|
EKG
Every year in Marion County, more than 200 children and young adults are either seriously wounded or killed by gunfire.
In the first 10 months of 2005, 75 children have been charged in Marion County with "Dangerous Possession of a Firearm." There were 61 cases for 2004 and 38 cases in 2003. |
Prosecutor Brizzi talking to participants in an EKG class
|
|
Those statistics promoted the creation of the program called Educating Kids about Gun Violence (EKG).
EKG is a youth gun-violence education and prevention program. EKG works to prevent youth gun violence by educating students about the legal, medical and emotional consequences of youth gun possession and related gun violence, as well as encouraging young people to consider options and choices available to them in situations involving guns.
Thanks to a grant from Indiana Project Safe Neighborhoods, EKG has been transformed from a prototype developed by the Prosecutor's Office to an interactive, multi-media presentation utilizing state-of-the-art technology. Five hundred EKG kits, containing a written curriculum, VHS tapes, DVD's and CD's are being distributed throughout the central and southern Indiana free of charge to 300 schools and youth serving organizations, reaching more than 2,000 students.
EKG presentations are also being presented to Marion County children who violate curfew and through faith-based organizations.
The Indiana Department of Education managed the duties of making correlations to National Education Standards and provided the accompanying written curriculum.
Other community partners in the EKG effort include the Indianapolis Police Department. They play an invaluable role by assisting deputy prosecutors the Community Prosecution Division with classroom-based EKG presentations targeting 12-13 year olds. Fire Departments and area hospitals are providing volunteers to help lead the medical consequences portion of training.
About EKG:
EKG is a two-hour, interactive classroom presentation by an EKG Team, consisting of a law enforcement officer, a deputy prosecutor and a fire department or medical professional. Team members use videos, photographs, slides, case scenarios, personal stories and small group discussion to get their point across.
The video was taped on the campus of Broad Ripple High School (Indianapolis Public Schools) using student actors from the school's drama group.
During the first segment, students view the video taped story of "Darryl and Jessie." The story is about two friends who are arrested and prosecuted after Darryl brings a gun to school and shoots another student. Jesse becomes involved by innocently taking the gun from Darryl after the shooting. During breaks in the video, the deputyprosecutor engages the students in discussion about the choices and options available to Darryl and Jessie throughout the story. The deputy prosecutor also discusses the applicable laws and the penalties for those laws.
The second portion begins with the law enforcement officer talking about gun violence among youth. There is a discussion of some cases involving young people and guns. The medical professional then follows with several stories of young people who have been injured or impacted by gunshot trauma. These scenarios allow the medical professional to dispel common myths about gun trauma. Those myths include the idea that people either die or totally recover from gunshot wounds, gunshot wounds don'[t hurt and guns are an effective way of dealing with conflict.
the EKG program was originally developed under the name Options, choices and Consequences in Seattle, Washington.
|
