Gangs have become a fixture in the Mexican American populations of southern California and other regions, spreading from low-income neighborhoods in the Southwest to working class and lower-middle class suburban areas. The development and institutionalization of gangs have involved many factors, including racial discrimination and economic…

Reports of increased violence and crime in the schools suggest that an attack on the roots of violence must accompany work to improve discipline and physical security. Suggestions for schools to actively respond to the problem are offered in this digest. Reasons for the increase of violence and for most schools' reluctance to address the problem…

Elementary school principals are in a key position to prevent school violence. This document reviews five publications that feature strategies administrators and teachers can use to create a safe school. In "Creating Safe Environments for Learning in North Carolina's Public Schools," Tanya M. Suarez reviews the literature on school safety and…

The three essays of this collection explore the prevention of violence in urban schools. The first, "Preventing Violence in Schools," by Mary Hatwood Futrell and Lee Etta Powell, focuses on how to prevent violence in schools and offers recommendations on what schools and communities can do. The factors contributing to school violence are…

This ERIC digest examines the growth and nature of juvenile gangs and the growing problem they present in the nation's public schools. It explores the characteristics of gangs, the impact gangs are having on public schools, why gangs develop and why students join them, what the schools' responses have been to gangs, and effective interactions for…

Educators and the public are divided over the value of implementing school-uniform policies in the public schools. This digest examines arguments for and against school-uniform policies, identifies legal considerations, and offers guidelines for implementing policies on student dress. Most parents have responded favorably to uniform policies,…

Traditionally an urban problem, gang involvement is growing on Native American reservations. This digest examines common factors in gang development and one tribe's response through a Native-centric education and juvenile justice system. The sum of handicaps associated with gang involvement has been termed "multiple marginality," and…