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Safeguarding
Children
Internet
Safety
The Attorney General's WiseBuys for Teens web pages include basic tips on how teens can stay safe on the Internet. Teens, parents and teachers can also visit www.NetSmartz.org, and its teen pages, www.NetSmartz.org/Teens, for interactive, educational safety resources developed by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). NetSmartz computer activities combine the newest technologies and the most current information to create educational activities that are well received by even the most tech-savvy kids. In addition, here are some publications from Netsmartz to help teens and 'tweens stay safer online:
Maryland
Youth Forum
In an effort to get Maryland youth's views on the problems they
consider most important, what we are doing to address them, and
what more we should be doing to help children stay out of trouble
and reach their full potential, the Attorney General began a youth
listening tour called "Maryland Youth Forum" in May 2001.
Students are telling the Attorney General about a lack of after-school
or weekend activities, the success or failure of peer mediation
and the depth of teen drinking and drug use.
The
Attorney General has issued a report to legislators, community
leaders
and school officials outlining the feedback from the students in
the form of policy initiatives, so as to address the needs of
a
particular school or community more precisely. "In
Their Own Words" report: Executive
Summary (752KB, 17 pg.) and Report
(1.3 MB, 64 pg.) Whole report in
one file(1.9 MB).
Crime
Prevention
The Attorney General has focused for many years on juvenile crime,
looking at its root causes and what more we could do to give at-risk
kids a fighting chance. The research is clear on the factors placing
children at risk, e.g., poverty, poor academic achievement, low
self-esteem, family violence, substance abuse, truancy, and teen
pregnancy. The best hope for saving these children is to address
the problems in their lives as early as possible.
Several
years ago the Attorney General traveled around the State highlighting
prevention and early intervention programs which do just that. Dedicated,
caring people all over Maryland work against tremendous odds to
help at-risk children avoid delinquency and experience success.
Some programs keep kids in school and help them overcome academic
obstacles. Others focus on keeping kids off drugs and persuading
them not to have babies while they are still children themselves.
Many give teens something fun or enriching to do after school to
help them stay out of trouble. Still others address the violence
some children experience in their own homes.
The
programs vary in focus and approach, but many of the most effective
have a mentoring component. This is no accident. The research is
compelling - mentoring really helps. Providing children who desperately
need it with a caring, stable adult in their lives can produce astounding
results. For example, studies show the support and guidance of a
mentor can reduce truancy by 50%. Such support and guidance increase
graduation and college enrollment rates and decrease the likelihood
of substance abuse and violent behavior. For kids already in trouble,
they reduce recidivism by an astonishing 80%.
Media
Violence
In Tune it Out! Media Violence Children and Crime, a report
issued in 1996, the Attorney General identified the level of violence
our children are exposed to in television programs, video games
and movies. The Office of the Attorney General provided more than
600,000 Media Violence Diaries, interactive tools for parents to
monitor their children's exposure to violent material.
Youth
Smoking
As a result of a 1996 lawsuit versus Big Tobacco, Maryland has already
received in excess of $400 million and will continue to receive
billions more. Since the 1998 settlement, youth access to tobacco
products in Maryland has decreased by 13.5 percent. But, we are
not done. We are continuing our efforts to curb youth smoking. The
Office conducted "sting" operations in 2001 revealing
a high number of successful cigarette purchase attempts by minors,
and announced a statewide partnership with law enforcement in every
Maryland county and Baltimore City that will educate tobacco retailers
about the laws governing the sale of tobacco products to minors
and instruct them how to train their sales personnel how to comply
with the laws. Furthermore, we joined 39 other states in negotiating
a binding agreement with Walgreens requiring the national drug store
chain to comply with certain best practices to avoid selling cigarettes
to children. In December 2001, we entered into a partnership with
the University of Maryland School of Law's Center for Tobacco Regulation,
which will enable us to work cooperatively to combat this major
health crisis. Download a
PDF copy of the Tobacco Retailers Guide to Reducing Youth Access
to Tobacco Products(96KB, 12 pages).
Read
about the Attorney General's
Program to Reduce Youth Access to Tobacco.
Giving
Back
In 2001, the Office of the Attorney General challenged its employees
to respond to the shortage of books in the Baltimore City Public
Schools Library system by donating new or used books. The Office
responded overwhelmingly, donating over 1,500 books. Read
more.
For
the past three years, the Attorney General donated $350,000 worth
of toys to area charities serving children, as a result of a 1998
antitrust action brought by the Attorney General against Toys "R" Us,
Mattel, Inc., Hasbro, and the Little Tykes Company. As a result
of the settlement, the Attorney General also donated $245,000 in
cash to Reading is Fundamental and Baltimore Reads. Read
more.
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