The incidences of violence among the youth are increasingly becoming a major social problem that begs addressing. But, how can the problem be addressed when there is confusion as to the reason for the upsurge in violence?

Although youth violence is becoming an epidemic across America it is particularly worrisome in South Florida. Just recently a 15-year-old Deerfield girl was brutally beaten, left close to death with possible brain damage, by a 15 year old boy who didn’t even know her, but was incensed by text messages the two exchanged.

Coincidentally, these students attended the same Deerfield Middle School attended by 15-year-old Michael Brewer, who last November was doused with rubbing alcohol and set on fire by his schoolmates. These incidents were preceded by a female high school student shooting another to death, and events where youth have been found guilty of violently beating the homeless; a 14-year-old student slashing the throat of another, and a 13-year-old Lake Worth Student found guilty, now serving time, for the gun-slaying of his teacher.

Each time these incidents occur there is the incessant hand-wringing and head-shaking by the community and a plethora of reasons for the very vicious actions among our youth. However, there are hardly any solutions offered, taken or implemented. How long can this situation be tolerated?

Among the reasons given for youth violence is lax parenting. But, some of the students guilty of violent crimes are from, apparently, stable families with both parents intact. True, some are from broken homes, where grandparents or other relatives act as surrogates for absentee parents. It is also a fact that the economic challenges of the modern society places tremendous stress on some parents, who focus more on the challenges of making financial ends meet and less on discipline within the family.

Where the parents are absent or lax in their parenting role, the blame is passed on to the school system. Teachers get the blame for not instilling sufficient discipline in the classrooms and on school campuses. However, while schools should be disciplined environments of learning, the primary role of teachers is to educate.

Blame is also cast on the youth judicial system. Some argue that the juvenile court system is too lenient in the punishment meted out to youth offenders, particularly those accused of violent crimes. However, when a youth perpetuator of a violent crime receives what is considered harsh punishment, or is advanced to the adult judicial system, there is usually a loud-outcry from the society about injustices to the youth.

Some blame the church, but often some young people are not even members of a church.

Others blame the advance in technology – the Internet, social networks like Facebook and Twitter, cell-phones with their capability of texting and sexting. And, others are convinced that blame should be placed on the violence influenced by television, rap songs, and gangsta music.

The problem is that the issue is much too complex and the solution too evasive. None of the reasons stated above is the singular basis for youth violence; rather it seems to be a complexity of all these problems. For example, students subject to discipline at home with their use of the Internet and cell-phones controlled, can be easily negatively influenced by through peer pressure.

The solution to this serious social problem cannot be left to any one social group, or by the various groups blaming the other. Now, more than ever, the general community needs to become alert, and try to stem the violence among the youth. Too often members of the community turn the other way when they see young people behaving anti-socially. It’s hard to understand why no one in the vicinity of the bus stop, where the 15-year-old student was being kicked in the head, intervened before she was almost killed.

Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) is taking action and is calling the community to unite on this front. In a press conference on Wednesday, Superintendent James F. Notter reiterated that “bullying and violence have no place in our schools and communities and that this is everybody’s business.”

Notter is calling attention to the grave problem and treating it as a top priority. He is moving in the right direction by asking everyone to be a part of the solution. “From bus drivers to cafeteria workers, from principals to teachers, from administrators to maintenance and facilities personnel, from parents to students – this is Team Broward’s business.”

There needs to be a collective effort to influence and perpetuate socially acceptable behavior to deter violence among the youth. As the situation worsens, it will truly take a cohesive community to stem the problem and create a society where young people are not a threat to themselves and others.