National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program

• NCJ Number: 130917
• Author(s): I A Spergel; R L Chance; G D Curry
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 4 pages
• Corporate Author: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Reprinted from NIJ Reports, N 222 (June 1990)

Annotation

Gang violence and gang-related drug trafficking have risen drastically in a number of large cities, and gangs have even developed in many middle-sized and smaller cities and suburban communities.

Abstract

Youth gangs are more violent than ever before, and they increasingly serve as a way for older or former gang youth to engage in illegal money-making activities, especially drug trafficking. In response to the growing problem of youth gangs, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention established a National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program. It became evident early in program analysis that youth gangs fulfilled socialization and survival functions for youth in low-income, socially isolated ghettos and in transitional areas with newly settled populations. Social disorganization, failure of basic local institutions (family, school, and employment), poverty, and lack of social opportunities were apparent causal factors. A telephone and mail survey of 254 experts from 45 cities and 6 special program sites, conducted in 1988 and 1989, revealed that police departments defined gang incidents in various ways and that most respondents believed a primary purpose of youth gangs was to sell drugs on the street. Five gang suppression strategies were identified: suppression, social intervention, social opportunities, community mobilization, and organizational development or change. In cities with chronic gang problems, several variables were strongly associated with effectiveness in dealing with gangs: use of community mobilization and social opportunities as primary strategies, community consensus on the definition of a gang incident, and the proportion of agencies or organizations with an external advisory group. Communities with gangs had socioeconomic, ethnic, racial, generational, and local policy characteristics that distinguished them from other communities. Based on the findings, 10 program models and manuals have been developed for specific audiences (police, prosecutors, judges, parole and probation officers, schools, business and industry, community-based youth agencies, and grass roots organizations).