This research project employed a contextual analysis method to examine the question of how public policy on youth gun violence can be shaped. The analytic framework addressed the dimensions of history, law, economics, sociocultural influences, and political processes. The literature reveals that while youth gun violence has declined since a peak in the mid-1980s, the problem remains of significance in urban communities where substantial numbers of poor minority youth can be found.
Policy recommendations emerging from the research include a new strengthening of partnerships at the local level between law enforcement agencies and community organizations in high crime communities. Strengthening early childhood intervention and prevention efforts, particularly with regard to at-risk children and youth, is also needed as a policy initiative.
Reframing the discussion in terms of criminality and delinquency rather than gun control may be beneficial. However, the literature also indicates that youth gun violence may be an artifact to some degree of larger social conditions that are not amenable to a single or narrow policy shift. Resolving youth gun violence will ultimately require the resolution of some of the social ills that place minority groups at a distinct disadvantage and that create communities that are troubled by crime.
Juvenile delinquency has been described by Bartollas (2000) as constituting nearly one-third of the property crimes and one-fifth of the crimes against persons in the United States. Of special concern is the relationship of juvenile delinquency to youth gun violence. In the view of Howell (2003), one of the most deeply troubling aspects of juvenile crime and crime rates in the United States is ongoing juvenile violence involving the use of illegal guns and other firearms and, in many cases, gang violence related to territorial disputes, the sale and distribution of illicit drugs, and...