Town Hall Held on Youth Violence
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) _ A group of national experts on youth violence convened in San Francisco this weekend, the third in a series of gatherings sponsored by the American Bar Association.
The goal of these meetings is to continue a national effort to minimize youth crime.
Detroit area court commissioner David Perkins with the Coalition on Racial and Ethnic Justice expects that a document will soon be produced on what sorts of programs are working nationwide.
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"We want to compile all the resources so we can have a resource guide where people can say, oh someone in Oakland did this," said Perkins. "Somebody in Chicago did this. I'm in Memphis. Let me try one of these programs or better yet, let me call or contact one of these people and see how I can replicate the program."
Family law attorney Beryl Crumpton-Potter of Berkeley said young people were invited to gain their perspective, saying "frustration" has lead to many violent crimes including a recent case in Oakland when two young African Americans killed an older Asian man.
"They asked these kids, if it were a black person or if it was another race, would you have done the same thing?" she said. "And they said yes. It didn't matter. We were frustrated with our lives and we were just walking down the street and we saw this man and we just hit him."
One finding the American Bar Association has already determined is that low self esteem feeds youth violence.
