Study shows national increase in homicides involving black teens

Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer Posted: 01/14/2009 05:31:14 PM PST 
a former gang member who is now president of San Bernardino-based Young Visionaries Youth Leadership Academy, agreed that the stigma of gang membership has faded.

"One thing I've seen with gangs ... now it's more acceptable," Stone said, "It's not so much (that) you're an outcast anymore looking like a gang member."

Young Visionaries' mission is keeping youths out of gangs. The U.S. Department of Justice recently awarded Stone's group a $200,000 grant that is be used for efforts including employment training.

In terms of statistics, the Northeastern study finds that nationwide, the number of black male juvenile homicide victims increased by 31 percent from 2002 to 2007.

The number of homicide perpetrators within the same demographic group increased by 43 percent during the same time period.

In San Bernardino County, coroner's statistics show that homicides in which black male teens died as a result of homicide increased from 2003 to 2007.

In 2002, three black male teens were killed in homicides across the county. In 2007, that number had jumped to 13, the highest figure during that time span.

Within the county, San Bernardino may be the city that has seen the most severe youth violence in recent years, although City Hall officials issued a media release in November that trumpeted a decline in youth homicides.

According to that announcement, which was sent from Mayor Pat Morris' office, there were 18 juvenile homicide victims who were killed by gunfire from March 1, 2004 through June 30, 2006.

That figure declined to six such victims from July 1, 2006 through Oct. 31, 2008. Morris' office attributed the progress to the Operation Phoenix program, which includes a trio of new youth centers as well as heightened police patrols and partnerships with outside agencies like the ATF.

Seventh Ward City Councilwoman Wendy McCammack wasn't terribly impressed with the Northeastern study. She has questioned her city's ability to fund ambitious crime prevention programs and proposed that school districts are better positioned to lead youths away from violence.

"City governments' efforts can only pale in comparison to the money school districts have to fight and win over the youth crime issue," she wrote in an e-mail. "But I have always said that along with retraining and redirecting the very young, there must be money and training for the caregivers of those kids so that they see buy-in from both inside and outside the home."

Crime statistics aren't the only numbers that matter to policymakers, however. San Bernardino officials are looking at a current-year budget shortfall in the order of $12 million or so, and any program - no matter how promising - could be trimmed.

Sixth Ward Councilman Rikke Van Johnson said he wasn't surprised to hear the Northeastern Study called for increased prevention and intervention efforts and thinks the Phoenix approach is on the right track. Nevertheless, he has no illusions that he and others will have to make tough choices this year.

"It's going to be tough all around and we're going to have to evaluate anything," Johnson said. "There is going to be no sacred animal."