Chicago Youth Murders Spur National Action

A shocking video of a group of kids beating 16-year-old Derrion Albert to death in an after-school melee was the fifth student death in just six weeks of this new school year. "What happened to Derrion is barbaric, it was barbaric," anti-violence advocate Diane Latiker said. It's opened the nation's eyes to Chicago's youth murders, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston. In each of the last three years a classroom of children has been killed - from 27 in 2006 to a record 37 in 2008. And there were 500 children injured by gunshots last year alone. Seventeen-year-old Jermaine Fareed, who walks to school past makeshift memorials, worries about surviving the day. He says fights break out in his school about four times a week. Two U.S. Cabinet secretaries joined city officials in Chicago today to highlight national concern over youth violence. "To those who seek to lay blame, I challenge you to ask yourself, what have you done," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. The Justice Department is pledging $16 million to boost school security around the country - a half million for Chicago. READ FULL STORY
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