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,…

In recent years, schools have become a focal point for general delinquency and gang prevention programs for a variety of reasons. One premise behind this approach is that schools can serve as ideal settings for providing delinquency and intervention services because youths spend so much time there. School-based gang prevention efforts are supposed…

This Bulletin provides the reader with information to understand the complexity of the juvenile gang problem, and it provides information to dispel common gang stereotypes. After describing the key characteristics of youth gangs, the Bulletin examines risk factors for gang membership, including individual and family demographics, personal…

Strategies to enhance prosecution of gang-related crimes are presented, with a focus on enforcement and prosecution targeting urban street gangs. The model programs introduced offer strategies largely based on the practical experiences of agencies that participated in a demonstration program, the Urban Street Gang Drug Trafficking Enforcement…

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…

This bulletin offers data on recent trends in juvenile violence, juvenile drug offenses, and gang-related juvenile offending, and describes prosecutorial responses to such offenses. Examples of promising prosecutor-led programs combating the illicit use of guns, violence, drugs, and gangs are also provided. These examples provide a range of ideas…

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…

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…

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…

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 first part of this book describes juvenile gangs in schools and provides information to help recognize gang presence. The second part focuses on effective interventions to deal with the gang problem. An introduction describes the history and current status of youth gangs in the United States to set the stage for the subsequent exploration of…

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…