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Contemporary Interventions to Prevent and Reduce Community Violence Among African American Youth

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Handbook of African American Health

Abstract

While community violence in the United States has diminished since the early 1990s, when its levels peaked to epidemic proportions, it continues to be a major public health problem. Indeed, over the course of the last decade, American teens and young adults have continued to experience rates of violent crime that are much higher than those for any other age group (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2007). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2009a, 2009b), in 2006, 5,958 young people between the ages of 10 and 24 were murdered, making homicide the second leading cause of death for youth in that age group. Additionally, in 2007, more than 668,000 young people aged 10–24 years were treated in emergency departments for injuries sustained from violence.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Duane E. Thomas & Celine I. Thompson

  2. University of Delaware and The Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Elizabeth M. Woodburn

  3. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and The Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Stephen S. Leff

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  1. Duane E. Thomas
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  2. Elizabeth M. Woodburn
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  3. Celine I. Thompson
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  4. Stephen S. Leff
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Correspondence to Duane E. Thomas .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, Tenth Ave. 899, New York, 10019, New York, USA

    Anthony J. Lemelle

  2. , Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State, Blacksburg, 24061, USA

    Wornie Reed

  3. , Sociology and Criminal Justice, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, 30314, Georgia, USA

    Sandra Taylor

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Thomas, D.E., Woodburn, E.M., Thompson, C.I., Leff, S.S. (2011). Contemporary Interventions to Prevent and Reduce Community Violence Among African American Youth. In: Lemelle, A., Reed, W., Taylor, S. (eds) Handbook of African American Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9616-9_7

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