This study assessed the prevalence of weapon-related behaviors and experiences in secondary schools in California, their intercorrelations, and predictors at the individual and school levels. This study is based on a representative sample of 889,726 secondary school students in California based on the California Healthy Kids Survey. Prevalence…

This article provides an analysis of Asian American gang violence within the context of racialization and the legacy of imperialism. The analysis is grounded in a specific study of the Van Nuys (CA) Asian Boys gang and the particularities of Asian American gang violence in Southern California during the 1990s. Drawing from historical writings on…

The Common Core State Standards were designed to prepare all students for college and careers. Using theories of cultural capital and culturally relevant pedagogy, this study of 54 college-bound, inner-city high school seniors seeks to determine how students perceive their college readiness during the implementation of the new standards. While the…

The displacement of a majority Latinx community in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, is happening now. Young Latinx student filmmakers are resisting and reframing gentrification by turning a lens onto the issue, posting their films on YouTube, and giving voice to Latinx residents facing displacement. Four films were studied in depth. By…

From its inception in 1891 to present day, California's state youth corrections system has been mired in violence and abuse. In 1914, IQ testing and eugenics at state juvenile facilities resulted in the forced sterilization of poor, primarily non-white youth. In 1939, the suspicious suicide of a 13-year-old boy, the maltreatment of Latino youth,…

This paper aims to address cultural education as a method for creating a cooperative learning environment for Latino youth participants of a school-based gang and violence intervention program (GVIP). The data for this paper was collected during a 5-year longitudinal ethnographic research study conducted between 2009-2015 in California. In the…

In this autobiographical narrative, the author recounts her experiences teaching the novel "Always Running" by Luis Rodriguez with her English classes at a high school in a gang-heavy area. When she first started teaching, this teacher struggled to engage students. One particularly disruptive student requested to read "Always…

To date, there is a paucity of empirical evidence that examines gang membership in schools. Using statewide data of 7th-, 9th-, and 11th-grade students from California, this study focuses on the prevalence of gang membership by county, region, ethnicity, and grade level. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed with…

It is possible that multiple moves and deployments of family service members are associated with military-connected students' gang membership and involvement with school violence behaviors. In this study, 13,484 students completed modules of the California Healthy Kids Survey. Logistic regressions examined the odds of a student being a member of a…

Nationally, only half of Latino males graduate from high school (Contreras, 2011). Scholars are beginning to critically examine the various internal and external influences which contribute to low academic achievement for Latino males. This qualitative study uses a human ecological theory to examine how Latino male high school students with high…

California's state youth correctional system, the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), is violent, isolated, and lacks accountability. Fights and riots are a part of daily life and create a culture of fear. DJJ's violent conditions are concealed by an absence of state oversight and the facilities' long distances from youths' families and…

Background: Few studies have examined the interplay among quantifiable aspects of peer bonds, friendship types, personal characteristics, and behavioral outcomes in schools in distressed neighborhoods. The aim of this study was to identify compensatory and protective factors that can be promoted in school-based prevention programs. Methods: The…

Gang membership is an indicator of chronic illicit substance use and such patterns of use may have a normalized character. Using epidemiological and qualitative data collected between 2006 and 2007, this manuscript examines the drug normalization thesis among a small sample (n=60) of gang youth aged 16-25 years from Los Angeles. Overall, while…

In response to a literature that has paid limited attention to the complex representations of Cambodian students, this article investigated the ways in which Cambodian male youth were problematized in school through Discourses that presented them as apathetic students and/or gang members at one California high school. In this study, the ways in…

In this paper we examine challenges faced by students of color in an intervention program [Opportunity] in a socially stratified community on California's Central Coast. The purpose of this paper is to name and discuss the problems students face: lack of support from the teaching community, the school staff and the administration of the parent…