With more than one-quarter million guns going to school every day and media images bombarding our children with violence-related images, it's little wonder that thousands of American youths are arrested each year for violent crimes.

Though the problem is complex with no one cause, Cornell Cooperative Extension has published a new manual, Prevention of Youth Violence, which includes the latest word on preventing violence among youth.

Intended as a resource guide for youth-development and family-life professionals and volunteers, the 68-page manual identifies risk factors among youths and summarizes major prevention programs that take a comprehensive approach to developing strategies to teach non-violent and pro-social behavior to children and adults.

"The book explains how to get children involved in activities and busy in healthy ways, so they feel an increasing responsibility gradually through their age," says Heidi Haugen, Cornell extension associate and the editor of the manual. "It shows how to keep kids active in positive, semi-structured environments."

Also inside the manual: Where to find the latest literature and research; an annotated bibliography; profiles of several youth-violence prevention programs; profiles of research-based and readily accessible youth violence prevention programs including anti-bias curricula; risk assessment, anger management, and date-violence prevention strategies; and conflict resolution, social and self-esteem programs.

Originally developed for the U. S. Army Community and Family Support Center by Cornell University's Family Life Development Center, the manual has been adapted and revised to reach a wider audience of family-life professionals. The work was supported by the Reducing Risks and Increasing Capacity (RRIC) State Strengthening grant supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service.