The majority of gangs are governed by norms that support the use of violence to settle disputes and to achieve group goals "associated with member recruitment, defense of one's identity as a gang member, turf protection and expansion, and defense of the gang's honor" (Youth1 pp). Sanctioned violence is also dictated by a code of honor that stresses one's manhood and defines breaches of etiquette, and also demonstrates toughness and fighting ability and establishes status in the gang (Youth1 pp). Preventing adolescents from joining gangs seems to be the most cost-effective long-term strategy (Solutions pp). The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has implemented a school-based gang prevention curriculum called Gang Resistance Education and Training, that has shown positive preliminary results (Solutions pp). Students who complete the program reported "lower levels of gang affiliation and self-reported delinquency, including drug use, minor offending, property crimes, and crimes against persons" (Solutions pp). The Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program contains twelve program components for the design and mobilization of community efforts by police, prosecutors, judges, probation and parole officers, corrections officers, school officials, employers, community-based agency staff such as street outreach workers, and a various grassroots organization staff (Solutions pp). The Gang Violence Reduction Program indicate positive results including a lower level of serious gang violence as well as a noted improvement in residents' perceptions of gang crime and police effectiveness (Solutions pp). This program was able to speed the departure of youth from the gangs while reducing their involvement in violence and other crimes by a coordinated approach combining community mobilization, suppression, and social intervention, and shows to be more effective than the traditional, suppression-oriented, approach (Solutions pp).

It is important for communities to organize a collaborative approach to gang problems from the outset rather than beginning with a predominantly suppression strategy (Solutions pp). According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, "community responses must begin with a thorough assessment of the specific characteristics of the gangs themselves, crimes they commit, other problems they present, and the localities they effect" (Solutions pp). National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise's youth violence effort, called the Violence-Free...

Woodson, Sr. In the early 1970's and 1980's (Solutions1 pp). Woodson assisted and chronicled gang intervention strategies of grassroots leaders across the country (Solutions1 pp). Philadelphia, once called the youth gang capital of the country, reduced the city's youth gang deaths from more than forty annually to less than two per year as a result of the House of Umoja (Solutions1 pp). Local and national policymakers must work together to identify factors that destablize neighborhoods, to deny time and space for gang activities and to improve coordination among various law enforcement agencies (Johnson pp).
Local and national policymakers must work together to improve coordination among various law enforcement agencies (Johnson pp).

Works Cited

Crowther, Brad. Youth Gangs in Rhode Island. August 2002. Accessed from the Rhode Island Racial and Ethnic Minority Disparities web site May 05, 2005. http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Race_Ethnicity/Disparities_RI/safety_reports/youth_gangs.htm

Youth3 gangs no longer just a big city problem. FBI: Gangs spring up when families relocate. April 23, 1997. Accessed from CNN.com web site May 05, 2005. http://www.cnn.com/U.S./9704/23/gang

Youth2 Gangs and Violence. Accessed from National Youth Violence Prevention web site May 05, 2005. http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/faq/youthgang.asp

Johnson, Stephen; Muhlhausen, David B. North American Transnational Youth

Gangs: Breaking the Chain of Violence. March 21, 2005. Accessed from the Heritage Foundation web site May 05, 2005. http://www.heritage.org/Research/UrbanIssues/bg1834.cfm

Solutions1 to Youth Violence. Accessed from the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise web site May 05, 2005. http://ncne.com/showpage.cfm?category_id=2&showpage=11

Solutions. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. August 1998. Accessed from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention May 05, 2005. http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/jjbulletin/9808/solutions.html

Youth1 Gangs and Violence. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. August 1998. Accessed from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention May 05, 2005. http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/jjbulletin/9808/youth.html

Youth Gangs: An Overview. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. August 1998. Accessed from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention web site May 05, 2005. http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/jjbulletin/9808/intro.html