Judge Urges Harlem Residents To Address Gang Violence

DNAInfo.com posted a story by Shayna Jacobs about Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Edward McLaughlin who "begged" Harlem residents to do something about gang violence. From the bench the judge said, "if you do nothing, you are complicit" as he addressed the need for Harlem residents to take a stand against growing gang violence.

Judge McLaughlin made his statement during the sentencing of several leaders of the "2 Mafia Family" and "Goons on Deck" gangs that operated in central Harlem around 137th Street and Lenox. These gangs were the subject of a 2010 operation of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and NYPD to root out violent street gangs.

The article includes figures that show Harlem had 244 shooting in the last 23 months; half of all shooting involved youth under the age of 19. It is estimated that 71 of these shootings were gang related.

While the Judge's sentiments echo what many local community members feel, more needs to be done to prevent and intervene early when youth are getting into trouble.

A forthcoming report by the Harlem Community Justice Center focused on youth gangs will offer some suggestions for a way forward.

NYC Teen Web Site Goes Live!

New York City has a new website just for teens.! NYC Teen looks much better than most NYC websites and has a wealth of information on topics like bullying, teen pregnancy, jobs, mental health and a host of other resources.

Link: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/teen/html/youth-community/index.shtml

Higher Arrest for African-American Students in NYC Schools

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, the New York City Department of Education arrested 63 students in New York City Middle and High Schools over a 43 day period in the spring of 2011. Black students comprised 68% of those arrested, Hispanics 25% and Caucasian students 3%. The arrested population was overwhelmingly male (82.5%).

While general concern about crime in New York City has waned since the mid-1990s, in the city's minority communities their remains growing concern about police contact with African-American and Hispanic youth. A recent report by the New York Civil Liberties Union found that school suspension rates have soared in the last ten years reaching a high of 73,000 in the 2008-2009 school year. African-American and Hispanic students were disproportionately impacted by school suspensions. Combined both groups made up 88% of all students suspended.

While the NYPD indicates that major crimes in schools are down 49%, there has been no independent evaluation of the impact of this policing strategy in schools. What is clear is that minority youth are finding their way into the justice system at alarming rates for behaviors that white students rarely get arrested for whether in school or out.

New Survey Finds Parents Matter Most in Protecting Teens Online

The Pew Center for the Internet and Public Life finds that parents are the primary line of defense for teens when it comes to Internet safety. Parents are the primary source for information on appropriate Internet use.

The survey found that most teens believed their peers on social media treat others mostly kind online. Girls age 12-13 were much more likely to indicate that people are mostly unkind (33%) online.

African-American teen social media users are less likely (56%) to indicate that most people are kind on social media compared to whites (72%) and Latinos (78%).

Click here to view the report:

Early Results for Mayor's Truancy Effort Encouraging

First year results from the Mayor's truancy improvement effort suggest the program may be working, for High School students. According to School Book, the NY Times WNYC blog on education, high school students paired with mentors showed attendance improvements compared to students without mentors.

To view the story click here.

To learn more about the NYC Truancy Task Force click here.

FBI Reports Growth of Gangs Across the United States

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment paints a grim picture of growing gang membership and violence.

According to the Report:

• Gangs are responsible for an average 48% of violent crime in most jurisdictions




• Gang membership reached 1.4 million in 33,000 gangs.




• Gangs are growing in their ability to use new technology and social media to engage in criminal activity.




• Gang members are accessing high-powered military-style weapons capable of inflicting great harm to law enforcement and the public.




• There have been 23,000 convictions of gang members in the past 10 years as a result of the FBI's Safe Streets task forces around the country.
  

Locally, there is a lot that can be done to reduce violence and encourage youth, including gang-involved youth, to become productive members of their community. A soon to be released Report by the East Harlem Juvenile Gang Task Force will include several recommendations to combat gang violence.

Major Arrest of Local Gang Members

Last Friday the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus Vance, announced the arrest of nineteen gang members as part of a joint investigation with the NYPD. According to the Daily News, the gang members, some as young as seventeen, operated in central Harlem gang. The charges include gun possession to attempted murder. The gang members are alleged to have transported guns from Virginia, a state from which many of the illegal guns in New York City are initially purchased.

Youth gangs are a growing concern in upper Manhattan and many neighborhoods across the City. On-going rivalries between local gangs has led to shootings and other acts of violence in Harlem. According to a soon to be released report by the East Harlem Juvenile Gang Task Force, the number of youth gang members identified by law enforcement in upper Manhattan grew from 150 to 1000 between 2007 and 2009; also, gang involved juveniles were responsible for 29% of all gun related homicides and 30% of non-fatal shootings in 2009.