cover image MURDER IS NO ACCIDENT: Understanding and Preventing Youth Violence in America

MURDER IS NO ACCIDENT: Understanding and Preventing Youth Violence in America

Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Howard R. Spivak, . . Jossey-Bass, $35 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-7879-6980-6

Prothrow-Stith, a Harvard School of Public Health associate dean and professor, and Spivak, New England Medical Center's chief of general pediatrics and adolescent medicine, bring impressive credentials and two decades each of experience in medicine, public health and violence prevention to this essential primer on adolescent violence. In impassioned, colloquial prose, the authors delineate the causes of teen violence (e.g., easy access to weapons; violent entertainment); elucidate past approaches, including police intervention for urban youth and mental health intervention for suburban youth; explain the impact of racism and classism on teen violence; offer first-person testimonies as exhortations; and detail ploys to combat the problem before it hits any more crisis points like the Columbine disaster or Los Angeles's street gang wars. The authors also reveal their backgrounds in order to break down stereotypes about violence: Prothrow-Stith's African-American family was close-knit and nurturing, Spivak's Bronx Jewish family excessively violent. But there's no discussion of the trend toward prosecuting teens as adults or of the fact that the U.S. remains one of only three nations worldwide to execute teens. The nexus of the authors' argument: violence is preventable, but it does "take a village." Demonizing youth, treating teens of color differently from white teens and focusing on crisis intervention rather than preventives are mistakes that have intensified rather than precluded violence, they say, insisting on recognition of violence as a public health issue. This is a solid and heartfelt contribution to a major concern in our country. Agent, Kristen Wainwright. (Nov.)

Forecast:Blurbs from Sen. Ted Kennedy and Marian Wright Edelman bespeak support for Prothrow-Stith and Spivak's approach. Prothrow-Stith has discussed teen violence in many public forums, including Nightline and Oprah.