NCJ Number
215702
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: Summer 2006 Pages: 45-50
Date Published
2006
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article offers a critique of the work of the Montgomery County Gang Prevention Task Force (Maryland).
Abstract
A 1994 report by the Executive Advisory Council in Maryland called attention to the burgeoning gang problem in Maryland and called for law enforcement agencies across the State to address the problem. It was not until 1998 that the new State’s Attorney of Montgomery County Maryland appointed a Gang Prosecutor to target and prosecute gang members. In 2004, following a string of high-profile gang incidents, the Bi-County Task Force on Gang Activity was established by neighboring Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, Maryland. Shortly following the first joint county gang prevention task force meeting, the first suppression subcommittee met regarding strategies to reduce the incidence of gang recruitment, gang participation, gang violence, and youth violence in schools and communities. The author illustrates the shortcomings of this suppression subcommittee through a critique of the subcommittee’s recommendations of suppression, which included the recommendation to expand the number of in-school police offenders and create in-school suspension programs. The recommendations failed to incorporate the recommendations for gang suppression offered by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), such as the advice to establish a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task force. The suppression subcommittee’s recommendations also failed to identify the role that the criminal justice system should play in gang suppression. The author charges that the Montgomery County Gang Prevention Task Force was an empty exercise and that if left uncorrected, gangs will continue to flourish in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. Endnotes