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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The City of Chicago has the highest youth homicide
3rate in the country; homicide is the 2nd leading cause of death
4for youths age 14 to 24; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Homicide rates for African-American males are 3
6times higher than those for Latino males and 25 times higher
7than those for Caucasian males; and
 
8    WHEREAS, In 1996, a resolution from the World Health
9Assembly declared violence to be a leading public health
10problem; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The World Health Organization developed a
12typology of violence that identified 3 categories:
13self-directed violence (by oneself), interpersonal violence
14(by another person), and collective violence (by larger
15groups); collective violence includes hate crimes, terrorist
16acts, and mob violence committed to advance a particular social
17agenda; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Violence exacts both a human and an economic toll
19on nations, and costs economies many billions of U.S. dollars
20each year in healthcare costs, legal costs, absenteeism from
21work, and lost productivity; the total direct and indirect

 

 

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1costs, including cost for healthcare services, autopsies,
2police investigations, and lost productivity resulting from
3premature death, amount to nearly U.S. $80 million; and
 
4    WHEREAS, Violence is the result of the complex interplay of
5individual, relationships, social, cultural, and environmental
6factors, and is the product of multiple levels of influence on
7behavior; and
 
8    WHEREAS, There are biological and personal history factors
9that increase the likelihood of being a victim or perpetrator
10of violence; those factors include impulsivity, low
11educational attainment, substance abuse, and prior history of
12abuse and aggression; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Research shows that people are much more likely to
14engage in negative activities when those behaviors are
15encouraged and approved by friends, peers, intimate partners,
16and family members who all have the potential to shape an
17individual's behavior and range of experience; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Research shows that opportunities for violence
19are greater in areas of poverty or physical deterioration or
20where there are few institutional supports, such as those
21provided by places of worship; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, There are cultural norms that support violence as
2an acceptable way to resolve conflicts, norms that give
3priority to parental rights over child welfare, norms that
4entrench male dominance over women and children, norms that
5support the use of excessive force by police against citizens,
6and norms that support political conflict; and
 
7    WHEREAS, There are health, educational, economic, and
8social policies that maintain high levels of economic and
9social inequalities between groups that contribute to high
10levels of violence; and
 
11    WHEREAS, There are 3 levels of public health violence
12prevention: primary prevention, which aims to prevent violence
13before it occurs; secondary prevention, which focuses on
14immediate responses to violence, such as pre-hospital care,
15emergency services, or treatment; and tertiary prevention,
16which focuses on rehabilitation, reintegration, and reducing
17long-term emotional or physical disabilities relevant to
18perpetrators of violence; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Public health strategies for the prevention of
20violence focus on specific target groups, such as universal
21interventions, which are programs such as community-wide media
22campaigns that are aimed at general populations; selected
23interventions, which are aimed at high-risk individual

 

 

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1populations; and indicated interventions, which are aimed at
2perpetrators of violence; and
 
3    WHEREAS, A comprehensive response to violence is one that
4protects and supports victims of violence, reduces the
5perpetration of violence, and changes the circumstances and
6conditions that give rise to violence in the first place; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Faith and community-based organizations provide
8critical leadership, knowledge, and passion when it comes to
9preventing and intervening in cycles of youth violence around
10the country; and
 
11    WHEREAS, All throughout the country, faith and non-profit
12organizations have taken on many tasks in order to keep young
13people safe and increase positive opportunities for young
14people; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Staff and volunteers from churches, mosques,
16synagogues, and community centers mentor children, counsel
17parents, teach classes, serve meals, conduct neighborhood
18clean-ups, conduct home visits, and work with law enforcement
19to patrol the streets; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
21NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that

 

 

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1we encourage faith-based organizations to develop and
2implement universal interventions aimed to prevent violence in
3Illinois' impoverished, underserved, and at-risk communities
4by providing employment opportunities, media, and educational
5campaigns, after school programs, mentoring programs, and
6other activities that replace negative messages, activities,
7beliefs, and attitudes with positive and productive
8activities, beliefs, and messages, through a transparent and
9collaborative process with the community that takes full
10advantage of State and federal funding resources.