Inter-Ethnic Violence in Inner-City Schools: An Analysis of Its Causes and Consequences as Well as Public Health & Law Enforcement Approaches to Reduce It

Award Year: 1999	Investigator: Martin Sanchez-Jankowski	Budget: $249,983	Categories: Education and Health, Violence
Abstract: Violence among Mexican Americans and African Americans in California inner-city schools has risen in recent years, causing death, injury, destruction of property, and loss of educational time. The project's objectives are to: 1) understand the conditions that precipitate and maintain this violence; 2) identify how it has physically and psychologically affected those who've experienced it; and 3) assess the public health and law enforcement policy approaches for controlling it. Dr. Sanchez-Jankowski relies on intensive fieldwork, using participant observation and in-depth interviewing methods. In analyzing the effectiveness of public health and law enforcement approaches to combating violence, he identifies what aspects of these policies need to be strengthened, changed or eliminated. Results provide health care professionals and policymakers with information about the physical and psychological injuries caused by inter-ethnic violence; the resources that would assist those directly impacted by this violence; and policy initiatives with the best probability for reducing violence.