Year: 2013
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: : This study explores the problem oriented and public health models of youth crime prevention and how to better promote it in the average classroom through strategies and interventions in order to reduce gun violence. Gun violence amongst teens is a major problem in American cities. Much of this violence stems from gang activity (Braga & Weisburd, 2012). In Boston, a program to reduce gun violence called Operation Cease Fire has shown success. This model has been promoted in other major cities in the United States (Piehl, Kennedy, & Braga, 2000). Operation Cease Fire uses a problem based public health approach to the prevention of gun violence amongst gang members. The problem of youth crime is often resolved with the help of community organizations, government agencies, and the police (Piehl et. al., 2000). While education is important and parent teacher organizations and school police have a part to play in Operation Cease Fire (Braga, McDevitt, & Pierce, 2006), the problem is that classroom use of this project is very limited (Project MPACT, 2006). What is not clear are ways to ground the approach in the practices of an average public school classroom. This study explores the ideas behind Operation Cease Fire in order to theorize ways to support the program through the classroom, specifically through the context of Miami Dade County. The purpose of this study is to explore a way to minimize youth violence amongst students and other youth through classroom strategies and interventions. The main research questions in this study are: What are ways that can be theorized that the average classroom can be better used to reduce gun violence in an Operation Cease Fire approach? How could these ways play out in a Miami Dade County Public Schools classroom to support the youth crime task force? This study is important to school stakeholders such as students, teachers, and administrators because youth crime and gun violence leads to the deaths of dozens of school age youths every month in the United States of America. This study begins by exploring gun violence reduction, gun violence as a health problem, Boston’s Operation Cease Fire, and the public health and problem solving models that support it. Then the methods and findings are discussed.
Author: Eduardo Mesa Hernández
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W409931271