In the Wake of Newtown: A Youth Violence Prevention Summit
On Tuesday, January 22, 2013, Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott and members of the House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task Force convened the Youth Violence Prevention Summit.
The tragic shooting in Newtown reminds us that although mass shootings are rare, violence is common in our communities, and our children are exposed to it every day. The U.S. Attorney General's National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence noted in its report, released just two days before the Newtown shooting, that "[e]xposure to violence is a national crisis that affects approximately two out of every three of our children." And the violence that the Attorney General's task force is talking about is not violence on television or in video games—it's crime, abuse and trauma affecting 46 million children in America each year.
Congress has the opportunity to effectively respond to this crisis by supporting comprehensive, evidence-based approaches that have been proven to reduce violence.
Panelists
The summit included a panel of experts in the fields of juvenile and criminal justice, mental health, education, child development and law enforcement.
- Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott
- Professor Dewey Cornell, forensic clinical psychologist and professor of education in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia;
- Professor Peter Scharf, criminal justice researcher and professor in the Department of Global Health Systems and Development at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine;
- White Paper: Averting the Prevalence and Consequences of Mass Shooting and Urban Gun Violence. Submitted by Dr. Peter Scharf (Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine), Dr. Jose Calderon-Abbo, M.D. (LSUHSC), Dr. James Gordon (Center for Mind-Body Medicine and Georgetown University), and Carol Chodroff (Juvenile and Criminal Justice Attorney, Author and Consultant)
- PowerPoint Presentation: Averting the Prevalence and Consequences of Mass Shooting and Urban Gun Violence
- Video: Professor Scharf's Remarks
- Judge Chandlee Johnson Kuhn, Chief Judge of the Family Court for the State of Delaware and Member, Association of Juvenile and Family Court Judges;
- PowerPoint Presentation: An Examination of School Arrests, Adjudications, and Dispositions in Delaware
- Overview of Transformative Life Skills, Jennifer Frank, Ph.D, Educational Psychologist and Research Scientist, Prevention Research Center, Pennsylvania State University
- Results of Transformative Life Skills Evaluation, Jennifer Frank, Ph.D, Prevention Research Center, Pennsylvania State University
- Video: Judge Johnson Kuhn's Remarks
- Professor Aaron Kupchik, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware;
- Brian Bumbarger, Director, Evidence-based Prevention and Intervention Support Center, Penn State;
- Sherriff Gabriel (Gabe) Morgan, Sherriff of Newport News, Virginia;
- Rashad Burns, a 19 year old student at Potomac State University in West Virginia
Additional Resources and Information:
- Statements, Letters & Reports
- Delbert Elliott, Ph.D and Beverly Kingston, Ph.D, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado at Boulder
- Neil Wollman, Senior Fellow, Bentley Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility; Bentley University: A Prevention Model for Reducing Federal and State Deficits While Benefiting Society
- The Advancement Project: Police in Schools Are Not the Answer to the Newtown Shooting
- "Promote Safe Communities" where you can find background materials about these and other issues from the National Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Coalition (NJJDPC): http://promotesafecommunities.org/
- Center for American Progress: Top 10 Reasons Why Communities of Color Should Care About Stricter Gun-Violence Prevention Laws
- National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Letter to Vice President Biden
- Press links about the negative impacts of placing more armed law enforcement in schools:
- USA Today: "Groups say more cops in schools not the answer"
- The Washington Post: "Police in schools 'not the answer,' says NAACP Legal Defense Fund"
- Orlando Sentinel: "Group blasts proposals to send more police into schools"
