Youth Violence

Abstract

As communities react to an influx of drugs and violence, a concomitant erosion in the social controls and norms may result in the normalization, expectation, and even glamorization of violence. Consequently, violent crime rates may not adequately reflect the overall health of a community or the indirect and long-term effects of repeated exposure to violence, particularly in children. Therefore, qualitative changes in the nature of violence may reveal far more about the relative health of a community. Direct exposure to illegal drug markets and the associated violence during critical phases in development may be expected to negatively impact children through at least three possible avenues: maternal, familial, and community. Multidisciplinary analysis and integration of research and opinion from several disciplines provide an opportunity to assess the impact of urban violence and illegal drug markets, while outlining a multifocal response to limiting the potential damage of urban violence on children.