NCJ Number
137102
Date Published
1992
Length
202 pages
Annotation
Several frightening trends concerning street gangs indicate their growing influence on young children and their growing presence in the nation's schools: the increasing age range of gang members; the employment of young children in illegal gang activities including drug trafficking; and the affiliation of middle class youth, rural youth, and youth from varied ethnic backgrounds with gangs.
Abstract
The resources of youth gangs are reflected in their ownership of expensive cars, real estate, communications system, international connections, and large amounts of cash. Increasingly, gangs are stockpiling large reserves of weapons including firearms, and they promote a value system which encourages the use of these weapons. Schools are often the focal point of drug deals and acts of extreme violence; a large proportion of gang recruitment occurs on school grounds. In the face of gang power, schools are becoming unable to protect their students; lower educational achievement and higher drop out rates are becoming the norm. This author maintains, however, that schools hold out the best, and perhaps only, hope of reducing the attractiveness of gangs through the bonding of students to teachers, to classrooms, to schools, and to their communities. This bonding can be encouraged while preparing students with the knowledge, skills, and values to make productive life choices.