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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:12 am
Time: 12:12 am
Results for gangs (california)
4 results foundAuthor: Tita, George Title: Homicide in California 1081-2008: Measuring the Impact of Los Angeles and Gangs On Overall Homicide Patterns Summary: "This report examines characteristics of homicide victims and changes in certain trends of victimization for the state of California over the twenty-eight-year period of 1981-2008 with special attention to changes over the last seven years, that is, for the period 2002 through 2008. The basic outline of this report follows closely that of our previous one on the same topic, which covered the period 1981-2001. Much of the text in the current report is adapted from the earlier one, but some topics have been dropped as no new conclusions can be drawn from the longer data series. Our primary data source is the publicly available Homicide File maintained by the California Department of Justice (Cal-DOJ), Division of Criminal Justice Information Services. The previous report examined several questions pertaining to the nature of homicide over the period 1981-2001. This report is more focused. Here we are interested primarily in the rise and fall of gang-related homicides. In particular, how such homicides have changed in the last five years and how these changes may have differed from what we might have been led to expect in 2004 when we wrote that report. In addition, we have devoted more attention to changes outside of Los Angeles County. Part II of the report examines statewide changes at the county and jurisdictional level in an effort to better understand the shifting geographic patterns of gang homicide throughout the state. In Part III of the report we present findings from a survey sent to all policing agencies in California regarding the accuracy with which gang homicides are reported to Cal-DOJ. Finally, based upon our analysis, we offer suggestions on how resources might best be allocated in an effort to reduce homicide throughout California." Details: Sacramento, CA: California Governor's Office of Gang and Youth Violence Policy, 2010. 33p. Source: Internet Resource; Accessed August 16, 2010 at: http://calgrip.ca.gov/documents/Homicide_CA_1981_2008_Tita.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://calgrip.ca.gov/documents/Homicide_CA_1981_2008_Tita.pdf Shelf Number: 119612 Keywords: Gang ViolenceGangs (California)Homicides (California) |
Author: Wolf, Angela M. Title: Operating and Managing Street Outreach Services Summary: Increasingly, cities have added street outreach to the mix of strategies used in comprehensive gang reduction efforts, drawing upon mounting evidence of impact. Street outreach relies on street workers to support and advocate on behalf of gang members, or those at high risk of joining gang, to change behavior patterns and link them to needed services and institutions. Street outreach workers work day and night to link marginalized and hard-to-serve individuals in communities with high levels of gang activity to social services, and play an important role in diffusing and stopping violence (Decker, Bynum, McDevitt, Farrell, & Varano, 2008; Spergel, 1966; Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [OJJDP], 2002). These workers reach out to targeted community members at their homes, community events, on street corners, in parks, and in any neighborhood spaces where community members in gangs or at risk of joining gangs spend time (OJJDP, 2002, p. 54). Outreach workers often possess intimate familiarity with the communities in which they work. Their knowledge and skills allow them to work with individuals whom traditional service providers cannot access or support. California Cities Gang Prevention Network cities (the Network or CCGPN) note that street outreach services are an important piece of their cities’ primary intervention strategies, with ties to prevention and enforcement. Cities such as Stockton provide prevention-oriented outreach to clients at risk of gang involvement. Other Network cities, including San Francisco, follow the Chicago CeaseFire model—a violence reduction model that treats violence as a learned behavior that can be prevented using disease control methods. The Chicago Ceasefire approach directs outreach workers to prevent retaliation and intervene in conflicts to prevent escalation to violence. Like Network cities, High Point, North Carolina, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, use outreach services as a promising component of their cities’ crime prevention and intervention strategies. As a collaborative, community-based approach aiming to combat open-air drug markets, the High Point initiative employs outreach services to establish relationships and provide services to lowlevel street drug dealers and their families (Bass, 2009; Kennedy, 2007; Schoofs, 2008). Similarly, in Rio de Janeiro, outreach workers work closely with street children involved with the drug trade to provide them with housing and services, and to stifle gang activity (Sauma, 2008). and sustaining outreach programs. In particular, they find it challenging to operate and manage outreach services. Operating an outreach program can include dealing with a variety of dangers. Without weapons or bulletproof vests, outreach workers insert themselves into dangerous and violent situations to prevent or stop violence; they risk and sometimes become the targets of gang violence (Bass, 2008; Decker, 2011; Fenton, 2009). Operating an outreach program also involves securing and maintaining healthy relationships with law enforcement and communities. For outreach workers to perform their duties, law enforcement must be supportive and knowledgeable about the role and function of outreach workers. They must also be comfortable working with outreach workers with criminal records, in addition to not pressuring outreach workers to serve as an extension of law enforcement. If law enforcement and outreach programs do not mutually trust each other, it can reduce an outreach organization’s credibility among the community it serves and, consequently, its ability to reduce violence (Bass, 2009). A common fear among Network cities is outreach workers being arrested or misrepresenting their outreach organization. Such incidents could create negative credibility for cities and outreach organizations among important partners like the police department, the community, and clients. Maintaining a fully staffed outreach program is a longstanding challenge. Outreach work is inevitably stressful because it exposes outreach workers to dangerous and traumatic events. Because of the risky and stressful nature of outreach work, many outreach workers leave the profession after only a few years. Consequentially, outreach programs must make every effort to support and sustain current workers, and at the same time prepare to hire and train new outreach workers. This bulletin briefly explores the different types of outreach services that currently exist. Additionally, with examples from Network cities such as Richmond, San Francisco, and Oakland, as well as from outreach programs in High Point, North Carolina; Boston, Massachusetts; and Chicago, Illinois, this bulletin identifies ways outreach programs can strategically support, care for, and hire outreach workers as a way of managing the challenges of implementing an outreach program. Details: Oakland, CA: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2011. 7p. Source: The California Cities Gange Prevention Network: Bulletin 22: Internet Resource: Accessed February 19, 2012 at http://www.ccgpn.org/Publications/CA%20Cities%20Bulletin%2022.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.ccgpn.org/Publications/CA%20Cities%20Bulletin%2022.pdf Shelf Number: 124193 Keywords: Crime Prevention ProgramsGangs (California)Intervention ProgramsVolunteers |
Author: Napa County, California Title: Napa County Gang and Youth Violence Master Plan Summary: Gangs and gang members have been present in municipalities and unincorporated areas in Napa County for nearly two decades, and while they are responsible for a portion of the above statistics, the crime rates have not reflected the changes in gang activity. Gang activity throughout Napa County increased in the mid-1990s. Many medium-sized law enforcement agencies across the state of California experienced similar increases during this period (Klein and Maxson, 2006). These numbers increased at the start of the 21st century, reflecting a nationwide trend. In 2008, there were 3,253 property crimes and 832 violent crimes recorded in the county. With regard to the former, there were 768 burglaries, 2,178 thefts, and 307 motor vehicle thefts. With regard to the latter, there was 1 homicide, 39 forcible rapes, 70 robberies, and 722 aggravated assaults. Napa County’s 2008 rate of 2,446.9 property crimes per 100,000 persons is lower than both the state of California (2,940.3) and the nation (3,212.5). For violent crimes, the 625.8 incidents per 100,000 persons is greater than both the state of California and national rate. The 2008 violent crime rate was nearly double than that of previous years, which is believed to be a reporting error. Homicide is very rare in Napa County. The homicide rate of 0.8 per 100,000 persons is well below state (5.8) and national averages (5.4), and even lower than many European countries. The National Youth Gang Center (NYGC), funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), collects and reports law enforcement statistics about gangs and gang activity present in jurisdictions. The City of Napa and Napa County are included in these data sources. Between 2002 and 2006, the City of Napa reported an average of 446 gang members while the County of Napa reported nearly 550 (many of these are likely duplicate and reside in both incorporated and unincorporated areas throughout the County, regardless of reporting jurisdiction). The City’s numbers increased over the time period, while the County’s decreased. With regard to the number of gangs, Napa City reported having two active gangs from 2002 to 2005, and in 2006 reported five gangs in the City. Napa County reported having between two and four gangs, and in 2006 reported three gangs in the county. While gang activity is present in the County of Napa, the data indicate that the extent of the gang violence is limited. The data from the National Youth Gang Center indicate that over a five-year period (2002-2006) there was one gang homicide, which was reported by the Sheriff’s Department. Given the involvement of gangs in homicide, the most serious form of violence, this is a positive sign of the level of safety in the county. This report is provided to help one better understand how and why gangs are forming and operating in Napa County and for what purposes. In addition, it includes information to help one recognize early warning signs that may indicate a child's interest or participation in a gang. Details: Napa, CA: Napa County, 2011. 107p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 2, 2013 at: http://www.countyofnapa.org/DA/gang/ Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.countyofnapa.org/DA/gang/ Shelf Number: 128183 Keywords: Delinquency PreventionGang ViolenceGangs (California) |
Author: Smith, Laura Michelle Title: Incorporating Spatial Information into Density Estimates and Street Gang Models Summary: The spatial features within a region influence many processes in human activity. Mountains, lakes, oceans, rivers, freeways, population densities, housing densities, and road networks are examples of geographical factors that impact spatial behaviors. Separated into two parts, the work presented here incorporates this information into both density estimation methods and models of street gang rivalries and territories. Part I discusses methods for producing a probability density estimate given a set of discrete event data. Common methods of density estimation, such as Kernel Density Estimation, do not incorporate geographical information. Using these methods could result in non-negligible portions of the support of the density in unrealistic geographic locations. For example, crime density estimation models that do not take geographic information into account may predict events in unlikely places such as oceans, mountains, etc. To obtain more geographically accurate density estimates, a set of Maximum Penalized Likelihood Estimation methods based on Total Variation norm and H1 Sobolev semi-norm regularizers in conjunction with a priori high resolution spatial data is proposed. These methods are applied to a residential burglary data set of the San Fernando Valley using geographic features obtained from satellite images of the region and housing density information. Part II addresses the behaviors and rivalries of street gangs and how the spatial characteristics of the region affect the dynamics of the system. Gangs typically claim a specific territory as their own, and they tend to have a set space, a location they use as a center for their activities within the territory. The spatial distribution of gangs influences the rivalries that develop within the area. One stochastic model and one deterministic model are proposed, providing different types of outputs. Both models incorporate important geographical features from the region that would inhibit movement, such as rivers and large highways. In the stochastic method, an agent-based model simulates the creation of street gang rivalries. The movement dynamics of agents are coupled to an evolving network of gang rivalries, which is determined by previous interactions among agents in the system. Basic gang data, geographic information, and behavioral dynamics suggested by the criminology literature are integrated into the model. The deterministic method, derived from a stochastic approach, modifies a system of partial differential equations from a model for coyotes. Territorial animals and street gangs often exhibit similar behavioral characteristics. Both groups have a home base and mark their territories to distinguish claimed regions. To analyze the two methods, the Hollenbeck policing division of the Los Angeles Police Department is used as a case study. Details: Los Angeles, CA: University of Californa, Los Angeles, 2012. 144p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 2, 2013 at: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0z69s4gh Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0z69s4gh Shelf Number: 128185 Keywords: Gangs (California)Geographic StudiesResidential NeighborhoodsSpatial Analysis |