Youth Gangs and Community Intervention

Suppression and punishment are the most commonly used tools for combating gangs and gang violence. However, more comprehensive approaches-ones that incorporate prevention and intervention strategies-are more likely to create positive results. Although there now exists a range of program and policy responses to youth gangs, most are still largely based on suppression, implemented by the police and other criminal justice agencies. Less attention and fewer resources have been directed to prevention and intervention strategies that draw on the participation of local actors-such as community organizations, schools, and social service agencies-in the neighborhoods in which gangs operate. Also ignored is the importance of integrating such approaches at the local level. In this volume, leading researchers discuss effective intervention among youth gangs, focusing on the ideas behind, approaches to, and evidence about the effectiveness of community-based, youth-gang interventions.Treating community as a crucial unit of analysis and action, this book reorients our understanding of gangs and the measures undertaken to defeat them. The text emphasizes the importance of community both as a context that shapes opportunity and as a set of resources to draw from in promoting positive youth engagement. Essays focus on several key themes and debates, including the role of social capital and collective efficacy in informing youth-gang intervention and evaluation, the importance of focusing on youth development in the context of community opportunities and pressures, and the possibilities of better linking research, policy, and practice to inform responses to youth gangs.

Robert J. Chaskin is an associate professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and a research fellow at Chapin Hall. A sociologist by training, he focuses his research primarily on community organization and the role of community and community-based efforts to improve the lives of children, youth, and families. He is the coauthor of Building Community Capacity.