Original articleCaught in the Crossfire: the effects of a peer-based intervention program for violently injured youth
Section snippets
Program description
Caught in the Crossfire is a peer-based violence prevention intervention program serving youth who have been hospitalized in Oakland, California for violent injuries. Established in 1994, Caught in the Crossfire is predicated on the importance of intervening with violently injured youth “at the right time and with the right person” to maximally achieve the program's goals. The program employs and trains young adults who are from the same or similar communities as the youth which they serve and
Youth characteristics
No significant difference in racial/ethnic or age composition exists between treatment and control groups: predominantly African-American (60.0%), followed by Latinos (25.9%), a few Asian/Pacific Islanders (8.0%) and the rest of “Other” race/ethnicity (6.1%). The average age of participants at the time of admission to the hospital was 18.3 years, with a range of 12 to 20 years. In both groups, the majority (61.6%) of participants were age 18 years or above and most were male (80%).
Youth in the
Discussion
This study demonstrates that treatment by the Caught in the Crossfire program of youth hospitalized for a violent injury was associated with the reduced likelihood of involvement in the criminal justice system (arrest, probation, probation violation) during a 6-month postinjury period. Results for criminal outcomes were statistically significant. For youth who participated in the intervention program, there was a 70% reduction in arrests for any offense compared with the control group during a
Conclusions
This evaluation demonstrates that hospital-based peer intervention programs that employ members of the community and intervene immediately or soon after the injury has occurred can directly reduce criminal activity among youth most at risk for violence. These findings are significant in light of recent research, which indicates that criminal involvement places an individual at increased risk for subsequent violent victimization 13, 14. The creation of a hospital-based peer intervention program
Acknowledgements
This study was supported under funding from The California Wellness Foundation Violence Prevention Fellowship Program, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund grant P99-429, and The California Endowment grant number 20001310. We would like to thank Jessica Scannell, Varsha Vimalananda and Nic Bekaert for their assistance in conceptualizing and implementing the study. We appreciate the assistance of Coraline Journel in data collection and Cara Torruellas in manuscript writing and editing. Finally, we
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