NCJ Number
159443
Date Published
1989
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Following a review of the concepts of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention as they apply to homicide, this chapter describes programs designed to prevent homicide, violence, and gang participation.
Abstract
There have been efforts to develop program models aimed at preventing youth violence and homicide, although some of these programs are not specifically designed to prevent gang homicide. These educational, court, and community-based programs function mostly at the primary (reducing conditions that contribute to homicide) and secondary prevention (identifying persons that show early signs of sociobehavioral problems) levels. Examples of educational prevention models include the Boston Youth Program, which is a 10-session curriculum designed to control and prevent anger and violence; Peer Dynamics, a Nebraska school-based program intended to reduce the incidence of destructive risk- taking behaviors of juvenile delinquency and substance abuse; and the Paramount Plan, a California school-based program aimed at gang prevention. Court and community-based programs profiled in this chapter include Baltimore's Strike II court-based program, which targets first-time, violent juveniles for a multifaceted program in addition to traditional probation supervision; the House of Umoja, a Philadelphia program, which invites inner-city gang members to live with the family under a model of the extended African family; and the Community Youth Gang Services Corporation in Los Angeles, which uses counselors to work with juvenile gangs to reduce their violent behavior. 1 table, 1 figure, and 58 references