Addressing Gang Violence Subject of Seminar October 26 at Princeton Seminary

Princeton, NJ, October 16, 2006–With gang violence on the upswing in central New Jersey and nationally, Princeton Theological Seminary’s Center of Continuing Education will host a seminar titled “Empowering Communities against Gang Violence” on Thursday, October 26 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Erdman Hall. Whereas law enforcement professionals and community activists have led much of the conversation about gang violence, this event is unique in its focus on how the church can be involved in solving the problem. The event will bring together church leaders along with local police chiefs from Princeton and Ewing Townships, the mayors of West Windsor Township and Princeton Borough, and officials from the West Windsor and East Windsor schools.

Hui Chen, dean of the Seminary’s Center of Continuing Education, says, “The Seminary is organizing this event to answer the question, ‘Where is the church?’ in the fight against youth alienation. We are making a commitment on behalf of the church and challenging its leaders to step up to the plate to provide meaning and moral leadership and to join the wider community in this fight.”

Detective Frank Clayton, a twenty-year veteran of the Trenton Police Department who specializes in the investigation of gangs, gang members, and gang trends, will lead the seminar. Clayton is now head of the Gang Intelligence Unit in the Mercer County Prosecutors’ Office.

Responding to Clayton will be a panel of professionals in religion and education, including the Reverend Charles Atkins, chaplain of Garden State Youth Correctional Facility and a hip-hop rapper; the Reverend Karen Hernandez-Granzen, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Trenton; and Andrew Zuckerman, principal of Lawrenceville Middle School. Deborah Westbrook, a former F.B.I. agent who worked with the U.S. Marshals Service in the Department of Justice and is now a student at Princeton Seminary, will moderate the panel.

WCVB-TV in Boston reported in a story on October 13 that violent crime has spiked across the nation, and experts say that the spike is mainly gang-related. “Gangs have made a big comeback,” said James Allen Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist, “partially because we have a wealth of new recruits who are excited by the opportunity of joining a gang.

In a recent twenty-four-hour period in Trenton, five people were murdered in shootings involving two rival factions of the Bloods street gang. Two of the victims were innocent bystanders, a teacher at an elementary school and a mechanic fixing his car.

For more information or to register, go to www.ptsem.edu/ce. The registration fee is $50, which includes lunch. The seminar qualifies for 6.0 professionaldevelopment hours for teachers.