Because Things

Happen Every Day:

Responding to Teenage Victims of Crime
Discussion Guide

Teenage Victims of Crime

COPS
COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SERVICES
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

www.cops.usdoj.gov www.ncvc.org
It took a while for me to learn-actually
accept-that people have actually been
through the same things I have. I just
wish that they would've had a group
like this sooner. Not just because
something happened, but because
things happen every day.

-Yolanda
About This Video
The National Center for Victims of Crime and
the Office of Community Oriented Policing
Services, U.S. Department of Justice, produced
this 20-minute educational video, Because
Things Happen Every Day: Responding to
Teenage Victims of Crime, to illustrate the
importance of a collaborative community
response to teenage victims of crime.

The statistics are alarming: adolescents

represent approximately 14 percent of the
general population, yet they comprise about 31
percent of individuals who become victims of
violence.1 In fact, teenagers are approximately
twice as likely as other age groups to become
victims of violence.2 Victimization during
adolescence comes at a particularly difficult
time in life. Normal adolescent development is
characterized by rapid change, culminating in a
desire for independence, a search for identity,
the development of abstract thinking skills, and
a need to separate from adults by establishing
close relationships with peers. A teen's peer
group becomes increasingly important and, in
some respects, more influential than parents or
other adults.

Because Things Happen Every Day features

two innovative programs that have been
effective in reaching and responding to teen
victims through the use of peer leadership, in-
school support groups, one-on-one counseling,
and hotlines. The voices of teens themselves
are prominent throughout the video, describing
their experiences with crime, as well as what
helped them recover their confidence and
hope.
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How to Use This Video
Because Things Happen Every Day is geared
toward anyone who works with teenagers and/
or might be in a position to identify and support
teen victims. Some examples include:

• Youth development professionals

• Victim service providers
• School resource officers and other law
enforcement
• Teen leaders
• School counselors and teachers (or other
educators)
• Community groups
• Clergy (or other faith leaders)
• Principals and administrators

The goal of this video is to foster a greater

understanding of the impact of crime and
violence on teens and the obstacles teens
face in coming forward and seeking help.
We suggest you review the video several
times before presenting it so that you will be
familiar with the content and able to guide the
training and discussion. Suggested discussion
questions begin on page six.

When your training is complete, we hope your

participants will come away with these main
ideas:

• Teen victimization is a serious problem. A

pervasive lack of awareness about the scope
and prevalence of teen victimization is a
serious hurdle in adequately responding to
this problem. Any attempt to address teen
victimization must involve an education
component.
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• Involve teens. Teens are greatly influenced
by their peers. Peer-led programs promote
action, and adult-run programs can be
maximized when teens are put in a position
to reach out and help their peers.

• Partnerships are crucial. Programs

for teens are greatly enhanced through
collaborative efforts among victim service
agencies, schools, law enforcement
agencies, businesses, faith communities, and
youth-serving organizations. Decision-makers
should look for opportunities to develop new
services or tailor existing programs to directly
support teen victims of crime.

• There are consequences if we don't help

teen victims. Not reaching and providing
support to teen victims leads to tremendous
personal and societal costs. Many teen
victims struggle with poor performance in
school, depression, and other problems. Not
responding to teen victimization can have
life-long consequences.

3
Using This Video with Teens

Although this video is aimed at raising adults'

awareness of the problem of teen victimization
and the range of possible responses, you may
also wish to show this video to teens. If you
do, be sure to warn the teens that they will
see several young people talking about their
own experiences of victimization, and this may
trigger uncomfortable feelings for them if they
or someone they know has been victimized.
Be sure to give teens a resource number to
call if they would like to talk to someone about
a personal experience. If possible, have a
trained counselor available to youth who need
immediate support after or while viewing the
video.

Some of the discussion questions below may

be used with youth, and some additional ones
may be added, depending on the purpose of
the viewing. If showing the video to a group
of teen leaders who want to start a victim
outreach or support effort, the discussion
leader should solicit the teens' ideas of how
they want to get involved, encourage the
teens to make a list of adults in the community
who can support their efforts, and end the
discussion with a concrete action plan.

4
Program Profiles

SafePlace, in Austin, Texas, is a large victim

service agency that addresses various types of
violence against adults and teens. SafePlace,
which operates a hotline and provides free,
confidential counseling to teens, works closely
with school counselors and staff to form
support groups for teens. SafePlace casts a
wide net to attract teens in middle schools
and high schools who are victims of various
types of violence, including domestic violence,
sexual assault, sexual harassment, and dating
violence. SafePlace educates teens about the
effects of violence and helps them deal with
problems experienced at home or at school.
SafePlace organizes support groups of 6-12
teens each that meet for a total of 24 sessions.
Girls and boys attend separate support groups
which are held at schools. SafePlace's "Expect
Respect" initiative has been featured on
national television.

The Students Terminating Abusive

Relationships (STAR) Program is an
peer leadership and education program in
Westchester County, New York. STAR's
mission is to speak out against interpersonal
and societal violence and to promote healthy
relationships based on equality, respect, and
trust. STAR members include high school and
college students who attend monthly meetings
to learn more about dating violence and how
to plan and implement awareness activities
in their schools and communities. The White
Plains High School STAR chapter offers a
model approach for establishing partnerships
between schools, victim service providers, and

5
the local police department. STAR's community
partners include: local middle schools and
high schools, police departments, United Way,
Junior League, Westchester Mental Health
Association, YWCA, religious institutions,
Boys & Girls Clubs, Students Against Drunk
Driving (SADD), and local businesses.
STAR collaborates with the White Plains
Police Department, and officers frequently
give awareness-raising talks to high-school
students. STAR was started by the Northern
Westchester Shelter in Pleasantville, New York.
The Northern Westchester Shelter was founded
in 1980 as a safe haven for domestic violence
victims. The Shelter provides free confidential
counseling, legal aid, support groups, and a
24-hour hotline.

Questions for Discussion

After showing Because Things Happen Every
Day, allow for at least 15 minutes to discuss
audience reactions and explore how your
program or community could improve its
response to teenage victims of crime. Offered
below are suggested questions, grouped by
topic area, to help guide your discussion. Also
highlighted are direct quotations from the video
that help illustrate particular discussion points.

Teen victimization: The facts

• What crimes do teen victims experience?

Teen victims experience the whole range

of crimes that adults experience, including
domestic violence/dating violence, burglary,
assault, identity theft, stalking, harassment, and
homicide.
6
• How is responding to teen victims similar
and dissimilar to responding to adult
victims of crime?

Susan Herman: "Teenagers need many of

same things, many of the same resources and
services that adult victims of crime need. They
need support; they need safety; they need
safety planning; they need individual and group
counseling. They need advocacy for those
who go through the criminal justice process.
They need compensation; they need orders
of protection. The full range of services and
resources that we've made available to adults
need[s] to be adapted and need[s] to be made
accessible to teenage victims of crime."
However, because teens are making the
transition from childhood to adulthood, support
for teen victims must take their developmental
stage into consideration. For example, teens
are strongly influenced by their peers, so
peer-led education and support are especially
beneficial for this population.

• What are some reasons why a teen might

not come forward if he/she is being
victimized?

Society often blames the victim. In addition,

teens often think that they will be punished or
arrested if, at the time of the victimization, they
were in a situation where drugs or alcohol were
involved. Additionally, many teens are aware
of mandatory reporting requirements and do
not want their victimization brought to the
attention of law enforcement or child protection
authorities.

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Reaching Teens
• What are some effective strategies for
reaching teens?

Going to where teens are (e.g., setting up

tables in the mall or hanging flyers on school
bulletin boards and around the community);
using "teen-friendly" language; forming trusting
relationships; facilitating youth-led outreach
efforts; ensuring confidentiality; and making
educational information and support groups
easily accessible to teens.

Susan Herman: "We have to go where teens

are, we have to speak their language, and we
have to help them in ways that they want to be
served."

Ally: "It's important for communities to get the

information out there, because if they don't
know then nobody's going to reach out for
help. Teens aren't going to just volunteer their
information if they don't know where to go, and
they don't feel safe talking to just anyone."

• What outreach techniques can be used to

reach teens?

Within the school setting, hanging flyers and

posters in the hallways or on bulletin boards,
coordinating youth-led presentations in
classrooms, and holding school assemblies are
all effective ways to reach teens. In addition,
teachers and counselors can speak directly
with teens who might be at risk. They are in a
unique position to notice if an individual has
been behaving differently or has drastically

8
changed his or her appearance. School officials
should be knowledgeable and able to make
referrals to support groups or other appropriate
resources.

Garreth Horwood: "Oftentimes a group

member, before he's met me, has talked to
the counselor or the teacher about a personal
experience or two. Sometimes it's based purely
on what the counselor or teacher has seen
in terms of behavior: has that student acted
violently? Have they suggested that maybe
they've been hurt or abused? Maybe they've
even seen physical signs like a bruise or
something like that."

Nolan Correa: "One of the recommendations I

would like to make for other administrators is
to go out into your community and look to see
if there is a group, such as SafePlace, that can
come in and assist your staff, community, and
students… These groups are there to educate
and help, but we must go out and find them."

In Westchester, New York, the STAR program

holds school assemblies to educate students
about dating violence and set up tables at a
local mall on a Saturday afternoon to provide
literature to teens.

• In what ways did the programs in the

video enlist teens in their outreach
efforts? In what ways can you involve
teens in your own outreach initiatives in
your community?

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The Northern Westchester Shelter recognized
the need for an effective way to reach a
population of victims that was underserved
and developed Students Terminating Abusive
Relationships (STAR) to meet that need.
Because STAR is a student-led group, teens
are able to reach out to other teens in ways
that they know first-hand are effective. They
give presentations about warning signs, types
of abuse, and ways to help a friend in need.
STAR teens actively encourage both their male
and female peers to sign up for the STAR
program.

Ally: "As part of the STAR group, we reach out

to teens in the community by putting up posters
and flyers at the YMCA, the library."

Detective Tribble: "It's better perceived from

one teen to another than as myself, as an adult
and as an authority figure, talking to young
people."

• What are the consequences of not

responding to teen victimization?

Teens are twice as likely as any other age

group to be victims of violent crime. Teen crime
victims are at a greater risk of doing poorly
in school, abusing drugs or alcohol, having
problems eating or sleeping, being revictimized,
and becoming an offender of violent crime
themselves.

Brandon: "Whenever I'd get mad at my house

and I can't really hit my mom or anything… I
went and take it out at school."

10
Barri: "We cast the net kind of wide to attract
as many kids who have had any form of
victimization at all to participate. Because we
know that those kids are at greater risk for being
victimized again and for using those abusive
behaviors in their own relationships."

Responding to Teens
• What are some of the indicators, as told by
the teens in the video, that a teen might be
being victimized?

— Physical injuries

Yolanda: "I'd come to school with a black

eye and I'd have bruise marks on my neck,
shoulders, and arms."

Karis: "I had been cutting because I don't

know how else to deal with it… I used to have
these huge gashes all over my arms."

— Isolation, withdrawal, or over-dependence

on a dating partner

Alexa: "He put me down and threatened

me. He wouldn't let me go anywhere without
him… I lost all my friends. I completely lost
who I was. I had no personality. I had nothing
because he cut me down and destroyed my
self-esteem."

— Feelings of shame, decreased self-esteem,

and decreased interest in activities

Karis: "I started to blame myself."

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 Brandon: "It just made me angry all the time,
and I never really had a smile, and I was
never happy."

Yolanda: "It just takes a toll on everything.

You're worried about this or you're not
concentrating on your work or you're not
doing something right or you don't perform
well athletically because of it."

• Think of some examples from the video in

which teens (a) needed help but felt that
they could not seek it, or (b) attempted to
open up to an adult, but did not receive
the help that they needed.

Karis: "It went on for about a year and I
didn't, I just couldn't tell anyone."

Amber: "I didn't know how to tell them, you

know. I don't talk to my parents. I'm not
open with my parents. We don't have a good
communication thing going on."

Yolanda: "Sometimes during class I would

just go outside and cry and wonder why
nobody didn't want to help me."

Brandon: "I would tell someone in between

times but no one really listened."

• How can you make your outreach and

support activities more effective and
positive?

Yolanda: "You want to be able to have that

one person reach out to you and help you
and say, 'This is what I want to do. This is
what I want to help you with.'"
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 Barri: "If a child makes a disclosure to you,
he or she trusts you, so you need to know
how to respond in an effective manner. You
should listen. Believe that child. Ask that child
what they need to feel safe, and ask them
how you can help them."

Yolanda: "I was talking to one of my English

teachers, and she really just realized how
much that I go through."

• What was the motivation for starting

the Threat-Share Committee at Reagan
High School? Who participates in the
committee meetings, and what purpose
does it serve?

Principal Correa put together the "Threat-

Share Committee" after the murder that took
place at his school. The Committee consists
of counselors, administrators, teachers, and
department chairs. They meet once a week
before school starts to share ideas about
any possible student that may be at risk or
currently experiencing violence of some sort.
They converse about students whose behavior,
dress, or attitude has changed, so they can
then meet with those students to tell them
about the SafePlace groups.

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Collaboration & Partnerships
• How did Reagan High School in Austin,
Texas, make use of their community
resources in responding to a severe
incident of teen victimization?

Following a fatal stabbing of a young woman by

the victim's boyfriend, the principal of Reagan
High School held meetings and reached out to
the school's staff, the school district, and the
community-at-large for support and ideas for
how to start a program to address the issue.
They collaborated with SafePlace, which was
already established in Austin, and arranged
for confidential teen support groups to be held
inside the schools for any teen who wanted to
talk about victimization.

• Why is law enforcement an important

component of a comprehensive response
to teen victims?

Involving law enforcement lets teens know

that the police are not the bad guys and
that they are there to help. School Resource
Officers (SROs) can be a very effective
resource because they are in the schools
where teens are and are well-informed about
teen victimization issues. They also often have
informed interactions with students and come
to be seen as trusted figures in the school
community.

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• What role does Detective Tribble play
in the response to teen victims in
Westchester?

Detective Tribble gives presentations and

conducts workshops with the students about
victimization issues. He encourages teens to
use the resources available to them, such as a
confidential victim services hotline.

• How does the Austin Police Department

interact with SafePlace?

The Victim Services Coordinator at the Austin

Police Department makes many visits to the
local high schools. SafePlace also partners
with groups like Communities in Schools,
which invites school resource offices to
give classroom presentations on various
victimization issues.

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• Describe the partnerships that you saw in
the video. How did they come about? Who
are your partners currently? Who else in
your community should be involved in
this effort?

Both programs shown in the video

demonstrate effective partnerships with local
law enforcement, including school resource
officers. The partnership that Reagan High
School formed with SafePlace came about
when the principal went into the community
to look for a group that could assist his staff
and students with the issues of violence that
occur in school. In Westchester, schools call
the Northern Westchester Shelter, home to
the STAR program, and invite experts to come
in and give presentations to the students.
In addition, SafePlace provides training and
consultation about victim issues to agencies in
the community that serve youth (e.g.,
Extenda-Care, which provides after-school
services and summer programs for teens;
OutYouth, a gay, lesbian, and transgendered
youth organization; the Boys & Girls Clubs; the
Austin PTA; and Communities in Schools, a
nonprofit social work agency).

Endnotes
1
National Crime Victimization Survey, Bureau
of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of
Justice, 2004 (data from 2003).
2
Ibid.

16
Additional Resources
National Center for Victims of Crime
www.ncvc.org
The National Center for Victims of Crime is
dedicated to forging a national commitment to
help victims of crime rebuild their lives. The
National Center's toll-free Helpline,
1-800-FYI-CALL, offers supportive counseling,
practical information about crime and
victimization, and referrals to local community
resources, as well as skilled advocacy in the
criminal justice and social service systems.

The National Center's Teen Victim Project

web site (www.ncvc.org/tvp) offers teen-friendly
fact sheets on various crimes, descriptions
of current youth-led programs, and additional
teen-related resources.

This document was prepared by the National

Center for Victims of Crime and supported by
grant 2003-CK-WX-K002, awarded by the U.S.
Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and
conclusions or recommendations are those of the
authors and do not necessarily represent the
official position or policies of the U.S. Department
of Justice.

17
Office of Community Oriented Policing
Services (COPS Office)
U.S. Justice Department
(www.cops.usdoj.gov)
The mission of the COPS Office is to advance
community policing in jurisdictions of all
sizes across the country. Community policing
represents a shift from more traditional law
enforcement because it focuses on preventing
crime and the fear of crime at the local level.
Community policing puts law enforcement
professionals on the streets so they can build
mutually beneficial relationships with the people
they serve. By earning the trust of community
members and making those individuals
stakeholders in their own safety, community
policing makes law enforcement safer and more
efficient. The COPS Office provides grants
to tribal, state, and local law enforcement
agencies to hire and train community policing
professionals, acquire and deploy cutting-edge
crime-fighting technologies, and develop and
test innovative policing strategies.

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U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
1100 Vermont Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530

To obtain details on COPS programs, call the

COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770