BY MARIE McCAIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SHARONVILLE -- There is no single answer to curbing juvenile violence and crime, a panel of experts and community activists concluded Thursday. Rather, the solutions are many and must be applied together to bring youthful offenders back from the brink.
"If incarceration solved the problem, we wouldn't have any crime," said Eileen Cooper-Reed, director of the Children's Defense Fund. "We do need to hold children responsible for their behavior. . . . But the courts can only deal with what is brought through the doors. It is a remedial system. It can't solve all of these problems alone."
A former juvenile court magistrate, Ms. Cooper-Reed was one of several experts who participated in a round-table discussion as part a three-day conference on the successes of community oriented policing.
To help children, she said, adults must take an interest in them and show they care.
Held at the Holiday Inn here, the conference, "A Bridge to the Future . . . Community Oriented Government," ends today.
Lynwood Battle, vice president of the Cincinnati Board of Education, said zero tolerance in the school system is an immediate response to the dilemma of youth violence.
"We have to treat the problem where it is -- deal with it while it's happening," he said. "We have 50,000 kids in Cincinnati Public Schools and their parents send them to us and expect them to be safe. We have to make sure they stay safe."
Metal detectors, rapid response teams and other programs instituted in the schools have helped to drastically curb the number of weapons being brought to Cincinnati schools today, he said.
Cincinnati Police Sgt. Doug McCray attributed much of the reason for youth violence to television, which glamorizes death and crime. "We need to eradicate that mindset," he said. "Kids aren't inherently bad, but they do imitate what they see."
