Tagged: youth violence

Anyone who says watching TV has no impact on children’s behavior is ignoring a lot of scientific research. The latest study, from pediatricians in Seattle, shows you can improve the behavior of young children by changing what they watch. 

They took this approach after about two decades of trying to get parents to turn off the TV, and severely limit screen time for young kids. They were almost ready to give up. The best they could achieve was cutting TV time for pre-school age children from four-and-a-half hours per day to four hours per day.

That hardly seemed worth the effort.

In a rare show of solidarity, gun control and gun rights groups are joining forces to pass tougher gun laws for juvenile offenders in Washington. 

At a news conference with King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, representatives of Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Washington CeaseFire spoke in favor of proposed legislation that would require juveniles convicted of illegal gun possession to be locked up on the first offense.

Young people in Seattle are committing fewer violent crimes than they did a couple of years ago – especially in areas that, historically, have had the most juvenile offenses, according to a new city report.

The drop could be the result of a citywide effort to combat the problem.

Teens from Seattle and Tacoma are meeting with lawmakers in Washington D.C. to advocate for an end to youth violence.

They are pushing for the passage of the Youth Promise Act, now stalled in congress. The act would provide communities with federal funding to develop local programs to keep kids off the street and busy, especially after school between the hours of three and six.