James Garbarino
James Garbarino is an author and professor at Loyola University Chicago. He has specialized in studying what causes violence in children, how they cope with it and how to rehabilitate them. Garbarino has served as consultant or adviser to a wide range of organizations, including the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse, the National Institute for Mental Health, the American Medical Association, the National Black Child Development Institute, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, and the FBI. In addition, Garbarino's work is associated with the School of Human Ecology at  Cornell University under the leadership of Urie Bronfenbrenner who began Head Start programs in the US. Academic work. Garbarino has written on the causes of violent behavior in children and how they cope with stress. He has studied the impact of war on children, including children in Kuwait, Iraq, Bosnia, and Croatia. He has also conducted many interviews with children who have been convicted of violent crimes in the United States, concluding that abuse and neglect at an early age are contributing causes to the violent behavior of these children. He has served as an expert witness involving issues of  trauma, violence, and abuse in both civil and criminal trials. Garbarino and his coauthors have also conducted many interviews with other high school students and teachers about bullying and social problems at school to help understand ways to improve the school environment. Garbarino recommends that violence prevention begin at an early age by recognizing underlying causes and addressing them before they expand. He advocates programs that provide assistance to young at-risk children and parents, including a home visiting program that provides home visitors to young mothers at risk to help with child care and provide advice about child rearing . Children who have benefited from this program have reduced drop out and delinquency rates. He has also advised intervention when there are problems in school at a young age with advice and counseling rather than punishment when possible. He believes this is often less expensive and more productive than waiting for problems to get worse.