Preventing Youth Violence Before It Begins

This is the second edition of a pioneering book (1999) in addressing the continuum of warning signs and what can be done to avert violent outbursts by young people. The title "before it begins" emphasizes that prevention is best addressed in the early years of the child's life. There are solutions to the horrors: mass shootings, random stabbings, beatings, severe verbal denigration, domestic abuse, which all lead to tragic aftermaths such as anger, depression, PTSD, shame, self-mutilation, and self-hatred. Dr. Flannery makes the reader understand the multiple causes and reasons for these acts and how to identify the warning signs. Society is not helpless or hopeless. Our children must not become an endangered species.