The public health model indicates that an action research program should deal with a specific condition. Therefore, the model is applied to violent crimes committed by juvenile gang members. As conceived by public health workers, differentiated strategies involve therapy, rehabilitation, and prevention. These strategies must recognize the importance of multiple causal factors. In applying the public health model to juvenile gangs engaged in criminal activities, the author considers the effect of the environment, the gang, and the victim on the selection of appropriate therapy, rehabilitation, and prevention techniques. He contends that using the public health model to plan civic action-research on social problems should facilitate the development of program goals and program alternatives and identify new avenues for social science research. 8 footnotes