Not fear, nor quarantine, but science: preparation for a decade of research to advance knowledge about causes and control of violence in youths.
Both the single case I encountered in the Boston Globe and several sources of national data give a picture of young Black males as a group at extraordinarily high risk for injury and premature death. It is a consequence of violent behavior most often directed toward them by individuals of the same race and of similar age. I do not believe, however, that focusing on the behavioral characteristics of this subgroup will gain us much in controlling the very high costs in life and well-being they incur. Rather, we need to concentrate our attention on the social contexts in which these young men grow up, on the quality of housing and public schools available to them, on their access to firearms, and on opportunities for legitimate employment available to them. This is an urgent, pressing need for which there exists no formula for success. Many communities across the country are making an effort to find ways of coordinating such needs into a common and sustained strategy. We are clearly at the beginning stage of a campaign. In morally isolating ourselves from this segment of the population, we confer on it the status of being quarantined. Public fear and distrust assume the appearance of a rational response. Gradually these young men and their would-be families become functionally obsolete in society. As a matter of policy, the environments they inhabit are neglected, and, predictably, they deteriorate. It is in this sense that our science policy in regard to violence may be ahead of public policies that regulate (or fail to regulate) the environments in which violence breeds most extensively. The fact that public health, bolstered by the basic developmental and sociological sciences, is poised to take on a leadership role in combating this modern epidemic is welcome news. Recalling the successes of public health campaigns to control infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, may only be relevant in providing us with a sense of what constitutes a campaign to combat violence. The key actors in this important endeavor appear to be ready for a period of intense cooperation and forging of new knowledge. Now that we have failed in our effort to meet the 1990 objective for a reduction in violent death, the challenge is indeed a weighty one.
Earls
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Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Maternal and Child Health, Boston, MA 02115.
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003418:Criminology; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011640:Public Policy; D012106:Research; D012737:Sex Factors; D014754:Violence