Community interventions can break the cycle of violence

The Capital District is in the midst of an unusually violent year. In Albany alone, we’ve seen more than 100 shootings and 15 homicides so far.

Some local officials believe these violent acts were largely the work of juveniles. Then, using simple anecdotal information and without any hard data to support their claims, they go so far as to blame the outbreak of violence on recent criminal justice reforms, namely the “Raise the Age” legislation, which established the age of criminal responsibility at 18; and bail reform, which significantly decreased the use of cash bail.

Under these reforms, probation departments provide pretrial monitoring of young people when court ordered. Significant numbers of individuals were deemed to not require super vision by the court, and in certain circumstances were released to their families on their own recognizance. The same officials blaming criminal justice reforms have dismissed the need for community support and instead have called for the increased use of secure detention and imprisonment for these young people.

Albany County Executive Dan Mccoy, in keeping with an enlightened national movement that rejects such ineffective and harmful approaches to the serious problem of youth violent behavior, appointed the Albany County Zero Youth Detention Task Force in 2019. Its members include criminal and juvenile justice experts, community

parents, formerly incarcerated juveniles, judges, a psychiatrist and psychologist, educators, and attorneys. They are charged with developing a road map for change, based on a project developed in King County in Washington. The task force plans to draw on evidence-based practices designed to prevent youth from entering the juvenile legal system, while promoting public safety by supporting their families and using effective community-based options to confinement. These major goals are tied to eliminating structural racism in community institutions, addressing racial inequity in the juvenile legal system, and optimizing positive connections between community systems of education, employment, health care, social ser vices and housing.

Although no one knows the specific forces at play in our communities as we suffer this latest wave of violence, our research and experience point to several convictions we hold as we search for solutions:

■ Although they must be held accountable in some responsible, effective way for their actions, youth, up to the age of 25, have undeveloped brains that cause them to think and act irrationally and make poor decisions.

■ Imprisonment has proven ineffective and harmful in addressing youth misbehavior and violence.

■ Black and other youth of color are too often seen as different and more deser ving of harsh treatment by law enforcement and some educators and community ser vice providers. As a result, Black youth are four times as likely as white youth to be confined in institutions away from their community and family. In Albany County, Black youths and other youth of color made up 98 percent of the detention admissions, according to a report earlier this year. These statistics also suggest that our low-income Black and brown kids are in crisis, and experiencing pain, fear, lack of hope and guidance and suffering from all the social conditions they are asked to bear.

■ To effectively address the problem, not just slow it down, our community must fully commit to developing a strong system of ser vice-oriented community inter ventions that address a lack of economic opportunities, limited access to health care and ser vices, generational poverty and a vicious cycle of gun violence and trauma.

■ Of utmost importance: Communities must break free of their long-held reliance on punishment and incarceration and target structural racism that denies equitable treatment of our children and their families.

The Albany County Zero Youth Detention Task Force is committed to helping our community understand that we are all interconnected, as we are learning from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our public safety is very much tied to those who are led to delinquent and violent behavior, for which we must all share the blame.