National Gang Center Community Violence Intervention—Addressing Gangs: Understanding Youth Gang Involvement Webinar

The third webinar, Understanding Youth Gang Involvement, in the “Community Violence Intervention—Addressing Gangs” series addresses why youth join gangs. Research suggests that joining a gang is a complex decision that involves multiple negative conditions that "push" youth into gangs, as well as perceived positive opportunities that "pull" youth into gangs. Understanding both the reasons behind a youth's decision to join a gang and the youth's level of embeddedness in the gang is instrumental in developing programs and supports for gang disengagement.  

As a result of this webinar, participants will be able to:  

• Understand the process of entry into gangs, including motivations, methods, and risk and protective factors
• Recognize differences in gang involvement, including the duration of association and embeddedness in gangs
• Identify appropriate programs, based on risk and protective factors, to support gang disengagement