Youth violence is a powerful mover of hate crimes. In order for you to prevent the sprout of such behavior, read on and learn some tips.

Plan Ahead

1. Work with your school administration to establish a plan for responding promptly to hate incidents and hate crimes.
2. Educate school staff on how to recognize hate-motivated incidents and hate crimes.
3. Establish procedures for reporting hate-motivated incidents/crimes.
4. Establish school policies which clearly indicate that hate-motivated behavior will not be tolerated.

Response Strategies

1. Respond promptly to incidents.
2. Conduct a complete investigation of the incident, including the questioning of victim(s), witness/es and perpetrators. Report hate-motivated crimes to law enforcement. If there is physical damage – defacing, spray-pointing, etc. – take photographs. As soon as law enforcement personnel have viewed the damage and photographs have been token, have the damage repaired. If hate literature has been distributed, collect the literature for evidence.
3. Train school counselors to assist hate-motivated crime victims and/or provide referral sources to community agencies. Reassure the victim and or her family that the incident will be treated seriously.
4. Determine proper disciplinary action according to school protocols.
5. If your district has a reporting policy, submit a hate-motivated crime/incident report to the appropriate district offices.
6. Determine whether or not additional follow-up activities are necessary, e.g., staff and student awareness activities, responses to the media, etc.

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The Juvenile Justice System was instituted during the Progressive Era, a period of social reform in the U.S. It was initially designed to assist vagrant youth that were being dealt with within the adult system. Since that time it has been effected by numerous policy and philosophy changes. The landmark policy that established the system we currently operate under was the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act called for a “deinstitutionalization” of juvenile delinquents. It required that states holding youth within adult prisons for status offenses remove them within a span of two years (this timeframe was adjusted over time). The act also provided program grants to states, based on their youth populations, and created the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

Through reauthorization amendments, additional programs have been added to the original Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. The following list highlights a few of these additions:

• 1977 – Programs were developed to assist learning disabled children that entered the juvenile justice system.
• 1984 – A new missing and exploited children program was added.
• 1984 – Strong support was given to programs that strengthened families.
• 1988 – Studies on prison conditions within the Indian justice system were called for.
• 1990 – The OJJDP began funding child abuse training programs to instruct judicial personnel and prosecutors.
• 1992 – A juvenile boot camp program was designed to introduce delinquent youth to a lifestyle of structure and discipline.
• 1992 – A community prevention grants program gave start-up money to communities for local juvenile crime prevention plans.

Source.

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Myth: The epidemic of violent behavior that marked the early 1990s is over, and young people—as well as the rest of U.S. society—are much safer today.
Fact: Although such key indicators of violence as arrest and victimization data clearly show significant reductions in violence since the peak of the epidemic in 1993, an equally important indicator warns against concluding that the problem is solved. Self-reports by youths reveal that involvement in some violent behaviors remains at 1993 levels.

Myth: Most future offenders can be identified in early childhood.
Fact: Exhibiting uncontrolled behavior or being diagnosed with conduct disorder as a young child does not predetermine violence in adolescence. A majority of young people who become violent during their adolescent years were not highly aggressive or “out of control” in early childhood, and the majority of children with mental and behavioral disorders do not become violent in adolescence.

Myth: Child abuse and neglect inevitably lead to violent behavior later in life.
Fact: Physical abuse and neglect are relatively weak predictors of violence, and sexual abuse does not predict violence. Most children who are abused or neglected will not become violent offenders during adolescence.

Myth: African American and Hispanic youths are more likely to become involved in violence than other racial or ethnic groups.
Fact: Data from confidential interviews with youths indicate that race and ethnicity have little bearing on the overall proportion of racial and ethnic groups that engage in nonfatal violent behavior. However, there are racial and ethnic differences in homicide rates. There are also differences in the timing and continuity of violence over the life course, which account in part for the over representation of these groups in U.S. jails and prisons.

Myth: A new violent breed of young super predators threatens the United States.
Fact: There is no evidence that young people involved in violence during the peak years of the early 1990s were more frequent or more vicious offenders than youths in earlier years. The increased lethality resulted from gun use, which has since decreased dramatically. There is no scientific evidence to document the claim of increased seriousness or callousness.

Myth: Getting tough with juvenile offenders by trying them in adult criminal courts reduces the likelihood that they will commit more crimes.
Fact: Youths transferred to adult criminal court have significantly higher rates of reoffending and a greater likelihood of committing subsequent felonies than youths who remain in the juvenile justice system. They are also more likely to be victimized, physically and sexually.

Myth: Nothing works with respect to treating or preventing violent behavior.
Fact: A number of prevention and intervention programs that meet very high scientific standards of effectiveness have been identified.
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