Understanding Gangs and Gang problems

Understanding Gangs and Gang problems

Contemporary gangs—variously known as youth, delinquent, street, or criminal gangs—have become a widespread threat to communities throughout the Nation. Once considered largely an urban phenomenon, gangs have increasingly emerged in smaller communities, presenting a challenge that severely strains local resources.
There is a growing wealth of academic literature about the nature of gangs; the scope and type of their activities, their organizational structure, and their leadership (see bibliography in Appendix A). These books and articles provide a valuable starting point for those interested in expanding their understanding of contemporary gangs. A close reading of the literature points to the inevitable conclusion that all gang problems are local in nature.
Whether rooted in neighborhoods, representing a rite of passage, providing surrogate families, or providing access to economic opportunity, most gangs are inherently local. Even large-scale gangs with reputed nationwide networks attract local youths and take advantage of local opportunities to carry out gang activities.
Local problems require local solutions. That is the focus of this monograph.
To address the growing concern about gangs, the Police Executive Research
Forum (PERF) has developed this monograph, Addressing Community
Gang Problems: A Practical Guide. It is a useful tool providing guidance for agencies in developing individualized responses to local gang problems.
This monograph evolved from a PERF project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) in 1994 involving communities in four cities. Although serious concerns about gang problems permeated each community, PERF found a dearth of programmatic materials designed to offer meaningful guidance to community groups, which often included residents, business owners, municipal government employees, schools, criminal justice personnel, and others. As part of its work with BJA, PERF developed a manual that offers a process to solve gang problems. That manual, entitled Addressing Community Gang Problems:
A Model for Problem Solving, a companion to this monograph, has been published by BJA.
Community-based organizations, however, often need more in-depth guidance on specific issues related to gangs. This monograph provides the reader with a practical foundation for understanding the diverse nature of gangs, the problems they pose and the harms they cause, and the two analytical models for addressing gang-related problems.
This monograph includes a brief theoretical overview of key gang issues relevant to community groups and discusses some specific approaches to analyzing and responding to gang problems. It by no means sets forth all the possible responses to gang problems, but it does provide practical guidance—including worksheets and planning documents—to assist community groups. Each chapter can be used separately to address specific community needs.
This monograph and the manual, Addressing Community Gang Problems: A
Model for Problem Solving, complement a companion document published by BJA entitled Urban Street Gang Enforcement. The Urban Street Gang Enforcement monograph focuses exclusively on enforcement and prosecution strategies to protect against urban street gangs and presents strategies to enhance the prosecution of gang-related crimes.

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