Youth living in violent urban neighborhoods increasingly post messages online from urban street corners. The decline of the digital divide and the proliferation of social media platforms connect youth to peer communities who may share experiences with neighborhood stress and trauma. Social media can also be used for targeted retribution when…

For decades Hip Hop cultural practices have been disparaged for allegedly inciting and being responsible for the eruption of urban violence. This assumption, likely built upon pre-existing biases regarding the street culture and ethnic minorities where Hip Hop emerged, ignored how some of the genre's main elements -- particularly freestyle rap,…

This paper reports the findings of an eight-month ethnographic study of a small group of at-risk youths in a school of a southern coastal city in China. The process leading to the young students being marginalised by the school system and how they developed a "muddling through" subculture to counteract this marginalisation is revealed.…

The contradiction emerging between the lived experience of a minority of marginalised urban youth and the punitive operant conditioning of antisocial behaviour legislation is illustrative of the increasing gap between society's expectations of behaviour and the coming reality. In this paper, Loic Wacquant's sociology of advanced marginality is…

Explores the ways in which ethnicity is constructed by Filipino-American youths and examines the role played by generation in the formation of youth groups and identity construction within them. Findings from field observation and interviews with 20 Filipino-American males show changing gang roles from the 1960s through the present. (SLD)

Studied the coverage of juvenile crime in the Hawaiian press. Analyses of a master list of 649 newspaper articles for a 10-year period show a wide disparity between the output of articles and actual youth crime trends. The media also tended to focus on gang activity in its coverage of youth crime. (SLD)

Uses an interview format with Michael Zinzun to discuss the work of the Coalition against Police Abuse, organized in Los Angeles (California), to come up with solutions to police abuse. The Coalition was instrumental in forging a truce between two large gangs in southern California, and this effort, and efforts to broaden the truce into a movement…

Describes the adaptation of social work practice skills to serve black urban youth gangs. Presents a model for practice which respects youths' right to self-determination and community needs. Model stages discussed include contact, rapport, setting goals, assigning roles, procuring resources, and evaluation. Model applicability is suggested. (NRB)

Challenges recent portrayals of the demonic character of female gang members by examining the life histories and social organizations of several different female gangs. Interviews with 65 female gang members from seven groups show that these young women experience potential and actual violence in different violence prone situations. (SLD)

Discusses risk factors associated with sexual intercourse, gang involvement, and alcohol and drug use among adolescents. Different patterns of risk are found to predict the three problem behaviors. Discriminant analysis substantiates that delinquency was differentially associated with low problem vs. high problem urban adolescents. Results support…

Describes a three-tiered approach that the Omega Boys Club of San Francisco uses to help stop violence among inner-city youth. Essential steps of the plan are to provide appropriate information through effective communication channels, to show youth alternative ways of living that allow them to release their negative behavior, and to teach them…

The presence of individual and ecological assets for positive development was assessed through data derived from individual interviews with 45 African American adolescent male members of inner-city Detroit gangs and 50 African American adolescent males living in the same communities but involved in community-based organizations (CBOs) aimed at…

Focus groups and interviews with African American youth in Los Angeles and Afro-Caribbean youth in London found gangs to be one of their five top issues; identified social, educational, and employment factors fostering gang formation; and identified psychological, social, and economic functions of gangs for their members. (Contains 95 references.)…

Discusses a comprehensive, youth-violence-prevention program in New York City called The Door--A Center of Alternatives. This holistic program addresses the root causes of youth violence such as alienation and lack of empowerment. The Door provides life-skills training and services related to the consequences of poverty, unemployment, low levels…

This ethnographic study of 50 male African-American gang members constructs a portrait of the culture in which these young men lived and points out factors that helped 11 of them begin to escape gang life, in contrast to the other 39 who lacked these supporting factors of families, teachers, and peers. (SLD)