"The way I see it, youth violence happens because of the mentality and mind state of the people involved.  We first must change the culture of the community to see substantial results." 

      - Lewsha

 

This is just one of the insightful responses DC youth generated when YPT went into neigborhoods this summer asking the question, "Why does youth violence happen?"

 

As crime statistics were tallied this summer and pundits and officials began a new round of dialogues on how to prevent the violence that too often claims young lives, YPT was on the ground in schools and community centers talking to young people to get their perspective.

 

"What was most striking is how differently it's perceived regionally," Producing Artistic Director David Andrew Snider reports. "We'd have students in Southeast telling us that there were no gangs in their neighborhoods, only neighborhood beefing, and yet students in Northwest were much more ready to identify crime as gang-related."

 

Snider also says that age made a big difference in students' perception of crime. "Younger kids, students who are 11 or 12, seem to have more distance from the violence, while older students were much more aware," he says.

 

YPT met with over 60 students on location with three different community groups: AMYLA, COINNS and HICKS.  Like YPT, all are members of the Citywide Coordinating Council for Youth Violence Prevention.

 

The students' writing will be featured in September's New Writers' Now! performance Dying for Respect.

 

"Many of the students were inspired to write more when they saw we took their writing so seriously," Snider says.

 

One young writer had particularly good advice for avoiding violent situations: