NCJ Number
169105
Date Published
1997
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Following an overview of community violence as a public health phenomenon, the link between poverty and violence, and the condition of growing up in urban "war zones," this paper presents the findings of a New Orleans survey that focused on the concerns of children, parents, and police officers regarding violence and safety in their neighborhood.
Abstract
The data were collected as part of the Violence Intervention Project for Children and Parents. The majority of the parents surveyed lived in or near public housing projects with high crime rates. To determine parents' and children's perceptions of safety in areas frequented by children, children and parents were asked to indicate how safe they thought children were at school, at home, walking to school, and playing in the neighborhood. Police officers and parents were also asked what they believed should be done to increase the safety of children at home, school, and in the neighborhood. Survey findings suggest that parents, children, and police officers living in neighborhoods with high rates of crime and violence perceive the danger of their neighborhood. A finding of some concern is that almost half of the parents living in high-crime areas felt their children were not even "very safe" at home. This suggests that these parents do not believe they can fully keep their children safe. Responses to the attitudinal questions indicate that parents are aware that growing up in violent and unsafe environments can have a negative impact on their children, although a certain degree of "minimization" or "normalization" may be occurring among those parents who live in the most dangerous areas. A slightly greater proportion of parents in the most at-risk communities appear to be minimizing or not acknowledging the consequences of growing up in violent communities. Both parents and police perceive better security to be most important in improving children's safety. 5 tables and 29 references