Our note: the Providence Street Workers are doing these same activities. We're glad to see allies across the country. And, we're always thrilled when academia endorses the work of front line practitioners like street workers.
The violence virus
Boston Globe Op-Ed
By Susan C. Scrimshaw | April 22, 2007
IN URBAN areas across our nation, hardly a day goes by without news of a shooting. Many such incidents start with a rash argument between young people armed with guns. The typical response, when shootings increase, is to enhance law enforcement, but that is only part of the solution.
This deadly cycle of shootings is a public-health epidemic. By approaching it as such -- as a contagious disease of underlying expectations and pressures, one that is both treatable and preventable -- we can make significant progress toward halting it.
Urban violence is spread largely by expectations among youths in many gangs: If you insult or harm me, I must harm you. That powerful peer pressure and behavior is transmitted, like a virus, from person to person and gang to gang -- until there's a violent outbreak, and someone is killed. Then the virus is quiet until another outbreak.
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From The Boston Globe: In an effort to stem violence in Dorchester's Codman Square, the Rev. Bruce Wall and supporters from Global Ministries rented an apartment near a troubled street to see if they can ease the problem by their presence. A Globe reporter provides daily reports from the street.
