For instance, no consensus exists on how gangs form, and few gang prevention programs have been rigorously evaluated. The author examines how community members can begin to assess their gang problems and provide necessary enhancements to prevention and intervention activities. The bulletin also describes a number of effective and promising programs that may help prevent youth delinquency and gang violence. No programs have been developed specifically to prevent gangs from emerging.
In the meantime, to prevent youth from joining gangs, communities must employ multiple strategies and services, including:. A balance of prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies is important for success in any community. Prevention programs target youth at risk of gang involvement and help reduce the number of youth who join gangs. Intervention programs and strategies provide sanctions and services for younger youth who are actively involved in gangs to push them away from gangs.
If you suspect your child is involved in gang activity, look to agencies in your community for help.
You can involve your child in other activities and limit unstructured time. Many communities have local gang prevention task forces. Police departments have Juvenile Officers who are willing to meet with parents to with early gang intervention.
Juvenile Officers are familiar with gang behaviors and repeat offenders, and can tell you if your child is on dangerous path. A trained mental health professional can help parents evaluate and treat mental health problems that may have contributed to gang involvement.
Your support will help us continue to produce and distribute Facts for Families , as well as other vital mental health information, free of charge. You may also mail in your contribution. Additionally, greater focus on treatment for those who have experienced trauma and abuse may provide survivors with alternative ways to cope and feel protected rather than join a gang. Third, belonging needs could be addressed through a policy change that would increase funds for school programs in order to increase school engagement, both during and after school hours.
Further, instituting more group- and family-centered interventions for at-risk youth where positive bonds can be formed in safe, structured environments could help to fulfill the love needs in healthier ways. As such, viewing unmet needs of at-risk youth as predictors of gang membership has important implications for reducing youth gang involvement.
Such reductions could lead to minimization of in youth arrests, substance use, and unemployment, as well as vast reduction of violent crimes in cities across the United States. Alleyne, E. Gang membership: The psychological evidence. In Youth gangs in international perspective pp. New York, NY: Springer. Bell, K. Gender and gangs: A quantitative comparison. Bjerregaard, B. The role of school-related bonding factors and gender: Correlates of gang membership among adolescents.
Brantingham, P. The ecology of gang territorial boundaries. Criminology, 50 3 , Bureau of Justice Assistance. Community Policing. NCJ Capozzoli, T. Kids killing kids: Managing violence and gangs in schools. Carlson, S. Measuring food insecurity and hunger in the United States: Development of a national benchmark measure and prevalence estimates.
The Journal of Nutrition, 2 , Decker, S. Life in the gang: Family, friends, and violence. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Dmitrieva, J. Predictors and consequences of gang membership: Comparing gang members, gang leaders, and non-gang-affiliated adjudicated youth. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 24 2 , Esbensen, F. Who are the gangsters? Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 28 4 , Farmer, A. Predictors of gang membership: Variations across grade levels. Without them, gang culture becomes toxic, loses its moral compass and often resorts to violence in dealing with power struggles and internal conflicts.
But there are many organisations working positively with young people in gangs and helping them through very difficult times in their lives, helping them through the often tough transition of evolving into productive, responsible members of society.
Having stopped my own death slide into crime, drugs and violence, I now choose to balance out media driven, moral "gang" panic with the many positive stories of reconciliation, rehabilitation and community reintegration that I hear about pretty much every day see my previous blogs.
For me, gang is simply another word for tribe. In essence, gangs are good for society. In a healthy state, they are about the formation of groups that operate under ethical and moral codes of conduct upheld and enforced by the elders of the community. If these codes are based in a fundamental respect for society and the individual, there's absolutely nothing wrong with gangs.
If the elders in the gangs have been supported and steered into responsible adulthood and are able in turn to guide and contain the fiery energy of future, younger gang members, society will be a far richer, more connected and ultimately less fearful place. Gangs are good for society.
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