This is a Language Arts project and essay contest entry that I assisted my son with.

1. Justice Adams
Language Arts
7th Grade
December 5, 2012
Do the Write Thing Youth Violence Challenge: How Violence has Affected My Life, the
Causes of Youth Violence, What Can Be Done to Curtail it, and What I Can Do to Help
Reduce/Eliminate It
Violence has affected my life in that it has impacted my community, senseless fighting and
murders of youth and adults alike, both in the Parkway Village community of Memphis where I
live and in the city and world at large. A 15-year-old teenager was shot and killed not long ago as
he fled to Eastwood apartments from men and/or possibly other teens who were pursuing him in
a car. In the same apartment complex, which is not far from where I live, a man stabbed his
sister’s children and her for trying to protect them.
Another man shot and killed his girlfriend on the parking lot of Delta Medical Hospital,
where she worked, because she’d broken up with him, and, even closer to home, one of the
security officers in the apartment complex that I live in was shot and killed on duty. There have
been numerous other incidences that make it very clear that our communities are simply not safe.
No one can walk or even drive through the streets without facing the looming reality that they
may be subjected to random violence, and probably no one feels completely safe in their own
home, and this simply should not be.
Some of the primary causes of youth violence is actually school-related, the chief cause of
which is bullying. A student may be targeted by a bully because they’re different, because
they’re smart or perform well or not so well in school, because of the clothes or shoes they wear,
who they’re dating or not dating, or because of a physical attribute, like being “too tall” or “too
short,” having pimples or unkempt hair, being over or underweight, or because of either of the
noted characteristics in a parent, relative, or close friend of the student. Some victims of bullies
and violence may be targeted because of their race or socioeconomic status, or in retaliation for
activities of their parents or other relatives, i.e. for offending a perpetrator or a relative or
acquaintance of a perpetrator. Some victims are randomly targeted for no particular reason at all.
During and after school fights, which usually begin as arguments, erupt, and very often other
students or close friends or relatives of either party of the fights get involved.
Some adults are bullies. A teacher or other adult figure who demeans or belittles and/or even
physically assaults a student as “tough love” or, in some cases, sheer hatred, or who does not
appropriately intervene when they are aware that a student is being bullied are examples. Things
of this nature are a chief cause that many students do not perform as well as they could
academically. They are also cause that many students have attendance issues and eventually drop
out of school altogether, feeling that they do not have the support system or level of support that
they need to continue. Some students resort to self-inflicted violence or bullycide, the act of
committing suicide as a result of being bullied and/or excluded.
School, of course, is indispensable, and in actuality curtails much more violence than it may
attribute to. It not only provides a constructive haven for nearly a third of each day for students
to learn, it offers hope for transcending poverty and despair, major contributing factors to
violence.

2. To address causes of youth violence it is necessary, thus, to first and foremost appropriately
address the issue of bullying and other causes of student underachievement and/or dropout,
especially considering the fact that a majority of those who wound up incarcerated in their adult
lives are dropouts. All reported and/or witnessed incidences of school-related bullying should be
investigated and followed up with focus groups involving all parties and their parents or
guardians, and should entail a resolution that each party must abide by. Focus groups,
distinguishable from interrogations, should also be conducted in juvenile as well as in adult
correctional facilities for each and every case.
To directly address the issue of school-related violence, all students and residents of a
particular community should have direct access or a number to reach their readily adjacent
school security or police officers already patrolling their school zone during episodes of fighting
or events that may lead to fights, rather than having to necessarily dial 911 and run the risk of
delayed intervention (Residents of apartment communities should also have direct contact
numbers to their site security officers). This would also help to reduce the burden on 911
dispatchers and city police. Students and others should also have the option of silently texting
their school security and/or police officers. Additionally, cameras should be placed near and
zoom in on school bus stops and trouble areas and/or those where students are known to
congregate. School security/law enforcement officers and city police should be capable of
remotely viewing and hearing live footage from these cameras via surveillance monitors in their
patrol cars—All school bus stops should have bus shelters with intercoms that would connect to
their or the nearest school’s security and/or police officers (school bus shelters would also shield
students from rain and other precipitation while they are waiting to be picked up).
Schools should also conduct regular seminars addressing youth violence and possible
outcomes, the laws where violent offenses are concerned, and the importance of getting a solid
education. For students who have gotten into trouble or who get into trouble, these initiatives
could entail school or city-sponsored boot camp as an intervention.
What I can do to help reduce/eliminate violence is report any incidences of it and/or bullying
to proper officials and offer input such as this for preventing and intervening when it does occur,
whatever it takes that is right.
Say No to Violence and Yes to Success!
2 Do the Write Thing Youth Violence Challenge Essay Contest Entry and 2nd 9 Weeks Project
by Justice Adams