Crime, Delinquency, and Gangs in Hawaii; Evaluation of Hawaii's Youth Gang Response System, Part I

• NCJ Number: 153689
• Author(s): M Chesney-Lind; M B Leisen; J Allen; M Brown; A Rockhill; N Marker; R Liu; K Joe
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 78 pages
• Sale Source: University of Hawaii at Manoa
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: See NCJ-153704 for Part 3

Annotation

This three-part report evaluates Hawaii's Youth Gang Response System (YGRS), created in 1990 to develop gang prevention and intervention programs.

Abstract

This part of the evaluation outlines trends in juvenile arrests, presents statistics from the Gang Reporting Evaluation and Tracking program, discusses self-reported gang involvement and exposure, and reviews findings of a content analysis of gang- related newspaper stories in Hawaii published between 1984 and 1994. The statistics show that arrests of youth rose by nearly 79 percent in Hawaii during the past decade, in comparison with a 17 percent increase seen nationally during the same time period. While arrests of youth for serious violent crime rose 57 percent nationally, in Hawaii, juvenile arrests for violent crime remained virtually unchanged between 1983 and 1993; most of the increase in juvenile arrests was attributed to arrests for status offenses, including running away and violating curfews. YGRS programs revolve around gang prevention curricula, recreational programs, after school educational programs, and outreach services. 11 tables and 3 appendixes