Humber College, in partnership with The City of Toronto’s Youth Equity Strategy, Amadeusz, and The Laidlaw Foundation, conducted research about the circumstances that lead to young Torontonians possessing firearms.

Humber College’s School of Social and Community Services faculty member, Tina-Nadia Gopal-Chambers, was the Principal Researcher for the project.

The research findings were released this week which identified the following influences that contribute to young people becoming involved in crime:

• Risk factors, including trauma, family environment, lack of non-family adults/mentors, lack of community programs, negative peers, and negative school experiences;
• Systemic barriers, including racism, poverty, lack of community safety; and
• Barriers after being incarcerated, including accessing employment due to a criminal record and a lack of education, and returning to the same environment with little support.

A copy of the report is available at: http://www.amadeusz.ca/research-2/.

Humber College Applied Research & Innovation is proud to be a key partner on this timely research and we thank Tina-Nadia Gopal-Chambers for her contributions.