Travis County Commissioners Court
Tuesday, March 22, 2011,
Item 3
Item number 3 is approve proclamation recognizing council at risk youth agency and declaring March 21 through March 25, 2011, as national youth violence prevention week in Travis County.
we have mr. Moore with us here.
should I read the proclamation?
>> please.
>> it reads: whereas the council on at risk youth is to help youth promote safe schools and communities, whereas cary works with several prevention programs including the peace rock youth violence prevention program, aggression replacement training, individual behavioral counseling, parent support groups and community service learning projects at Austin independent school district to help youth develop nonviolent behaviors and become productive members of our community.
pardon me.
whereas the Texas department of public safety arrest data for school aged crime in Travis County for the decade 2000 through 2009 include more than 80 arrests for murder or manslaughter, almost 1300 arrests for aggravated robbery, almost 2,000 arrests for aggravated assaults and well over 18,000 arrests for other assaults.
and whereas cary partners with school districts, youth service agencies, universities and juvenile just cyst agencies toward achievement of the objectives or prevention in youth violence, drug abuse and delinquency.
now therefore be it resolved that the Travis County Commissioners court proclaims the week of March 21st through March 25th, 2011, as national youth violence prevention week in Travis County and call upon the residents of our -- in our community to be aware of activities and supporting programs designed to impact and reduce the effects of teen violence including youth and parents, schools, law enforcement and interested groups to observe national youth prevention -- national youth prevention violence week, to promote prevention and awareness of crime and I move approval.
>> second.
>> mr. Moore?
>> yes, adrian Moore, council on at risk judge.
thank you very much for acknowledging and recognizing the national youth violence prevention week being celebrated by thousands of youth services agencies around the country.
we inserted some data in there and I think it's very helpful to stop and find the time and pause and take a look at our arrest data.
when we look at the youth who are eligible to attend school 10 through 20 years of age, we find some very surprising pieces of information.
one is that each year on the average for about ten years, we have 18,000 of these kids arrested and taken into our juvenile and criminal justice system.
our principal categories of arrest are other assaults, theft and drug possession.
about 7,000 of those 8,000 cases -- 18,000 cases every year represent those three categories.
interestingly also in looking at all of that data, 30% of all of our crime in Travis County is perpetrated by kids 10 through 20 years of age.
30%.
that's a considerable activity.
another note very quickly, some of the research that we have is very, very helpful in that we know today that crime doesn't begin when the kid is arrested and taken into the system.
generally that begins very early and the kid winds up in the school disciplinary system.
particularly we're concerned about those kids who are aggressive, abusive and assaultive.
research tells us that this type indicator in the school disciplinary system is the most powerful predictor of a future in criminality.
these are the very kids who cary works with.
we work with 600 of these kids every year, a total of about 8,000.
27,000 disciplinary actions taken every year in the Austin i.s.d.
of those 27,000, 8,000 are aggressive, abusive kids.
cary as our aggression replacement program at bed check, pierce, dobie middle school.
we have very good out come measures.
we're very appreciative working with roger in the public safety and justice department.
providing support to the organization.
we've got some good out come measures.
we're making a difference in the lives of these kids.
we're showing reductions, significant reductions in those serious school disciplinary reports.
we're showing improvements in school grades and in school attendance rates.
so once again thank you very much for recognizing the national youth violence prevention week.
join us also, if you will, this Sunday at esther's follies for a benefit for cary.
thank you so much.
>> thank you for all you've done.
>> say this to you also.
you know, the work that you do is very significant.
in fact, we have some items on the agenda today that's going to discuss truancy, persons that do not attend schools -- school as they should.
attendance records are plummeting in so many areas, so many referral.
it would be good I think that from this standpoint that you, cary and all the other organizations need to really collaborate I think with the system itself, the jps and others that are dealing with our truancy, dealing with our schools as you are involved with i.s.d.
there needs to be a better connection as far as collaborative efforts made across the board internally with Travis County.
hhs even included for the social end of it.
what you do is very important, but I think we need to make a collaborative, energized effort to overcome this problem, this very serious problem in Travis County with truancy and also attendance shortfalls that we have among our youth here in the county.
so I wanted to really pay close attention, if you don't mind today on a lot of things we discuss in Commissioners court later.
>> indeed.
thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> any more questions or comments?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you.
mr. Moore.
>> thank you, sir.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 6:49 PM
