Yesterday, Capitol Fax's Rich Miller asked readers what they thought government should do to cut down on Chicago's recent rise in teen violence. At Illinoize, poster Yellow Dog Democrat lays out a thorough list of suggestions -- beyond gun control -- that are well worth a read. Here are a few that stand out:
3. Reinvest in extra-curricular programs, arts, music, and physical education. These programs are proven to motivate academically challenged kids and lift their performance. They also keep kids off the streets and away from gangs during after-school hours.
5. Restore public faith in the police. Police can’t do it alone, they need community support, but Chicago has done everything possible to undermine public support, from John Burge on down.
6. Invest in communities. Unemployment in Chicago’s struggling neighborhoods is off the charts, especially among teenage black men. Black and Latino neighborhoods are shortchanged on everything from parks to schools to streets to police to economic investment.
8. Reform our juvenile justice system. Many parents see their kids headed down the wrong path, but there’s nowhere for them to turn for help. If they go to the police, their son goes right to the juvenile detention center, and while the JDC is making progress down the road to reform, most people think their kids would be better off on the streets.
10. Pass a Living Wage Law in Illinois. No parent should have to work two or even three jobs just to pay the rent and put food on the table, and we can’t expect anyone to be much of a parent if they are working 16 hour days seven days a week. Most are doing a heroic job of juggling it all, but something inevitably is going to fall.
I'd add a few more suggestions to the list.
Illinois has been a leader in providing cost-effective early education and we should continue to fund it. As research shows, at-risk children left out of quality pre-kindergarten are five times more likely to grow up to become criminals by age 27 than children in pre-kindergarten. Illinois Issues points out that two early-ed bills are working their way through the General Assembly now, which is a good sign.
We should also implement fair housing policy regulations, like inclusionary zoning, land banking, and thoughtful subsidy dispersal, to mitigate the negative effects of economic and racial segregation urban youths too often face.
Most importantly, we need to rethink our approach to the punitive and wasteful drug war and commit to prisoner re-entry programs that reduce recidivism.
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