By Laura Winn, Voice Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO- Youth violence has long been a problem in South Sacramento, but now local and state agencies are developing new approaches to this growing problem through legislation and community coalitions. Parental responsibility, improved communication, education resources and after school activities are key components to reducing youth violence according to new local and state reports.

On Oct. 11, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed five bills that aim to reduce gang violence statewide. AB 1291 known as "The Anti-Gang Violence Parental Accountability Act" is one of the key bills. AB 1291, sponsored by Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia), makes not only the youth offenders accountable for their acts, but also their parents.

According to the bill, parents of youth gang members could be sent to parenting classes to learn skills to help them identify gang behavior and to deal with this behavior through better communication with their children, help from educational resources and positive recreational activities for their children. The parenting classes would also educate the parents on the legal ramifications not only their children could face for their gang activity, but also the parents could face for "hiding, aiding or abetting their own children when a crime is committed."

The parents would be required to not only attend the classes, but also to pay for them.

“We need to help some parents take back control of their kids. There are many parents who want to keep their kids away from gangs but don't know where to turn for help. There are good parents whose kids, for some reason or another, commit violent crimes," Mendoza said in a press release.

"When someone commits a moving violation we send them to driving school. When someone drives drunk we send them to dependency classes, but when someone can’t control their kids, we look the other way. It’s time we not only require accountability but also step in to help,” Mendoza said.

AB 1291 and the other four bills signed by the governor aim to reduce gang violence for the state as a whole, but local organizations are also working to address this problem.

Sacramento Area Congregations Together (SACT) is one group that is working to build community coalitions in the South Sacramento area to address concerns about gangs and youth violence. SACT is made up of parents, religious leaders, school officials, law enforcement agencies and local government officials such as Councilmember Bonnie Pannel.

SACT has come up with four recommendations for the community to work together to reduce youth violence, according to its website. The first is expansion of "pre-validation hearings," which are meetings at suspected gang member's schools where families can learn more about the situation. The second is improving communication between the school district and parents. The third recommendation is that a death review board for youth-on-youth violence be established in Sacramento. The final recommendation is that the advertising for after school activities and city services be improved because "many at-risk youth and families do not know of the resources that are already available to them."

Information on resources available to fight gang violence can be found on the Attorney General's Crime and Violence Prevention Center website, http://www.safestate.org/.

Teen drivers to have one less distraction

By Lexie Tiongson, Voice Staff Reporter

In the United States today, there have been many laws changed and bills passed due to risky teens and driving. For example, the age when one may receive a driver’s permit, drive other people as a teen, and the time the can drive late at night.

The passage of these bills has actually lead to another significant question. Should teens be allowed any electronic devices while driving? This question was the basis Senate Bill 33 which states, “This bill prohibits persons who are under the age of 18 years from using a wireless telephone or other mobile service device while operating a motor vehicle.” This means that if a driver is seen using a cell phone and appears to be under 18, they can be pulled over and cited. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed this bill into law two weeks ago.

According to SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving), “Persons ages 16-20 years old had the highest fatality and injury rates per 100,000 population due to distractive driving.” Many teenagers do not even realize how much of a risk they are in until they have to face the consequences.

However, the question that few have asked is: How do teens feel about this new law? Seventeen year old Tammy Taxara states, “I agree with this law, in the two months that I’ve been driving, I’ve seen 3 people completely run red lights, all of them on a cell phone and obviously too busy to notice.” Teens actually have a different perspective of this law than most people would’ve expected. They agree and feel that it cell phones should be banned while driving.


It is also important to note that this measure does not address all of distractions for teen drivers. According to another SADD statistic, “Nearly 80% of crashes and 65% of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event.”

While the extent to which this new law will improve teen driving is yet to be seen, it is clear that more education is needed about the dangers of distracted driving, especially for teen drivers.