This study examines whether neighborhood factors found to predict fear of crime among the general population can be adapted to explain inmate fear of victimization inside juvenile correctional institutions. We test (a) whether institutional physical disorder, resident trust, and formal social control can predict fear of victimization, and (b)…

In 2007, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5097, which required the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to convene a task force to examine how gangs are affecting school safety. The task force must annually report its findings and recommendations to the education committees of the Legislature. The Gangs in Schools Task Force…

Mounting evidence suggests that social media can exacerbate tensions among gangs that ultimately lead to violence, but serious questions remain about precisely how conflict online translates to conflict offline. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which gang violence can be mediated by the Internet. We conducted a sociolinguistic…

In this paper, I report on research about the experience of a group of English teachers who returned from the violent gang culture of Southern California to Mexico, seeking a means of changing their identities from gang members into productive, educated members of society. On returning to Mexico, the teachers had to negotiate their otherness and…

This article explores issues that had to be confronted over a three-year period in terms of two New York State funded grants for which I was the evaluator. Major, critical challenges are presented, described, and discussed. Specifically, the paper addresses issues related to lack of planning at the grant design stage that resulted in challenges…

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…

The relation between being out of school and participating in criminal economies is widely documented in the literature on youth delinquency. However, the complex connection between these two phenomena has not yet been fully unpacked. This paper draws from two studies that we, the authors, conducted separately to explore the role educational…

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,…

The researcher conducted a quantitative research study to determine the perceptions of two groups of selected school personnel (principals or assistant principals and counselors or teachers) regarding gang presence in the fifth-grade population of elementary schools in a large urban school district in North Texas. The researcher examined and…

The present study evaluates adolescent gang involvement using cross-sectional survey data from 1,475 adolescents living in a disadvantaged Comuna in Medellin, Colombia. Specifically, we examine the prevalence of former and current gang membership, affiliation with gang members, and lives untouched by any gang association. Once these groups are…

Aims: This systematic review aims to explore the lived experiences of young gang members to explore the processes that mediate gang membership and offending. Rationale: Gang membership disproportionately effects young people (Home Office, 2016). The link between gang membership and inordinately high levels of severe offending characteristics is…

The data used in this report come from the 2017 School Crime Supplement (SCS), a nationally representative sample survey of students ages 12 through 18 enrolled in public or private school for all or part of the school year (not homeschooled for all of the school year). The SCS is administered every other year to students as a supplement to the…

This article analyzes Julio's counter-storytelling narratives as an undocumented and Latino youth attending schools in the Southeast. Through his narratives, this case study discusses how gender, accent, socioeconomic and immigration status intersect multiple layers of discrimination, pushing Julio out of school prior to his self-deportation. The…

The aim of this article is to discuss the dynamics of gang involvement by considering the social reproduction perspective and resistance theory literature and by examining general perceptions of learners and adults who regularly experience gang violence. In a study utilising quantitative and qualitative design, a questionnaire was administered to…

Research shows that gang-associated youth are less likely to complete high school and earn a postsecondary educational credential. However, scholars have not determined "why" gang youth do not persist into higher education. This ethnographic study aims to focus on the narratives of 13 Latino high school young men to understand what…