MENU TITLE: Corrections Technical Assistance Manual. Series: OJJDP Published: January 1993 73 pages 145,838 bytes CORRECTIONS Technical Assistance Manual Thomas A. Regulus Loyola University of Chicago National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program School of Social Service Administration University of Chicago Distributed by: Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse Box 6000 Rockville, MD 20850 1-800-638-8736 ------------------------------ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people and organizations across the nation contributed to the development of the Corrections Technical Assistance Manual. They brought a wealth of experience and ideas to their review of our materials. They read and critiqued early drafts of the document, serving as advisors and as facilitators and participants at several working conferences. They are not responsible for errors that may exist in the final product, but much of what is beneficial is owed to their gracious assistance. Several worked with us over an extended period. We hold special appreciation for their enthusiastic help. They include: - Barry Glick, State Division for Youth, New York - Larry Grauberger, Division of Youth Service, Colorado - William Lockwood, Gang Information Services Unit, California - Ken Miller, Ethan Allen School of Boys, Wales, Wisconsin We must also thank the following for their assistance: - David Bennett, Department of Institutions, Denver, Colorado - Ed Greivel, Gillaim Youth Services Center, Denver, Colorado - Lonnie Jackson, MacLaren School for Boys, Oregon - Deirdre Morgan, Department of Health and Social Services, Wisconsin - Tal Owens, Bureau of State Children and Youth Services, Pennsylvania - Naomi Post, Dispositional Planning Unit, Pennsylvania - Gary Maurer, Department of Youth Authority, California ------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Program Mission and Background Purpose of the Manuals Discussion of Terms and Issues Approach to the Problem Summary CHAPTER 2: YOUTH GANGS IN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS Youth Gangs and the Correctional Mission Purpose and Assumptions of this Document Developing the Gang Suppression and Intervention Program Summary CHAPTER 3: PREASSESSMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF THE CORRECTIONAL GANG PROBLEM Stage 1 -- Preassessment Issues Establish Consensus as to Whether a Gang Problem Exists Establish an Assessment and Planning Group Establish Definitions of Youth Gangs, Members, and Gang Behavior Stage 2 -- Assessment Collecting Assessment Information What to Assess Summarize Assessment Summary CHAPTER 4: DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING THE GANG PROGRAM Stage 3 -- Action Objectives Stage 4 -- Selecting and Operationalizing Strategies Selecting and Balancing Strategies Stage 5 -- Program Implementation Planning Gang Coordinating Unit Funding Developing the Specifics of the Program Coordination Summary CHAPTER 5: MONITORING AND EVALUATION Stage 6 -- Monitoring and Evaluation Summary CHAPTER 6: GANG PROGRAM MODIFICATIONS IN YOUTH DETENTION CENTERS Lack of Information The Mix of Youths in Detention Emotional Vulnerability Family Visits and Youth Release from Detention Staff Training and Gang Management Procedures Summary APPENDIX A: LIST OF PROGRAM REPORTS APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY AND DISCUSSION OF TERMS ------------------------------ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The spread and growth of serious and violent youth gang crime in many communities across the country has also affected correctional institutions. These facilities are experiencing increased problems in the control and care of gang youths. Special gang suppression and intervention programs need to be planned to prevent and counteract problems that gang youths cause within these facilities and to prepare them for non-gang functioning in the community. This manual outlines a six-stage antigang planning process: preassessment, assessment, development of program goals and objectives, strategy selection, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. The preassessment, Stage 1, prepares correctional staff for the program design stage. Administrators and staff must determine whether a gang problem exists, define what is meant by gang and gang youth behavior, and establish a staff team to conduct the assessment. The assessment, Stage 2, develops objective knowledge about the gang problem and the resources of the particular institution available and required to deal with it, including the specific characteristics of gang youths and the problems they are creating in the facility, security requirements, social service needs, the nature of the context of the problem (chronic or emerging), and the staff capabilities necessary for an effective gang program. The threat that gangs pose to the institution's mission responsibilities must be identified. The summary of the assessment findings provides a prioritized set of targets and a framework for the development of the institution's gang suppression and intervention program. Stage 3 of the planning process involves establishing program goals and specific long- and short-term objectives. In Stage 4, strategies and procedures are identified to achieve program objectives. An appropriate balance of strategies -- organizational development, community networking, suppression, social intervention, and opportunities provision -- is required. Chronic gang facility contexts call for greater emphasis on all categories of strategies than do emerging gang facility contexts. Stage 5 comprises detailed planning by the operational units of the facility under the supervision of a central gang coordination unit. This unit should provide policy direction and overall integration of program elements. In Stage 6, monitoring and evaluation provide assurance that program strategies and activities are implemented according to design to determine whether program objectives are being met, and whether the gang problem is being controlled and reduced. Monitoring and evaluation provide information for modification of the program as needed. The principles and procedures outlined in this manual are applicable to correctional programs generally, although each facility will need to modify them based on its unique characteristics. The manual also proposes modified strategies and procedures for detention centers because of the transient nature of the youths in custody and the need to compensate for the lack of information on youths in detention. Recommended for dealing with gang youth and gang problems in detention centers are procedures for separate lodging and supervision of serious gang offenders and joint briefings with local police in gang problems that can spill over from the community to the detention center and vice versa. ------------------------------ CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION o Program Mission and Background o Purpose of the Manuals o Problem Statement o Discussion of Terms and Issues o Approach to the Problem o Summary Program Mission and Background There has been an increase in the youth gang problem and the need for information and guidance. Criminal youth gang activity represents a serious threat to the safety and security of local citizens and impedes positive youth development. In recent years, higher levels of youth gang violence and gang member-related drug trafficking have been reported in an increasing number of neighborhoods, high schools, public housing projects, correctional institutions, and other social contexts throughout the country. Police in small towns have begun to identify "gangs" and are requesting assistance in how to deal with them. In response, the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Justice Department, entered into a cooperative agreement with the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, in October 1987 to conduct the National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program. This program was initiated as a four-stage Research and Development process: Assessment, Prototype/Model Development, Technical Assistance, and Testing. This technical assistance manual is part of a four- stage research and development process. Three of the four stages have been completed. Stage 1 included a comprehensive review of the research and program literature on youth gangs, a survey of programs in 45 cities, selected site visits, conferences, and special studies. During Stage 2, gang suppression and intervention models were produced for police, prosecutors, judges, probation, corrections, parole, schools, employment, community-based youth agencies, and grassroots organizations. Additionally, separate manuals for comprehensive planning and for community mobilization were developed. Twelve manuals have been produced. Stage 3 involved the creation of 12 technical assistance manuals that provide guidelines to implement the policies and procedures presented in the models. The ten agency manuals specify both organizational and community perspectives for dealing with the youth gang problem. The other two manuals outline specific procedures and processes of planning a comprehensive community approach to youth gang suppression and intervention. (See Appendix A for a list of documents.) Certain processes were used to develop the manual. The program models and technical assistance manuals were based on the findings of the initial project assessment stage as well as extensive consultations with policymakers, administrators, and practitioners at local and national levels. Law enforcement, particularly frontline gang specialists, were important from the start of the program in identifying the problem. Two regional conferences were held with policymakers and administrators as well as practitioners from 16 cities who contributed to the development of the final version of the manuals. Purpose of the Manuals The purpose is to present a set of guidelines to reduce youth gang crime. The purpose of the technical assistance manuals is to present detailed steps for the control and reduction of youth gang crime, especially gang- motivated violence. The manuals seek to provide governmental authorities, criminal justice organizations, social agencies, and community groups with strategies that encourage gang-prone and gang-involved youth to terminate criminal activity and participate in legitimate social, academic, and employment pursuits. Broad preventive policies that deal with larger social issues such as poverty and racism, housing, education, jobs, and health care are addressed only on a limited basis in the manuals. Key issues of family breakdown, violence in the media, and the proliferation of sophisticated weapons need to be directly addressed as they contribute to the youth gang problem. They are presented here mainly as contextual conditions that special organizational policies and procedures and community mobilization must deal with and change, if not directly then indirectly. Administrators and policymakers are the primary audience. Local administrators and policymakers are the primary audience, but the manuals should also be useful to other officials and personnel concerned with the problem, including agency supervisors, front-line workers, and community volunteers. The manuals are not intended to serve in the place of more general models and manuals dealing with delinquent or troublesome youth in the criminal justice and human service fields; they are intended as a supplement to them. Even so, the manuals should be of value in addressing youth crime more generally. This is because the youth gang problem can be viewed as part of a larger set of crime and delinquency and youth socialization problems. Problem Statement The gang problem has changed and grown more serious in most regions of the country. During the 1980s and early 1990s, more criminally oriented and better organized gangs or cliques have become prevalent in many urban and smaller communi- ties. More young people from diverse backgrounds and settings are joining gangs to meet social and economic needs not satisfied through existing institutions, e.g., family, school, and employment. The youth gang has become an alternative, mainly antisocial, institution for an increasing number of youth. Poverty and social disorganization are key conditions contributing to the problem. Why youth gangs have developed and become more criminal and complex organizations is not clear. The type and severity of youth gang problems may be largely a response to two conditions, poverty or limited access to social opportunities and social disorganization, i.e., the lack of integration and stability of social institutions including family, school, and employment in a local community. Certain factors exacerbate these two social conditions to produce varying gang subcultures and systems. They include: o large and rapid population movement of low-income minorities into a community; o intergenerational gang traditions; o defects of social policy and coordination of service delivery at local and national levels; o institutional racism; o insecurities of certain working and middle class populations "threatened" by newcomers; o the growth of criminal opportunities; and o possibly, influence of the media. Under different community conditions, different types of gang problems appear to develop. Examples are the following: Violent youth gang subcultures often develop when gang-affiliated African-American and Hispanic youth move from central cities to smaller cities and suburban areas without adequate social, family, economic, and educational supports. Violent gang subcultures may also develop when new waves of poor immigrants from Mexico, Central America, the Pacific Islands, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Korea, the Philippines, and other Asian countries arrive in urban communities. The newcomer groups are often met with hatred and resentment, sometimes manifested in physical attacks. Gangs may form and become rapidly entrenched, first as defensive, and then as offensive groups. Furthermore, in ghetto, inner-city African- American, and Hispanic communities, a limited criminal opportunity system often develops. Gangs in these communities may change from status- oriented, conflict groups to highly predatory, criminal-gain groups. Over time, sophisticated instrumental rather than traditional or status- oriented youth gangs may develop, with special interest in drug trafficking and other economic criminal activity. There are variations in the gang problem by race/ethnicity, class, and newcomer status. In some communities across the country, particularly in the western States but increasingly elsewhere, the influx of low-income and working- class Pacific-Islander and Asian groups -- e.g., Tongan, Filipino, Hong Kong, Korean, Vietnamese, Laotian, or Cambodian -- has resulted in other varieties of youth gang problems. Second-generation youths, those who were born in this country or who arrived as preteens, may seek protection, prestige, and income through gang membership. Some of these gangs adopt African-American or Hispanic gang patterns; others become closely connected to traditional ethnic-based, adult criminal organizations. Criminal activities can include home invasions, business extortion, robbery, rape, intimidation, and a range of racket activities. These newcomer youth gangs, and the Asian communities upon which they prey, are difficult for local law enforcement, schools, and community organizations to penetrate or influence because of cultural, communication, and trust problems. Growing economic, social, and cultural pressures can contribute to the development of youth gangs. Some blue-collar or middle class communities are characterized by growing economic, social, and cultural pressures as well as by increasing family or personal disorganization. Some of these formerly stable, predominately white communities have become centers for youth groups with a "nothing to lose attitude." Youth gangs or their equivalent such as Satanic, Stoner, punk rocker, hate, Neo-Nazi, or racist Skinhead groups may participate in a wide range of loosely organized criminal acts, charac- terized by perverse and negative behavior, including vandalism, drug use, homosexual assaults, and even homicides. Additionally, in certain stable, lower middle class communities, whether African-American, Latino, Pacific Islander, Asian, white, or Native American, the gang problem may assume a more organized and usually less violent character. Youth may become relatively more involved in extortion, car theft, burglary, robbery, sophisticated drug trafficking, and various lucrative quasi-racket activities which are not necessarily conducted in the "home communities." Legitimate business and criminal interests may be relatively well integrated. Furthermore, specialization of criminal youth gang patterns by race and ethnicity seemingly exists. Economic, social, and cultural factors may, in fact, be the cause. Thus, some African-American youth gang or clique members may be heavily engaged in street-level crack-cocaine trafficking; Mexican- American youth gang members may be relatively more involved in violent turf-based activity, and Asian gang members may be more mobile and closely related to adult crime organizations involved in crimes such as extortion, robbery, and international drug trafficking. However, these youth gang subcultures also exist side-by-side, interact, integrate with, or succeed each other over time. In some communities youth gangs are interracial and interethnic. Violence projected by the media may exacerbate the problem. In spite of the many and changing varieties of gang subcultures that can be found, a common denominator among them is that most of these groups are comprised of youth who share somewhat similar values and a keen sense of personal failure and low self-esteem. For many gang youth, violence has become an acceptable way of life, partially sanctioned by the larger society. Violence is seen on nightly newscasts, in the movies, on evening television and Saturday morning cartoons, and encouraged by certain "rap" stars. Violence is projected as a means of resolving authority, low self-esteem, and racial/ethnic problems. Discussion of Terms and Issues (See also Appendix B Glossary) Key components of the problem are the youth gang, youth gang member, and the gang incident. It is important to accurately identify key components of the youth gang problem in order not to exaggerate, deny, or mythologize them. This is necessary in order to develop appropriate policies and procedures to deal with the different or varying street gang problems and subcultures encountered. These components are: 1) the criminal youth gang, 2) the youth gang member, and 3) the gang incident. Gang-motivated violence is the key but not exclusive concern of the manual. The central focus of the manuals is control and reduction of gang-motivated violence. We are not primarily interested in ephemeral delinquent groups or in highly organized drug trafficking by groups concerned only with profit, although there are often important connections between these associations and the youth or street gang. However, we are concerned with predatory youth cliques or drug trafficking groups to the extent they participate in, depend on, and influence the development of violent gang activities. Youth gang members engage increasingly in both violent status-related and entrepreneurial or predatory criminal activities. If a youth group engages primarily in criminal entrepreneurial activity and participates periodically in serious violence, it falls within the scope of our concern. Our concern is also with differences between emerging and chronic gang problem communities and the need for prevention and especially early intervention services. 1. Criminal Youth Gang This is a group often comprising both juveniles and young adults in regular interaction with each other who engage in a range of social and antisocial behaviors. Cliques or members engage repetitively or at times spontaneously in violent, predatory, and criminal gain behaviors. The criminal youth gang may be located within a neighborhood or across neighborhoods and even cities. It may be loosely or well organized with established rules of conduct. The youth gang may have a name, turf, colors, signs, symbols, and distinctive dress. The youth gang often promotes mutual support among members and conflict with competing gangs or established authority. The traditional youth gang is turf-based and status-oriented, but other kinds of gangs have also developed. Many of these groups are traditional turf-based gangs. Traditionally, the primary function of the youth gang has been to establish or protect the group's reputation and status within a framework of shared or communal values. This continues to be true for many youth gangs today. Some youth gangs, however, do not display colors and are not primarily concerned with social status, but are more gain-oriented and more rationally organized. 2. The Youth Gang Member While the criminal youth gang includes some youth who conform primarily to conventional norms; many, however, engage in a range of criminal behaviors. The focus of concern is the youth gang member 12 to 24 years of age. Most gang participants are in the age range of 12 to 24 years, although some preadolescents as well as persons into their 50s have been reportedly engaged in gang activities. The most serious and violent gang activity, however, tends to be committed by older adolescents and young adults. Some gang members may join for a period as short as a day, a week, or a month; others are members for years. Some members move from low to high gang status, from less serious to more serious criminal gang behaviors, and vice versa, sometimes in different gangs. Fewer females than males are gang members. Far fewer females than males join youth gangs, although with the increase in number of gangs throughout the country more female members are probably involved in serious youth gang activities than in an earlier era. Available evidence indicates, however, that females usually join gangs later and leave earlier, and are usually involved in less violent or serious criminal behavior than males. About nine times as many males as females are arrested for gang crimes according to several studies. Less than one percent of gang homicide offenders are female. Attention needs to be directed to high-risk female gang members. Female members typically are in groups affiliated with male gangs. Sometimes females are integrated directly as members into the gang proper, and are less frequently involved in independent all-female criminal youth gangs. In a few cities, there is some recent evidence that females have assumed leadership roles in certain gang or criminal group activities, such as drug trafficking. Special attention needs to be directed at high-risk female gang members who are likely to be physically and sexually victimized, or who induce or facilitate male gang member assaults against other gangs. Traditional gangs may have different type of members: identifiable leaders, core, regular, associate, soldier, peripheral, wannabe, floater, veteran, or old-head. The presence and definition of these categories of gang members, however, may be quite variable or defined differently in communities across the country. Of special interest, for purposes of control and prevention are two categories of gang youth: 1) the more serious, hardcore, often older gang youths; and 2) the younger, high-risk, often less committed gang youths. Different types of gang members should be carefully identified. Agencies need to carefully identify gangs and gang members. This process should depend on use of multiple criteria such as gang member self- admission, statements by reliable witnesses, verification by a second independent agency source, prior police records, and the youth's regular association with a known gang member. Participation by the youth in certain serious gang-motivated criminal incidents such as drive-by shootings must ordinarily precipitate a gang member identification process for gang suppression and intervention purposes. 3. The Gang Incident A gang incident is the unit for classifying and reporting an event as a gang crime, especially for law enforcement purposes. Reported gang incidents become the basis for determining whether a gang problem exists, for assessing its scope, and thereby the nature and extent of the community response to it. Different definitions of the gang incident exist. The gang homicide is usually the key and most reliable measure of the seriousness of gang crime. However, identification of gang incidents, e.g., homicide, assault, or robbery, is neither a simple nor a standard procedure. Two different procedures or variations of them, are currently employed to determine whether a gang incident has occurred and should be recorded for law enforcement, and, consequently, public policy purposes. o Gang-Motivated The gang-motivated definition focuses on the nature of the criminal act. In this procedure, according to the Chicago Police Department, a criminal act is defined as a gang incident if it grows out of gang motivation, interest, or specific circumstances that enhance the status or function of the gang. These acts include: intergang violence, gang retaliation, turf protection, intimidation, robbery, recruitment, or other criminal activity that affects the gang's reputation or interests as a whole. One or more members of the gang may be involved as a suspect, witness, offender, or victim in these circumstances. In classifying the incident, focus is on the nature of the specific situation in which the illegal act occurs, such as a drive-by shooting or the yelling of a gang slogan in the course of the crime. Crimes such as burglary, car theft, prostitution, and drug trafficking by a gang member are problematic because it is hard to determine whether the act is gang-motivated. Many criminal acts serve individual member needs unrelated to gang interests. On the other hand, seemingly individual or self-serving crimes by gang or aspiring gang youth may be gang-motivated. For example, a youth may be required or feel compelled to commit a particular property or person crime because of pressures by the gang. o Gang-Related The gang-related definition focuses on identification of the criminal suspect as a gang member. This procedure, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, is based on the characterization of a crime or delinquent act as a gang incident when the suspect, offender, or victim is a gang member, regardless of gang motivation or circumstances. Usually any serious criminal act, especially of a violent, predatory, or drug trafficking nature, in which a gang member is involved, can be classified as a gang incident. For example, the crime of a gang member who steals from a store -- even though that act has nothing directly to do with his gang membership -- would be classified as a gang-related incident. (See Appendix B for a discussion of mixed situations and erroneous classification of group delinquency as gang crime.) o Which Definition to Use The narrow gang-motivated definition avoids excessive labelling. The argument in favor of using the gang-motivated definition is that it focuses sharply on the circumstances of the incident rather than the identification of the individual as a gang member. It may be more precise and valid than the gang- related definition. It withstands court challenges better. It also avoids excessive labelling or exaggeration of the gang problem. The counter-argument is that the gang-motivated definition minimizes the actual scope of the gang crime problem. It may encourage organizational or community denial of the problem. A key assumption of the proponents of the gang-related definition is that a gang member is likely to engage in a wide range of serious crimes because gang membership predisposes him or her to do so. Evidence for this argument is not substantial, however. The gang-related definition may be more useful to criminal justice officials. Police and prosecutors generally believe that it is desirable to identify gang members and their activities as completely as possible. Police are particularly concerned that the full range of criminal activities of the gang member be available for efficient tracking and investigation purposes. We recommend a procedure that avoids excessive labelling of youth but ensures protection of the community. A gang-incident procedure should be devised that records and distinguishes between gang-motivated and nongang-motivated crime committed by the gang member. All serious criminal incidents by repeat gang offenders should be clearly "flagged" on criminal justice computer systems. An effective computerized information system permits use of either or both procedures to track gang-motivated incidents and gang member crime. 4. Gang Problem Contexts, Chronic and Emerging Emerging and chronic gang problem contexts may require different suppression and intervention approaches. With the growth and spread of the youth gang problem, a twofold categorization of the problem context has come into use: Chronic and Emerging. Our manuals stress the differences in these contexts as a basis for the development of distinctive strategies, policies, and procedures for gang suppression and intervention. Simply put, a more preventive or early intervention approach may be required in the emerging gang problem context, while a more elaborate and formalized suppression, intervention, and prevention approach may be necessary in the chronic context. o Chronic Gang Problem Context The gang problem has had a longer history and is usually better organized and more severe in the chronic context. This organizational or community context is characterized by persistent or periodic crises of major gang member violence and sometimes related drug trafficking extending over a five- to ten-year or more period, or even decades. Youth gangs are usually better organized in such communities which are often located in larger or older cities. These contexts are likely to be found in impoverished, ghetto, or transitional areas or ports of entry of inner cities, although they are increasingly found in smaller cities and suburban communities. o Emerging Gang Problem Context The gang problem is recent, less well organized, but sometimes very serious in the emerging context. This organizational or community context is characterized by less well organized and persistent but at times serious forms of gang violence and gang member drug trafficking. The gang problem has usually been present and/or recognized for five years or less. To some extent, the development and spread of the problem may be traced to the influence of new settlers or gang crime entrepreneurs -- for example, drug traffickers -- from chronic problem cities or contexts. Youth gangs in emerging problem areas tend to be fewer in number and most often evolve out of local delinquent, sometimes social groups under deteriorating economic or social situations for minority, newcomer, or socially isolated populations. The distinction between the concepts of chronic and emerging gang problem communities, however, are not sharp. Indicators related to the onset of the problem, its duration, degree of gang organization, severity of gang violence and related gang member drug trafficking, as well as the appropriate response to the problem(s) are not neatly categorized by the terms "chronic" and "emerging." Emerging gang problem communities may develop into chronic; and chronic gang problem communities may go through periods of sharply diminished gang activity before the problem reemerges. Different parts of a community or jurisdiction may be characterized by different stages or degrees of severity of the problem at a given time. 5. Variability of Violent Gang, Drug Trafficking, and Crime Problems It is important to understand that, despite media and law enforcement claims, youth gangs involved in gang violence are not necessarily involved in drug trafficking. A direct and causal relationship between youth gangs and drug trafficking has not yet been demonstrated. Some communities that have high levels of youth gang violence may have relatively low levels of drug trafficking; other communities with high levels of drug trafficking may have low levels of youth gang activity. We observe that over the last several years, Los Angeles and Chicago, with the highest levels of gang homicide in the country and very high levels of drug trafficking, report that less than five percent (5%) of gang homicides are associated with drug trafficking. Drug trafficking appears to be related to serious violent street gang behavior only in a limited sense. Drug trafficking, nevertheless, may succeed and may under certain conditions serve either to diminish or increase patterns of youth gang violence. High levels of general crime and gang crime are not necessarily closely associated. Finally, high levels of general criminality in a community do not necessarily indicate high levels of gang activity. Some cities with the highest levels of youth homicide and drug trafficking may have relatively limited youth gang activity. 6. Prevention Secondary prevention is included in the manuals' perspective. The focus of this and the other technical assistance manuals in our Research and Development program is on issues of intervention and suppression in contexts where the gang problem is clearly present. Here, prevention refers mainly to secondary forms of prevention, or early intervention, which reduces the likelihood that the highly gang-prone or the younger gang member will commit or continue to commit gang crimes. This is to be accomplished through effective controls, direct treatment or services, and provision of legitimate opportunities. In our conception, prevention requires change and development both by the individual youth as well as his or her social environment. Most youth from low-income and social problem- ridden communities are not involved in delinquent gang activities. Finally, we note that a simple prevention model that emphasizes exclusive concern with younger youth may be unsuccessful. Such a model does not take into consideration system effects, including the extensive socialization effects of older youth on "wannabe" or younger youth. All key components of the problem need to be systematically addressed. Approach to the Problem Different strategies of suppression and intervention have been identified. The manuals specify five major lines of action or strategies: community mobilization, opportunities provision, suppression, social intervention, and organizational change and development. These strategies must be combined in different ways depending on the problem context, the specific mission of the organization, and the kind of youth targeted for special attention. 1. Community Mobilization Community mobilization is critically important. Community mobilization is a necessary and primary strategy in socially disorganized communities. Social disorganization, which contributes to the development of criminal youth gangs, may be characterized by the inability of legitimate institutions such as home, school, and employment, to adequately socialize youth. It may also be characterized by limited networking among agencies or the fragmentation of criminal justice or community service delivery systems, within and across communities. Both local and Federal interests must be mobilized for the development of collaborative community and interagency activities directed at the control and reduction of the youth gang problem. In times of limited local community resources, agency consortia efforts are essential. These should include the full and productive use of combined local, State, and Federal resources; application of moral and political pressures; and participation by the local citizenry. (See also General Community Design and Community Mobilization manuals.) 2. Opportunities Provision The opportunities provision strategy focuses on the importance of education, training, and jobs for high-risk gang-prone and gang member youth. The provision of additional social opportunities, i.e., the development of a variety of targeted educational, training, and employment programs, is the second most important component over the long term for the reduction and prevention of the youth gang problem, particularly in chronic contexts. The schools need to provide remedial and enriched educational programs for gang-prone and hardcore gang youths. Education, training, and jobs are especially critical for older gang youth still in gangs who are not in school but who are at "positive risk" at a certain point in their social maturation for leaving the gangs, or for decreased participation in criminal gang activity. A key objective of these programs should be developing socially competent youth, whether in or out of school. (See School and Employment manuals.) 3. Social Intervention Social intervention is based on an "outreach" and linkage approach of gang youth to the conventional society. Youth-serving agencies and grassroots community groups must "reach out" and act as a link between gang youth and the conventional world. Staff or adult volunteers of these organizations must develop meaningful relationships with these youth. Community-based youth agencies should facilitate access to pertinent opportunity systems and exercise social controls that contribute to the socialization of gang youth. Special efforts are also required to coordinate services for these youth. (See Community-Based Youth Agency manual.) 4. Suppression The strategy of suppression is defined in broad social control terms and requires more than the involvement of criminal justice agencies. Social control procedures, particularly those of criminal justice, but also of community-based agencies, are essential for community protection and the prevention and reduction of the problem. Youth gang suppression involves not only law enforcement but a variety of other agencies and community groups in the targeting, monitoring, supervision, and if necessary, restraint of gang offenders. It also requires the anticipation, prevention, and limitation of the effects of gang crime in particular situations to protect both youth participants and the community. Criminal justice strategies must also include community mobilization, social intervention, and opportunities provision. Arrest, prosecution, imprisonment, and close supervision of gang youth are insufficient, however, unless joined with other community- oriented strategies to achieve long-term impact on the problem. This means that community-based agencies and local groups must accept and collaborate with criminal justice agencies in patrol, surveillance, and certain information- sharing under conditions that protect both youth and the community. Police, prosecution, and other criminal justice agencies must develop a variety of social intervention, opportunities, prevention, and community involvement programs to supplement their primary goal of suppressing gang crime. (See especially Police, Prosecution, and Probation manuals.) Furthermore, policymakers, administrators, and practitioners in the criminal justice system have a special responsibility to withstand pressures from the public and other units of the justice system to carry out an exclusive strategy of suppression to deal with the youth gang problem. 5. Organizational Change and Development Organizational development and change focuses on better use of internal agency resources to deal with the youth gang problem. Finally, the above strategies need to be appropriately organized based on the nature and scope of the problem in the community and the mission of the particular organization. Organizational development and change require better use and reallocation of available resources within agencies and neighborhoods. Common definitions, improved communication, resident involvement, and coordination within as well as across agencies and communities are also required. Both community mobilization and organizational development strategies, whether in emerging or chronic gang problem contexts, should be closely interrelated to create efficient and cohesive system arrangements for dealing with the gang problem. Targeting Targeting of certain communities, gang, and gang members is necessary to make the best use of limited resources for dealing with the problem. To conserve resources and most effectively deal with the youth gang problem, it is important to target certain communities, organizational contexts, gangs, and gang members or gang-prone youth. Special emphasis on community mobilization is required in both emerging and chronic gang communities. Opportunity provision must also be emphasized for chronic problem communities and contexts. Neighborhoods and organizations, particularly schools, experiencing serious gang problems, should be priority targets for suppression and intervention efforts. The most serious gang problem youths in the most violent gangs in the highest gang crime rate areas should be targeted first. High gang crime neighborhoods, certain types of gangs, and gang members should receive priority attention. Certain youth gangs or gang-like groups clearly committed to violent and serious criminal activity should receive priority attention. This is to avoid unnecessary labelling and widening the net of gang delinquency and crime through inappropriate criminal justice and community-based agency attention. It is important to concentrate resources on the heart of the present problem. Also, individual youth should be targeted in the following order of priority purposes: Key targets of community agency and grassroots attention should be leadership and core gang as well as high-risk gang-prone youths. o First, leadership and core gang youths -- to disrupt gang networks, protect the community, and facilitate the reintegration of these youths through community-based or institutional programming into legitimate pursuits; o Second, high-risk gang-prone youth who are often younger or aspiring gang members who give clear indication of beginning participation in criminal gang activities -- to prevent further criminal gang involvement through early intervention, preferably community-based services; and o Third, regular and peripheral gang members -- to generally address their needs for control and intervention services. Finally, a caution! The policies, procedures, and steps recommended in the manuals should be viewed as promising but as yet not systematically researched through field testing. Summary The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Justice Department, entered into a cooperative agreement with the School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, to conduct the National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program. The scope and seriousness of the problem was analyzed from both an organizational and community perspective. Models or prototypes were developed. Technical Assistance manuals were created that focussed on the implementation of policies and procedures in emerging and chronic gang problem communities and contexts. The manuals address the gang problem in terms of critical characteristics of the youth gang, its members and the way the problem is defined. Focus is on controlling, reducing, and preventing gang- motivated violent and serious criminal youth gang activity. The mission of suppression and intervention is specified as requiring five key strategies: community mobilization, opportunities provision, social intervention, suppression, and organizational change and development. Key targets of a program should be gang leaders and core members as well as high-risk gang-prone youth. This particular manual focuses on organizing local citizens and groups in a cooperative effort at the point of problem impact. I.S. ------------------------------ CHAPTER 2: YOUTH GANGS IN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS o Youth Gangs and the Correctional Mission o Purpose and Assumptions of this Document o Developing the Gang Suppression and Intervention Program o Summary Correctional institutions have a role in youth gang suppression and intervention. This technical assistance manual proposes guidelines for the design and implementation of youth gang suppression and intervention strategies and programs in correctional institutions. Although youth gang problems should ideally be addressed in the communities in which they originate or continue to occur, correctional institutions have an important role in the gang suppression and intervention process. Many of the more serious youthful gang offenders spend some period of time in training centers or prisons. Correctional activities are necessary to maintain order and to facilitate rehabilitation within the correctional facility and also to reduce the incidence of renewed gang offending once these youths return to the community. This manual focuses on serious gang offenders -- but it is applicable to other types of youthful offenders. While focus of this manual is on youth gang members, particularly older more serious youth gang offenders and the problems they pose, the approaches, policies, and procedures presented may be relevant also to other types of youthful offenders in corrections. The special attention prescribed for gang youths does not imply that less attention or fewer services are required for nongang youth. State correctional facilities are referred to but the manual is also applicable to other types of custodial correctional facilities. Furthermore, while the secure correctional setting or institution is generally emphasized in this manual, administrators of camps, residential treatment centers, half-way houses, and detention centers may also find this manual useful. Chapter 6 summarizes the special character of the gang problem in detention centers that requires modification of general examples and strategies for corrections. The manual is relevant to custodial facilities under the auspices of county and city youth authorities, Departments of Social Welfare, Children and Family Services, and Probations and Parole. Our focus is both on young adults as well as teenagers. The manual proposes a somewhat general set of procedures for gang problem analysis and program development. Each institution will have to develop a program appropriate to its distinct gang problem and resource situation. Youth Gangs and the Correctional Mission Four correctional mission responsibilities are identified. Correctional institutions have four responsibilities: 1) ensuring stable control of the facility; 2) separation of youthful offenders from the community as a sanction for their offenses, thus protecting the community from crime during their incarceration; 3) ensuring the physical, social, and mental well- being of youths while in the custody of the institution; and 4) providing services to youths that promote noncriminal adjustments within the institution and when they return to the community. Youth gang members pose special challenges to the correctional mission. Gang youths pose special challenges to these correctional mission responsibilities because of their organization, solidarity, and commitment to violent and criminal lifestyles. In extreme cases, youth gangs can usurp control of the facility; threaten the well-being of nongang youths and staff; conduct and coordinate serious crime within the institution and the community; and destroy the rehabilitative climate in the facility. Appropriate design and implementation of gang suppression and intervention activities are therefore essential. Purpose and Assumptions of this Document Aims of the document. The aims of this document are: o the enhancement of the ability of staff to control youth gang problems within the institution; o the development of correctional services that promote positive behavior change by gang youths; and o the strengthening of linkages between the institution and community agencies that contribute to achieving institutional mission responsibilities. Three sets of assumptions underlie the guidelines proposed in this manual: No single strategy works for all institutions. o First, no single strategy or type of program necessarily ensures success in the control of criminal gang behavior and also meets the social developmental needs of gang youths in all institutions. Still, certain promising principles and strategies can be identified. Suppression alone is not sufficient. o Second, a strategy of suppression is necessary, but alone it will not meet the mission responsibilities of the correctional institution. Successful programs include a combination and appropriate balance of organizational development, community mobilization (networking), social intervention, and opportunities provision as well as suppression to control and redirect gang youth behavior. Three levels of needs should be addressed: the individual, the organization, and the community. o Third, intervention programs should address three levels of institutional action: the problems and needs of individual gang youths; protection of the correctional institution as an organizational entity from the disruptive effects of gang activity; and development of an effective level of collaboration between the institution and community agencies and organizations to facilitate the gang youths' social reintegration into the conventional life of the community. This document focuses, however, mainly on the development of strategies and programs at the organizational level. It secondarily addresses policies and procedures at the individual and community levels. (More detailed suggestions for individual and community level strategies can be found in the technical assistance manuals for Probation, Parole, Schools, Employment, Community- Based Youth Agencies, and Community Mobilization). Developing the Gang Suppression and Intervention Program Six stages of program development. Designing a corrections program to address the youth gang problem is a six-stage process (See Figure 1 in Appendix C). The stages must deal with: 1) preassessment issues, 2) assessment and evaluation of the gang problem, 3) defining goals and objectives, 4) selecting strategies, 5) implementing the program, and 6) evaluation and modification of the program. Summary Correctional gang suppression and intervention programs are necessary to prevent and counteract the problems gangs can cause within the facility and to prepare gang youths for nongang functioning in the community. This manual outlines a six-stage process for the design of anti-gang programs. ------------------------------ CHAPTER 3: PREASSESSMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF THE CORRECTIONAL GANG PROBLEM o Stage 1 -- Preassessment Issues o Stage 2 -- Assessment o Summarize Assessment o Summary Development of a potentially successful gang suppression and intervention requires agreement among administrators and staff that a gang problem exists. It also requires an objective understanding of the specific characteristics of the problem. These can be accomplished by addressing certain preassessment issues followed by assessment of the gang problem in the correctional facility. Stage 1 -- Preassessment Issues Establish Consensus as to Whether a Gang Problem Exists Agreement must exist that a problem is present. Agreement must exist between an institution's staff and administrators that a gang problem exists. If there are different views among administrators and/or staff on the existence of a problem or what to do about it, the following steps should be taken: Methods of developing consensus to study the problem. o collect and share data on the number of gang youths in the institution; o clarify the type and frequency of behavior problems by youths related to gang involvement; and o conduct formal and informal meetings between administrators and staff to discuss their experiences with gang youths in the institution. Lack of agreement among administrators and staff can result in denial of a gang problem, when a problem in fact is present. Such denial can lead to serious levels of the problem at a later stage. On the other hand, consensus on the view that a problem exists when it does not can create a variety of other problems, including a waste of resources. Establish an Assessment and Planning Group Use a staff committee to assess the problem. If a gang problem appears to be present, an assessment and planning committee should be established. Administrators and staff from the different operational units should be represented. Leadership of this group should probably be assigned to the person(s) most likely to be in charge of the implementation of the program developed. (See Figure 2 in Appendix C and the discussion on "Centralized Administration" under Organizational Development below). Representatives of other criminal justice and community groups should also be consulted to provide information and advisory assistance on the gang problem. This will be useful in assessment of the problem and, for early involvement of these advisory individuals and groups, will facilitate their support and cooperation later during program implementation. The assessment group should establish a task agenda and time lines for completing the assessment and presenting it recommendations. Figure 2 provides an example of how this assessment committee might be organized. Establish Definitions of Youth Gangs, Members, and Gang Behavior Preliminary definitions of gang, gang members, and gang behavior are needed. Before assessment of the gang problem is undertaken, preliminary definitions of what a youth gang is, who gang members are, and what comprises gang behavior should be identified. This will help avoid exaggeration of the gang problem and prevent misclassification of nongang youth groups as gangs. These definitions can be modified when more systematic data have been collected. These definitions should be in writing. (See Introduction and Appendix B for suggested descriptions and definitions.) Stage 2 -- Assessment What the assessment should do. Assessment (i.e., the collection and evaluation of relevant information) determines whether there is a gang problem, the types of behaviors involved, and their causes. Assessment identifies what behaviors must be addressed through program goals and objectives. The assessment should also determine the resources available to meet the needs of the gang suppression and intervention program. Collecting Assessment Information Collect reliable information from a variety of sources. The information collected should be objective, reliable, and quantifiable. Where subjective information such as the opinions of correctional personnel and others is used, it must be validated by the opinions and observations of independent informants and other data systems. Sources of assessment information include: o census of type of youths, including gang youths, in the custody of the institution; o institutional incident and discipline reports on individual gang youth behavior; o interviews and input from staff representing all units of the facility; o interviews with and input from gang and nongang youths; and o criminal and social histories and reports developed on these youths from police, court, probation, parole, and correctional agency sources as well as from community-based agencies and grassroots organizations to the extent possible. What to Assess Different dimensions of the problem should be examined. The following characteristics of the problem should be assessed: o The organizational and behavioral characteristics of gangs in the facility; o the aspects of gang behavior that are threatening; o the chronic versus emerging character of the gang problem in both the institution and the community; o the causes of the problem; o the institutional mission responsibilities to be fulfilled and which may be at risk; o the institutional resources available and needed, e.g., staff capability, services, facilities; and Detailed information on the gang problem should be gathered as outlined below: 1. Characteristics of the Institution's Gang Youth The specific characteristics of the gang youths in custody should be identified. Minimally this should include: o number of gang youths in the institution (current and projected); o their personal and social characteristics; o scope and seriousness of gang and nongang youth offense histories in the community; o identification of causes of individual youth's original and current gang involvement. Number of gang youths. A census of the number of current (and expected) gang youths in the facility provides information for determining the volume of services, personnel, and other resources required for gang programs. The larger the number or the percentage of gang youths in the population, the greater the need to develop gang-specific programs in the facility. Offense, personal, and social characteristics of gang youths determine the kind of control and social service strategies required. Offense characteristics of gang youths. The offense patterns of gang youth provide guidance on the types of supervisory, program, and housing strategies required to address risks of gang offending and disruption of the facility. Distinctions should be made among gang youths who are at low, moderate, and high risk, and their respective percentages in the general prevention of youth in the facility for causing serious problems in the institutions. Supervisory strategies should be based on these characteristics. Offense history assessment should identify: o the pattern of offense history (i.e., violent, property crime, drugs, etc.); o history of adjudications and convictions; o history of parole violations and history of institutional adjustment; and o specific gang affiliation and membership status (e.g., leaders, core, fringe). Personal and social characteristics. The range and types of social services and opportunities needed by gang youth should be based on their: o age o sex o race/ethnicity o social class o educational attainment and educational needs o employment background and skills, training and employment needs o available family structure and support system The categories of gang youths distinguished should include: different gangs represented; younger versus older age groups; youths with serious versus nonserious offense histories, including violent, drug, other, or mixed offense patterns; and gang youths with special educational, training, job placement, and specialized rehabilitation or counseling needs. Subgroups of gang youths can be targeted for differential supervision, social services, educational, and training or job opportunities. Priorities in the allocation of resources to the different groups may have to be made. 2. Chronic and Emerging Gang Contexts Identify the chronic and emerging patterns of gang activity. Whether the gang context is chronic, emerging, or changing has different consequences for how to deal with the problem. Chronic gang contexts will require more structured and comprehensive suppression and intervention activities than will emerging gang problem contexts. As indicated above, a chronic gang context is one in which gangs are organized and entrenched in the particular institution: they have been present for a long period of time and gang values or ideologies are well developed. Institutional facilities, services, and resources are often insufficient or not organized to meet the needs of gang youths in different types of problem contexts. In emerging gang problem contexts, gangs and gang members are relatively fewer in number and less organized. Gang values and ideologies are not well developed. Institutional resources and services may be available in emerging gang context, but may not be effectively delivered to youths at risk for gang involvement. (Also see description of different types of Gang Problem Contexts in the Introduction to this manual). Specific questions that should be asked. Answers to the following questions should assist in identifying the character of the gang context: o How many youth gangs are present? o How long have they been active in the institution? o What percentage of the total youth population are gang members? o How many are identifiable leaders, core members, regular, and fringe or wannabe members? o What is the age distribution of gang members? o Has there been a history of gang violence, trafficking in drugs and contraband in the institution? o What are the current gang related nuisance problems such as gang dress and colors, loitering, verbal harassment in the institution? A profile of the current problem should be developed. 3. Current Gang Problems Based on answers to these questions, Table 1, Appendix C, indicates whether the institution has a chronic or emerging gang problem. Mixed patterns of response may suggest that the problem is changing from one type of context to another. Assessment of the chronic/emerging context of the problem identifies the general issues that a gang suppression and intervention program will address. But, the specific gang problems that occur in the correctional facility -- e.g., gang rivalry, recruitment of members, and overt conflict with institutional staff -- can vary over time. Therefore, the specific characteristics and dynamics of current problems must also be identified, with careful determination made as to how much of the problem is specifically gang- related as opposed to nongang-related. Attention should be given to identifying the particular gang motives and purposes that may underlie current problems of social order in the institution. (Table 2, Appendix C, provides examples of current gang problem characteristics.) The combination of characteristics that best describes the institution's current gang conflict should be presented in the form of a written profile that specifies: o the salient criminal or social-order problems occurring in the institution, i.e., drugs, intimidation, fighting; o the individuals, groups, and program areas that are the targets of gang activity; o the degree of organization of the gang(s) involved; o other characteristics of gang youths related to the current gang problem; and o characteristics of the institution itself, or its staff that precipitate gang problems. 4. Causes of Gang Problems Causes of the problem should be identified. Gang problems have causes. Causes of gang problems should be identified as a basis for the development of appropriate strategies and programs. Categories and examples of causes of gang behavior are listed in Table 3, in Appendix C: a) Problems in youth gang population relationships including turf rivalry, member recruitment, competition between different gangs over control of contraband and illegal activities, interracial and ethnic conflicts involving African-American, Asian, Hispanic, and white youths; and intragang leadership and status conflicts. b) Problems related to deficits in the personal and social development of gang youths including inadequate educational development, employment training, and job placement experiences prior to their institutional stay. Social development of youths may also have been hindered by inadequate family socialization and support. The gang serves as a means of status achievement for youths with defective personal and social developmental histories. c) Institutional deficits including overcrowding, lack of adequate services, educational, and vocational programs; inadequately trained staff and staff shortages, staff racism; rapid policy and rule changes; and overly repressive and depriving correctional environments. d) Causes of problems emanating from the community including gang or racial and ethnic conflicts between gangs in the streets that spill over to the institution. Also communication between gang youths in the institution and those in the community facilitate illegal activities such as delivery of drugs and contract violence. Information regarding these causes can be obtained from several sources: official intelligence, input from gang and nongang youths, staff observations and reports, and case histories of gang youths. The identified causes should be ranked, taking care not to exaggerate problems as strictly due to intergang rivalry. The following should not be ignored or minimized: institutional deficits, community issues, and the developmental histories of youths. 5. Correctional Resources The adequacy of staff and institutional resources must be ascertained. Staff characteristics and institutional resources must be identified since their inadequacy or inappropriate use can contribute to the gang problem, e.g., insufficient supervision, overcrowded facilities, and poor services. Staff and resource deficits that contribute to the gang problem are targets for change. The following kinds of questions have to be raised: a) The adequacy of resources - Are there sufficient facilities and program resources to meet youth correctional needs for supervision, treatment, and adequate living accommodations? - Does the central correctional authority provide relevant policy as well as fiscal support? b) The appropriateness of resources - Do resources address the needs of the youth population or is there a mismatch between youth service needs and available resources? For example, do educational and vocational training programs target the specific needs of youth? - Are the attitudes and interpersonal relationships or skills of staff appropriate to the counseling and control needs of the youth population? c) The patterns of resource use and deployment - Are resources allocated according to priority needs in the management, control, and programming for youths? For example, are too many resources directed at supervision and security and not enough to adequate housing or vocational training? The inadequacy and inappropriateness of resources that contribute to gang problems must be addressed in the program design. Table 4, Appendix C, provides a check list of some of the key resources required for adequate institutional management of incarcerated gang youths. Overcrowding creates serious resource problems. Overcrowding imposed by severe resource constraints facilitates gang problems in the institution. Gang youth and other youth feel more deprived and become more alienated. Overcrowding also handicaps staff supervision and service provision, and limits the options of correctional institutions in the design and implementation of effective gang suppression programs. Temporary and not fully adequate alternatives to overcrowding include: transfer of some youths to less crowded facilities, assignment of less serious offenders to community-based programs, and early parole or release of the most eligible youths. The feasibility of any of these alternatives is also dependent on available resources as well as policy and political support of the parent agency, the parole/release authority, and the public. The development of strategies and tactics to secure support and resources for reduction of overcrowding should be part of the gang suppression and intervention program design. 6. Institutional Responsibilities at Risk Institutional responsibilities threatened by gang problems. The basic purpose of the gang program is to reduce the negative effects of gang activity on mission responsibilities (e.g., control of the institution, crime prevention, ensuring the well being of youths, and providing rehabilitative services). Assessment should determine the extent to which each of the mission responsibilities is threatened by gang problems. The risks identified become the areas for which goals and objectives should be set for program development and improvement. a) Staff control issues, particularly in chronic gang problem contexts, require priority attention. Institutional security and order and the reliability of personal services for youths (food, housing, medical) are essential. Without staff control, provision of quality counseling, educational, and vocational services is difficult or impossible. Evidence of staff control problems includes: staff fear of youths, reluctance to intervene in incidents of negative youth behavior, and undue youth influence in institutional programs and routines. b) The well-being of youths is threatened when youths give evidence of fear of gangs, physical assaults, and loss of material possessions through theft and intimidation by gang members. c) Crime control failures are evidenced by gang threats, high rates of assault and theft, and the proliferation of contraband, drugs, and weapons possession related to the activities of gangs within the institution. d) The rehabilitative climate of correctional facilities is threatened when there are low levels of trust between staff and youth, stress and tension among the youth population, lack of youth participation in programs, and by the activities of gangs. Summarize Assessment Summarize assessment results. The assessment findings should be summarized to define the particular correctional institution's gang problem as specifically as possible, including its characteristics; its causes; determination of whether it's chronic or emerging; resource availability; and how the gang problem effects the institution's responsibilities. The assessment should lead directly to the development of program goals, objectives, and the selection of appropriate suppression and intervention strategies. Examples of the relation of assessment elements to possible strategies are: Extent and seriousness of the gang problem. Institutions with emerging gang situations should place moderate to high emphasis on organizational development; and low to high emphasis on the other categories of strategies. Institutions with chronic and serious gang situations should place high emphasis on each of the five general strategies of suppression and intervention (suppression, opportunities provision, social intervention, organizational development, and community organization). Resource deficits and needs. Improvement in the adequacy and appropriateness of resources must be given priority, particularly in institutions with the most serious gang situations. More resources are probably needed to initiate large-scale gang suppression and intervention activities. In resource-poor institutions, better use and deployment of available resources can, within limits, improve staff's ability to prevent and reduce gang problems. Targets for the Gang Suppression and Intervention Program. Specific characteristics of the gang problem should be targeted. Using information obtained in the assessment, the priority targets for program attention should be selected from the following: o violent and criminal behaviors of gang members; o those organizational characteristics of the gang that contribute its cohesion; and o the specific causes of the gang problem. The relationship between key aspects of the problem, and what has caused them will provide the rationale and basis for selecting particular strategies of suppression and intervention. Summary The development of a gang suppression and intervention program in a correctional institution, requires staff agreement that a gang problem exists. Creation of a staff assessment team of administrators and supervisors, and preliminary consensus on definitions of what gangs, gang members, and gang behavior are necessary. The assessment should determine the characteristics of the current problem, whether it's chronic versus emerging context, the specific characteristics of the youth gangs in the facility, available resources and staff requirements, and identification of the specific risk to each of the institution's mission responsibilities. The interrelation of the assessment elements determines the basis for the design and implementation of the gang suppression and intervention program. ------------------------------ CHAPTER 4: DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING THE GANG PROGRAM o Stage 3 -- Action Objectives o Stage 4 -- Selecting and Operationalizing Strategies o Stage 5 -- Program Implementation Planning o Summary Goals and objectives for the gang program must be established based on assessment conclusions. A balanced and appropriate set of strategies of suppression and intervention should be selected to achieve goals and objectives. Detailed planning and implementation should then be carried out by a gang coordination group. Stage 3 -- Action Objectives Develop long- and short-range objectives from the assessment conclusion. The statement of relationships between gang problems, causes, and targets for suppression and intervention should be used to establish long- and short-range objectives of what should be done, where, and by whom. Requirements for long-range objectives. Each long-range objective must identify a specific gang-related problem that will be addressed over a period of a year or two. They should include five dimensions: 1) the specific gang behaviors or problems that require control or prevention; 2) the results to be achieved; 3) the specific gang motives, gang characteristics, and gang problem causes that will be targeted to achieve the results; 4) the specific strategies, including activities, policies, etc., that will be used to address the targeted behavior or key aspects of the problem; and 5) finally, the institutional responsibility(s) that will thereby be met by that objective. Short-range objectives should be developed for each long-range objective. Short-range objectives for each long-range objective must be defined next. These are the targets, activities, timelines, etc., that must be achieved to accomplish longer range objectives. Short-range objectives can be defined for periods of a few days to several months. See Exhibit 1, Appendix C, for an example of a long-range objective and related short-range objectives. Figure 3 in Appendix C, illustrates the sequence of steps involved in developing, evaluating, and revising both long- and short-range objectives. Stage 4 -- Selecting and Operationalizing Strategies The specific strategies of gang suppression and intervention selected must facilitate the achievement of program objectives. A combination of strategies, appropriate for the objectives, should be selected from the following five categories of suppression and intervention strategies: organizational development, community mobilization and networking, suppression, opportunities provision, and social intervention. Organizational development is the most important class of strategies in the correctional institution because it is a closed setting and successful application of the other strategies requires a well-organized, creative, and coordinated correctional staff and resources. 1. Organizational Change and Development Organizational development is an extremely important strategy. This set of strategies involves the creation of appropriate policies, mechanisms, and procedures for purposes of: administrative control and coordination; the systematic use of information to guide the procedural process; and recruitment, training, and allocation of staff and use of space. The components of the organizational development strategy include: Centralized program administration and coordination around the gang problem are essential, especially in larger institutions. o Centralized administration and coordination. This ensures that a consistent approach is implemented. As indicated above, in larger institutions with more serious gang problem situations, an administrative assessment committee should take responsibility for design of the program. This committee should then be converted to a special gang coordination unit directly responsible for the antigang activities of the various operational units of the institution (school, housing, treatment, etc.). It is critical that the coordinating unit and the operations/service components of the facility be well integrated. Figure 4 provides two examples of how the gang coordinating unit can be organized and integrated with operations/service units. o Overall management approaches. Systematic schemes to manage the youth gang population and to coordinate staff should be carefully decided upon and developed. Management schemes -- mainstreaming. Mainstream gang youths. Gang youths should be involved in the same programs and services as nongang youths (mainstreamed) to the extent possible. Program services and residential assignments should be based on individual youth service and security needs as delinquent or criminal youths not gang membership per se. Gang membership should be used as an additional and important but not exclusive focus for correctional suppression and intervention. Gang youths benefit from general involvement in quality institutional programs and services. Mainstreaming also reduces special status which can inadvertently be provided because of gang membership. In some correctional facilities, mainstreaming may not be appropriate for some gang youths where their gang-related behavior, i.e., intimidation and recruitment of nongang youths or other program disruption, cannot be managed within the normal treatment, service, and housing program of the facility. Separate residential housing and pro- gramming may be necessary in such circumstances. This gang management option should be used with extreme caution. Concentrating difficult to manage gang youths in the same programs and housing facilities can facilitate consolidation of negative gang problems. If this alternative is necessary, the time period for its use should be limited. Management schemes -- coordination. Staff service coordination. The control and change of gang youths' behavior is dependent on the availability of a gang-knowledgeable and skilled staff whose efforts are well coordinated. How best to integrate and coordinate staff should be deliberately considered. One traditional model is the individual treatment model in which each staff functional category -- i.e., counselors, residential supervisors, teachers, etc. -- carry out their responsibilities separately with respect to individual youths, with little overlap or sharing of duties. If the gang culture in the institution is weak or youths can be isolated from it, this traditional bureaucratic approach can be effective. One disadvantage of this type of organization is that there may be little consistent linkage between different types of staff. A second model is the staff team approach in which staff representing different service functions -- i.e., counselors, teachers, and residential supervisors -- are assigned integrated responsibility for specific groups of youths by specific residential location. This approach is probably more useful in chronic gang problem institutional contexts. Each multifunctional team becomes familiar with a specific group of youths and shares responsibility not only for service provision, but supervision or social control. This approach ensures continual communication between different types of staff, and frequent collective staff interaction with gang youths in particular residential, program, and recreational situations. Staff learn to support each other in relation to particular gang youths; become directly and intimately familiar with the behavior and adjustment of youths in particular program areas; and provide youths with a continuity of influences and expectations within and across areas of institutional life (see Figure 4 in Appendix C). Establish internal gang intelligence program monitoring and evaluation systems. o Intelligence, monitoring, and evaluation are essential for service and program effectiveness. Knowledge of potential and existing gang problems within the correctional facility enables staff to prevent problems and when they occur, to proactively respond to them. An intelligence system can be created based on data collected through program and housing unit log books, formal and informal inputs from youths and staff, selective monitoring of youth phone calls, mail and visits, and reliable information obtained from outside the institution. In addition, information on the processes and outcomes of the program should be routinely collected as a basis for monitoring and evaluation of strategies. Evaluation provides feedback on the impact of the program and on the extent to which objectives are being met and/or need to be modified. (see Stage 6: Evaluation, below). Explicit policies on gang behavior and consequences for rule violations are necessary. o Gang policies. The institution's stance on problem gang behaviors and how they will be managed should be described through a set of gang-specific policies. The more serious the gang problem, the more varied and explicit gang policies should be. Policies should classify and make distinctions between gang and nongang behaviors and how they will be managed in the different institutional settings: housing, work, education, recreation, etc. Staff training and incentives for minority staff recruitment o Staff recruitment and training. Qualified staff must be recruited and trained for security, teaching, counseling, and support staff functions. Recruitment of sensitive and qualified racial and ethnic minority staff should be a priority. Minority youth are disproportionately represented in correctional institutions located in rural and suburban communities which often have small or no residential minority populations from which to recruit minority staff. Recruitment programs offering special incentives, e.g., pay, housing, assistance with transportation, etc., may be required to attract minority staff from larger urban communities. Knowledge of minority cultures and behavioral patterns of gangs is essential. Staff should understand minority cultures and have a working knowledge of gang behavioral patterns, and issues that affect their adaptation to the correctional institution. Staff should have respect for and be able to establish rapport with gang youth, and be committed to high standards of professional conduct. Staff should not be easily intimidated. A staff training program is required to enhance and develop these staff attributes. o Volunteer corp. Community volunteers should be recruited and trained to provide mentoring, tutorial, recreational, and other services to augment staff efforts. Volunteers as positive models can facilitate the reintegration of gang youths into the correctional community. The central correctional administrator's office and other juvenile and justice agencies should be involved in planning. o Planning with the parent correctional agency and other criminal justice agencies. The parent correctional agency (e.g., State Department of Corrections or Youth Services) should be involved in initial program planning to deal with the local institution's gang problem. The specific facility administration should mobilize policy support and resources before the program design is completed and implemented. Early and on-going coordination and consultation with other related juvenile justice agencies and especially juvenile release and parole authorities are also important. 2. Community Mobilization (Networking) Linkages with other organizations and community agencies must be established. Networking can be viewed as an aspect of community mobilization and involves reaching out to local community organizations and governmental agencies to support and reinforce the antigang program of the institution. Communications and relationships should be established with police, probation, parole, court, community service agencies, educational and employment organizations, and grassroots groups where gang youths reside. Relationships must also be established with other State institutions and Federal authorities, such as the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Drug Enforcement Agency, since youth gang inmates are often transferred to and from institutions in other States. Share information across institutional and community boundaries. The following types of networking activities should be initiated. o A combined institutional, community, and justice intelligence system. It is important to establish a mechanism for the selective sharing of information with other criminal justice system and community agencies regarding gang activities inside and outside the institution which are often interrelated. An advisory group of these participating agencies should be established and, if feasible, a computerized gang information system developed particularly in chronic gang problem institutions and contexts. A gang intelligence officer or unit, as discussed under organizational development, should represent the correctional institution. Development of special information or community relations units. In larger correctional systems with chronic problems, it may be important to establish and coordinate special information or community relations units across particular State institutions and local community organizations as well as to mobilize community interest and resources that have suppression, rehabilitative, and community reintegration value. Such relationships promote control and change of gang youth behaviors both within the institutions and after release. o Types of information to be shared. Specific types of intelligence that might be shared include actual or rumored gang conflicts; problems resulting from changes in gang leadership that might spill over to the institution from the community or vice versa; the release of an important gang leader or member to the community; intercepted communications regarding criminal activity between institutionalized and community-based gang members, etc. Especially important are guidelines on the types of information that can be shared among criminal justice and community agencies. It is important to protect civil rights of youths and prevent due process violations (see Rapp, Stephens, and Clontz, 1989). Similarly, guidelines should be developed to facilitate lawful criminal investigation across criminal justice agencies. Management of cases of individual youth o Case management continuum. Collaborative case planning for the security of the institution and social service needs for individual gang youth by corrections staff should involve parole/aftercare staffs, police, prosecution, probation, and community agencies. Joint case planning with agencies provides a continuity of supervision, social intervention, and opportunities provision for each youth. This is particularly critical for youths approaching parole. For example, parole or aftercare counselors of such youths should visit the institution, and participate with correctional officials in parole planning and counseling. Collaborative case planning between institutional and parole/aftercare staffs should be systematic. a) It should be guided by a set of explicit guidelines identifying the tasks and requirements of both sets of staff, i.e., prerelease preparation for youths, the nature and timing of parole, aftercare staff prerelease planning visits with the youths, and development of a written release plan. b) Prerelease planning should be guided by a standardized, but realistic risk and treatment/service assessment of each gang youth, his or her risk for reinvolvement in gang and in other criminal activity, and social service and opportunity provision needs. These should be used to plan the level of aftercare supervision and services required to assist the youth in making a conventional adjustment in the community (See Exhibit 2 and 3 in Appendix C, for examples of risk and needs assessment instruments; also see Alschuler and Armstrong 1990, listed in the Bibliography, for a discussion of the need for a strong continuum of institutional and aftercare collaboration.) Interagency problems should be anticipated and resolved. o Reducing problems of interagency relationships. It is important to recognize that other agency representatives have expectations of the institution that may differ from those held by correctional facility staff. Reciprocally, correctional staff may have expectations of other agencies that differ from those of their staff. Conflicts in expectations occur for a variety of reasons including philosophical and policy differences, competition over resources, and resistance to infringement on agency domains. In order to network effectively, these conflicts must be openly confronted and resolved at frequent meetings with representatives of these agencies. Goodwill and perseverance by all concerned are required. 3. Suppression Suppression of negative behavior. Sanctions, penalties, and other tactics for containing negative gang behavior in the institution may be necessary. Suppression strategies and tactics include the following. o Control of gang criminal and antisocial activity: a) temporary confinement of gang youths; b) transfer of gang leaders and selected gang youths to other institutions; c) criminal prosecution of gang youths; d) curtailment of access by gang youths to general institutional programs; and e) crisis intervention between gangs in conflict including use of mediation techniques. o Prevention of general gang problem behavior and rule violations by: a) clearly defining undesired gang behaviors, penalties, and firmly administering discipline policies; b) segregating particular gang from nongang youths and/or generally dispersing gang youths among the youth population, depending on the characteristics of the population, available housing, and the nature of the problem; and c) using systems of graduated institutional supervision or control and program involvement for high-risk gang youths. o Dealing with organized criminal gangs by: a) separating gang leaders from gang members; b) exerting special pressure and control on gang leaders; c) discouraging fringe gang youths from gang involvement through denial of program privileges and/or special incentives to disaffiliate; d) special monitoring of youths who might engage in contraband trafficking; e) use of swift and severe penalties as appropriate for criminal activities; and f) transferring key gang members to other institutions. o Assuring due process by: a) establishing disciplinary grievance procedures; b) allowing youth input into the development of disciplinary policy; c) providing access by youth to outside civil rights groups and investigating authorities; and d) encouraging the development of positive, nongang-dominated, inmate self-help groups. 4. Social Intervention Dealing with the personal problems of gang youth and promoting social development. Social intervention is a strategy for dealing with the personal problems of gang youth and promoting social growth. Relevant procedures include risk and needs assessment, counseling, referral and planning, and positive group activities. o Risk and needs assessment. Assessment is required to determine each youth's risk of continued gang involvement and serious criminal behavior, and of his or her social, economic, educational, vocational, medical, and dental support, treatment, and opportunity needs. The assessments should be the basis of a plan to protect the institution and the youth him/herself as well as for assisting the gang youth to deal with those problems that hinder his or her social adaptation and growth. The diagnostic and treatment plan should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis. (See Exhibits 2 and 3; also discussion on Case Management Continuum in Community Mobilization section above.) Different techniques of social intervention are required. o Social intervention should include: a) Personal counseling for and with the youth for the purpose of: 1) value and behavioral change, and the development of rational and responsible thinking; 2) specifically discouraging gang involvement; 3) planning educational and vocational services; and 4) planning the youth's return to the community with the aid of his or her parole counselor. b) Family counseling that focuses on the gang youth's relationships with family members facilitates improved family communication and dealing with family member needs through referral to appropriate agencies. c) Crisis intervention during emergencies and linkage to needed community resources. d) Referral for medical and dental services and substance-abuse treatment. e) Instruction (or referral for instruction) in good habits of personal hygiene and appropriate sexual behavior. f) Structured encounters with victims of gang activity to instill responsibility in gang youths for their offenses. g) Positive group experiences, e.g., positive peer culture, therapeutic communities, and youth advisory groups. h) Recreational programs that are structured, well- supervised, and emphasize positive teamwork among youths. 5. Opportunities Provision Access to social opportunities by gang youth is essential to their pursuit of conventional lifestyles. Gang youths need both the availability of special academic, training, and job opportunities to meet their interests and needs. They also require the attitudes and skills to use these opportunities in order to pursue a legitimate and productive lifestyle. Opportunities provision includes the development of specific employment, educational, and training activities that build social competence while the youth is still in the institution. They include: o Education, e.g., a) programs that address both the rudimentary academic needs and the more advanced educational needs of youths (GED and college-level courses); and b) use of volunteer mentors and tutors to augment the efforts of academic staff and provide opportunities for role modeling. o Job Training and Placement. e.g., a) job aptitude determination and career orientation, job application skills, and apprenticeship programs; b) training in specific occupations, particularly for older youths; c) provision of suitable job experiences while in the institution including placement in community work settings; and d) creation of a job bank and placement system for gang youth released from the institution in collaboration with parole and community agencies. Selecting and Balancing Strategies Selecting the appropriate combination of program strategies for gang youth is complicated. Selection and use of different strategies of suppression and intervention should be done with care and thoughtfulness to maximize program benefits and to minimize negative side effects. Several issues should be considered: 1) Contrary effects. Suppression tactics, e.g., physical restraint and punishment, may not only threaten but sometimes augment the power of the gang and status of individual members. Social intervention and opportunities provision strategies should also be used in conjunction with suppression strategies, to "erode" resistance to suppression strategies, but not as a way of "buying off" gang youths. Adjust strategies to the level of gang problem. 2) Varying strategies. The relative use of suppression, social intervention, and opportunities provision strategies should depend on the nature and scope of gang activity at a particular time. When gang activity is serious and extensive, suppression strategies should obviously be emphasized. Social intervention and opportunities provision should also be used, but judiciously. Strategies of social intervention and opportunities provision are particularly vulnerable to abuse by gang youths, and therefore should be monitored more closely or reduced during periods of serious problems. When gang problems have been reduced, the full program of social intervention and opportunities provision strategies can be reintroduced and suppression deemphasized. Positive and negative effects of strategies should be calculated beforehand. 3) Calculating the effects of strategies. The potential positive and negative effects of alternative strategies should be weighed before selection is made. Benefits should outweigh costs. For example, if a key objective is to weaken youth gang organization, transferring gang leaders to another institution might be used. But the following questions should be raised. o Will new gang leadership emerge? o Will the resulting gang organization be weaker or simply more covert? o How will the institution address these alternative consequences? o Would another strategy or combination of strategies weaken gang organization with minimal side effects? Social intervention and opportunity provision can be powerful strategies. o Special values of social intervention and oppor- tunity provision strategies. Well developed social intervention and opportunities provision programs carried out by skilled staff are pivotal in teaching youths valuable social, academic, and job skills; building individual youth self-esteem; and eroding the culture of the gang. Stage 5 -- Program Implementation Planning Gang Coordinating Unit Establish the gang coordinating unit. After the administrative assessment committee has developed the general gang suppression and intervention plan or program outline, the permanent gang coordinating unit, at least in the chronic problem context, should be established. The coordinating unit will be responsible for ongoing, overall development of the corrections antigang policy and program and especially for coordination of internal units and agency efforts with other major criminal justice and community agencies concerned with the problem. Key leadership of the assessment committee should comprise the coordinating unit. The coordinating unit ideally should comprise a unit administrator, a gang intelligence specialist, a program evaluator, a juvenile/ criminal justice liaisons specialist, and a gang training specialist or staff with equivalent functions (emerging contexts may not require this range of functions or staff): o Unit Administrator. Responsible for overall operations of the unit. o Gang Intelligence Specialist. Responsible for development, management, dissemination, and coordination of internal and external intelligence among agency staff, and other criminal justice and community agencies. o Program Evaluator. Responsible for data collection and analysis of program efforts and results. o CJ Liaisons Specialist. Responsible for initiating, developing, and monitoring gang suppression and intervention policy with other juvenile and criminal justice agencies, i.e., police, county prosecutor, parole and release authorities, detention centers, etc. o Gang Training Specialist. Responsible for development of staff training curriculum and providing and coordinating training. Figure 4 in Appendix C provides examples of organizational models for the coordinating unit. Funding Reallocation of staff and determining needs for new funding. Most correctional facilities can implement key components of gang suppression and intervention programs without additional funding through reallocation of existing staff resources. However, those correctional facilities in which the gang problem is serious may require additional funding to implement their programs. o Reallocation of existing resources. Many aspects of a gang suppression and intervention program require limited modification of agency policy, reallocation of staff, and some additional collaboration and networking with other agencies. Modifications in staffing. For example: 1) physical areas within the facility in which gang problems are most likely to occur can be addressed through realignment or limited addition of supervision in those areas, 2) gang- related behaviors can be discouraged by adding in prohibitions to established disciplinary policies, 3) counselors can address gang membership and behavior in counseling youth and in pre release planning, 4) existing educational and vocational programs can be structured to identify and make special efforts to remediate deficits of youths that contribute to their gang involvement, and 5) networking can be used to tap into service and information systems already developed by other agencies at the State and local level, i.e., intelligence-sharing, training and employment opportunities, special education, medical, and dental services directed at gang youth. A variety of correctional agencies should objectively determine whether their institutional services and resources are being put to their best use. Reallocation and realignment of services and resources to better match the needs and problems of gang youths can reduce the need for additional funding. o New funding. New or additional funding is sometimes required to implement gang suppression and intervention by correctional programs. These facilities are overcrowded and/or the gang problem is unusually serious. Sources of such funding include the 1) parent authority of the correctional facility, i.e., State or local department of corrections, youth services, children, and family services; 2) State departments of vocational rehabilitation, education, and substance abuse; 3) Federal agencies, i.e., Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Education, and Labor; 4) nonprofit foundations and charitable organizations; as well as 5) private for profit businesses and commercial associations. New gang funding initiatives can be used. New gang, drug, and boot camp initiatives of Federal and State governments may be suitable funding frameworks for addressing some kinds of gang problems or needs in particular institutions. A key issue is the need to shape the proposal in terms that are relevant to the interests of the potential funder. For example, support for educational and vocational components of gang programs may be receptive to agencies with educational and labor interests. Developing the Specifics of the Program The various program units should carry out detailed planning and implementation of the program responsibilities. The gang coordinating unit along with the various operational units of the institution, i.e., security, academic, vocational training, and treatment and counseling, must complete detailed planning and operationalize the gang program. This should include deciding on which gang management scheme and staff coordination approach to use. Examples of the specifics of such planning are summarized below. o Security Program : - Disciplinary policies and procedures identifying gang behaviors and related penalties must be developed in detail. - Procedures for special confinement must be established. - Institutional transfer policies and arrangements with other correctional facilities must be developed. - Potential crisis situations must be identified and specific control plans created. o Academic Program: - An academic assessment system must be developed that identifies the educational deficiencies of youths, their learning disabilities, and related physical problems, e.g., hearing and visual. - Auxiliary services should be designed to address specific learning disabilities, hearing and visual problems. - Classroom learning environments should be designed to address gang student educational needs and learning styles. - Curricula must address the different learning needs of younger and older gang members. - A system of rewards must be developed that encourages individual effort and progress. - A plan for staffing, training, and recruiting gang problem-sensitive teachers must be developed. o Vocational Programs: - Job orientation and training of gang youth within the institution should emphasize discrete instructional modules such as: values orientation for work and employment; overview of job and career paths, stressing educational and skill requirements; and job aptitude assessment and counseling. - Institutional and community (including half-way house) work experiences and apprenticeship programs that are preparatory to work opportunities after release from the institution should be developed. - Development of the specifics of a community job bank and placement service in collaboration with the parole agency should have high priority. o Counseling: - Procedures for assessing the specific security, social, vocational, and psychological needs of individual youths must be developed. - A system of case planning and progress review must be developed. - Counseling staff procedures and physical arrangements have to be relevant to the nature of the institution's specific gang problem. Detailed planning and operation of recreational, housing, volunteer, and other operational components of the institution have to be undertaken. Coordination The gang coordinating unit should review, integrate, and oversee implementation of the program design. The plans developed by each operational unit must be reviewed and modified by the institution's gang coordinating committee or unit with final approval by the chief administrator or the institution's administrative policy committee. Realistic time lines for each component of the program should be established. It is important that the administrators and staff be capable, fully trained, and committed to the selected philosophy and requirements of the program. Summary Program goals and objectives provide direction for the strategic development of the gang suppression and intervention program. They specify what characteristics and conditions of the problem will be addressed, how, and over what period of time. Strategies of suppression and intervention appropriate for each objective are used to provide the framework of the program. This design should then be implemented by the gang coordination unit and the various institutional service units. ------------------------------ CHAPTER 5: MONITORING AND EVALUATION o Stage 6 -- Monitoring and Evaluation o Summary Continual monitoring and periodic evaluation of the program are important administrative functions. They enable appropriate oversight and timely modification of program elements based on objective knowledge of what is and is not working. Stage 6 -- Monitoring and Evaluation The gang program must be monitored to ensure that it is implemented and operating as designed. Appropriate changes and modifications in goals, objectives, and strategies should be made in due course. In addition, evaluation must be conducted to determine the extent to which program goals and long- and short-range objectives are being met. Evaluation requires assessment of both process outcomes and end results of the program. Process outcomes. Process outcomes are the active indicators of objectives used to reduce and control gang problems, for example: o developing a unified disciplinary policy; o increasing the social development, academic, and vocational program options and youth enrollment in these experiences; o increasing youth counseling contacts; o increasing or decreasing the number of disciplinary actions taken against gang youth; o improving staff and youth attitudes about relationships in the institution; and o increasing contacts with other criminal justice and community-based agencies. End results. End results are indicators of the longer term objectives and goals to be achieved. For example, end results can include increases in: o gang youths' academic achievement scores; o the relative number of gang youths completing specific courses of vocational study; o the rate or amount of reduction in specific gang problems (such as assaults, drug use in the institution); o the numbers of gang youths placed in jobs after release from the institution; and o the number of gang youths successfully paroled. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation measurements should be used. Procedures for the evaluation of process outcomes and end results of the program must go beyond quantitative counts of the number of youths in vocational classes or improvement in the academic achievement of youths. Program effects can also to be sensed or "felt" as aspects of the institutional climate of relationships among youths and staff. The institutional climate, though not easily quantifiable, should be monitored and evaluated routinely through supervisory and staff observation and administrative conferences. Information and data on process and end results should be collected and analyzed on a regular basis. During the initial stages of program operations, monitoring and evaluation intervals should be short and directed at progress in program implementation. Over the long term, e.g., annually, evaluation should provide a basis for assessing the value of major strategies employed and for making appropriate program and policy changes. Summary Gang suppression and intervention programs require constant monitoring to ensure that operations are going according to design and to identify aspects of the program that should be modified. Evaluation is required to verify that desired effects or longer term outcomes of the program are being achieved. Evaluation also provides a basis for modifying the basic approach or strategy to improve results in gang control. ------------------------------ CHAPTER 6: GANG PROGRAM MODIFICATIONS IN YOUTH DETENTION CENTERS o Lack of Information o The Mix of Youth in Detention o Emotional Vulnerability o Family Visits and Youth Release from Detention o Staff Training and Gang Management Procedures o Summary Detention centers require modification and elaboration of the general strategies promoted. The strategies and institutional arrangements discussed above for gang suppression and intervention are generally applicable to detention centers. These are facilities in which youths are temporarily held until legal processing, pre- and postadjudication, is completed. Detention centers differ from other correctional settings in several ways. They can be difficult to manage because of the transiency and mixed character of the youth population. Special elaboration of the policies and procedures described above are required. Lack of Information Information on youth gang membership must be collected. Information on the social, psychological, and offense backgrounds of youths as well as their gang affiliation is often not available to detention staffs at the time of the youth's admission. Without such information, gang offense-related potential cannot be adequately assessed. Sleeping, program, and supervisory arrangements while the youth is in detention cannot be intelligently made. Preventable gang and criminal problems often occur as a result. These operational problems can be handled in several ways. o Obtaining Information. - Court and detention intake should be requested to change or adapt their forms to provide a standardized section on information regarding gang membership, offense history, and other pertinent social/personal characteristics of youths. - Also included on such forms should be information regarding gang membership and criminal involvement of the youth's family members. - The police, social service, and other authorities should be requested to supply gang-relevant information when they refer or transfer youth to the detention center. - Files of youths previously processed by the court or in the detention center should be made available and reviewed for gang-relevant information by detention staff. - Youths suspected of gang membership should be routinely interviewed regarding their gang involvement. Telephone interviews should also be conducted with parents to confirm and elaborate gang-related information. o Temporary Isolation of Gang Members and Special Supervision. Newly admitted youths suspected of gang membership should not be immediately integrated into the general detention youth population. They should be lodged in separate quarters for a period of a few days to a week in order to permit staff to gather more information on their possible gang membership and observe signs of gang behavior. Separation reduces the possibility of these youths causing gang-related problems in the general detention population. During this limited isolation period: o Rules and regulations prohibiting gang behavior should be brought to the attention of suspected gang members. o All staff should be alerted to the fact that these youths should be closely monitored and supervised. o A specific counselor should be assigned to each gang youth for the duration of his or her detention stay to coordinate the information search, relationship building, and subsequent programming and control activities. The Mix of Youths in Detention Separate hardcore gang youth in mixed detention populations. A range of services and different levels of supervision must be provided to different types of detention youths. This may be especially difficult to achieve not only because of differences in the youth's age, seriousness of offense backgrounds, legal statuses, lengths of stay, and limited detention center space and services, but because these gang youths may be active members of gangs that are fighting each other in the community and potentially in the detention center. For purposes of improved management of these youth and preventing gang problems: o Hardcore gang youth should be separated from aspiring or nongang youth. o Also, older and younger youth as well as more and less serious youth offenders or suspects should be separated. o Youth in gangs that are actively "at war" with each other should be carefully monitored. Emotional Vulnerability Identify emotionally vulnerable gang and nongang youth. Many youths admitted to detention centers are very upset by the incarceration experience, the uncertainty of their legal status, the nonsupport of family during this period, and the unfamiliarity of the detention environment. The ambivalence the gang youth has and his or her extra need for gang status further complicates his or her adjustment in the detention center. Certain gang youths therefore may resort to gang- related behavior as a coping mechanism. Gang youths are more likely to become aggressive, and nongang youths to be more easily intimidated or recruited by gangs. Special attention should be directed at differential programming for the different types of vulnerable youths. o Socially and emotionally upset gang youths should be closely supervised and possibly separated from other nongang youths and be involved in, or subject to, special support and control activities. o Emotionally vulnerable nongang youths must be protected from gang intimidation and recruitment efforts, and involved in special support groups and activities that deal with ways to avoid gang entanglements. Family Visits and Youth Release from Detention Screening visitors and placements of gang youth. Certain visitors of gang youths in detention require special monitoring; placements to which gang youths are released on bond pending court proceedings also require careful screening. o Family members who are gang members should be closely observed during visits. They should be specifically warned against exchange of gang information or materials with the youths that can contribute to gang-related problems in the detention facility or the community. All visitors should be advised of the legal consequence for abusing visiting privileges, including prosecution for contributing to the misconduct of minors. o Visits by nonfamily gang members should be prohibited. o Careful screening is required of placements of gang youth on temporary release from detention, pending completion of legal proceedings. If the placement involves a high risk of association with gang members or others engaged in criminal activities, the court and intake staff may decide not to release the youth. Staff Training and Gang Management Procedures Networking with the police and special staff training for detention management of gang youth is necessary. Because of the lack of knowledge about the characteristics of youths in detention and their rapid turnover, the detention center staff must make special efforts to keep abreast of current gang situations in the facility and in the community, which are likely to be interrelated. Specific situations and areas of the facility in which gang problems occur or are likely to occur must be identified, e.g., classrooms and sleeping quarters. Preventive and responsive procedures must be developed and staff trained in strategies of carrying out these procedures. The following are suggested: o Hold regular and frequent meetings with the police to exchange information on gang- or potential gang-related problems in the community and the detention center. o Conduct regular staff training sessions on gang intervention and mediation techniques. o Conduct frequent staff meetings to review current gang situations in the detention center. o Conduct regular administrative reviews of gang management in the detention facility, identify problem areas, and modify suppression and inter- vention strategies and procedures as required. Summary Characteristics of the detention center experience require the modification of the gang suppression and intervention strategies and procedures recommended in earlier chapters. Youth are transient, and less information is available to guide supervision and programming. Under these circumstances, certain newly admitted youths who may be gang members should be temporarily separated from other detention youth until further information is obtained, especially as to their gang background. Hardcore gang youth may require a different system of supervision and programming. Visits to gang youth by family members and the placement of gang youths back in the community pending completion of court processing, require special monitoring or screening. The detention staff, police, and community agencies must exchange information frequently about the gang situation both in the detention center and the community. Detention center staff must receive training on intervention and mediation techniques, and administrative reviews of gang management must be held regularly. ------------------------------ APPENDIX A List of Program Reports from the National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program The following is a list of draft reports developed by the National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program, University of Chicago, in cooperation with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice. Stage One Assessment of this research and development program identifies promising community and organizational responses to the youth gang problem. Stage Two Prototype/Model Development focuses on developing twelve promising prototype models to address the problem. These models specify policies and practices for the design and mobilization of efforts at the community and criminal justice levels. Stage Three Technical Assistance manuals provide guidelines for implementing the models. All reports are available in draft form from the National Youth Gang Information Center (NYGIC), 4301 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 730, Arlington, VA 22203. NYGIC is OJJDP's central dissemination point for all gang-related information. NYGIC provides the above reports in hardcopy and on high-density computer disks in WordPerfect 5.1. Call NYGIC toll- free at 800-446-GANG or 703-522-4007 locally for assistance. ASSESSMENT: STAGE 1 Full Reports Available: 1. Literature Review: Youth Gangs: Problem and Response, 1991, 357 pages. This comprehensive literature review covers what has been written on the youth gang issue from a research and program standpoint. 2. Survey of Youth Gang Problems and Programs in 45 Cities and 6 Sites, 1990, 297 pages. This survey reports aggregate gang or community level data on youth gang problems and programs in 45 cities and 6 institutional sites for the year 1987. 3. Community and Institutional Responses to the Youth Gang Problem, 1990, 184 pages. This report consists of case studies of how five communities and one correctional institution addressed youth gang problems in promising ways. 4. Report of the Law Enforcement Youth Gang Symposium, 1988, 152 pages. This report describes the gang intervention activities of fourteen police departments located across the United States, particularly with respect to their attempts to reduce the gang problem. 5. Law Enforcement Youth Gang Definitional Conference - Transcript, 1990, 138 pages. This is a proceeding of a conference at which gang experts from law enforcement and academia from Los Angeles city and county, Chicago and New York City were brought together in an effort to develop a uniform set of definitions (i.e., gang, gang member, gang incident) applicable to street gang phenomena across the country. 6. The Youth Gang Problem: Perceptions of Former Youth Gang Influentials. Transcripts of Two Symposia, 1990, 139 pages. These are the proceedings of two symposia at which former gang influentials -- Black and Hispanic -- describe why they joined the gang, what activities they were involved in while gang members, what factors caused them to depart from the gang, and what recommenda- tions they had for community, policy and agency changes. 7. Client Evaluation of Youth Gang Services, 1990, 53 pages. This document reports on the perceptions of current and former youth gang members concerning the nature and efficacy of services provided by some of the programs located at our field visit sites. 8. Preventing Involvement in Youth Gang Crime, 1990, 173 pages. This report identifies indicators of Black and Hispanic youth at risk of becoming gang members in inner-city Chicago communities with high gang crime rates. 9. Stage 1: Assessment Executive Summary, 1990, 25 pages. This report summarizes the findings of the Assessment Stage of the National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program. MODEL DEVELOPMENT: STAGE 2 Gang Intervention Models recommend policies and procedures for addressing youth gang members 12 to 24 years of age. Strategies of suppression and intervention are described. Issues of prevention, although essential, are not highlighted in these documents. The models emphasize mobilizing community interest and developing distinctive institutional missions within the local juvenile justice system. Gang Intervention Models Available: Document # Title D0001 Executive Summary: Prototype Models, 33 pages. D0002 Community Based Youth Agency, 24 pages. D0003 Community Mobilization, 20 pages. D0004 Corrections, 19 pages. D0005 General Community Design, 56 pages. D0006 Grassroots Organization, 19 pages. D0007 Judges, 15 pages. D0008 Parole, 14 pages. D0009 Police, 21 pages. D0010 Probation, 16 pages. D0011 Prosecution, 12 pages. D0012 Schools, 19 pages. D0013 Youth Employment, 17 pages. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE MANUALS: STAGE 3 Technical Assistance Manuals provide detailed step- by-step guidelines for implementing the models. Strategies are designed to encourage gang-prone and gang-involved youth to terminate criminal activity and participate in legitimate social, academic, and employment pursuits. It cannot be sure the policies and practices proposed to reduce the youth gang crime problem are effective until they are tested. Gang Manuals Available: Document # Title D0014 Community Based Youth Agency, 92 pages. D0015 Community Mobilization, 102 pages. D0016 Corrections, 84 pages. D0017 General Community Design, 110 pages. D0018 Grassroots Organization, 92 pages. D0019 Judges, 102 pages. D0020 Parole, 98 pages. D0021 Police, 98 pages. D0022 Probation, 116 pages. D0023 Prosecution, 74 pages. D0024 Schools, 150 pages. D0025 Youth Employment, 120 pages. ------------------------------ Appendix B: GLOSSARY AND DISCUSSION OF TERMS There is much variation in the definition of youth gang or its equivalent terms depending on particular agency, city, or region of the country, race/ethnicity, gang generation, and cultural factors. The terms delinquent group, gang, and criminal organization need to be distinguished for policy and program purposes to the fullest extent possible. 1. Gang. This term generally refers to a group or collective of persons with a common identity whose members interact on a fairly regular basis in cliques or sometimes as a whole group. The activities of the gang may be regarded as legitimate, illegitimate, or criminal in varying combinations. o Street Gang. This term preferred by law enforcement, emphasizes the organized character of a group of persons on the street, often engaged in significant illegitimate or criminal activity. The ages of members of these street gangs vary; some street gangs are more street-based than others. Some authorities report arrests of street gang members in their 30's, 40's, and 50's. o Youth Gang. This term may refer to a youth segment of a street gang, usually between the ages of 12 and 24. Some youth gang members are younger or older. The term youth gang is often used as equivalent to street gang, and is somewhat preferred by community-based agencies. o Traditional Youth Gang. This term refers to a youth gang comprising mainly adolescents, juveniles, and some young adults primarily concerned with issues of status, prestige, and turf protection. The youth gang may have a name, a hangout, codes of conduct, colors, special dress, signs, symbols, etc. Traditional youth gangs often have a leadership structure (implicit or explicit), differ in degree of a gang activities, and may persist over several generations. Traditional youth gangs vary by community as to characteristics of age, gender, race/ethnicity, scope, and nature of delinquent or criminal activities. The traditional youth gang contains many types of subgroups engaged in various delinquent, criminal, and social group activities. o Posse/Crew. The terms posse and crew are sometimes equivalent to street or youth gang. The posse or crew, more often than the traditional youth gang, is characterized by a commitment to criminal gain activity, particularly drug trafficking, rather than to status-based conflict. It may be loosely organized and/or connected to an adult criminal organization. It emphasizes employer-employee relationships and has fewer social status-related or symbolic interests or characteristics than the traditional youth gang. o Other Types of Youth "Gangs". Other types of groups or "quasi" gangs may include Stoners, Punk Rockers, Neo-Nazi Skinheads, Hate Groups, Satanic Groups, Motorcycle Gangs, Prison Gangs. They may be similar to traditional or street youth gangs in various ways, but have distinctive organizational, cultural, political, religious and institutional lifestyles, perspectives, and biases. They can be loosely organized or ephemeral and engage in group- oriented violent or criminal behavior to sustain or defend these beliefs. They may also be characterized by distinctive dress, leadership structure, and concerns with status and turf. o Other Youth Group Considerations. It is important to distinguish these gangs and gang-like groups from youth or street groups of an earlier era, which are still present today. These groups have been called street clubs, youth organizations, or social and athletic clubs are usually less violent or delinquent, generally contain fewer regular members, and are not as often regarded as delinquent youth gangs by local residents. They serve to socialize low-income, working-class, sometimes first-generation youths in transition from childhood to adulthood. Their activities may constitute acceptable behaviors that are considered normal rites of passage in the particular community. "Copycat" gangs may be increasingly present in some low-income and middle-class communities, often located in smaller cities, suburban, and rural areas. Youth in these groups may identify and attempt to imitate the mannerisms and behaviors of youth gangs in urban centers. Identification with gang culture, in significant measure through media influence, may be a source of novel experience and excitement for youth. The behavior of such groups constitute a challenge to authority in communities undergoing change and where family disruption is increasing. The activities of copycat gangs may sometimes have serious violent or criminal consequences. Most of these youth gangs, however, are ephemeral, engage in relatively minor delinquent acts and have little if any actual or ongoing contact with other criminal juvenile or adult groups. The threat these groups pose to the community and to the social development of their members should be carefully assessed so that a problem is not created or exaggerated where no, or very little, evidence of a sustainable or serious gang problem exists. 2. Delinquent Group. This refers to a group or collectivity, mainly of juveniles and/or adolescents, engaged usually in less serious law- violating behavior. This law-violating behavior is sometimes of a wider range, particularly with respect to property crimes, than those of youth gangs, posses, crews, and other "quasi" gangs. The delinquent group is usually less organized and more ephemeral than a youth gang. It is characterized by none of the special characteristics of gangs such as turf, distinctive dress, colors, signs or symbols. The delinquent group is the most prevalent of all deviant youth groups in most communities. 3. Criminal organization. This is usually a relatively well-organized, stable, and sophisticat- ed clique, group, or organization of youths and/or adults committed primarily to systematic, income- producing activity of a criminal nature. Its members are essentially employees of a criminal business organization. The criminal organization may at times use intimidation and violence to achieve or protect its economic interests. The organization often provides employment for current or former gang members. Such organizations may provide illegal services or goods to the community and acquire rewards from local residents in mutually acceptable and reinforcing ways. The Loose Crew Triad and Mafia are subtypes of criminal organizations. 4. Gang clique, set, klika. The gang clique and set are terms sometimes used as equivalent to youth gang. On the other hand, a klika on the west coast may represent an entire cohort or age sector of youth (e.g., 13- and 14-year-old males) who join or are "jumped into" a street gang. The clique in its smaller-size connotation may signify a "tight" grouping of two or three youths who have similar characteristics or criminal interests. 5. Youth Gang Member. This term can indicate various types of members who engage in a range of legitimate, illegitimate, criminal, and/or violent behaviors. Leaders and core members of youth or street gangs are often (but not always) more serious and frequent offenders than are other kinds of gang members. Arrested gang members are more likely to become career criminals than arrested nongang delinquents. The following represent membership categories of the more traditional turf-based gang. In the course of a gang member's career, he or she may assume several roles: o Gang leader. This individual makes central or important decisions that affect the gang's behavior. The leader may be formally recognized as President, King, Queen, Prince, Ambassador, Old Gangster, or have no title. Leadership may also be a function shared by different members of the group, depending on particular situations, such as initiating a social or athletic affair; starting or sanctioning a gang fight; conducting a drug transaction; or negotiating criminal deals. o Core or Hardcore gang member. This is an attribution assigned, often by law enforcement, to gang members who engage consistently in gang violence and other serious gang-motivated crime, e.g., a shooter. It refers to the few gang members who are most influential in the development or implementation of the gang's violent patterns of criminal behavior. o Regular member. This gang member participates in the gang's criminal activities on a consistent and frequent basis. He or she is recognized as a member in good standing or status. o Associate. This term refers to a youth who occasionally associates with gang members on the street or elsewhere but who neither recognizes himself nor is usually, or fully, recognized by others as a gang member, except sometimes by law enforcement officials when a gang crime is committed and the particular youth is located nearby. o Soldier or peon. This is a reliable but low- status gang member. o Peripheral or Fringe member. This gang member participates periodically and selectively in gang events. He or she usually does not have high status and is not regarded as a reliable or committed gang member. The gang member may readily leave the gang and be excused from participation in many of the gang's activities. o Wannabe. This refers ordinarily to a younger (less frequently to an older) youth who wants to join the gang. He or she may be a friend or relative of a gang member or former gang member, or already be a member of a "tot" or a juvenile gang- related group. The wannabe may be sought after to join the gang and participate in its activities. o Recruit. A recruit may at times be an older youth recruited for certain skills or talents useful during crises, e.g., gang fighting. He or she may be requested to join for a limited period of time. o Youth at risk of gang membership or gang-prone youth. This is a youth who is not yet a gang member. He or she may not explicitly aspire to gang membership, nor be a target for gang recruitment. However, certain social characteristics and conditions within his or her immediate environment make the youth likely to become a gang member, such as: - he or she lives in a gang neighborhood; - a member of his or her family is a gang member; - he or she experiments with drugs; - he or she commits delinquent acts; - he or she is failing at school; - he or she has certain physical or social attributes which are attractive to the gang; - he or she is knowledgeable about gang lore; - he or she occasionally flashes gang signs or wears gang colors; he or she is suspected by school or police of being a gang member. These characteristics or conditions, singly, may be insufficient to predispose the youth to gang membership or actually identify him or her as a gang member. The National Youth Gang Suppression and Intervention Program is primarily concerned with the high-risk, gang-prone youth or incipient gang member who gives clear evidence of likely or actual criminal gang involvement. o Floater, go-between, operator, broker. Such a youth or adult is ordinarily not a member of a specific gang, but is well-known and has high status or respect among several gangs in the community. He or she has certain knowledge, talents, or resources useful to gangs, e.g., access to other gangs, capacity to mediate a gang fight, ability to provide legal advice, access to weapons or drugs. o Veterano, Old Head, O.G. (Old Gangster), Senior, Advisor, Counselor. This is usually an honorific status assigned to or taken by a young adult who was (or was reported to be) a gang member when he or she was younger. These adults are often no longer active gang members. They may be junkies, drug dealers, informers, racketeers, legitimate business operators, human service workers, a parent, or other respected members of the community. They sometimes attempt to influence the group or its membership to maintain gang tradition, increase or reduce gang violence, or leave the gang and pursue a legitimate (or illegitimate) adult career. A few may participate selectively on occasion in gang-motivated criminal activity. 6. Group delinquency and gang crime incidents. Not all group delinquency or crime should be classified automatically as a gang incident, e.g., purse snatching, disturbing the peace, mob action, or group assault by nongang members. Group delinquent acts are often incorrectly classified as gang motivated incidents, particularly in emerging gang problem contexts where the problem is just starting and officials do not clearly recognize or understand the distinctive character of the problem. Authorities may initially over-react and classify co-offending youth as members of a gang when their delinquent activity is neither gang- motivated nor gang-related. o Labelling gang-motivated and gang-related incidents. The police in practice often employ a combination of gang-motivated and gang-related procedures to define gang crime incidents. We believe that a system should be developed to gather and record information on gang crime which neither exaggerates nor denies, but accurately and meaningfully describes a gang event. A definition should be devised which emphasizes the gang- oriented nature of the incident, i.e., preferably using gang motivation criteria, and not simply the fact that the participant is a gang member. The argument that the gang member is influenced by his experience in the gang even when he commits a nongang crime must be balanced by two counter arguments. Often the gang member was a serious delinquent before he joined the gang. Subsequent gang-related activity should not thereby be regarded as simply those of a gang delinquent. More importantly, excessive reference to the individual as a gang member simply enhances his prestige and exaggerates the threat of the gang or gang member to the community. However, since the gang member, especially the leadership or core member is likely to be a serious offender, an information system should be developed that records both gang-motivated and gang-related crime of certain types of offenders. Special justice system attention should be paid to the gang member who is a repeat serious offender whether he commits gang-motivated or non-gang-motivated crime. Due regard must be given to the fact that not all gang members are delinquent or criminal, and not all delinquent or criminal gang members will be hard-core offenders. The complexity of the gang problem as well as due process and civil rights require that the individual gang youth should be correctly identified as a criminally-oriented gang member. He or she should not be subjected to excessive labelling and punishment, which will probably contribute neither to the protection of the community nor to the social development of the gang member in the long run. 7. Social Disorganization. As used in this manual, social disorganization refers to a lack of integration across the individual, family, organizations and community. It indicates, for example, an inability to mesh motivations, norms, values, and activities by the individual youth with those of his or her family; by family units with organizations such as the school; by units within a particular agency or organization; and across organizations in a community. At the societal and community levels, social disorganization is often associated with large and rapid population movements and social changes or disruptions, e.g., the influx of a new minority population, the outflow of middle-class families, and the failure of key institutions such as schools, law enforcement, and employers to understand and meet the needs of a new or changing population. Gangs, or even certain communities, may be regarded as coherently organized for their particular purposes. However, the predominant norms and values of these gangs and communities are usually in con- flict with the legitimized norms of the larger society. Gangs meet the social and often economic needs of people in ways not approved by the dominant culture. Variables of social disorganization may not be related to variables of poverty, racism, cultural conflict,(1) and social isolation.(2) We believe the interaction of at least two variables, particularly social disorganization and poverty, creates high risks of gang involvement. Social disorganization may also refer to changes that bring about excessive stress or crises in patterns of transition from one state or social situation to another. These transitional patterns may be normal, expected, and desirable under circumstances of stable relationships at home and in the community. They include the transition from: childhood to adolescence; adolescence to young adulthood; one level of schooling to another; and a segregated to an integrated school system, which may require bussing. Early gang involvements are likely to occur during the transition of youth from elementary to junior high, and from junior high to high school in certain neighborhoods. Social disorganization may also be inherent in the changing of seasons. For example, gang activity seems often to rise in the fall as youth begin school, just before and after holiday breaks, and during the late spring before summer vacation.