NCJ Number
167973
Date Published
1996
Length
31 pages
Annotation
Literature is reviewed regarding the responses in the last century to gang-related crime and juvenile delinquency in the United States and on the effectiveness of these responses.
Abstract
The responses were grouped under the following five categories identified by the National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: community organization, social intervention, opportunities provision, suppression, and organizational development and change. The literature review determined that the crucial issues are a tendency to fail to distinguish between gang-related juvenile delinquency and delinquency in general, problems of denial and exaggeration, the linking of responses to perceived causes, the need for evaluation, and the failure of responses to take variations in gang problems into account. Program designs have seldom been linked to the theoretical literature or to policymakers' own perceptions of the causes of gang problems. Needed actions include continuous evaluation, improvement of evaluation, linkage of responses to theory, and the integration of response efforts both institutionally and historically. Figures, tables, and 79 reference notes