. Our initial findings from available data, existing research and interviews with stakeholders are presented in a series of papers titled, "Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews.

Sustaining Crime Reductions in New York City: Priorities for Preventing Youth Crime

New York City's success at driving crime down to unprecedented lows has ushered in a new era of policing: one in which more time is spent preventing crimes than reacting to them. In this report, the Crime Commission recommends that to sustain these crime reductions, the police and the growing body of responsible stakeholders should prioritize efforts that address youth victimization and exposure to violence; develop the youth workforce; enhance legitimacy; break down silos to improve coordination; and address the negative impacts that state and local policies have on youth

When Your Best Friend Is Murdered: Experiences of Grief and Trauma with Crew-involved Youth

Trauma and Grief are two critical drivers of violence, yet these elements are often missing in discussions concerning youth violence, especially how we understand crews - building-based groups of youth whose conflicts revolve around turf and reputation rather than criminal enterprised.  Understanding the role of trauma and grief offers critical insights into how and why violence is sustained in crew-involved youth. Losing someone to murder is uniquely difficult to process and, disturbingly, crew-involved youth face this life experience frequently.  Death through murder is especially traumatic because death is sudden, horrific, and caused by another person.  Further, youth involved in crews often experience a variety of traumas and stressors throughout their lives.  When trauma symptoms and grief combine, it can lead to an experience known as complicated grieving, which is associated with worse health outcomes and prolonged distress

Social Media and Real-World Consequences: Volume 1 - From Virtual to Violent: How Social Media Fuels Real-World Violence

Social media has become a part of everyday life. All types of real-world behavior are now showcased online -- including criminal behavior, bullying, threats and the glorification of violence. Increasingly, youth associated with antisocial peer groups -- such as neighborhood-based "crews" engaging in violent rivalries -- use social media as a tool to create criminal opportunities and amplify conflicts. Unfortunately, in many cases, this type of social media usage can lead to real-life violence or other serious ramifications, such as arrest. Volume 1 of the Crime Commission's series, "Social Media & Real-World Consequences," provides an overview of the ways youth are communicating on social media and the associated risks of these communications turning into real-world violence

Social Media and Real-World Consequences: Volume 2 - Responding to Social Media Norms: Developing a Comprehensive Strategy to Promote Digital Citizenship

Social media has become a part of everyday life. All types of real-world behavior are now showcased online -- including criminal behavior, bullying, threats and the glorification of violence. Increasingly, youth associated with antisocial peer groups -- such as neighborhood-based "crews"? engaging in violent rivalries -- use social media as a tool to create criminal opportunities and amplify conflicts. Unfortunately, in many cases, this type of social media usage can lead to real-life violence or other serious ramifications, such as arrest. Volume 2 of the Crime Commission's series, "Social Media & Real-World Consequences", provides an overview of the range of legal, educational and professional consequences youth may face in the real-world

Social Media as an Opportunity for Service

Social media platforms are popular and serve as a natural extension of our social lives. However, online platforms are emerging as places where people also engage in risky behaviors and express trauma, grief, and emotional distress. This is particularly striking among youth involved in gun violence, whose social media activity often escalates and amplifies real-world violence and illuminates their experiences with grief and trauma.The high visibility of harmful behavior, trauma, grief, and emotional distress on social media gives service providers the opportunity to know exactly who is at the highest risk for committing or being victimized by violence and in greatest need of service. We need to capitalize on this opportunity by giving anti-violence professionals a new method of responding to risky social media use. As modes of communication have changed to favor online spaces, so too must our interventions.Partnering with NYC Cure Violence and researchers from NYU, the Crime Commission developed a multi-tiered intervention model called E-Responder, which aims to intervene with youth on social media, connect them to additional services, de-escalate conflict, and instill long-term life skills in critical areas.Programs like E-Responder are designed to reach out to youth within these virtual spaces of conflict in order to prevent violence. Additional interventions that seek to promote skills and reduce risks with others should capitalize on the opportunity to use social media in their work. In this way we can all ensure that the best strategies and resources are available to young people in the places where they are actively engaged and expressing themselves