COVID-19 and youth violence: views from the frontline

ABSTRACT

Violent crime tends to be concentrated in economically disadvantaged, racially minoritized communities, particularly among youth. Emerging research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated the drivers of violence in these communities but provides limited insight into its effects in a single locale, especially small to mid-size cities, and on those on the frontlines of youth violence (i.e., youth service workers). In the current study, we provide an in-depth, qualitative examination of these dynamics in vulnerable neighborhoods in Lansing, Michigan, centering the voices of those instrumental to violence prevention and community resilience. Specifically, we explore youth service providers’ perceptions of how COVID-19 changed youth violence and impacted families, communities, and organizations working to prevent and control youth violence. We use the socioecological model adopted by the public health field to explain and prevent violence to guide our work, as this framework recognizes the interlocking and interactive effects of systemic, community, and relational experiences on youth behavior. As such, it allows us to situate community-based organizations and youth service providers’ perceptions within the broader contexts that shape violence. Our findings suggest the need for increased support for community-based prevention and for interventions that rectify structural inequalities.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth violence
• COVID-19
• community-based prevention

Acknowledgments

The team would like to thank Mr. Sean Hankins, the Director of the Michigan State University Adolescent Diversion Program, for his assistance and insights that substantially improved this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Climate change scholars coined the term ‘frontline’ to describe ‘marginalized’ communities that experience distinctive and disproportionate impacts from climate change but lack access to or experience contempt from the political system (Sanders 2020). Given the parallel experience in communities with high rates of violence, we adopt this term’s less negative connotation that still affords agency.

2. This figure is based on accepted budgets published on the city’s website, with the exception of the 2020–2021 information from an executive budget proposal (the accepted budget was not available).

3. We were unable to obtain comprehensive budget data for 2021–2022. A preliminary budget presentation included a potential 50% decrease in the police budget but lacked information on the city-supported agency or DNCE budgets.

4. Our hit-rate was 99%, above the accepted minimum of 85% (Ratcliffe 2004).

5. A remuneration of $40 dollars was provided to each respondent or the organization of their choice.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a grant from Michigan State University.

Notes on contributors

Carole Gibbs

Carole Gibbs is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Her research interests include understanding street and elite crime from a systems perspective and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education. She is currently an inaugural member of the Dean’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fellows Pilot Program in the College of Social Science. Recent publications have appeared in Criminology and the Journal of Higher Education Management.

Louie Rivers III is an adjunct faculty member at North Carolina State University in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources. His research interests focus on the perception of risk and decision making process in minority and frontline communities in the context of the built and natural environment.

Alaina De Biasi

Alaina De Biasi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Wayne State University. De Biasi has expertise leveraging police and ATF data systems to explore illicit firearm markets, evaluating the effectiveness of violence prevention initiatives, conducting community-engaged research, and exploring the geography of crime. Through her work, De Biasi seeks to develop new and better policies and practices aimed at violence prevention. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, and The British Journal of Criminology.

Jennifer E. Cobbina-Dungy

Cobbina-Dungy is an Associate Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Her areas of expertise center on the public’s response to police violence, as well as youth violence, and concentrated neighborhood disadvantage, with a special focus on the experiences of minority youth and the impact of race, class, and gender on criminal justice practices. Her research also focuses on corrections, prisoner reentry and the understanding of recidivism and desistance from crime. Her work has appeared in journals such as Criminology, Criminology & Public Policy, Justice Quarterly, Crime and Delinquency, and Punishment & Society.

Mark Speers

Mark Speers is a doctoral student in Criminal Justice Michigan State University. Currently, his research interests include corporate crime, environmental criminology, computational modeling approaches to spatial crime data analysis, and the philosophy and definition of crime.

Molly Costantino

Molly Costantino is a recent graduate of Michigan State University. She currently works at Vista Maria in the field of social work. Her interests include the impacts of family and environment on youth development and actions, especially with adolescents in foster care.