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Chapter 5 OJJDP has been tracking the prevalence of youth gangs since 1996. Findings from the National Youth Gang Survey—an annual survey of a nationally representative sample of law enforcement agencies— clearly demonstrate the importance of supporting youth gang prevention, intervention, suppression, and reintegration efforts. For example, survey data available in FY 2002 showed that all cities with populations of 250,000 or more reported gang activity in every year from 1996 to 2000. Eighty-six percent of cities with populations between 100,000 and 249,999 reported gangs in each of these 5 years, as did 61 percent of cities with populations between 50,000 and 99,999. Youth gang activity is not confined to cities, however. Many suburban and rural areas also experience significant gang activity. Survey results led researchers to estimate that more than 24,500 gangs and 772,500 gang members were active in 2000. Of the more than 1,000 jurisdictions that reported youth gang activity in 2000, 84 percent reported at least one incident involving gang use of a firearm in an assault crime, and most reported gang activity in at least one school (95 percent had activity in high schools, 91 percent in middle schools). Related research further underscores the importance of effective gang prevention, intervention, suppression, and reintegration efforts. Longitudinal research supported by OJJDP has found that gang members account for twice as many delinquent acts as would be expected given their share of the population; the disproportionate contribution of gang members to delinquency is even greater for more serious offenses. Recognizing that youth gangs are a serious national issue, OJJDP has long supported the development and implementation of demonstration programs that address gang prevention, intervention, and suppression, as well as gang-related research and evaluation activities, training and technical assistance, and information dissemination. This chapter describes examples of these activities. Special accomplishments in FY 2002 included a National Youth Gang Symposium and the production of six new publications. These efforts reflect OJJDP's commitment to helping communities respond to the problem of gangs and the violence associated with them. Boys & Girls Clubs of America: Targeted Outreach Programs During FY 2002, OJJDP continued to support Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) Targeted Outreach programs that address three aspects of youth gangs: prevention, intervention, and reentry after confinement. Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach works with youth at risk of gang involvement. Gang Intervention Through Targeted Outreach works with gang-involved youth. These programs operate in the club setting and include elements of community mobilization, active recruitment of and outreach to appropriate youth, promotion of positive developmental experiences, and individualized case management. Gang Reentry Through Targeted Outreach is a new program that works with confinement facilities and uses both facility-based and community-based components to help gang-involved youth successfully return to their communities after release from confinement. During FY 2002, OJJDP provided funding to support 25 new prevention sites, 3 new intervention sites, and 3 new reentry sites. OJJDP also continues to provide funds to the national BGCA organization in Atlanta, GA, to help local affiliate clubs prevent youth from entering gangs, intervene with gang members in the early stages of gang involvement, and divert youth from gangs into more constructive activities. Partnership with OJJDP enhances the ability of BGCA to serve more than 3.6 million youth annually in more than 3,300 clubs nationwide. BGCA has more than 25 national programs available to teach young people the skills they need to succeed. In addition to gang prevention, programs include education, health, alcohol/drug abuse prevention, pregnancy prevention, leadership development, and athletics.
Gang-Free Schools and Communities Initiative OJJDP developed the Gang-Free Schools and Communities Initiative in 2001 to help schools and communities address their youth gang problems. In FY 2002, the Office continued to support 10 demonstration sites. The initiative has two components: the Comprehensive Gang Model: An Enhanced School/Community Approach to Reducing Youth Gang Crime (Gang-Free Schools Program) and the Gang-Free Communities Program. Both components are based on OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model, which includes five key strategies: mobilizing communities, providing social intervention services and street outreach, providing opportunities for youth, suppressing gang violence, and facilitating organizational change. These strategies are combined through a local multidisciplinary steering committee and intervention team to implement gang prevention, intervention, and suppression activities. Before implementation can begin, grantees are required to complete a detailed assessment of their community's gang problem and a strategic planning process. OJJDP's National Youth Gang Center (see below) provides training and technical assistance to the grantees. The Gang-Free Schools Program is a demonstration program that incorporates school-focused enhancements to the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model. The four participating sites are East Cleveland, OH; Houston, TX; Miami, FL; and Pittsburgh, PA. These sites have completed the assessment and planning process and have begun implementation. OJJDP also continues to support an evaluation of this effort, conducted by the COSMOS Corporation of Bethesda, MD. Six sites—Broward County, FL; Lakewood, WA; Los Angeles, CA; Louisville, KY; San Francisco, CA; and Washington, DC—are participating in the Gang-Free Communities Program, which is intended as a replication of earlier OJJDP-funded efforts. These grantees received minimal federal funding to start their programs and have leveraged other local resources. Using their leveraged funding, they have completed the assessment and planning process and have begun implementation. In 1994, OJJDP established the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) at the Institute for Intergovernmental Research of Tallahassee, FL, to maintain and expand the body of knowledge about youth gangs and effective responses to them. NYGC's many functions include conducting surveys; providing reliable information to researchers, law enforcement personnel, practitioners, and others; maintaining a Web site; and providing training and technical assistance to OJJDP grantees. Highlights of NYGC activities during FY 2002 included partnering with OJJDP to sponsor the third National Youth Gang Symposium, releasing findings from two youth gang surveys, and developing several publications. NYGC has been conducting the National Youth Gang Survey since 1995. This annual survey of police and sheriff's departments helps researchers determine the extent of the nation's gang problem. Highlights from the surveys are published as OJJDP Fact Sheets. Findings from the 2000 National Youth Gang Survey, which were released by OJJDP in February 2002, suggest that the youth gang problem in the United States continues to be widespread and substantial. Detailed results from each of the annual youth gang surveys conducted from 1995 to 1998 were presented in annual summary reports. Detailed results from subsequent surveys will be published every 3 years in a large report that combines findings from the three most recent surveys. The first combined report, which will include findings from the 1999, 2000, and 2001 surveys, is scheduled for publication in 2004. In response to a growing number of reports of gang activity on American Indian lands, NYGC conducted a survey in 2001 of youth gang activities in Indian country during 2000. Highlights of findings from this survey were published in June 2002. Findings from the annual surveys have led NYGC researchers to track the changing boundaries of youth gangs. For example, two NYGC research studies have examined the characteristics of modern-day youth gangs—those that have emerged since 1985, particularly during the 1990s. Half of the localities that currently report gang activity say their gangs first emerged in the 1990s. Compared with earlier gangs, modern-day gangs have a far higher proportion of younger gang members, females, and middle-class teens. Recent years have also seen the growth of hybrid gangs. Because these groups do not fit the mold of earlier gangs, NYGC uses the term "hybrid gang culture" to describe them. Characterized by a mixture of gang cultures, they often "cut and paste" bits of Hollywood images and big-city gang lore into their local versions of gangs. They often have unclear rules or codes of conduct, and they may use mixed symbols (e.g., colors and graffiti) to identify themselves. Their members may belong to multiple gangs, or they may have symbolic associations with more than one well-established gang. Hybrid gangs may not follow the established rules or methods of operation carried out by their predecessors from Los Angeles or Chicago. These homegrown gangs consider themselves to be distinct gangster entities with no alliance to groups such as the Bloods/Crips or Folk/People. Because the resulting hodgepodge of features makes classifying these gangs difficult, communities should make a comprehensive assessment of their local gang problems before determining appropriate responses. (Two OJJDP Bulletins, Hybrid and Other Modern Gangs and Modern-Day Youth Gangs, summarize this research.) NYGC maintains a Web site (www.iir.com/nygc/), which provides information about gang programs, research, and legislation, including full-text publications, bibliographies of publications related to gang research, and lists of gang legislation organized by state and subject. The center also manages GANG-INFO, an electronic mailing list, which provides a forum for professionals to exchange information about youth gangs. NYGC continues to provide training and technical assistance to the 10 demonstration sites participating in the Gang-Free Schools and Communities Initiative. NYGC is assisting these communities by developing training and support materials, providing cross-site "cluster" training, and offering onsite and remote training and technical assistance. NYGC also provides technical support to the Youth Gang Consortium, which is convened by OJJDP three times a year to bring together federal departments and agencies engaged in antigang activities. The consortium builds partnerships and coordinates federal resources to help communities develop comprehensive local approaches to gang prevention, intervention, and suppression. More than 1,200 individuals attended OJJDP's third National Youth Gang Symposium, held June 11–13, 2002, in Orlando, FL. The theme of the event was "Together We Can: Comprehensive Approaches to Youth Gangs." The symposium was sponsored by OJJDP in partnership with NYGC and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Attendees included law enforcement and corrections professionals who work with gang members daily, community-based youth outreach workers, social services and education professionals, and representatives from the faith-based community. The symposium's keynote speaker was Father Greg Boyle, executive director of Homeboy Industries, Los Angeles, CA, which provides job opportunities and support for young gang members. U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft welcomed attendees via video message. Drawing on the symposium's theme, OJJDP Administrator J. Robert Flores challenged each symposium participant, upon returning home, to meet with three individuals, agencies, or organizations; explain why they should be concerned about youth gangs; and suggest positive ways to address the local gang problem. The symposium featured plenary sessions led by national experts and workshops that highlighted recent gang trends and provided information about innovative and effective programs to combat gang problems. Workshop topics ranged from prison gangs and their influence on the street to faith-based approaches to gangs. OJJDP's first gang symposium was held in 1996 in Dallas, TX, followed by a second in 1999 in Las Vegas, NV. Whereas most gang-related conferences focus on intelligence information and are intended only for law enforcement professionals, OJJDP's conferences have addressed a range of topics related to youth gang prevention, intervention, and suppression and reintegration of gang members into the community. The OJJDP conferences are open to all professionals whose work brings them into contact with youth gangs, individual gang members, and members' families. OJJDP developed and published several new gang-related publications during FY 2002. These publications, briefly described below, provide statistics and analyses about youth gang problems. Early Precursors of Gang Membership: A Study of Seattle Youth. This 6-page Bulletin presents data from the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP), an OJJDP-sponsored longitudinal study of youth living in high-crime neighborhoods. Focusing on youth who join gangs, the Bulletin analyzes SSDP data on the relationship between risk factors present at ages 10 to 12 and the likelihood of joining a gang between ages 13 and 18. The Bulletin also explores implications of the risk factor analysis for the design of prevention strategies. Highlights of the 2000 National Youth Gang Survey. Major findings from the 2000 National Youth Gang Survey are highlighted in this 2-page Fact Sheet. Included are statistics on prevalence of gangs, gang-related violent crime, gang activity in schools, gang members returning to the community from prison, and other topics. (A Fact Sheet presenting highlights from the 2001 survey was released in April 2003.) Hybrid and Other Modern Gangs. This 8-page Bulletin focuses on the nature of hybrid gangs, drawing on survey data, research findings, and field reports to detail the critical differences between these groups and more traditional gangs. The Bulletin also discusses related issues such as gang stereotypes and gang migration. Modern-Day Youth Gangs. Drawing on data from National Youth Gang Surveys, this 12-page Bulletin compares the characteristics of gangs in jurisdictions where gang problems began prior to 1991 with those in jurisdictions where gang problems began more recently. National Youth Gang Survey Trends From 1996 to 2000. Findings from the five National Youth Gang Surveys conducted since 1996 are highlighted in this 2-page Fact Sheet. Topics include patterns of gang activity, number of gangs and gang members, gang-related homicides, and demographics of gang members. 2000 Survey of Youth Gangs in Indian Country. This 2-page Fact Sheet published by NYGC presents findings from a survey undertaken to determine the prevalence, composition, and activities of youth gangs in federally recognized tribes that are not traditionally included in the National Youth Gang Survey of law enforcement officials. This Fact Sheet, which is discussed in more detail in Chapter 7 is available online from the Tribal Youth Program page of OJJDP's Web site or from the NYGC Web site. |