U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Clinical Interventions With Gang Adolescents and Their Families

NCJ Number
167574
Author(s)
C W Branch
Date Published
1997
Length
264 pages
Annotation
Clinical interventions with gang-involved adolescents and their families are described that include case examples and assessment procedures and information on how to develop and implement a family intervention project; the interventions are unique because they emphasize ethnic and racial diversity and cultural sensitivity issues.
Abstract
The interventions are based on an integrated mixture of theory, clinical axioms, and practical ideas. They focus on mental status, behavior, cognition, family assessment, and developmental assessment. Complexities in understanding gangs are addressed that pertain to contextual determinants of gang membership and the psychological assessment of individual, developmental, and family dynamics of gangs. Standard psychotherapeutic and assessment procedures are discussed in terms of their specific use with gang members. The assumption that a gang member's life is one continuous state of antisocial and violent behavior is abandoned in favor of a developmental orientation that considers pregang functioning and the transformation that occurs after joining a gang. The applicability of Denver's Family Intervention Project to other communities is examined. Appendixes contain case examples of clinical interventions with gang adolescents and their families. References, tables, and figures