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Community leaders turn to trap music to stop teen gun crimes

Community anti-violence activists are using alternative techniques to discourage teens from crime.

WASHINGTON — As the region brainstorms how exactly to deter youth crime, some community activists are proposing an unconventional method: trap music. 

On Saturday, Grassroots organizations like Don't Mute DC and Hope in Action in Southeast D.C.'s Check It Secret Garden kicked off "Flip the Trap:" a regional initiative that gives artists in the DMV a chance to compete for a $10,000 grand prize for the best trap song that promotes a positive and constructive lifestyle.

Rapper Monster Corleone provided just one example of the style and lyrics contestants could potentially come up with: "I don't do no crime, no lie, to be real with you, I run a small business, no drugs, I am pretty established."

Anti-violence activist Ron Moten said the program also includes training like financial literacy and fills a void for young people between the ages of 14 to 22.

"Nobody under 18 has anywhere to go in the DMV, right?" Moten said. "So what they do is go on social media and do all these other things that we don't like, but we are the ones that didn't give them the platforms, the opportunities, the guidance, and the safe spaces to produce the positive things."

D.C.'s Deputy Mayor of Public Safety and Justice Christopher Geldart said prevention programs like "Flip the Trap" are key components in driving down the violence in the District

"From March of this year till today we have seen a huge decrease in all of our violent numbers in our crime side, as of right now we are one percent above where we were last year, and I know we will be below that," Geldart said. 

The region continues to recover from a string of recent teen shootings and deaths, including last weekend at a 7-Eleven in Capitol Hill, Md. where one juvenile employee was killed and another two D.C. teenagers were injured. 

In response to a violent summer, Prince George's County enacted a 30-day curfew for juveniles that went into effect on Sept. 9. D.C. resumed enforcing it's already-in-place curfew for minors at the beginning of September after a two year pause, according to our partners at The Washington Post.

Dr. Sharyl Neverson from Volunteers of America said that the uptick in youth violence is a result of untreated mental health problems amount teenagers. 

"The increase in anxiety is sky rocketing, the increase in depression is sky rocketing, especially among our young people," she said. "These unabridged emotions that are coming out of people are showing up in different ways and unfortunately, we are see it a lot show up in a way of violence."

Prince George's County will host a second kick-off event for "Flip the Trap"  Sunday morning at 10 a.m. at the Suitland High School auditorium. 

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