COAV City Project Coordinator for Niterói, Caroline Caçador writes on how Brazil´s new National Youth Plan relates to armed violence Caroline Caçador Article discusses the importance of youth participation in elaborating Brazil's National Youth Plan. “The discussion forum is a milestone in the history of Brazilian youth. The bill is an important first step toward ending youth corrections policies based on exclusion, welfarism and repression.”

A question of time: Deciphering the causes behind the Zacatecoluca massacre Marlon Carranza, COAV Cities Project Coordinator for El Salvador* COAV Cities Project Coordinator for El Salvador, Marlon Carranza writes about the executions of seven people in a soccer field in the Penitente Abajo canton. “Zacatecoluca is the perfect example of a violent municipality that has not put into practice the appropriate counteractive measures.”

The myth of the super-predator Tom Hayden* "It's easier to scapegoat the super-predator than the superpower. The only doors that are opening for the new generations of street gangs are those of the prison system," says former state senator, Tom Hayden, in this article about Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams' execution in December.

O Globo newspaper editorial defends education to counter youth crime and to cut down on violence in Rio de Janeiro O Globo* "One of the most shocking aspects of the horrific attack to the bus route 350, in Brás de Pina, was that among the aggressors was a 13 year old girl. It is obvious that the issue of public safety is a police matter, and that crime fighting demands greater efficiency of the public authorities in general. But that is not all."

France: "Rioting has spread because people are ignored" Dominique Sopo, SOS Racisme* "These riots which erupted in Clichy-sous-Bois did not emerge from a vacuum, but had two distinct causes. The first is the attitude of the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, who threatened to 'hose down' the 'scum' on the estates. The second is the deep sense of grievance among the people in the estates who have been ignored for so long," says NGO SOS Racisme.

Violent youth: is there a cure? Tanya Byron, Times Online * Clinical psychologist Dr Tanya Byron writes on children and teenagers caught in a culture of knives and guns in Britain. “I have met many young people (some as young as 10) for whom gun and knife violence is part of their life. Do they belong to a new breed of more violent men?”

Philippines: Hope and help for children in conflict with the law Mathias Klasen, Preda * Account of the everyday experiences of a Preda Foundation volunteer in the jails of Manila. “Unbelievable sights, smells and suffering. Wherever I looked, I could see pleading faces and hands. The Jail Rescue Team helps them to find a way out of there”.

That old dilema: prevention or repression? Darío Gómez Gómez, Defence for Children International, Costa Rica Costa Rica criticizes an anti-youth violence model based on repression and calls for a better understanding of its causes: unemployment, poverty, rapid and uncontrolled urbanization, social exclusion, and a lack of opportunities for youth.

Youth without freedom and rights: An overview of juvenile justice in Brazil Carola Mittrany Article examines the rampant abuse within Brazil’s juvenile justice system, in spite of progressive child and youth legislation.

LA 'on the road to Falluja'? Anita Rice, BBC News and Current Affairs Los Angeles is notorious for gang violence, but even by LA standards 2002 was gruesome. With 658 murders in just that one year, it became America's murder capital, and the murder rate is going up. Civil rights lawyer Connie Rice warns that with too few officers to "police humanely", parts of the city may as well be in Falluja.