NEW YORK -- Responding to the growing national concern about youth violence, and coming one year after Columbine, a new booklet from the nonpartisan, nonprofit Public Agenda provides a fresh perspective on the causes of this problem.

Unlike much of the debate on this issue, Violent Kids: Can We Stop the Trend? presents a concise framework that incorporates all sides of the issue. Concerned parents, teachers, school administrators and citizens nationwide will be able to make up their own minds as to what is the best strategy to quell the violence.

Ruth Wooden, the president of the National Parenting Association, an advocacy group on family issues, said: While there has been much written and said about youth violence, very little of it invites individuals or communities in on the debate. Public Agenda's guide provides, in a clear and unbiased way, the spark that will get parents talking about solutions to this problem.

The author, Michael deCourcy Hinds, an award-winning journalist and a vice president of Public Agenda, outlines three approaches, each with practical steps that citizens can take to address youth violence:

• Do kids need better values? Have more open and permissive patterns of child rearing resulted in too many youngsters with little self-discipline, little tolerance for disappointment, and even less respect for the views and rights of others?
• Is it a mental health problem? Have schools and others in authority failed to identify and provide help for youngsters who, early on, display unmistakable signs that trouble is ahead? And would Americans really be willing to pay the costs of caring for these youngsters?
• Is popular culture to blame? Have we, by elevating the right of free expression above other social needs, and by lionizing the most outrageous forms of entertainment, created a toxic psychological environment that seduces even children from caring families?

A balanced panel of experts reviewed the manuscript in order to ensure accuracy and fairness. One of them, Dr. William Damon, the director of the Stanford University Center on Adolescence, said: It is incredibly good, unique, a real accomplishment. I love the way that it is structured: giving people the range of choices on this complex matter is just the right approach.

An excerpt from Violent Kids will be posted in mid-April on Public Agenda Online (www.publicagenda.org). Print copies may be ordered for $5.50 plus shipping and handling through www.publicagenda.org, or by calling (212) 686-6610. To order direct from the publisher, Kendall/Hunt, for $3.60 plus shipping and handling, call 1-800-228-0810.

The book is one of several produced by Public Agenda for the National Issues Forums, a grassroots network of organizations that convene policy discussions for citizens that was founded by the Kettering Foundation. Forums on Violent Kids are expected to begin in April. Visit the Web site at www.nifi.org for more information.

Public Agenda, located in New York City, is well respected for its influential public opinion polls and its balanced education materials. Founded in 1975 by Cyrus R. Vance, the former U.S. secretary of state, and Daniel Yankelovich, the social scientist and author, its mission is to inform leaders about the public's views and to inform citizens about government policy.