Adolescent Violence Prevention

Introduction

This professional resource guide about adolescent violence prevention has been compiled by the MCH Digital Library at Georgetown University. The volume of materials on this topic is vast and covers many disciplines, including public health, medicine, criminal justice, education, and social services. This path offers a selection of current, high-quality resources from these disciplines that measure, document, and monitor the problem; identify risk and protective factors; and report on promising intervention strategies. Separate sections identify resources on specific aspects of adolescent violence: bullying, dating violence, family violence, firearms, gangs, media violence, school violence, suicide, and violent-crime victimization. This professional resource guide is aimed at health and social services professionals, educators, policymakers, community activists, and families, and it will be updated periodically.

Overview

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), youth violence is when young people aged 10-24 years intentionally use physical force or power to threaten or harm others. See CDC's Youth Violence: Definitions for a full definition and reasons why a consistent definition is important.
See CDC's Understanding Youth Violence, rev. ed. (2012). This fact sheet describes the problem of adolescent violence in the United States and outlines its occurrence and consequences, the groups at risk, and prevention strategies.
See CDC's Youth Violence: Facts at a Glance, rev. ed. (2012) for data about youth violence and violence-related behaviors, health disparities among victims of violence, non-fatal injuries due to violence, school violence, bullying, and juvenile arrests.

General Resources for Professionals

Websites

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): Violence Prevention. Policy statements and patient-education materials on topics such as bullying and firearms. Resources and initiatives include

Connected Kids: Safe, Strong, Secure. Information about this program to integrate violence prevention efforts in pediatric practices and the community. Includes a clinical guide and brochures for parents, children, and adolescents on topics such as bullying, discipline, interpersonal skills, and television violence.

Also see the ASK Campaign (Asking Saves Kids).
Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV). Program information, publications, and databases to assist with the development and evaluation of effective violence prevention programs. Topics include school violence, bullying, gangs, and firearms. CSPV is a research center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Resources and initiatives include

Blueprints for Violence Prevention. Information and materials about model programs that have been effective in reducing adolescent violent crime, aggression, delinquency, and substance use.

Also see Safe Communities~Safe Schools (SCSS).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Information and resources about preventing adolescent violence in schools, homes, and communities. Resources and initiatives include

Guide to Community Preventive Services: Violence Prevention. Recommendations for population-based interventions to reduce or prevent violence. Addresses early childhood home visitation, firearm laws, reducing psychological harm from traumatic events, school-based violence prevention programs, therapeutic foster care, and youth transfer to adult criminal courts.

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC): Youth Violence. Program information, data, assessment tools, definitions, and resources that describe risk and protective factors, consequences, prevention strategies, and the translation of research into practice. Resources and initiatives include
- Preventing Youth Violence: Opportunities for Action. (2014) and its companion guide, Taking Action to Prevent Youth Violence. (2014).
- National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention. Information about 6 university-based research centers that are collaborating with local communities and community-based organizations to implement and evaluate comprehensive, evidence-based approaches to reduce youth violence.
Preventing Youth Violence: Public Health Grand Rounds. (2014). [Archived webinar and additional resources available for continuing education].

STRYVE: Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere. Tools to plan, implement, and evaluate sustainable adolescent-violence-prevention strategies that are based upon the best available evidence. Includes online training modules, data, research documents, educational materials, and success stories.

Also see CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), school violence resources, and the Prevention Research Centers (PRC).
Children's Safety Network (CSN): Youth Violence Prevention. Publications, presentations, and links to additional resources about adolescent violence prevention, including bullying and school violence prevention. CSN provides information, training, and assistance to the maternal and child health (MCH) community to reduce child and adolescent injuries and violence.
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids. Program information, legislative news, and publications about crime-prevention topics, including early education and care, child abuse and neglect prevention, after-school programs, and programs that help troubled adolescents get back on track. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids is a national anti-crime organization of law-enforcement leaders and violence survivors.
youth.gov. Program and funding information and resources to help youth-serving organizations and community partnerships plan, implement, and participate in effective programs for youth. youth.gov was created by the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs, which is composed of representatives from 12 federal agencies that support programs and services focusing on youth. See the youth.gov directory of evidence-based programs.
Healthy People 2020. Information about this national health-promotion and disease-prevention initiative of the Department of Health and Human Services. View the overview, objectives, and recommended interventions and resources for adolescent health, including adolescent violence prevention.
Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA): Youth Violence. Electronic clearinghouse of links to published research, curricula and other educational material, and organizations. Bullying, school violence, gangs, and media violence are some of the topics addressed. MINCAVA is located at the University of Minnesota School of Social Work.
National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center (NAHIC). Fact sheets, policy briefs, reports, and other materials about adolescent health on topics that include positive youth development and violence. NAHIC is based at the University of California, San Francisco.
National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health. Program and conference information and other resources about reforming services and building systems of care for children and adolescents who have, or are at risk for, mental health challenges and their families. Offers a matrix of over 50 programs across the country that focus on Asian American/Pacific Islander adolescent development and violence prevention. Presents a set of briefs that describe the work and successes of 29 coalitions for adolescent violence prevention. Also offers a monthly webinar series that covers important and emerging trends in mental health. The center is part of the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development (GUCCHD).
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). Program, conference, and funding information; statistics; state contact lists; and publications, including electronic newsletters. Topics include girls' delinquency and gang violence prevention. OJJDP is part of the Department of Justice (DOJ). Resources include

Socioeconomic Mapping and Resource Topography (SMART) System. A free, web-based geographic information system that communities can use to upload local maps of crime locations and connect them to maps of local intervention programs and community resources. See Get SMART—Mapping Resources for Crime and Delinquency Prevention (2010) for an overview of SMART.

Statistical Briefing Book (SBB). Statistics about juvenile crime and victimization and about youth involved in the juvenile justice system.

Also see the National Gang Center (NGC).
Prevention Institute. Program information, policy research and analysis, publications, presentations, and other materials about violence prevention. The Prevention Institute is a national, non-profit organization that promotes policies, organizational practices, and collaborative efforts to improve health and quality of life. Initiatives include

Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth (UNITY) Through Violence Prevention. Background information, program materials, assessment and planning tools, and a webinar training series about this program to strengthen and support cities' violence prevention efforts. UNITY is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Youth Alive! Program information and program replication materials for initiatives to prevent adolescent violence and develop adolescent leadership in California communities. Youth ALIVE! provides training to adolescents to build their leadership skills and support them in advocating for solutions to violence for themselves and their communities.

Reports, Briefs, and Other Resources

The MCH Digital Library has a collection of publications and other resources about adolescent violence. To view them, search the library's online catalog MCHLine® using the online search form. Type adolescent violence in the keyword field and set publication date limits. Click on Search MCHLine to get your results.

Databases

See the following set of MCH Digital Library resource briefs to identify additional data and statistics, literature and research, and programs about adolescent violence prevention.

Maternal and Child Health Data and Statistics, and in particular, Child Trends DataBank, MCH Data Connect, Uniform Crime Reports, WISQARS (Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System), and Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS).
Maternal and Child Health Literature and Research Databases, and in particular, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Series, National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Abstracts Database, National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) Library, PubMed, SafetyLit, and Striving to Reduce Youth Violence Everywhere (STRYVE).
Maternal and Child Health Programs Databases, and in particular, youth.gov and SAMHSA's Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center.

News and Commentary

National Criminal Justice Reference Service: JUSTINFO. This biweekly electronic newsletter announces new federally sponsored publications, events, and funding and training opportunities about criminal justice, juvenile justice, and substance abuse.
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

JUVJUST. This service sends announcements about juvenile justice and other youth service-related publications, funding opportunities, and events.

OJJDP News @ a Glance. This bimonthly electronic newsletter highlights OJJDP activities, publications, funding opportunities, and upcoming events.
SafetyLit Update Bulletin. This weekly newsletter lists new additions to SafetyLit: Injury Prevention Literature Update and Archive Database, which contains abstracts of reports and journal articles about injury prevention and safety promotion.
Also see GANGINFO.

Resources for Families

See the MCH Digital Library family resource brief Teen Violence Prevention.

Resources for Schools

See the MCH Digital Library school resource brief, School Violence Prevention

Resources on Specific Aspects of Adolescent Violence

Firearms
Gangs
Media Violence

Firearms

ASK (Asking Saves Kids). Encourages parents to ask if there are guns in the homes where their children play. ASK is a collaboration between the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
Harvard Injury Control Research Center (HICRC). Information about research programs, conferences, and seminars on adolescent violence, particularly involving firearms. Resources and initiatives include

Firearms Research Digest. Citations for journal articles from the social science, criminology, legal, medical, and public health literature concerning firearms.

Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis. (2013). [Webcast].

Means Matter: Suicide, Guns, and Public Health. Program information, education materials, and research about the relationship between firearms at home and increased risk of suicide.
SPEAK UP. Hotline and awareness campaign that makes it safe and easy for students to anonymously report threats of violence, while working to turn around negative social norms that prevent young people from "speaking up." Telephone: (866) 773-2587 (SPEAK UP).
Also see the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV).

Gangs

National Gang Center (NGC). Research and program information and tools to assist in developing and implementing effective community-based gang prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies. Includes training information, gang-related state legislation and municipal codes, and an updated list of newspaper articles on nationwide gang activity. NGC is supported by the Department of Justice. Resources include

GANGINFO. This electronic forum is for professionals working with adolescent gangs.

National Youth Gang Survey Analysis. Analysis and findings from the ongoing survey of law-enforcement agencies to assess the extent of adolescent gang problems by measuring the presence, characteristics, and behaviors of local gangs in jurisdictions throughout the United States.
National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families. 2010. Preventing Gang Violence and Building Communities Where Young People Thrive. Washington, DC: National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families. [Toolkit].
See the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) fact sheets, Trauma in the Lives of Gang-Involved Youth: Tips for Volunteers and Community Organizations (2009) and Your Child and Gangs: What You Need to Know About Trauma. Tips for Parents (2009).
Also see the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV), Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA), and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

Media Violence

Center for Media Literacy (CML). Articles and educational materials about media violence. CML is a nonprofit membership organization supporting media-literacy education for families and schools nationwide.
Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH). Online catalog of research articles examining the relationship between media exposure and health-risk behaviors, including violence. CMCH is a joint project of Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, and Harvard School of Public Health.
Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Brookings Institution. 2008. Children and Electronic Media. Princeton, NJ: Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs; Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. (The Future of Children; v. 18, no. 1; Spring 2008). Media violence is addressed. An executive summary, policy brief, and article summaries accompany the publication.
Also see the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse (MINCAVA).

Related MCH Digital Library Resources

Bullying resource brief
Child Maltreatment resource brief
Children and Adolescents Exposed to Violence resource brief
Community Services Locator: An Online Directory for Finding Community Services for Children and Families professional resource guide
Dating Violence Among Adolescents resource brief
Intimate Partner Violence professional resource guide, family resource brief
Reaching Out to Children and Youth Following Disasters resource brief
Suicide Prevention resource brief

Adolescent Violence Prevention: Professional Resource Guide, 6th ed. (September 2010). (Updated: November 2014).

Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo, M.L.S., MCH Digital Library.
Reviewers: Olivia K. Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., MCH Digital Library; Lissa Pressfield, M.H.S., Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs.
Editor: Ruth Barzel, M.A., MCH Digital Library.