TOPIC: Gangs

The following represents a sample of information to get you started and is not meant to be exhaustive.
(Note: Clicking on the following links causes a new window to be opened. To return to this window, close the newly opened one.)

Center Developed Documents, Resources, and Tools

Introductory Packet

• Violence Prevention and Safe Schools

Policy & Practice Analysis

• Youth Gangs and Schools

Facts/Statistics

• Gang Problems and Gang Programs in a National Sample of Schools
• Highlights of the 2007 National Youth Gang Survey
• Highlights of the 2007 National Youth Gang Survey(PDF)

General

• Bibliography on Gangs
• Board Policy - Gang and Gang Related Activities
• Comprehensive Gang Model
• Gang Activity
• Gang Awareness: Memphis Police Department
• Gangs and At-Risk Kids
• Latino High School Students' Perception of Gang and Crews
• "Modern-Day Youth Gangs" Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
• New thinking can defeat gang violence: The proven effectiveness of public health strategies to eradicate the breeding grounds of crime. G. Yates. Choices for Youth
• Publications Recommended by the Youth Gang Consortium
• Students' Reports of Gangs at School
• Youth Gang Bibliography
• Youth Gangs: An Overview
• Youth Gangs in Schools

Guides

• A Parent's Guide for Preventing Gangs
• Addressing Community Gang Problems: A Practical Guide
• Addressing Community Gang Problems Assessment Guide
• Broader urban Involvement and Leadership Development Program (BUILD)
• Addressing Community Gang Problems Implementation Manual
• Boys and Girls Club Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach
• Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT)
• Gang Resistance is Paramount
• Preventing Adolescent Gang Involvement
• School Gang Training: School Gang Prevention and Intervention
• Supporting Adolescents with Guidance and Employment (SAGE)
• Strategic risk-based response to youth gangs
• "Targeted Outreach: Boys & Girls Clubs of America's Approach to Gang Prevention and Intervention"
• Youth Gang Programs and Strategies
• Youth Gangs: Going Beyond the Myths to Address a Critical Problem

Policy

• Gangs and Schools
• Youth Gang Trafficking and Homicide: Policy and Program Implications

Studies

• Comparing the Criminal Behavior of Gang Members and At-Risk Youths
• Early Precursors of Gang membership: A Study of Seattle Youth
• Female Gangs: A Focus on Research
• Gangs in Schools
• Positive Individual and Social Behavior among Gang and Nongang African American Male Adolescents

Support

• "OJJDP's Gang reduction program" (2003)
• National Youth Gang Center

• Best Practices to Address Community Gang Problems: OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model (2008) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
• Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
• Gang Resistance, Education and Training Program  (G.R.E.A.T.)
• The National Alliance of Gang Investigators Associations (NAGIA)
• National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention
• National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS)
• National Youth Gang Center (NYGC)
• National Youth Gang Survey (2009) Office of Juvenile Justice and delinquency Prevention

Relevant Publications That Can Be Obtained Through Libraries

• Gangs and School Violence In The K-12 Classrooms And The Community. Hernandez, L. (2007). Trafford Publishing.
• Gangs in schools: An introduction to the problem and interventions. Griffen, M., Meacham, M. (2002). Annals of the American Psychotherapy Assn, 5, 15-18.
• I am somebody: Gang membership. By, Burnham, S., Arnold, M. In Capuzzi, D & Gross, D. R. (EDs). (2000). Youth risk: A prevention resource for counselors, teachers, and parents (3rd ed.) (pp. 353-384). Alexandria, VA, US: American Counseling Association. xvii, 526 pp.
• Positive individual and social behavior among gang and nongang African American male adolescents. Taylor, C. S., Lerner, R. M., von Eye, A., Bobek, D. L., Balsano, A. B., Dowling, E., Anderson, P. M. (2003). Journal of Adolescent Research, 18, 496-522.
• Predicting Early Adolescent Gang Involvement From Middle School Adaptation. Dishion, T. J., Nelson, S. E., Yasui, M. (2005). Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 34, 62-73.
• Youth gangs and definitional issues: When is a gang a gang, and why does it matter? Esbensen, F., Winfree, L. T. Jr., He, N., Taylor, T. J. (2001). Crime & Delinquency, 47, 105-130.

For additional resources related to this topic, use our search page to find people, organizations, websites and documents.  You may also go to our technical assistance page for more specific technical assistance requests.

If you haven't done so, you may want to contact our sister center, the Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

If our website has been helpful, we are pleased and encourage you to use our site or contact our Center in the future.  At the same time, you can do your own technical assistance with "The fine Art of Fishing" which we have developed as an aid for do-it-yourself technical assistance.