Fault Lines
Survival Mode: Growing Up With Violence
Fault Lines examines the psychological toll of violence on children growing up in Chicago’s most dangerous communities.
Life in Chicago’s poorest neighbourhoods can sometimes feel like a warzone.
In 2015, an average of one person every three hours was shot in Chicago – more than in any other city in the US. Over the course of the calendar year, there were nearly 3,000 victims of shooting in the so-called Windy City.
If you don't know somebody that's gotten shot or that's gotten killed, you're weird or something.
According to a recent American Academy of Pediatrics study, 14 million, or one in five, children in the US are exposed to violence involving a weapon between the ages of six and 17.
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Chicago has struggled for years to stem the ongoing violence, but the impact goes far beyond the lives that are lost.
Children are growing up without a baseline of safety, so what are the long-term effects of this continuous exposure to violence and trauma? How will the ever-present violence affect their health and outlook on life?
Fault Lines went to Chicago to examine the psychological toll of violence on children growing up in Chicago’s most dangerous and most neglected communities.