Will the killing of Chicago’s Derrion Albert, 16, whose case was captured on video and seen around the world, prove a “call for action” against teen violence, as Police Superintendent Jody Weis put it? USA Today quotes Gary Slutkin of CeaseFire Chicago as saying, “Something’s going to change. [] There’s something about this beating that has really gotten to everybody.” More than 150 people 25 and younger have been slain in Chicago this year.
Others doubt the causes of teen violence – gangs, drugs, guns and poverty – can be changed by one death. Pamela Montgomery-Bosley’s son Terrell Bosley, 18, was shot and killed in 2006 on his way to choir practice. The case is unsolved. She says ending the bloodshed is possible only if “we can make parents accountable for their kids” and persuade people who witness crimes to speak up. At a news conference, Attorney General Eric Holder promised a “sustained national effort” to address youth violence.