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A whole systems approach can help us tackle youth violence, according to Salzburg Global Fellows
According to the World Health Organization, “an estimated 176[,]000 homicides occur among young people between 15–29 years of age each year, making it the third leading cause of death for people in this age group.” Understanding and acting on what fuels this violence among young people is the key to preventing it.
As part of Salzburg Global Seminar's multi-year Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative, run since January 2021, Fellows have examined what the drivers of youth violence are and what can be done about them.
Fellows have argued that it is essential to take a system-level approach to violence. This means not just the act but the wider context — history, race, gender, socioeconomics, health — is accounted for and addressed.
Three concrete recommendations have emerged:
Geeta Subramaniam-Mooney, formerly the Children and Young People’s Commissioner and Corporate Director of Brighter Futures at the London Borough of Newham, and more recently senior consultant at the London Violence Reduction Unit, has argued for a social justice approach which translates to a child-centered and child-first approach to preventing violence affecting children. There is compelling evidence, she said, that the first 1,001 days of a child’s life are the most important for child development, as well as security.
The care, bonding and enrichment given in this time has significant influence on a child’s future.
To prevent youth violence, then, it is essential to have basic needs met and “a lot of support mechanisms in place” in these very early stages, Geeta said. She emphasized how important it is to have the right resources in place, but critically, “we need to ensure families know how to access them”.
Focusing on the needs of the child and ensuring they are nurtured, secure, and cared for is essential, and through building empathy and bonding with key adults supports preventing violence. This is the crux of a child-centric approach to prevention. When children do not have their basic needs met — food, water, shelter, as well as more general safety and security — problems arise that will later manifest children who are vulnerable - to being affected by violence as victims or those who find themselves in the criminal justice system, argues Geeta.
As such, understanding a child’s circumstances, home life, and upbringing is essential to identifying why they may have been led towards violence and to prevent it from happening again. Taking a public health approach to youth violence helps alleviate these issues by ensuring that children’s physical and emotional needs are being met. This includes inclusion in education and communities, offering a wide range of youth work provision at all ages and stages (a trusted adult that is there for children), as well as working with communities and children in finding solutions - co-design and genuine youth participation will ensure the right support meets the individual's needs.
Beyond health and wellbeing-related factors, race, sex, gender identity, and socioeconomic background all also play determining roles in an individual's likelihood to be a victim or perpetrator of violence. Homicide is the leading cause of death for African-American youth, for example, and the second leading cause of death for Hispanic youth in the US.
Andre Davis, a retired circuit judge from the US Court of Appeals, has explained that "different drivers of youth violence have different measures of salience or intensity. The level of impact from a particular cause varies from place to place. That applies domestically in the US and also around the world."
The causal factor in youth violence can be understood by examining how power functions in a given society, Michelle Díaz, Director at US-based National Crittenton, has explained. "I think it doesn't matter where you are at the end of the day; it comes back to the same way the structures are built on oppression, generational wealth, gentrification, and so on," she said. Because of this, successful systems for deterring violence cannot be 'copy-pasted' onto each other; resolutions must be tailored to the populations they serve.
This is where Geeta's child-centric and systemic approach comes in. Retaining a focus on the child, wherever they are, is key. Justice systems from around the globe can learn from each other, take ideas, and share their research, but the fundamentals should remain the same: a focus on the child and on addressing determinants of youth violence like racism.
Times are already changing, though. The Black Lives Matter movement is highlighting how systematic racism and police brutality exacerbate a cycle of violence in the US. The movement is highlighting the failures of a justice system that ends up contributing to cyclical violence, often starting with the youngest in society.
Combining this focus on undoing systemic contributors to violence with a renewed focus on providing children with the best start in life is the foundation of youth violence prevention.
Nurturing children in a safe and loving environment will have knock-on effects later in life and in the wider community. As they progress through life, providing opportunities for studies and work, educating them on what it means to be a part of a diverse community, and the historical factors that have contributed to inequality in that community will all ultimately reduce youth violence.
Applying this whole system model at a national and sub-national level is a further concrete step that can help to prevent youth violence.
This is not a short-term project. Preventing youth violence won't be easy — but for the millions of people succumbing to youth violence every year, victims and perpetrators alike, the challenge is worth it.
Geeta Subramaniam-Mooney, Andre Davis, and Michelle Diaz have participated in Salzburg Global Seminar's Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative, run since January 2021 in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the David Rockefeller Fund.