| Edition |
First Oxford paperback edition. |
| Description |
viii, 310 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm. |
| Series |
Studies in crime and public policy |
|
Studies in crime and public policy.
|
| Contents |
Gang prevalence, proliferation, and migration -- Gang crime patterns -- Six major gang control programs -- Individual-level context: risk factors for joining gangs -- Gang structures and group processes -- Community contexts -- Multiple goals for gang control programs and policies -- A model for policy choices. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-296) and index. |
| Summary |
In the past two decades, many prevention and suppression programs have been initiated on a national and local level to combat street gangs, but what do we really know about them? Why do youths join them? Why do they proliferate? This book provides a crucial update and critical examination of knowledge about gangs and major gang control programs across the nation. Often perceived as solely an urban issue, street gangs are also a suburban and rural social problem. The authors focus on gang proliferation, migration, and crime patterns and highlight known risk factors that lead to youths joining gangs and to gang formation within communities. Dispelling long-standing assumptions that the public, and the media and law enforcement, have about street gangs, they present a comprehensive overview of how gangs are organized and structured. The authors assess the major gang programs across the nation and argue that existing prevention, intervention, and suppression methods, targeting individuals, groups, and communities have been largely ineffective when evaluated. They close by offering policy guidelines for practitioners on how to intervene and control gangs more successfully. This book fills in a gap in the literature on street gangs and social control. |
| Subject |
Gangs -- United States.
|
|
Juvenile delinquency -- United States.
|
|
Juvenile delinquency -- United States -- Prevention.
|
| Added Author |
Maxson, Cheryl Lee.
|
| ISBN |
9780199742899 paperback |
|
0199742898 paperback |
|
