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,…

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…

This brief discusses the use of traffic barriers to block automobile access to streets as a way to reduce gang violence. The tactic was used in a crime-plagued area of Los Angeles, California, that had experienced a high level of drive-by shootings, gang homicides, and street assaults. The program, Operation Cul de Sac (OCDS), was evaluated as a…

The Current Controversies series explores many social, political, and economic controversies, presenting the discussions in debate format. This volume focuses on youth violence. As youth violence escalates, concern grows over the safety of the neighborhoods, the victims of violence, and the future of violent youths themselves. The 35 selections in…

The greatest support offered by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention for youth mentoring has been through the Juvenile Mentoring Program (JUMP), which provides one-to-one mentoring for youth at risk of delinquency, gang involvement, educational failure, or dropping out of school. Information on JUMP has been collected through…

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…

What is known about gangs is reviewed and the information is brought up to date. The book covers reported changes in the structure and crime patterns of gangs, their age, ethnic, and gender characteristics, and their spread into almost all corners of the United States. The early chapters consider four issues that are major concerns in…

This issue of the "School Intervention Report" contains a reprint from the "Youth Gangs: Guidelines for Educators and Community Youth Leaders." The juvenile gang has the power to motivate, direct, and positively sanction violence by its members. In examining the power of the gang to amplify violent conduct, there are at least three sets of causes…

The nature of youth gangs is explored, with suggestions for gang prevention and intervention. The emphasis is on organizing citizens, especially at the neighborhood level, to affect all community institutions. Suggestions are offered for citizens' groups to look at critical areas in schooling, incarceration, law enforcement, community programs,…

The escalation of youth violence is one of the major public health concerns of the United States. Many factors today make juveniles more likely to commit, or to become victims of, violent acts. Drugs, the availability of guns, and the emergence of gang problems in all regions of the country are among the causes of youth violence. Prevention of…

Explores how schooling serves to perpetuate the social expectations that criminalize urban Latino youth, following a sample of eight junior high school students. Even more than the racism of individual teachers, institutionalized racism stereotypes these students as doomed to fail or destined to be gang members. (SLD)

The 12 chapters of this volume offer a comprehensive portrait of today's children and their challenging urban environments. The opportunities and obstacles that confront children are examined in detail, and key social problems are discussed in the following contributions: (1) "Growing Up in the Urban Environment: Opportunities and Obstacles for…

Many of today's children fear school because of violence. Some children do not feel safe going to school, so they stay home. Others are growing up in dysfunctional families, and are not prepared for school or able to perform well at school. Parental help, which is needed at school when problems arise, may be lacking for these children. Among the…

Explores the childhood and adolescence of the Hispanic American poet Luis Rodriguez, who grew up in Los Angeles (California) and was involved in gangs with other children of Mexican immigrants. Rodriguez's autobiography is offered so that adolescents, including his own son, may learn from his experience. (SLD)