Gang membership in large cities is declining but may be increasing in small towns. A student high-school teacher in Silver City, New Mexico, describes several academic, counseling, disciplinary, and extracurricular programs (including a support group for gang dropouts) to address students' and teachers' school-safety concerns. (MLH)

Deploring the prevalence of intimidating behavior at a new Texas middle school, assistant principals acted to suppress all gang activity and enforce a dress code and hallway discipline. With immediate problems under control, they intervened to reduce student anonymity, inform teachers via e-mail about unusual activities, and involve students in…

Although the problems of high-risk youth are well known and raise widespread concern, few alternative educations exist to help troubled youth who are poor. This book describes various peer-group programs to rehabilitate high-risk youth. Following the introduction, chapter 1 describes the goals, stages, and techniques of peer-group programs.…

A pumpkin decorating exercise gave California sixth-graders a chance to discuss a problematic school policy on gangs, using Pablo Freire's problem-posing method. Since the policy failed to understand student views, it officially sanctioned and promoted silence. Student journals revealed how gang activity was woven into their world. (MLH)

Substance Use and HIV Prevention Program (SHIP) is a school-based intervention model designed to reverse detrimental trajectories in nonsexual (i.e., substance use) and sexual behaviors by adapting two research-supported interventions: Reconnecting Youth and Street Smart. The Social Development Model provides the theoretical and conceptual basis.…

Seattle's SafeFutures project focuses on intervention for children involved in, or at risk of becoming involved in, the juvenile-justice system, particularly Cambodian and Vietnamese youth; girls involved with gangs; and violent, chronic juvenile offenders. Project services include classes on social and cultural issues for Asian parents, tutoring…

Addresses youth violence and gangs and describes two initiatives that have effectively responded to gang-related problems. The development and characteristics of school crime and gang activity are discussed, including the political context that conditions intervention, and the proactive strategies that can reduce safety risks and provide better…

Minority gangs of the 1980s are examined as groups of juveniles and young adults and as a fraction of the forming underclass. Gangs today no longer disappear as their ethnic groups rises socially. Instead, gangs are becoming institutionalized in the central cities. This discussion of prior research in Los Angeles (California) and more recent…

In 1992 the Texas Education Agency selected 83 schools to participate in its Partnership Schools Initiative (PSI), which had the goals of improving outcomes for students and closing the performance gaps among various student groups. The schools were allowed flexibility in the process used to achieve these goals. One of the partnership schools,…

This handbook provides information about gangs for education professionals working with immigrants. As the introduction makes clear, gangs are one of the many problems that newly arrived immigrants face in their neighborhoods and at school in the United States. Following the introduction, the first section describes the types of gangs including…

This report summarizes the activities and achievements of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP) Research Division from August 1999 to the present in the areas of research, evaluation, and statistics. It provides new findings on very young offenders; the causes and correlates of delinquency; juvenile transfers to…

In Tucson (Arizona) and El Paso (Texas), Chicano mural painters and art educators have begun community programs to engage alienated Chicano and Yaqui youth in painting murals that defuse gang conflicts, celebrate Mexican culture and history, and provide training in marketable skills. (SV)

Written by a prominent array of scholars and practitioners, this book elucidates the complexities, contradictions, and confusion surrounding adolescence in American culture and education. For too long, harmful public myths and lies have portrayed teenagers as a principal cause of our nation's social ills. Similar unfair charges have been lodged…

The Commissioner's annual report provides the Legislature with information reported by school districts concerning incidents of serious student misconduct grouped into the following four major reporting categories: violence, vandalism, weapons, and substance abuse. An analysis of trends yields indications of progress and of ongoing concern, and…

Gangs are no longer the exclusive problem of large metropolitan areas. Suburban schools and communities are now vulnerable, and the problem is spreading. To combat the problem, it is essential to overcome denial in the school and community. The case study of Chris, a junior high school student, exemplifies suburban youth gang members.…