Date: November 22, 2024 Fri

Time: 11:54 am

Results for gangs

322 results found

Author: Wisconsin. Department of Justice. Title: Northeast Wisconsin Gang Assessment Summary: This overview provides a discussion on gangs and gang activity in Northeastern Wisconsin. Details: Madison, WI: 2008 Source: Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 116523 Keywords: Gang Activity Gangs

Author: North Carolina. Governor's Crime Commission Title: Gangs in North Carolina: A 2009 Report to the General Assembly Summary: Beginning with the 2006-2007 legislative session, the General Assembly has appropriated funds on an annual basis to the Governor's Crime Commission for the purpose of funding state and local gang intervention, prevention and suppression programs. Pursuant to Session Law 2008- 187 this study reports on the progress and accomplishments of those grant programs that were funded through the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 state appropriations. Emphasis will be placed on assessing these grant programs based on their individual and unique goals and objectives as defined and originally written in the grant application. Significant highlights or success stories will also be included in an effort to document the impact and efficacy of these programs on reducing gang activities in the local communities. Performance measurement data is included and analyzed where applicable in an effort to provide quantitative support for program impact. This report also includes an update on the nature and extent of gang activity across North Carolina drawing upon data as extracted from the state's new GangNET information database. Aggregate state data as well as some county level information is provided on the number of agencies using the system and on the total number of gangs and gang members which have been validated and entered into the database. Limitations of this data and its uses are discussed in order to provide the reader with a better understanding of this new system and to clarify the interpretation of the numbers being reported as a snapshot of gangs and gang activity and not as a definitive count on the exact number of gangs in the state. Details: Raleigh, NC: Governor's Crime Commission, 2009. 94p. Source: Accessed April 17, 2018 at: https://files.nc.gov/ncdps/documents/files/Gang%20Grant%20Rpt%20to%20Gen%20Assembly.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: https://files.nc.gov/ncdps/documents/files/Gang%20Grant%20Rpt%20to%20Gen%20Assembly.pdf Shelf Number: 117103 Keywords: Gang Suppression Gang-Related Violence Gangs Juvenile Offenders Youth Gangs

Author: Roush, David W. Title: Managing Youth Gang Members in Juvenile Detention Facilities Summary: This resource manual addresses the issues of how an institutional administrator successfully resolves and controls the negative elements and factors associated with the incarceration of youth gang members, the extent of the problem, and what works and what does not work in the managing of youth gang members in juvenile detention facilites. Details: East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, School of Criminal Justice, 2002 Source: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; National Juvenile Detention Association, Eastern Kentucky University Year: 2002 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 113253 Keywords: Gangs Juvenile Corrections

Author: Hodgkinson, James Title: Reducing Gang Related Crime: A Systematic Review of 'Comprehensive' Interventions Summary: What do we want to know? The specific aims of this systematic review were as follows: - to produce a systematic map describing the range of research on interventions implemented in response to gang related crime and anti-social behaviour - to carry out an in-depth review focusing on a specific sub-group of 'comprehensive' interventions to assess the effectiveness of this type of intervention - to explore which 'mechanisms of change' might be important to underpin the practice of effective comprehensive interventions - to make recommendations for policy and practice, based on these findings After the initial mapping stage, the decision was taken to focus on the following in-depth review question: Are comprehensive interventions more effective at reducing gang related criminal activity and anti-social behaviour than usual service provision? ('Comprehensive' refers to multi-faceted approaches encompassing more than one distinct type of intervention.) In answering this question, the review also explored whether some types of comprehensive interventions were more effective than others. Why do we want to know? Gang-related crime and anti-social behaviour continue to be issues of concern at both a national and local level. The majority of available research concentrates on explanations of risk factors, gang definitions and sociological explanations of gang behaviour. In short, it does not focus on the effectiveness of specific approaches or interventions which are designed to impact on gang-related crime. This systematic review was undertaken in order to respond to a need for evidence for developing interventions in areas experiencing problems concerning gang-related criminal activity. The review focuses on assessing the effectiveness of interventions so that recommendations can be made around replication and implementation. What did we find? The in-depth review focused on studies that: - evaluated comprehensive interventions - included gang members - contained some element of evaluation and scored at least 3 on the Maryland Scale of Scientific Methods - reported crime reduction outcomes - provided data necessary for statistical synthesis The synthesis found that, overall, the comprehensive interventions had a positive, but not statistically significant, effect on reducing crime outcomes compared with usual service provision (i.e. whatever was in place either in a comparison area or before the specific intervention). The review identified a number of mechanisms of change which were present in those interventions associated with positive outcomes. In the higher quality studies with positive effects, the comprehensive interventions included one or more of the following mechanisms of change: case management / provision of a personalised holistic approach - community involvement in the planning of interventions - community involvement in the delivery of interventions - expertise shared between agencies - delivery of incentives to change offending behaviour, as part of a wider comprehensive intervention approach It is not clear whether only one of these mechanisms of change is the effective one, or if more than one of these mechanisms is needed to produce the desired outcome (and in which combination). In addition, the evidence does not suggest that the actual number of components in a comprehensive intervention is associated with effect size. These are issues that warrant further investigation in the evaluation of new comprehensive interventions What are the implications? While the evidence does not allow us to justify a policy recommendation to use, or not use, comprehensive interventions to tackle gang-related criminal activity, the review has identified a small positive effect for comprehensive interventions. All the interventions evaluated in the studies included in this review took place in the United States and it is therefore not possible to be sure of their transferability into a UK context. Comprehensive interventions warrant further rigorous evaluation in a UK context and policy should support the use of such interventions in the context of a rigorous evaluation. The future design of comprehensive interventions in the UK context should also allow further investigation of those mechanisms of change, which the review suggests are important in successful comprehensive interventions. How did we get these results? In order to ensure that the review is relevant to policy and practice, it has been informed by a range of users that have an interest in the results, including practitioners, policymakers and academics. The views of the user group informed both the scope and direction of the review. A thorough search strategy was developed and all the main social science databases were searched, in addition to handsearching of bibliographies and searches of grey literature. This systematic search processes identified studies which: - were linked to gang-related crime or anti-social behaviour - focused on an intervention - reported outcomes that were specifically related to reducing or preventing gang-related antisocial or criminal behaviour The characteristics of studies meeting the inclusion criteria defined above were mapped in order to refine the research question for the in-depth review. The in-depth review then focused on 'comprehensive' interventions (multifaceted approaches encompassing more than one type of intervention), and studies describing this type of approach were subject to data-extraction and quality appraisal, using the Maryland Scale of Scientific Methods. Narrative and statistical synthesis of the included studies was undertaken, focusing firstly on the intervention type and then on the different outcome measures in the studies. Details: London: EPPI-Centre, 2003. 155p. Source: Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London Year: 2003 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Portals/0/PDF%20reviews%20and%20summaries/Gang%20Violence%20TRWEB.pdf?ver=2009-08-11-150732-780 Shelf Number: 116653 Keywords: Anti-Social Behavior Gangs Intervention Programs

Author: Amnesty International Title: Public Security Reforms and Human Rights in Jamaica Summary: People in Jamaica's inner cities have for decades been caught between the reign of fear exercised by criminal gangs - responsible for the overwhelming majority of crime in the country - and violent policing. Police killed more people between January and May 2009 than during the same period in 2008. This bucks the trend - so far, 2009 has seen a fall in the total number of murders compared with 2008. It is widely accepted that only by addressing the root causes of the public security crisis - deprivation and exclusion in the inner cities - can there be a durable solution. Far-reaching reforms to the police and the justice system have begun. Steps have been taken to tackle corruption, and a safety and security policy is being drafted to address security and development at community level. As this report shows, these reforms have now reached a critical stage. With political will and commitment, they can help drive forward the changes needed to tackle entrenched human rights problems in the inner cities. Details: London: Amnesty International Publications, 2009 Source: Year: 2009 Country: Jamaica URL: Shelf Number: 115636 Keywords: Gangs Police Behavior Urban Crime

Author: Troutman, David R. Title: Prosecutor's Comprehensive Gang Response Model Summary: The comprehensive gang response model is designed to help prosecutors and allied professionals design and implement gang initiatives that focus on the specific needs to individual jurisdictions. Drawing on the experiences of experts from various disciplines across the country and available research on what works in gang prevention, intervention, and suppression. Details: Alexandria, VA: National District Attorneys Association, American Prosecutors Research Institute, 2007 Source: Interest Resource: Accessed May 30, 2018 at: https://www.ndaa.org/pdf/pub_prosecutors_comprehensive_gang_response_model_07.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: https://www.ndaa.org/pdf/pub_prosecutors_comprehensive_gang_response_model_07.pdf Shelf Number: 116667 Keywords: Criminal Justice Administration Gang Prevention Gang Suppression Gangs Prosecutors

Author: Manwaring, Max G. Title: A Contemporary Challenge to State Sovereignty: Gangs and Other Illicit Transnational Criminal Organizations in Central America, El Salvador, Mexico, Jamaica, and Brazil Summary: The purposes of this monograph are to (1)introduce the gang phenomenon as a major nonstate player and a serious threat in the global and regional security arenas; (2) examine the gang phenomenon in Central America in general and in El Salvador, Mexico, Jamaica, and Brazil more specifically; and (3) summarize the key points and lessons and make brief recommendations. Details: Carlisle Barracks, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2007 Source: Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 116539 Keywords: Gangs Organized Crime Transnational Crime

Author: Texas. Office of the Attorney General Title: Gangs in Texas 2001: An Overview Summary: This report presents the findings of a small survey of 1,453 police chiefs, school district police departments, sheriffs, district attorneys, criminal district attorneys, and county attorneys regarding the current status of gangs in Texas in the year 2001. Respondents indicated that curfew enforcement, community policing, graffiti abatement, and multi-agency collaboration prove the most effective gang-prevention and intervention strategies. Details: Texas: Office of the Attorney General, 2001 Source: Year: 2001 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 116381 Keywords: Gangs Intervention Programs

Author: Virginia. Department of Criminal Justice Services Title: Use of Anti-Gang Statutes Contained in the Code of Virginia Summary: From the report: "In June 2006, Governor's Executive Order 15 formalized Virginia's Interagency Anti-Gang Workgroup to monitor the progress of Virginia's gang initiatives and to make recommendations for strengthening Virginia's anti-gang activities. In 2007, the Interagency Anti-Gang Task Force asked the Department of Criminal Justice Services to examine the use and effectiveness of certain gang legislation that was enacted during the last several years. Law enforcement agencies and Commonwealth's Attorneys offices throughout the state were surveyed to solicit information about the statutes from persons involved in the enforcement and prosecution of gang-related crime. A total of 120 Commonwealth's Attorneys and 216 personnel from law enforcement agencies were asked to complete the survey." Details: Richmond: 2008 Source: Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 115372 Keywords: Gangs Law and Legislation

Author: New Jersey. Commission of Investigation Title: Gangland Behind Bars: How and Why Organized Criminal Street Gangs Thrive in New Jersey's Prisons...And What Can Be Done About It Summary: From the executive summary: "This document presents the results of an unprecedented investigation pursued by the State Commission of Investigation (SCI) from the streets of New Jersey's cities and suburbs and into the cellblocks of the State's largest correctional institutions. It incorporates a comprehensive summary of findings and a detailed set of recommendation for systemic reform and is based upon a thorough investigative record developed over the course of more than two years, including interviews and sworn testimony from scores of witnesses, field surveillances, data and accounting analyses, and examination of thousands of pages of documentary materials obtained from DOC and other official and unoffical sources." Details: Trenton, NJ: Commission of Investigation, 2009 Source: Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 115200 Keywords: Corrections Gangs

Author: Shiner, Max Title: Civil Gang Injunctions: A Guide for Prosecutors Summary: As gang crime continues to escalate across the country, prosecutors, law enforcement, community leaders, and allied professionals continually seek innovative methods to reduce the spread of gang-related criminal activity. One method, pioneered by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, is the use of gang injunctions. This publication introduces prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to the specific steps necessary to put into place this innovative innovative and effective process. Details: Alexandria, VA: American Prosecutors Research Institute, 2005. 55p. Source: Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 117313 Keywords: Gangs Prosecution

Author: United States Department of Justice. Office of the Attorney General Title: Attorney General's Report to Congress on the Growth of Violent Street Gangs in Suburban Areas Summary: From the report: "This Report to Congress on the growth of violent street gangs in suburban areas was requested by the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations. The report provides a look at the types of gangs, the regions where they operate, and the relationships of these gangs with drug trafficking organizations." Details: Washington, DC: 2008. 65p. Source: Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 116521 Keywords: Gangs Violent Crime

Author: McManus, Rob, ed. Title: Gangs and Crime in South Carolina: How Much, How Bad? Summary: From the report: "this report is designed to provide information about criminal activity attributed to gangs, victims of gang activity, gang offenders, and to provide estimates of gang membership in South Carolina's prison population and among offenders under supervision in the community. The purpose of this report is to provide reliable and objective information regarding a serious societal problem about which little information is readily available." Details: Blythewood, SC: South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Office of Justice Programs, Statistical Analysis Center, 2009. 145p. Source: Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 117579 Keywords: Criminal Activity Gangs Offenders Prisoners

Author: Antrobus, Simon, Chair Title: Dying to Belong: An In-Depth Review of Street Gangs in Britain. A Policy Report by the Gangs Working Group Summary: This report analyses the nature and scale of gang culture in Britain. It looks at who is involved and what they are involved in; how Britain has reached this point; and what society can do to tackle it. Highlighting and learning from models of best practice in both the UK and America, it sets ut a blueprint for tackling Britain's growing gang problem. Details: London: Centre for Social Justice, 2009. 228p. Source: Breakthrough Britain Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 113927 Keywords: Gangs Juvenile Offenders

Author: Association of Chief Police Officers Title: Gun Crime and Gangs: Response to the Home Secretary Summary: In August 2007 the U.K. Home Secretary requested a situation report following a number of gun-related tragedies. The ACPO responded with an assessment on the phenomenon of guns and gangs, with particular reference to young people. This document defines and examines the key issues emerging from knowledge of the problem and invites further consideration for what more may be done across government and law enforcement to address the issues described. Details: London: ACPO, 2007. 57p. Source: Year: 2007 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 118104 Keywords: Firearms and Crime Gangs Gun Control Guns

Author: Manwaring, Max Title: Street Gangs: the new urban insurgency Summary: The primary thrust of the monograph is to explain the linkage of contemporary criminal street gangs (that is, the gang phenomenon or third generation gangs) to insurgency in terms of the instability it wreaks upon government and the concomitant challenge to state sovereignty. Although there are differences between gangs and insurgents regarding motives and modes of operations, this linkage infers that gang phenomena are mutated forms of urban insurgency. Details: Carlisle Barracks, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army College, 2005, 47p. Source: Internet Source Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 116540 Keywords: Gangs Insurgents State sovereignty

Author: Golden, Megan Title: Cost-Benefit Analysis Summary: As part of the Advancement Project's effort to develop a comprehensive gang violence reduction strategy for the City of Los Angeles, the Vera Institute of Justice analyzed the costs of gang violence to government and potential savings that can result from investing in programs that have been shown empirically to reduce gang crime. This memo presents the results of that analysis. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2009. 35p. Source: Funding Analysis Cluster Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118311 Keywords: Cost-Benefit Analysis Costs of Crime Gangs Violent Crime

Author: Larence, Eileen R. Title: Combating Gangs: Federal Agencies Have Implemented a Central American Gang Strategy, but Could Strengthen Oversight and Measurement of Efforts Summary: This report reviews federal efforts to combat transnational gangs in the United States. The report addresses (1) the extent to which the federal government has developed a strategy to combat these gangs, and (2) how federal agencies have implemented the strategy and other programs to combat these gangs, coordinated their actions, and assessed their results. Details: Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, 2010. 68p. Source: GAO-10-395 Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118326 Keywords: Gangs Transnational Gangs

Author: National Youth Gang Center Title: Gang Prosecution Manual Summary: This publication was brings together information on the basics of gang crime prosecution at the local level. It is a workbook designed to help local prosecutors and investigators visualize and prepare for every step of a gang-related crime prosecution, from the initial crime scene investigation to preparing and presenting the case and, finally, sentencing issues specific to gang cases. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2009. 116p. Source: Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 117561 Keywords: Case Processing Gangs Investigative Techniques Prosecution of Gangs Prosecutors Sentencing

Author: Werb, Dan Title: Effect of Drug Law Enforcement on Drug-Related Violence: Evidence from a Scientific Review Summary: This systematic review evaluated all available English language peer-reviewed research on the impact of law enforcement on drug market violence. The available scientific evidence suggests that increasing the intensity of law enforcement interventions to disrupt drug markets is unlikely to reduce drug gang violence. Instead, the evidence suggests that drug-related violence and high homicide rates are likely a natural consequence of drug prohibition and that increasingly sophisticated and well-resourced methods of disrupting drug distribution networks may unintentionally increase violence. From an evidence-based public policy perspective, gun violence and the enrichment of organized crime networks appear to be natural consequences of drug prohibition. In this context, and since drug prohibition has not achieved its stated goal of reducing drug supply, alternative models for drug control may need to be considered if drug supply and drug-related violence are to be meaningfully reduced. Details: Vancouver, BC: International Centre for Science in Drug Policy, 2010. 26p. Source: Year: 2010 Country: International URL: Shelf Number: 118299 Keywords: Drug Enforcement Drug Policy Drug Prohibition Drug Related Violence Gangs

Author: Heemskerk, Tony Title: A Report on the Illegal Movement of Firearms in British Columbia Summary: This report was commissioned because of concerns with the proliferation of illegal firearms and dramatic increase in firearms related violence, particularly with respect to organized criminal gangs who are more frequently settling disputes with guns. The report provides information on the current situation regarding the regulatory framework for firearms control; the illegal movements of firearms; the use of illegal firearms to support criminal activity; the agencies involved in regulation and enforcement and their current activities; and makes recommendations regarding changes to impact the illegal movement of firearms. Details: Victoria, BC: British Columbia Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, 2008. 89p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2008 Country: Canada URL: Shelf Number: 114639 Keywords: Firearms and Crime Gang Violence Gangs Gun Control Gun Violence Illegal Firearms (Canada)

Author: National League of Cities. Institute for Youth, Education and Families Title: Preventing Gang Violence and Building Communities Where Young People Thrive: A Toolkit for Municipal Leaders Summary: As a resource for mayors, councilmembers, senior municipal staff, law enforcement officials and community stakeholders and service providers, this toolkit shows how communities participating in the California Cities Gang Prevention Network - as well as cities throughout the U.S. - infuse their anti-gang work with the six core principles outlined in this report. Sections of the report explore a set of strategic partnerships that are critical to combating gang violence: cooperation among police, probation and parole, prosecutors, courts, state and federal law enforcement agencies and others in the criminal justice field; cross-system collaboration with county agencies; partnerships with schools; involvement of the faith community in mentoring and intervening with troubled youth; and engagement of neighborhood leaders and residents in supporting enforcement activities. In addition, it examines two target approaches that are becoming increasingly prevalent in cities across the country: the hiring of street outreach workers to divert gang-involved youth toward positive alternatives, prevent retaliation and promote nonviolent conflict resolution; and a growing focus on reentry strategies to ensure that young people and adults returning from detention facilities receive the services, supports and job opportunities needed. Details: Washington, DC: National League of Cities, 2010. 113p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118418 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Partnerships Reentry

Author: Delaney, Christopher L. Title: The Effects of Focused Deterrence on Gang Homicide: An Evaluation of Rochester's Ceasefire Program Summary: In the late 1990's, a problem oriented policing initiative in Boston, "Operation: Ceasefire", achieved significant reductions in youth homicide by focusing on gang behavior. The program was driven by a concept known as focused deterrence. The success of the Boston program encouraged other jurisdictions across the country to implement their own versions of the Ceasefire project. In recent years, violence in Rochester, NY came to be seen as consistent with the gang driven problem described in Boston and a version of Operation Ceasefire was implemented in October, 2003. This study examines the Ceasefire program as implemented in Rochester, NY from October 2003 to December 2004. Using an interrupted time-series research design, the study finds limited but statistically significant reductions in homicides of black males ages 15-30 during the Ceasefire intervention period. Despite this finding, increases in 2005 homicides of black males ages 15-30 have raised concerns about the effectiveness of the program. A postscript examines the 2005 increase and considers explanations for the increase associated with potential theoretical and operational shortcomings in the Ceasefire program. Details: Rochester, NY: College of Liberal Arts/Public Policy Program, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2005. 157p. Source: Master's Thesis; Internet Resource Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118682 Keywords: Ceasefire Program Focused Deterrence Gang Violence Gangs Homicide Problem-Oriented Policing

Author: Amnesty International Title: Ending Domestic Violence in Albania: The Next Steps Summary: This report analyses the progress made in addressing domestic violence in Albania over that last three years after the adoption of the Law on Measures against Violence in Family Relations. It concludes that more women now have confidence to report domestic violence to the authorities. Yet, despite the growing number of petitions made for protection orders, the Albanian government needs to take further measures to implement the law and ensure the prevention of, protection from, and prosecution of domestic violence. Details: London: Amnesty International, 2010. 16p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119167 Keywords: Domestic Violence (Albania) Favelas Gangs Police Reform Slums Violence (Brazil) Violence Against Women Violent Crime

Author: Von Kemedi, Dimiear Title: Fuelling the Violence: Non-State Armed Actors (Militia, Cults, and Gangs) in the Niger Delta Summary: This working paper on the formation, organization, activities, rivalries and impact of non-state armed actors- militia, gangs and cult groups in the Niger Delta is intended to situate these groups in the intricate and often confusing canvass of factors that determine the increasingly upward spiral of violence in the Niger Delta. It will attempt a crude geographical mapping of these groups, locate their collective and individual origins as much as possible and highlight the factors that feed the growth of these groups. Finally the paper makes recommendations on how the activities of these groups may be contained and who needs to do what to that effect. Details: Berkeley, CA: Institute of International Studies, university of California; Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace; Port Harcourt, Nigeria: Our Niger Delta, 2006. 24p. Source: Internet Resource; Niger Delta Economies of Violence Working Paper No. 10 Year: 2006 Country: Nigeria URL: Shelf Number: 119297 Keywords: Cults Gangs Militia Violence

Author: Cristall, Jonathan Title: Property Abatements - The Other Gang Injunction. Project T.O.U.G.H. Summary: According to the Los Angeles Police Department, in the City of Los Angeles, approximately 60 percent of crimes occur at 10 percent of the properties—a statistic that is probably not exclusive to Los Angeles. The purpose of property abatements is to target the properties where people are repeatedly arrested but where criminal activities nonetheless persist. When these 10 percent of properties are connected to gang activity—which is increasingly the case—a nuisance property abatement action is initiated by prosecutors assigned to Project T.O.U.G.H. (Taking Out Urban Gang Headquarters), a specialized unit of the criminal branch of the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office. The nuisance abatement action improves conditions at the property so that criminals will not be able to use the property anymore. Gang property abatements are a critical, but sometimes overlooked, weapon in law enforcement’s arsenal against gangs. This report discusses the use of civil lawsuits to abate gang activity at private properties, and presents case studies to show how it can be applied. Details: Tallahassee, FL: National Gang Center, 2009. 17p. Source: Internet Resource; National Gang Center Bulletin, No. 2 Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118571 Keywords: Gang Injunctions Gangs Nuisances

Author: Finlay, Brian Title: WMD, Drugs, and Criminal Gangs in Central America: Leveraging Nonproliferation Assistance to Address Security/Development Needs With UN Security Council Resolution 1540 Summary: Few regions of the world better illustrate the intimate nexus between human development and security than does Central America. A region of inherent economic and social promise, its fortunes have been frustrated by a plethora of overwhelming security challenges related to small arms, drugs, and criminal gangs. Although a long and innovative roster of instruments has been developed to counter these scourges, a lack of technical and financial support has often prevented their full realization. Moreover, institutional vulnerabilities at the local and state levels have further complicated the implementation of national and regional strategies designed to break this cycle of violence and underdevelopment. The global economic downturn now threatens to reverse progress made to date and again place countries of the region squarely on a downward economic and security trajectory. According to a recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), no issue has had a greater impact on the stability and development in Central America than crime. The Central American region has emerged as the most violent in the world, with the average number of homicides in Central America in 2008 rising to 33 per 100,000 people—three times the global average. While these statistics are rooted in a complex array of social, political, and economic circumstances that have depressed economic opportunity and inflated levels of violence, Central American scholars and regional government officials generally agree that their security and development challenges are rooted in the culture of illegality embodied most graphically by the triple threat of small arms proliferation, drug trafficking, and criminal and youth gangs. Details: Washington, DC: Stimson Center; Muscatine, IA: Stanley Foundation, 2010. 26p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: Central America URL: Shelf Number: 119459 Keywords: Criminal Violence Gangs Gun Violence Weapons

Author: Alcantara, Mariana Del Rocio Title: Mara Salvatrucha and Transnational Crime in North and Central America: Uncovering the External Links and Internal Dynamics Summary: The assimilation of organised crime into transnational crime has had detrimental effects on the national and regional security of countries around the world. Transnational crime has increasingly become a security concern, as organised gangs have permeated across borders with enhanced sophistication with minimal regard for law enforcement. Mara Salvatruchal (also known as MS or MS-13) is an organisation that has rapidly spread from its initial location on the West Coast of the United States to other parts of the country as well as neighbouring nations in Central America. The main aspect of this thesis is the activities of Mara Salvatrucha in North and Central America and the analysis of the internal and external dynamics that have enabled the organisation to expand and become one of the most feared organised gangs in the American Continent. Hence, this thesis critically analyses the anti-crime prevention measures put into action in the hope of curbing and eliminating the security threats that MS and its members provide within the region. Transnational crime theory is a core component of this thesis as it identifies numerous factors that are associated with this transnational organisation and will effectively put internal and external dynamics of MS into perspective. The objective of this thesis is therefore to use a case study methodology on Mara Salvatrucha to emphasise the law enforcement strategies that have thus far been deployed to control the increasing level of gang related violence taking place in the United States and Central American nations. Details: Adelaide, Australia: School of International Studies, University of South Australia, 2007. 106p. Source: Internet Resource; Thesis Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119512 Keywords: Gangs Mara Salvatrucha Organized Crime Transnational Crime

Author: Frondigoun, Liz Title: An Evaluation of the Inverclyde Initiative Summary: The Inverclyde Initiative is an innovative approach to policing, focused on addressing the problem of groups of youths deemed to be at risk and the associated issues of child protection, which aimed to raise parents awareness of the activities their children are involved in; challenge youths' behaviour patterns; educate them to the dangers they are placing themselves and others in by pursuing such activities; provide them with information and opportunities to encourage them to adopt positive life choices; and inform on community opportunities to reduce the likelihood of re-offending. This research aimed to establish: baseline information on crime levels before and after the Inverclyde Initiative; the views of the police, their partner agencies, young people and their families about what it is like living in Greenock; the role of the media in disseminating and supporting this initiative; the perceptions of parents and young people on the effects of youth crime particularly that of gang, violent, and anti-social behaviour in their neighbourhoods; their views and perceptions on the success of the Initiative; what youths need to discourage them from engaging in these anti-social behaviours; and what they need to encourage them to make attitudinal changes towards making more positive life choices. Details: Glasgow: Glasgow Caledonian University, 2009. 88p. Source: Internet Resource; Report prepared for the Strathclyde Police Force Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 119539 Keywords: Antisocial Behavior Gangs Juvenile Offenders Media Policing Problem Youth

Author: Engel, Robin S. Title: Implementation of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV): Year 2 Report Summary: The Cincinnati Inititive to Reduce Violence is a focused deterrence strategy loosely modeled after the Boston Gun Project from the mid-1990s. Focused deterrence initiatives aim to deliver a deterrent message accurately and directly to those who sustain a culture of violence. This report details the activities and outcomes for the second year of the program. Details: Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati Policing Institute, 2009. 90p. Source: Internet Resource; Accessed August 7, 2010 at http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/downloads/police_pdf38580.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/police/downloads/police_pdf38580.pdf Shelf Number: 118346 Keywords: Focused Deterrence (Cincinnati) Gangs Gun Violence Homicide Violence Prevention

Author: Townsend, Dorn Title: No Other Life: Gangs, Guns, and Governance in Trinidad and Tobago Summary: Gun violence and gun-related homicides in Trinidad and Tobago have continued to increase over the last decade. The twin-island nation now has more gun-related deaths than Jamaica and a murder rate of 42 per 100,000. This report examines the interconnection between the gun violence and the present political situation in Trinidad and Tobago. The publication asserts that the crime-fighting measures of the police force are hampered by financial support to urban gangs via public welfare programs. Details: Geneva: Small Arms Survey, 2009. 55p. Source: Internet Resource; Working Paper of the Small Arms Survey; accessed August 8, 2010 at http://smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/w_papers_pdf/WP/WP8-Gangs-Guns-Governance-Trinidad-Tobago-2009.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Trinidad and Tobago URL: http://smallarmssurvey.org/files/sas/publications/w_papers_pdf/WP/WP8-Gangs-Guns-Governance-Trinidad-Tobago-2009.pdf Shelf Number: 117633 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Gun Violence Homicides Violent Crime

Author: U.S. Department of Justice. Office of the Inspector General. Evaluation and Inspections Division Title: Re Review of the Department's Anti-Gang Intelligence and Coordination Centers Summary: In January 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that the Department had taken several steps to address gang violence. Among those efforts were the establishment of three new entities: (1) the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC), which was established by statute in January 2006, integrates the gang intelligence assets of all DOJ agencies and other partner agencies; (2) the National Gang Targeting, Enforcement, and Coordination Center (GangTECC), established in June 2006 by the Attorney General, serves as a central coordinating center for multi-jurisdictional gang investigations; and (3) the Gang Unit, another Attorney General initiative created in September 2006, develops and implements strategies to attack the most significant gangs and serves as the prosecutorial arm of the Department’s efforts against violent gangs. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted this review to examine the intelligence and coordination activities of NGIC and GangTECC (the Centers), and to assess the effectiveness of their contributions to the Department’s anti-gang initiatives.4 Specifically, we examined whether the Centers provide comprehensive gang intelligence and coordination services to enhance gang investigations and prosecutions in the field. In addition, we assessed the effectiveness of the Department’s management and co-location of the Centers. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2009. 79p. Source: Internet Resource; Accessed August 13, 2010 at http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/FBI/i2010001.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/FBI/i2010001.pdf Shelf Number: 119241 Keywords: Gangs Intelligence Gathering

Author: Title: Latino Youth Gang Violence in Multnomah County: Understanding the Problem, Shaping the Future Summary: Gang-related violence involving Latino youth in Multnomah County is a cause for concern among all county residents. While youth violence has remained steady or declined over the last few years, gang-related violence involving Latino youth has increased. Over the last two years, numerous gang-related shootings have occurred at wedding receptions, in the downtown areas of Portland and other Multnomah county-area cities. Gang violence has claimed numerous lives, and caused much fear and sorrow in the county’s Latino community. As the Latino bilingual, bicultural, immigrant population continues to grow, so must the County’s efforts to reduce the attraction of violence and gang culture to Latino youth. In the Spring of 2002, Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz created the Latino Gang Violence Prevention Task Force (Task Force). The Task Force was comprised of concerned community members, law enforcement personnel, social services providers, educators, and elected officials committed to developing and im-plementing a Latino youth gang violence prevention and elimination plan. The Commissioner gave the Task Force a three-fold charge: Evaluate the nature and scope of the Latino gang problem in Multnomah County; examine current re-sponses and challenges to developing cultural and language-specific services for high-risk Latino youth and their families; and design strategies to reduce or eliminate youth gangs and other forms of violence among Latino youth. After several months of meetings, research and outreach, the Task Force has made several findings covering a variety of subject areas relevant to the topic. This report presents the recommendations of the task force. Details: Portland, OR: The Task Force, 2004. 62p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 21, 2010 At: http://www.lpscc.org/docs/LatinoYouthDec2003.pdf Year: 2004 Country: United States URL: http://www.lpscc.org/docs/LatinoYouthDec2003.pdf Shelf Number: 119578 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Braga, Anthony A. Title: Preventing Violent Street Crime in Stockton, California: A Report to the Stockton Police Department Summary: In 2004, the City of Stockton was identified as the most violent city in California with a rate of 1,362 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. A recent 2005 analysis by the Stockton Police Department (SPD) revealed that Stockton remained the most violent city in California with a violent crime rate of 1,503 (10.4% increase over the previous year). The high violent crime rate has generated considerable concern among Stockton city leaders and residents. A number of factors, such as poverty, lack of education, unemployment, overcrowded jails, illegal drug use, and gangs, have been identified as important contributors to Stockton’s violent crime problem. In August 2005, the Mayor launched a Crime Suppression Initiative that included a series of innovative police strategies to reduce violence and established a Blue Ribbon Crime Prevention Committee to examine issues related to Stockton violence and make recommendations regarding community crime prevention. This study examines the nature of violent street crime in the city, reviews the violence prevention activities of the SPD, and makes recommendations on improving the police department’s response to violent street crime problems. Details: Cambridge, MA: Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2006. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 23, 2010 at: http://online.recordnet.com/pdconsultreport_07_06.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://online.recordnet.com/pdconsultreport_07_06.pdf Shelf Number: 119667 Keywords: Gangs Street Crime Violence Violent Crime

Author: Weisel, Deborah Lamm Title: Comprehensive Gang Assessment: A Report to the Durham Police Department and Durham County Sheriff's Office Summary: This report presents a comprehensive assessment of gang-related problems in the City of Durham and Durham County. The assessment consisted of a systematic and comprehensive data collection process, analysis and interpretation of findings, and examination of the relationship or fit between documented gang-related problems and existing programmatic responses employed by the community, schools, service providers, and the criminal justice system. Details: Unpublished report to the Durham Police Department and Durham County Sheriff's Office, 2007. 218p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 23, 2010 at: http://www.durhampolice.com/news/pdf/071220_1.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: http://www.durhampolice.com/news/pdf/071220_1.pdf Shelf Number: 118099 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs

Author: Colak, Alexandra Abello Title: Civil Society and Security Transformation in Medellin: Challenges and Opportunities Summary: Medellin, the second biggest city in Colombia, experienced an impressive transformation after 2002 when a combination of national and local initiatives succeeded in dramatically reducing acute levels of violence. After being the most violent city in the world, Medellin became a successful case of urban security transformation. The aim of this research was to explore the role played by civil society in that process. However, not long before this project began, the security situation started to deteriorate in the poor communities of Medellin. The vacuum of power created by the extradition of a demobilized paramilitary leader had triggered wars between gangs and criminal groups. This made it necessary to explore not only the limitations of the recent security transformation, which is now in question, but also the way this outbreak of violence is affecting communities and the role that civil society can play in this context. In the first section this document presents an overview of the insecurity context of Medellin prior to the transformation started in 2002. The second section discusses the problems with the role that civil society is asked to play within current frameworks for security transformation, such as Security Sector Reform (SSR) and current models of democratic security governance in Latin America. Details: Santiago, Chile: Global Consortium on Security Transformation, 2010. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: New Voices Series, no. 2: Available at: http://www.securitytransformation.org/gc_publications.php Year: 2010 Country: Colombia URL: http://www.securitytransformation.org/gc_publications.php Shelf Number: 119680 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gangs Violence Violent Crime

Author: Title: Improving Security Policy in Colombia Summary: Colombia’s new government has to improve security policy to tackle the guerrilla tactics of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as well as their broadened participation in drug trafficking and newly forged alliances with other illegal armed groups. Details: Brussels; Bogota, Colombia: International Crisis Group, 2010. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Briefing No. 23: Accessed September 1, 2010 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/colombia/B23%20Improving%20Security%20Policy%20in%20Colombia.ashx Year: 2010 Country: Colombia URL: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/colombia/B23%20Improving%20Security%20Policy%20in%20Colombia.ashx Shelf Number: 119714 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gangs Security Violence

Author: Howell, James C. Title: History of Street Gangs in the United States Summary: This bulletin examines the emergence of gang activity in four major regions of the United States: the Northeast, Midwest, West, and South. (Gangs would emerge in the South much later than in other regions.) The purpose of this regional focus is to develop a better understanding of the origins of gang activity and to examine regional migration and cultural influences on gangs themselves. There is some evidence that the gangs that first emerged in each of these regions influenced the growth and characteristics of gangs in their respective regions. Therefore, an understanding of regional influences should help illuminate key features of gangs that operate in these particular areas of the United States. Details: Tallahassee, FL: National Gang Center, 2010. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: National Gang Center Bulletin, No. 4: Accessed September 2, 2010 at: http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Content/Documents/History-of-Street-Gangs.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Content/Documents/History-of-Street-Gangs.pdf Shelf Number: 118536 Keywords: Gangs

Author: Florida. Attorney General Title: Florida Gang Reduction Strategy 2008-2012 Summary: Criminal gangs steal and destroy property, sell drugs to our children and commit acts of violence and brutality that threaten the safety and security of our citizens. The number of gangs and gang members has been growing steadily in Florida for years. For far too long efforts to address gang problems in Florida have been left to local law enforcement and community leaders with minimal federal and state support and no statewide strategy. In the summer of 2007, at the request of the Attorney General, the heads of affected state agencies and law enforcement associations gathered to address this issue and formulate a statewide strategy to combat gangs. In December 2007, at the suggestion of this executive group, the Office of the Attorney General convened a summit of interested community leaders from around the state to help develop a statewide strategy. This document is the product of the efforts of the executive group and the participants in this summit. The mission of the Florida Gang Reduction Strategy is to increase the safety of the citizens of Florida by empowering Florida’s youth to reject criminal gangs as a viable option and by substantially reducing gang-related crime and violence in Florida. The goals to accomplish this mission are: 1. Stop the growth of criminal gangs in Florida; 2. Reduce the number of gangs and gang members; and 3. Render gangs ineffectual. To meet these goals and accomplish the mission the strategy is built on three pillars: 1. Prevention/Intervention; 2. Law Enforcement and 3. Rehabilitation and Re-entry. The key to the success of the strategy is coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local governments, law enforcement, elected officials, community leaders and the business community. In order to empower Florida’s youth to reject criminal gangs as a viable option a coordinated and cooperative effort of all parties must be focused on the same basic objectives. Details: Tallahassee: Office of the Attorney General, 2010. 79p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 9, 2010 at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGRG-7FVPNR/$file/GangReductionReportWEB.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/KGRG-7FVPNR/$file/GangReductionReportWEB.pdf Shelf Number: 119771 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Juvenile Offenders

Author: McVie, Susan Title: Gang Membership and Knife Carrying: Findings from the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime Summary: This report presents key findings on gang membership and knife carrying amongst a cohort of young people based on data collected by the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (ESYTC). The analysis was commissioned in light of a lack of quantitative data measuring the extent of gang membership and knife crime in Scotland. The ESTYC is a longitudinal study of pathways into and out of offending for a cohort of around 4,300 young people which started in 1998. The findings presented in this report are based on self-report data collected from this cohort of individuals over a six year period, from the age of 12 to 17. The aims of this report are to provide an account of the knife carrying behaviour and reported gang membership amongst young people using the ESYTC data; to explore the background characteristics or profiles of young people who have carried knives or been involved in a gang; and to identify the main risk factors associated with knife carrying and gang membership. The report also aims to highlight the key similarities and differences between these two groups. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research, 2010. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 10, 2010 at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/324153/0104312.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/324153/0104312.pdf Shelf Number: 119777 Keywords: Gangs Knives and Crime - Violent Crime Longitudinal Studies Weapons and Crime

Author: Bannister, Jon Title: Troublesome Youth Groups, Gangs and Knife Carrying in Scotland Summary: Recent years have witnessed growing concern about the existence of youth gangs in Scotland and the engagement of their members in violent conflict involving knives and other weapons. However, there is limited reliable evidence relating to the nature, form and prevalence of youth ‘gangs’ and knife carrying in Scotland. Recognising these information shortfalls, the research reported here set out to: Provide an overview of what is known about the nature and extent of youth gang activity and knife carrying in a set of case study locations; Provide an in-depth account of the structures and activities of youth gangs in these settings; Provide an in-depth account of the knife carrying in these settings; and too offer a series of recommendations for interventions in these behaviours based on this evidence. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Government Social Research, 2010. 78p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 10, 2010 at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/324191/0104329.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/324191/0104329.pdf Shelf Number: 119778 Keywords: Gangs Knives and Crime Violent Crime Weapons

Author: Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress Title: The Face of Urban Violence in Central America Summary: Central America has been identified as a sub-region displaying post-conflict characteristics; with some stages successfully completed, while other have failed or are still in progress. A notable dilemma, however, remains unaddressed: the relationship between violence and youth. Traditionally, this relationship has been perceived as a symbiotic, with youth perceived as violent, as a logical consequence of their presumed lack of maturity or experience. According to this study, the victims of violence in Central America - and worldwide - are youths aged 13 to 29, who come from economically depressed regions, and pockets of urban poverty. They tend to belong to ethnic or racial minorities, live in densely populated areas marked by unemployment, high birth rates and little access to schooling. Many of these youths, both victims and assailants, have been victimized themselves. They have been abused, suffered domestic violence; they have been abandoned, or had little access to education and culture, and are incapable of entering the job market in conditions of equality or security. Details: San Jose, Costa Rica: Arias Foundation for Peace on Human Progress, 2006. 276p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 16, 2010 at: http://www.arias.or.cr/download/INGLES.pdf Year: 2006 Country: Central America URL: http://www.arias.or.cr/download/INGLES.pdf Shelf Number: 116550 Keywords: Gangs Juvenile Offenders Socioeconomic Status Violent Crime Youth Violence

Author: Stevens, Alex Title: Offender Management Community Scoping of London Gang Demographics: Final Report Summary: This is the final report of the community scoping of London gang demographics, provided to London Probation. It includes: A literature review; A discussion of the drivers and dynamics of serious group offending in London; Initial findings from interviews with probation officers in the field; Thematic Issues arising from stakeholder consultations; A review of alternative models of offender management; and Recommendations for probation practice. Details: Canterbury, UK: European Institute of Social Services, University of Kent, 2010. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 21, 2010 at: http://www.cepprobation.org/uploaded_files/Rep%20STARR%20gangs.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cepprobation.org/uploaded_files/Rep%20STARR%20gangs.pdf Shelf Number: 119852 Keywords: Gangs Juvenile Offenders Probation

Author: MacDonald, John Title: Neighborhood Effects on Crime and Youth Violence: The Role of Business Improvement Districts in Los Angeles Summary: Despite declines in youth violence nationally in the past decade, incidence of youth violence and victimization — from assaults to homicide — continue to be a pressing public-safety and public-health concern. Youth violence is also a particular concern for low-income, minority communities, where poverty, family instability, and unemployment provide a fertile context for gangs and illicit drug markets. Due to public-safety and public-health effects of youth violence and the documented association between community socioeconomic conditions and violence, both public-safety and public-health officials and researchers have invested heavily in developing and examining community-level responses to youth violence. While some of these community-level approaches have shown evidence of effectiveness, they are often expensive, difficult to sustain, and hard to replicate. It is worthwhile then to consider community-level interventions and activities that might address underlying environmental conditions that facilitate youth violence rates in communities. This report examines the impact of business improvement districts (BIDs) on crime and youth violence in Los Angeles (L.A.). BIDs are self-organizing, local public-private organizations that collect assessments and invest in local-area service provisions and activities, such as place promotion, street cleaning, and public safety. Such activities can contribute to community-level attributes that might reduce crime and youth violence by increasing informal social control, reducing visible signs of disorder and blight, improving order maintenance, and providing enriched employment opportunities by facilitating overall improvements in the local business environment. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2009. 117p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 22, 2010 at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2009/RAND_TR622.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2009/RAND_TR622.pdf Shelf Number: 113423 Keywords: Business Improvement Districts Crime Prevention Gangs Juvenile Offenders Socioeconomic Conditions Youth Violence

Author: Briscoe, Ivan Title: A State of Siege: Elites, Criminal Networks and Institutional Reform in Guatemala Summary: The scale and severity of the challenges facing the Guatemala state have been underlined by events over the past year. Humanitarian crises and a continuing wave of violent crime, exacerbated by the penetration in Guatemalan territory of Mexican cartels, have multiplied the demands on public authorities. The government of President Alvara Colom, a self-declared social democrat, has vowed to fight poverty and clean up the security and judicial systems. To a significant extent, the country is still locked into the terms of the informal political and economic settlement that lay beneath the formal peace process ending the country's civil war in 1996. Whereas the peace accords promised rural development, a stronger and wealthier public sector, and a dismantling of the structures of counter-insurgency, the post-conflict reality fell under a different paradigm. Criminal groups, involving former military officers, acting state officials, criminal entrepreneurs and gang members, extended their influence. This paper, which forms part of the broader Clingendael research programme into post-conflict and fragile states, aims to unpick these constrains on governance in Guatemala, and also points to the emerging trends that are now altering the country's internal balance of power. In particular, the election of Colom in 2007 and the creation in the same year of the UN Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) are landmark events that appear to have undermined the post-conflict settlement. However, recent setbacks, including the paralysis of key policy initiatives - such as tax reform - and repeated acts of corruption in the security forces and the judicial system have raised questions over whether reform of the state is possible, and how it is to be carried out. Details: The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations 'Clingendael', 2010. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 6, 2010 at: http://www.clingendael.nl/publications/2010/20100913_cru_publication_ibriscoe.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Guatemala URL: http://www.clingendael.nl/publications/2010/20100913_cru_publication_ibriscoe.pdf Shelf Number: 119873 Keywords: Corruption Criminal Networks Criminal Violence Gangs Organized Crime

Author: Dziedzic, Michael Title: Haiti: Confronting the Gangs of Port-au-Prince Summary: Although ostensibly criminal in nature, the gangs of Port-au-Prince were an inherently political phenomenon. Powerful elites from across the political spectrum exploited gangs as instruments of political warfare, providing them with arms, funding, and protection from arrest. Beginning in 2006 and reaching its culmination in February 2007, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) conducted a series of successful military and police operations against armed gangs, based in sanctuaries in Cité Soleil and other urban slums, that had terrorized the populace. The campaign resulted in the arrest of principal gang leaders and some eight hundred of their followers. UN operations followed a public announcement by Haiti’s president, René Préval, that the gangs must “surrender or die,” and a private request to the United Nations to take armed action. Préval’s call for action came after efforts to negotiate with the gangs proved futile. Antigang operations involved the Haiti National Police (HNP), the country’s only security force. HNP support for, and direct engagement in, these operations was essential to their success. Haitian police SWAT teams arrested most of the gang leaders. Although the UN assaults resulted in civilian casualties and extensive property damage, the great majority of Cité Soleil residents surveyed believed that the UN crackdown was justified. If MINUSTAH had not been willing and able to confront the gang threat, the likely consequences would have been the collapse of the Préval administration and the failure of the UN mission. The United Nations must be capable of mounting assertive operations to enforce its mandates, and it can succeed in such operations under the proper conditions if it summons the necessary resolve. MINUSTAH’s success in confronting the gang threat suggests that the conditions needed for successful mandate enforcement include unity of effort among mission leadership, local buy-in and support, actionable intelligence to guide operations, effective employment of Formed Police Units (FPUs), integrated planning of military, police, and civilian assistance efforts to fill the void left by the displacement of illegal armed groups, and holistic reform of, and international support for, the legal system. Details: Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2008. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Special Reprot 208: Accessed October 12, 2010 at: http://www.usip.org/files/resources/sr208.pdf Year: 2008 Country: Haiti URL: http://www.usip.org/files/resources/sr208.pdf Shelf Number: 119927 Keywords: Gangs Policing Violent Crime

Author: Langton, Lynn Title: Gang Units in Large Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2007 Summary: This report presents data from the first nationwide study of specialized police units dedicated solely to addressing gang activity. The report details the operations of gang units, including intelligence gathering approaches, investigational tactics, gang suppression techniques, law enforcement agency support work, and gang prevention activities. Other topics include the characteristics of gang unit officers, officer training and gang unit selection requirements, intelligence sharing, and gang unit collaboration with other criminal justice agencies. The report also provides information on the types of gangs and gang activities handled by gang units, and the characteristics of jurisdictions served by gang units. Highlights include the following: In 2007, 365 of the nation's large (100 or more sworn officers) police departments and sheriffs' offices had specialized gang units, employing a median of 5 officers per unit and more than 4,300 full-time equivalent sworn officers nationwide; Most gang units focused more on developing specialized knowledge about area gangs, gang members, and gang activities than on suppression and support functions; Over 60% of gang units spent the greatest percentage of time either gathering gang intelligence (33% of units) or investigating gang activities (32%) in 2007; and Nearly all (98%) specialized gang units shared criminal intelligence information with neighboring law enforcement agencies. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 18, 2010 at: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/gulllea07.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/gulllea07.pdf Shelf Number: 119994 Keywords: Gang Units Gangs Police Agencies Policing

Author: Berg, Louis-Alexandre Title: Crime, Politics and Violence in Post-Earthquake Haiti Summary: Crime and violence are on the rise in Port-au-Prince due to prisoner escapes during the earthquake. Youth gangs and other armed groups are regaining strength in the most vulnerable neighborhoods and spreading to other areas of the city. In the tent camps around Port-au- Prince, displaced people—especially women — remain vulnerable to crime. These factors have contributed to an increasing sense of insecurity. As political tensions rise in the run-up to elections, armed groups, criminal enterprises and vulnerable youth could once again be mobilized by political forces to fuel violence or disrupt the political process. Gangs and their involvement in criminal and political violence are deeply rooted in Haitian politics, and fueled by widespread poverty, inadequate police presence, government weakness, and social and economic inequities. Prior to the earthquake, criminal violence had begun to decline due to a combination of political reconciliation, law enforcement operations and investment in marginalized neighborhoods. These fragile gains have been reversed since the earthquake and public confidence in the police has been shaken. Directing resources toward mitigating violence while addressing the underlying sources of crime and violence should remain a priority in post-earthquake reconstruction. Details: Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2010. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Peace Brief, no. 58: Accessed October 18, 2010 at: http://www.usip.org/files/resources/PB%2058%20-%20Crime%20Politics%20and%20Violence%20in%20Post-Earthquake%20Haiti.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Haiti URL: http://www.usip.org/files/resources/PB%2058%20-%20Crime%20Politics%20and%20Violence%20in%20Post-Earthquake%20Haiti.pdf Shelf Number: 119996 Keywords: Gangs Natural Disasters Violence Violent Crime

Author: Albright, Danielle Title: Results from the New Mexico Gang Threat Assessment Summary: Project Safe Neighborhoods began in 2001 as a federal initiative to reduce gun violence in the U.S. The initiative brings together local, state, and federal law enforcement partners with the goal of providing a comprehensive strategy for prevention, intervention, and suppression of gun related crime. In 2006, PSN added an anti-gang component to its existing strategy. In the District of New Mexico comprehensive data on gang-related crime and violence is limited, complicating efforts to shift the focus of PSN activities in the State towards anti-gang efforts. To facilitate this shift and determine how the current PSN infrastructure built through the anti-gun initiative could be expanded to include anti-gang activities, the District’s PSN task force allocated a portion of its PSN research funds towards the development and implementation of a statewide gang threat assessment survey. The survey was designed to identify how law enforcement personnel across the state: 1) perceive the nature and extent of the gang problem in New Mexico; 2) collect information on gangs, gang members, and gang crime within their agencies; 3) identify resources available, both within their agencies and the community at large, for combating the gang problem in their jurisdictions, and 4) how they think the State should prioritize future anti-gang activities. This report was prepared for the New Mexico PSN Task Force for use in developing research driven policy and program initiatives, to serve as a benchmark for future gang threat assessment research, and to identify the direction of future research and media outreach campaigns. Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Statistical Analysis Center, Institute for Social Research, University of New Mexico, 2008. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 21, 2010 at: http://nmsac.unm.edu/contact_information/nmsac_publications/ Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://nmsac.unm.edu/contact_information/nmsac_publications/ Shelf Number: 120048 Keywords: Gangs Gun Violence Guns Violent Crime

Author: Totten, Mark Title: Investigating the Linkages between FASD, Gangs, Sexual Exploitation and Women Abuse in the Canadian Aboriginal Population: A Preliminary Study Summary: Over the last decade there has been an increase in the reporting of Aboriginal gangs and the impact on individuals, communities and youth in Canada. Some reports have described youth involvement in these gangs as reaching crisis proportions, particularly in prairie provinces, since the social impacts of gangs are directly linked to the drug trade, violence, weapons trade, sexual exploitation and the trafficking of women and girls. The impact on Aboriginal women and girls is particularly worrisome, as their involvement in gang activity is increasing, which may be directly related to their vulnerability and marginalization in Canadian society. This link is surmised by the fact that Aboriginal girls and women are significantly more likely than any other group in the country to die at a young age from suicide, homicide or serious illness; they suffer disproportionately elevated rates of sexual and physical abuse as children and adults; rates of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) appear to be elevated in the Aboriginal (particularly the First Nations) population, which is directly linked to higher rates of drug and alcohol use and addictions at a young age; and, they make up the large majority of all individuals in Canada who are involved in the sex trade and sexual trafficking. In addition to these indicators, there is increasing evidence that suggests gangs are responsible for the sexual exploitation and sexual slavery of Aboriginal women and girls. While there is an increasing awareness of the involvement of Aboriginal girls in gangs, there is little published evidence to determine concrete linkages between gangs, sexual exploitation and violence. One factor that has not yet been explored, as both a cause, consequence and compounding factor of the exploitation of Aboriginal women and girls and gang involvement is FASD. The purpose of this research report for the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is to provide an exploratory investigation into the linkages between many of the abovementioned phenomena - to begin a journey into making the connection between FASD, sexual exploitation, gangs, and extreme violence in the lives of Aboriginal young women. In so doing, we hope to develop a plan to prevent Aboriginal young women from using alcohol and other drugs during pregnancy. Details: Ottawa: Native Women's Association of Canada, 2009. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 28, 2010 at: http://www.nwac.ca/sites/default/files/imce/NWAC%20FASD%20SexExplGangs%202009.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: http://www.nwac.ca/sites/default/files/imce/NWAC%20FASD%20SexExplGangs%202009.pdf Shelf Number: 120115 Keywords: Aboriginals Alcohol Abuse Female Victims Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Gangs Human Trafficking Sexual Exploitation

Author: Mulmi, Rajendra Title: Youth Perspectives on Security Sector Transformation in Nepal Summary: Nepal is one of the countries characterized by a youth bulge and suffered a decade long armed conflict. Although youth (15-29 years of age) comprise a significant 30% of the overall population, their voices of have been largely excluded from arenas of debate and decision-making. The decade long armed conflict has adversely affected youth, compelling many to either join the insurgency or to flee from their communities. Youth were one of the most affected populations by the violence and insecurities during the insurgency. Even after the formal end of the Maoist's people's war, youth in Nepal still continues to be either used or victimized in many big and small violent movements such as those organized by Madhesis and ethnic groups and other criminal armed groups. In the era of rethinking security as a broader concept of human security, it is recognized that 'the narrative of human security should be grounded more firmly in the lived experience of people who are insecure'. Thus, it becomes imperative to understand youth perspectives on security transformation to reduce both the victimization and use of youth in violent conflicts. One of the very few research carried out with this purpose in Nepal is by International Alert and Friends for Peace (FFP) in 2007. The research carried out in two districts in Eastern Terai had an overarching aim to strengthen youth voices on community security needs and perspectives across different identity lines in the Eastern Terai. The research was a very good initiative in exploring youth perspective of community security but was exclusive to the concerns of the youth of Eastern Terai. Thus, there is still a need and a gap for an inclusive research to unveil the voices of youth from all segments of the society. This research aims to contribute to the ongoing debate and discourse related to the processes of the security sector transformation from a youth perspective. The research in particular explored youth perspectives to security and the security sector transformation by examining the following four key questions: 1. What is meant by security? How do young people understand security? 2. In what ways and how have the youth been affected by the (in)security issues? What are young people's perceptions of them being participants or victims of armed conflicts? 3. What role do various actors play in the public security sector? What role do youth play in public security? 4. How do youth think can the situation of violence and insecurity be transformed in the context of Nepal? Details: Santiago, Chile: Global Consortium on Security Transformation, 2010. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: New Voices Series, No. 7: Accessed November 2, 2010 at: http://www.securitytransformation.org/images/publicaciones/184_New_Voices_Series_7_-_Youth_Perspectives_on_Security_Sector_Transformation_in_Nepal.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Nepal URL: http://www.securitytransformation.org/images/publicaciones/184_New_Voices_Series_7_-_Youth_Perspectives_on_Security_Sector_Transformation_in_Nepal.pdf Shelf Number: 120165 Keywords: Gangs Public Safety Youth and Violence

Author: Korsell, Lars Title: Police Encounters with Organised Crime: A Research Project About Unlawful Influence Summary: Currently, the Swedish police are mobilising against organised crime (Ministry of Justice Ds 2009:38). Two hundred police officers have been allocated to fight this form of criminality; action groups are being set up regionally, in eight locations throughout the country, and centrally, at the National Criminal Police. The police information service is being expanded, and regional intelligence centres (RUC) with collaborating authorities will soon be found in eight locations throughout the country. Profits from organised crime are also being focused on, and the police are carrying out an “asset-centered” fight against crime in collaboration with other authorities. The efforts are focusing both on preventing new recruitment and on prosecuting established members. In addition, it is an ambition to create channels to facilitate persons defecting from criminal gangs. Organised crime thus appears to be an area of high priority. But measures give rise to countermeasures. One strategy is for organised crime to become even more cautious and invisible, investing in security and avoid contact with authorities. Another tactic, and much more rare, is to fight back, using unlawful influence, which is what this report is about. The term unlawful influence means harassment, threats, criminal damage and violence, but also corruption aimed at exerting influence over the discharge of work duties. It might, for instance, be about ensuring that the police do not carry out a check or apprehend someone. In other cases, they may want to make police employees act in a manner favourable to the influencer, such as passing on secret information. As unlawful influence can take many forms, and thus be aimed at police employees carrying out different tasks, the investigation covers both police officers and civilian employees. The expression does not cover all the instances of threats and violence to which police employees are subjected, but only those that the individuals in question feel fill a more qualified purpose – to influence them in the execution of their work. The following research project studies unlawful influence against police employees by individuals linked to some kind of organised crime. In this report, the expression “organised crime” covers groups with varying degrees of organisation, from youth gangs who are on the margins of criminal networks to specialised networks concentrating on a particular type of illegal product or service. In between, there are suburban gangs, biker gangs, prison gangs and political extremist groups. A characteristic of the central actors within organised crime is that their criminality constitutes a “profession”, where persons have reached differing levels of achievement. Details: Stockholm: Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, 2009. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: A Summary of Report 2009:7: Accessed December 13, 2010 at: http://www.bra.se/extra/measurepoint/?module_instance=4&name=Police%20encounters_with_organised_crime_summary.pdf&url=/dynamaster/file_archive/090729/ddda7c0ce88218cefffbd041636217eb/Police%2520encounters%255fwith%255forganised%255fcrime%255fsummary.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Sweden URL: http://www.bra.se/extra/measurepoint/?module_instance=4&name=Police%20encounters_with_organised_crime_summary.pdf&url=/dynamaster/file_archive/090729/ddda7c0ce88218cefffbd041636217eb/Police%2520encounters%255fwith%255forganis Shelf Number: 120488 Keywords: Gangs Organized Crime (Sweden) Police Corruption Police Misconduct

Author: Muggah, Robert Title: Timor-Leste Armed Violence Assessment Final Report Summary: This report brings together research and analysis produced for the Timor- Leste Armed Violence Assessment (TLAVA) over the period 2008–10. The TLAVA was a two-year field research-based project to explore pressing security issues in Timor-Leste, with a specific focus on the dynamics of armed violence. Co-sponsored and administered jointly by the Small Arms Survey and ActionAid Australia (formerly Austcare) with support from AusAID, the project produced five Issue Briefs and two legal analyses, as well as workshops and consultations with key domestic Timorese and international stakeholders. The overarching goal of the project was to marshal existing and new research to systematically examine the gap between real and perceived armed violence in Timor-Leste, and produce accessible publications to inform interventions. Based on consultations with stakeholders in Timor-Leste, the project focused on three specific areas: an assessment of the risk factors, impacts, and socio-economic costs of armed violence in relation to population health—particularly women, children and male youths, and internally displaced persons (IDPs); a review of the dynamics of armed violence associated with ‘high-risk’ groups such as gangs, specific communities in affected districts, petitioners, veterans, and state institutions, and potential triggers such as elections; and the role of arms (e.g. bladed, home-made or ‘craft’, and manufactured) as a factor contributing to armed violence. In addition to the reports generated by the TLAVA, the research team sought to ensure the transfer and exchange of skills and training for sustainable research on armed violence, and to strengthen domestic monitoring and information management capacities in the public health and security sectors to prevent and reduce armed violence. This report is organized by thematic area, reviewing specific topics covered in the Issue Briefs, specifically the presence and control of small arms in Timor-Leste, group-related violence and state and civil society efforts to control it, and sexual and gender-based violence and recent developments in addressing it. Owing to important developments since the publication of the original Issue Briefs, researchers and contributors provided updates on these topics in 2010. While not all substantive areas of the TLAVA could be revisited, the conclusion reflects on future directions for research on armed violence in Timor-Leste. Details: Geneva: Small Arms Survey, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, 2010. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 14, 2010 at: http://www.timor-leste-violence.org/pdfs/Timor-Leste-Violence-Special-Report-12.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Asia URL: http://www.timor-leste-violence.org/pdfs/Timor-Leste-Violence-Special-Report-12.pdf Shelf Number: 120508 Keywords: Gangs Gun Violence Guns Violence (Timor-Leste) Violence Against Women Violent Crime

Author: Howell, James C. Title: Gang Prevention: An Overview of Research and Programs Summary: This bulletin presents research on why youth join gangs and how a community can build gang prevention and intervention services. The author summarizes recent literature on gang formation and identifies promising and effective programs for gang prevention. The following are some key findings: • Youth join gangs for protection, enjoyment, respect, money, or because a friend is in a gang. • Youth are at higher risk of joining a gang if they engage in delinquent behaviors, are aggressive or violent, experience multiple caretaker transitions, have many problems at school, associate with other gang-involved youth, or live in communities where they feel unsafe and where many youth are in trouble. • To prevent youth from joining gangs, communities must strengthen families and schools, improve community supervision, train teachers and parents to manage disruptive youth, and teach students interpersonal skills. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2010. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Juvenile Justice Bulletin: Accessed December 17, 2010 at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/231116.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/231116.pdf Shelf Number: 120543 Keywords: Delinquency Prevention Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Moran, Patrick Title: El Salvador and Guatemala: Security Sector Reform and Political Party System Effects on Organized Crime Summary: Since the signing of peace treaties in El Salvador and Guatemala in 1992 and 1996 respectively, both countries have experienced exploding levels of crime and violence as a result of gangs, drug trafficking organizations, and organized crime. Because both nations share many common traits, a general perception is that the causes and effects of criminal activity are similar in both countries. The patterns, causes, and effects of criminal activity, however, vary significantly between El Salvador and Guatemala. Specifically, organized crime - with its hallmarks of violence, corruption, and penetration of state institutions - is a problem that afflicts Guatemala much more than in El Salvador. Security sector reforms and the demilitarization of security forces in El Salvador prevented organized crime from gaining hold over time whereas police reform in Guatemala failed to purge the security apparatus of former militarized forces with ties to organized crime. A strong political party system in El Salvador acts as a gatekeeper in preventing many organized crime elements from penetrating the state while a weak party system in Guatemala allowed for much greater infiltration of illicit entities. Future policy regarding both countries should give greater attention to organized crime and political party systems. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2009. 89p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed February 17, 2011 at: http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA501879 Year: 2009 Country: Central America URL: http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA501879 Shelf Number: 120812 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gangs Organized Crime (El Salvador and Guatemala)

Author: Schnitzler, Antina von Title: Guardians or Gangster? Mapogo a Mathamaga: A Case Study Summary: Since its launch in 1996, the anti-crime group Mapogo a Mathamaga has been embroiled in controversy. Set up by a group of businessmen in the Northern Province in response to a spate of murders and armed robberies, the group soon became known for its illegal and strong-arm tactics when dealing with criminal suspects. Consequently, Mapogo is now commonly referred to as a vigilante group. This report provides insight into the organisation from a range of perspectives offered by those living and working in the Northern Province. This includes the views of Mapogo members (both current and former), traditional leaders, and other political, civic and trade union leaders, as well as the policing authorities and victims of Mapogo. The report examines the political and social context from which Mapogo has emerged, how the organisation was set up, who was involved and some of the key factors that have influenced its development. With crime remaining a major political issue, the report looks at how the criminal justice system is coping in the Northern Province, and examines some of the reasons suggested as to why people take the law into their own hands. It also explores how the intergenerational conflict that characterised aspects of the political revolt of the 1980s continues to manifest itself in the ideology of Mapogo. The report looks at the structure of the organisation, the methodology of Mapogo's practices and the extent to which the organisation is in control of its constituent parts. The report considers Mapogo's various fields of operation from private security services to property recovery, from punishment beatings to intimidation of farm workers. It also tackles the contested terrain of Mapogo's popular appeal and considers how reference to 'African justice' is used as a justification for brutal behaviour. The report also examines the government's seemingly ambiguous response to the criminal conduct of Mapogo during the late 1990s, and explores the implications of Mapogo and its leader's connections to other political parties and rightwing organisations. Despite negative publicity and internal conflict, Mapogo continues to grow and now claims to have over 40,000 members and over 90 branches operating in 5 provinces. This report offers some understanding of the complexities that continue to influence the development of and reaction to South Africa's most popular vigilante group. Details: Johannesburg, South Africa: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, 2001. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Violence and Transition Series, Vol. 3: Accessed March 16, 2011 at: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/vigilantism/guardianorgangster.pdf Year: 2001 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/vigilantism/guardianorgangster.pdf Shelf Number: 121022 Keywords: Gangs Vigilantism Violence (South Africa) Violent Crime

Author: Dixon, Bill Title: Gangs, Pagad & the State: Vigilantism and Revenge Violence in the Western Cape Summary: The report begins by setting popular activism against gangsterism and drugs in the historical and social context of the Western Cape. It goes on to provide a short history of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) - as seen through the eyes of the media - since its formation in December 1995. The main body of the report is devoted to the accounts of Pagad's origins, development and current status provided by the nine people interviewed for the research: two senior police intelligence officials, two former gangsters, a prominent member of Pagad, two seasoned observers of the organisation and two anticrime activists with an intimate knowledge of Pagad and recent developments in the Western Cape. What emerges from these competing narratives is an extremely complex picture. Defining moments - the death of Hard Livings gang leader Rashaad Staggie in August 1996, the failure of successive rounds of peace negotiations between representatives of Pagad and the security services, a 'shoot-out' in the Tafelsig area of Mitchells Plain in May last year between police and armed 'vigilantes'- are subject to vastly different interpretations. The concluding sections of the report try to make some sense of the events of the last five years. They trace the origins of gang and vigilante violence in the Western Cape and provide an analysis of Pagad's formation, its development and the evolution of the state's response to it, first as a popular movement, then as a 'vigilante group' and now as an 'urban terror' organisation. The report ends with an assessment of the prospects for reconciliation between Pagad, the State and the gangs and an end to organised violence in the Western Cape. Details: Johannesburg, South Africa: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, 2001. 71p. Source: Internet Resource: Violence and Transition Series, Vol. 2: Accessed March 16, 2011 at: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/gangs/gangspagadstate.pdf Year: 2001 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/gangs/gangspagadstate.pdf Shelf Number: 121024 Keywords: Gangs Organized Crime Vigilantism (South Africa) Violence

Author: Luger, Andrew Title: Report of the Metro Gang Strike Force Review Panel Summary: The Metro Gang Strike Force was created by the Minnesota Legislature in 2005. The Mission of the Strike Force is restated a number of times, and is summarized in the "Joint Powers Agreement Creating the Metro Gang Strike Force" as follows: The Metro Gang Strike Force (hereinafter "MGSF") is hereby established by the Parties to coordinate efforts to prevent gang activity; and investigate, apprehend and prosecute those individuals engaged in such crimes which could be defined as gang related or crimes committed for the benefit of a gang. Prior to its formation in 2005, the Strike Force was part of the Minnesota Gang Strike Force. In 2003, the Minnesota Gang Strike Force lost much of its funding from the state legislature. At that time, the Minnesota Gang Strike Force relied on a variety of sources for funding, including forfeitures. Officers familiar with the Minnesota and Metro Gang Strike Forces told the Panel that many who worked at the two Strike Forces developed a "depression era" mentality about funding that included constant concern that the entities would not survive financially. According to the people who spoke with us about this topic, the concern about the ability to fund the Strike Forces' operations most likely led to the increased focus on forfeitures as a revenue source. In the dialogue that follows the issuance of this Report, it is our hope that the good work of the "first" Strike Force is not lost on the public and policy makers. Despite the egregious conduct of some, the Strike Force made positive contributions in a number of ways. As policy makers consider the needs of law enforcement in fighting gangs going forward, they must take into account the need for these types of positive efforts. As to the contributions of the Strike Force, our review indicates that: • Many Strike Force officers worked hard to develop gang-related intelligence that led to important investigations and prosecutions. In support of this work, Strike Force officers coordinated activities with other state, local and federal law enforcement agencies and prosecutors and contributed to successful gang prosecutions. In addition, Strike Force officers coordinated the sharing of gang-related information among a variety of law enforcement bodies and often assisted local police forces through the dissemination of important information. • Strike Force officers cooperated with investigations outside of the metro area when called upon by other jurisdictions and lent their knowledge and expertise to the efforts of others. • Strike Force officers, most notably the Commander, willingly gave their time to outreach efforts with schools, non-profits and others to describe efforts and techniques useful to prevent the spread of gangs. At the same time, these constructive and laudable efforts cannot mask the stain created by the highly questionable conduct described in this Report, the conduct of that "second" Strike Force. As we reviewed documents, members of the Panel were struck by how many cases had no connection to any gang activity and could not be reconciled with the mission of the Strike Force. The Strike Force's mission does not support the creation of roving "saturation" details that stop people for traffic violations or seize the funds of an undocumented alien who has committed no other offense. Yet this is what we found, many times over. The mission of the Strike Force does not contemplate officers seizing large quantities of personal items during the execution of search warrants without any effort to tie these items to criminal activity. Yet this was a regular occurrence. And the mission of the Strike Force does not authorize officers to take seized items home or purchase these items for their own personal use. But this is what happened, time and again. The state inquiry into the disbanded Strike Force uncovered "substantial evidence of misconduct" that went well beyond revelations previously reported by news media or uncovered in earlier government investigations. The panel's report, issued Thursday, said that Strike Force employees repeatedly took home seized property for personal use and that many of the seizures themselves were improper. Details: Minnesota: Metro Gang Strike Force Review Panel, 2009. 85p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 21, 2011 at: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2009/08/20090820_gangstrikeforce.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2009/08/20090820_gangstrikeforce.pdf Shelf Number: 121086 Keywords: Gangs Police Ethics Police Misconduct (Minnesota)

Author: Firmin, Carlene Title: This Is It. This Is My Life... Female Voice in Violence Final Report On the Impact of Serious Youth Violence and Criminal Gangs on Women and Girls Across the Country Summary: This report presents a follow-up to ROTA (Race on the Agenda) Female Voice in Violence report that discovered the use of "rape as a weapon of choice" against women and girls in London finds more weapons, less choice for females suffering from serious violence across the country. Girls and women across the country who disclose experience of rape, torture, abuse, exploitation and manipulation as a result of their relationships with gang-associated male family members and peers are at risk of repeat abuse and victimisation. The report draws on face-to-face research with 352 friends, relatives, victims or perpetrators of gangs and gang violence. Ranging in age from 13-52, the experiences of these women and girls highlight lessons for policy makers and those working to prevent serious youth violence. The research highlighted concerns about the lack of appropriate services available to those females caught up in gangs, the use of sexual violence by gang members, and the impact of serious violence on their sexual and mental health. Details: London: Race on the Agenda (ROTA), 2011. 100p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2011 at: http://www.rota.org.uk/downloads/ROTA_FVV_FINALREPORT_LoRes.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.rota.org.uk/downloads/ROTA_FVV_FINALREPORT_LoRes.pdf Shelf Number: 121105 Keywords: Gangs Rape Sexual Assault Youth Violence (U.K.)

Author: Harris, Daryl Title: Understanding the Psychology of Gang Violence: Implications for Designing Effective Violence Interventions Summary: This study employed a qualitative approach in which 44 male gang-affiliated prisoners convicted of violent offences were interviewed about their experiences of gang affiliation. The analysis suggested that participants held different views about the nature of gangs and there was a lack of consensus about what constituted a gang. This study identified several important psychological motivations contributing to gang affiliation and highlighted ways in which criminality reinforces gang affiliation and identity. The meaning of violence for participants was explored and the authors identify practical implications relating to assessment and intervention with gang affiliated offenders. Details: London: Ministry of Justice, 2011. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Ministry of Justice Research Series 2/11: Accessed March 28, 2011 at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/research-gang-violence.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/research-gang-violence.pdf Shelf Number: 121123 Keywords: Gangs Violent Offenders Youth Violence

Author: Jannetta, Jesse Title: The District of Columbia Mayor's Focused Improvement Area Initiative: Review of the Literature Relevant to Collaborative Crime Reduction Summary: In March 2010, the Executive Offce of the Mayor/Offce of the City Administrator asked the District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute (DCPI) to assess the Mayor's Focused Improvement Area Initiative. The Focused Improvement Area (FIA) Initiative, launched in November 2007, is a community-based initiative that aims to reduce criminal activity and increase the quality of life in at-risk communities by combining community policing with human and social services delivery. In an effort to make recommendations on how to strengthen the FIA Initiative, DCPI conducted an assessment based on: - Interviews with the Initiative's stakeholders-past and present-on the Initiative's mission and background, design, and actual implementation; - Reviews of programmatic materials and administrative records and field observations of the Initiative's processes and procedures; and - An exhaustive review of the theoretical and empirical literature on best and promising practices in crime reduction, prevention, and suppression strategies and effective comprehensive community initiatives. Based on the assessment, DCPI has produced three documents to help guide District stakeholders on a redesign of the FIA Initiative, including: - An examination of past challenges and successes; - A review of research literature relevant to collaborative crime reduction; and - A strategic plan to guide future efforts. This document summarizes the results of a literature review on multifaceted approaches to reducing crime and improving neighborhoods; in other words, of literature on efforts like the District's FIA Initiative. To that end, this literature review focused on efforts that were intended to produce community-level impacts, involved multiple approaches, and were carried out by partnerships spanning agency boundaries. The literature review focused further on two major categories of interventions: 1) those focused on reducing or preventing crime and, 2) those with broader goals of improving neighborhoods or resident well-being, sometimes called "Comprehensive Community Initiatives" (CCIs). Both types of interventions are place-based and intended to improve neighborhoods, but they usually involve different public agencies, funding sources, and community-based organizations with diverse missions. While the two sets of interventions share the broad goal of improving distressed neighborhoods, their specific goals usually do not overlap. Crime prevention/reduction efforts typically focus on reducing homicides, arrests, gang activity, or other public safety indicators. Activities to improve other measures of well-being such as school attendance or employment are typically subordinate to the crime prevention efforts and are not tracked as closely. Meanwhile, comprehensive community initiatives or other place-based efforts focused on employment, economic development, or housing may expect reduced crime as an indirect benefit, but do not generally target activities specifically towards crime reduction, and if they do, it is a subordinate activity. While many sections of this document focus on crime-reduction efforts, lessons from CCIs and other community initiatives are incorporated as relevant. For public safety interventions, this literature review is based on evaluations indicating that crime reduction /prevention efforts produced targeted outcomes in at least one location in which they were implemented. The review of the public safety literature sought to determine which aspects of existing violence or crime prevention programs were successful. Because the goals and activities of CCIs and other broad neighborhood improvement efforts focused on social services or physical revitalization are so varied, it is notoriously dfficult to structure evaluations and draw conclusions about what works in the field. Therefore, this review pulls from information on specific CCIs as well as state-of-the-field assessments to highlight what such initiatives can and cannot accomplish and what structures and actions are most effective. This literature review was not designed to rank intervention programs in general, since extant research thoroughly documents best and promising practices in public safety and prevention. However, this document does pull out and highlight lessons for policy and practice in the District, aligned with the study team's recommendations for moving forward in the strategic plan. The literature review is divided into two broad sections. The first covers programmatic elements of initiatives: the strategies, interventions, and activities that successful efforts have employed. The second section covers process and structural elements, with subsections devoted to interagency collaboration, community engagement, and sustainability. Evaluations consistently find that how a collaborative effort structures itself and carries out its work is as important to its success as what programs or activities it uses. This insight is reflected throughout this review, both in the elevation of structural elements as a subject for consideration in their own right, and in discussion of implementation practices in the tactical elements section. Several challenges encountered in summarizing the literature in this way should be noted. Research on collaborative crime- and violence-reduction initiatives varies considerably in attention paid to anything other than overall outcomes. The importance of partnership design elements is often slighted, and the contribution of specific elements of multi-pronged approaches may not be discussed. Even when specific elements are discussed, there may be little detail regarding what specific models were used. For example, an evaluation may state that an initiative provided case management without specifying what model was used, how large caseloads were, whether formal case plans were created, or any number of details that would be useful to a practitioner seeking to replicate the approach. As Roehl et al. write about the SACSI sites, - The list of prevention/intervention services provided through SACSI is long, and includes -- Summary descriptions and lists were common, since a variety of different programs implemented at different levels were involved in these comprehensive programs. Perhaps most importantly, it is difficult to discuss the various models and approaches discussed in this literature review due to the way that they evolved from or were informed by one another. For example, Irving Spergel's Little Village Gang Violence Reduction Project gave rise to what is generally known as the "Spergel Model,"� which was replicated in multiple sites to varying degrees of success, and became the Offce of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)'s Comprehensive Gang Model. In addition, some programs, such as Weed and Seed and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), tend to work in concert when present in the same communities because of the shared goals and objectives. Past research on collaborative efforts to reduce crime and improve communities contains a multitude of valuable lessons. The key lessons that are supported across several sources are summarized in table 1.1. For a quick summary of the crime prevention and reduction initiatives discussed frequently in this literature review, see summary tables 2.1 and 2.2. Detail on the initiatives and sources used for this review are included in the annotated bibliography. Details: Washington, DC: District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute, Urban Institute, 2010. 102p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2011 at: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412320-Improvement-Area-Initiative.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412320-Improvement-Area-Initiative.pdf Shelf Number: 121147 Keywords: Codmmunity Crime Prevention Communities Crime (Washington, D.C.) Delinquency Prevention Gangs Neighborhoods and Crime

Author: Fox, Kathleen A. Title: Crime Victimization and Gang Membership Summary: Interest in gangs as a major social problem has begun to reemerge in light of recent attention from politicians, law enforcement, and researchers. Law enforcement officers report that the gang problem has significantly increased since 2001. Law enforcement and researchers have well-established the relationship between gang membership and offending. Compared to the amount of work devoted to understanding the relationship between gang membership and offending, much less is known about the ways in which gang members experience crime victimization. Therefore, this study builds upon recent work that examines the gang-victimization link, and examines the effects of social disorganization among a sample of gang and non-gang prison inmates. A sample of gang and non-gang members incarcerated in prison were interviewed and responded to a series of questions regarding involvement in crime, experiences with victimization, and perceptions of neighborhood disorganization. The current study aimed to examine the following questions. 1. Are gang members more likely to be victimized compared to non-gang members? The findings indicate that gang members were significantly more likely to be victimized compared to non-gang members. 2. Are perceptions of social disorganization associated with victimization? The results of this study show that perceptions of social disorganization explained the likelihood of victimization among gang members only. 3. Does accounting for inmates’ offending mediate the relationship between social disorganization and victimization? Results indicate that Crime perpetration was an influential factor for affecting the relationship between perceptions of social disorganization and victimization among gang members. These findings are discussed in terms of gang prevention programs. The results reported in this report challenge some of the assumptions young people have about the value of joining a gang, and this information could help inform prevention programs. Details: Huntsville, TX: Crime Victims' Institute, Sam Houston State University, Criminal Justice Center, 2011. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 29, 2011 at: http://www.crimevictimsinstitute.org/documents/Gang_Crime_Victimization_final.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.crimevictimsinstitute.org/documents/Gang_Crime_Victimization_final.pdf Shelf Number: 121197 Keywords: Gangs Social Disorganization Victimization

Author: Serrano-Berthet, Rodrigo Title: Crime and Violence in Central America: A Development Challenge Summary: Central America’s spiraling wave of crime and violence is threatening the region’s prosperity as countries face huge economic and human losses as a result of it. Aside from the pain and trauma inflicted upon victims, violence can cost the region up to 8 percent of its GDP when taking into account law enforcement, citizen security and health care costs. This is no small change for a region that in 2010 grew around 2 percent of GDP, while the rest of Latin America grew around 6 percent. To make matters worse, crime and violence also hampers economic growth, not just from the victims’ lost wages and labor, but by polluting the investment climate and diverting scarce government resources to strengthen law enforcement rather than promote economic activity, argues Crime and Violence in Central America: a Development challenge. But, in a redeeming twist, the study also suggests that a ten percent reduction of murder rates in the region’s most violent countries could boost annual economic growth by as much as a full one percent. Crime rates in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are among the top five in Latin America. In the region’s other three countries — Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama — crime and violence levels are significantly lower, but a spike in recent years has raised serious concerns. Some perspective may help gauge the extent of the problem. While Central America's population is roughly the same size as Spain's, Spain only registered 336 homicides in 2006, in sharp contrast with Central America’s 14,257 homicides – an average of 40 per day. Drug trafficking and a decades-long culture of violence emerge as the main culprits in Central America’s crime predicament. Easy access to firearms and weak judicial institutions are also to blame for the region’s violent state of affairs, according to the report. Narco trafficking ranks as the top cause for the rising crime rates and violence levels in Central America, a reflection in part of the sheer volume of narcotics flows through the area –90 percent of US-bound drugs, according to the study. Inherent traits of drug cartel operations, such as turf wars and vendettas between rival gangs, seem to fuel the region’s murder rates. The complexity of this situation calls for a regional approach and greater emphasis on prevention, at the expense of interdiction, which has proven insufficient to diminish the traffickers’ capacity. Also, successful strategies require actions along multiple fronts, combining prevention and criminal justice reform. Details: Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 13, 2011 at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLAC/Resources/FINAL_VOLUME_I_ENGLISH_CrimeAndViolence.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Central America URL: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLAC/Resources/FINAL_VOLUME_I_ENGLISH_CrimeAndViolence.pdf Shelf Number: 121323 Keywords: Drug Cartels Drug Trafficking Drugs Gangs Gun Violence Homicides Violent Crime (Central America)

Author: Arciaga, Michelle Title: Responding to Gangs in the School Setting Summary: Gangs are present in many schools in the United States. The National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XV: Teens and Parents, released in August 2010 by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, reported that: Forty-five percent of high school students say that there are gangs or students who consider themselves to be part of a gang in their schools. Thirty-five percent of middle-school students say that there are gangs or students who consider themselves to be part of a gang in their schools. The differences between public and private schools are stark. While 46 percent of students in public schools reported the presence of gangs and gang members at school, only 2 percent of private school students did. According to the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (2007), 23 percent of students reported the presence of gangs on their school campus or in the surrounding area in 2007. This represents an increase in the percentage of students reporting gangs on/around campus in 2003 (21 percent). Schools in urban areas appear to be the most affected by the presence of gangs: 36 percent of urban students reported gangs, versus 21 percent of suburban and 16 percent of rural students in 2005. In a survey of students conducted in almost 1,300 schools nationwide (Gottfredson and Gottfredson, 2001), 7.6 percent of male respondents and 3.8 percent of female respondents at the secondary level reported that they belonged to a gang. Based on the increased number of students reporting a gang presence at school between 2001 and 2010, this number has likely increased, although no subsequent nationwide studies have been conducted. Gang members do not leave their conflicts, attitudes, and behaviors outside the school doors. Some of the most dangerous gang activities in any community may take place in and around local schools. Gang members encounter each other at school during class changes, in the lunchroom, in common areas, and during assemblies and school events. Students may loiter on or around the school campus before and after school, and conflicts may occur between rival gangs. In some instances, gang members come to school to engage in criminal behavior (drug dealing) or to confront rivals. Because of the potential for violent gang interactions at school, school staff members and administrators need to formulate a plan to deal with gang activity. This article provides an overview of action steps that schools can take to prevent, intervene in, and suppress violent gang activity, as well as crisis response plans that can be developed to address potential acts of school violence including, but not limited to, gang activity. Details: Tallahassee, FL: National Gang Center, 2010. 15p. Source: Internet Resoruce: National Gang Center Bulletin, No. 5: Accessed May 3, 2011 at: http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Content/Documents/Bulletin-5.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Content/Documents/Bulletin-5.pdf Shelf Number: 121589 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs School Safety School Violence Schools and Crime

Author: Rufino, Katrina A. Title: Characteristics of Gang Membership and Victimization Summary: The relationship between gang membership and crime victimization has only recently begun to be examined. Much remains unknown about the descriptive nature of the gang-victimization link, especially among incarcerated populations. The current study aimed to provide a backdrop to the emerging gang-victimization literature by examining: (1) characteristics of victimization for gang and non-gang members, (2) descriptors of gang membership comparing victimized to non-victimized gang members, and (3) characteristics of gang membership comparing victimized to non-victimized gang members. A sample of both gang and non-gang member prison inmates were interviewed and answered a series of questions regarding involvement in crime and experiences with victimization. Gang members answered further questions pertaining to gang membership and gang member conduct. Results indicate that gang members were significantly more likely to be victimized compared to nongang members and gang members were more likely to be alone and under the influence of substances when victimized. Characteristics of membership and gang member conduct by victimization status are also presented. Details: Huntsville, TX: Crime Victim's Institute, Criminal Justice Center, Sam Houston State University, 2011. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 4, 2011 at: http://www.crimevictimsinstitute.org/documents/Characteristics%2003_31_11.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.crimevictimsinstitute.org/documents/Characteristics%2003_31_11.pdf Shelf Number: 121607 Keywords: Gangs Victimization

Author: Blanton, Rebecca E. Title: Unlawful Detainer Pilot Program: Report to the California Legislature Summary: Renters who remain at a property when they no longer have a legal right to reside at the location may be sued for unlawful detainer. Most often, an unlawful detainer is filed against a renter who is no longer paying rent but continues to occupy a residence. A person may also be the subject of an unlawful detainer if they commit or allow the commission of illegal activity at a rental property. The Los Angeles City Attorney developed the pilot programs under review in this report to “surgically remove” unlawful detainers who were contributing to illegal activities as a method of counteracting gang and drug problems in neighborhoods. In 1998, the California legislature passed AB 1384 (Havice, Ch. 613, Statutes of 1998). The pilot programs were based on the program design of the Los Angeles City Attorney. The legislation authorized pilot programs, in selected cities, that empower city attorneys and city prosecutors to evict nuisance tenants when landlords fail to act. The bill authorized a program that allows law enforcement organizations to assist landlords in evicting renters when the landlords fear retaliation from their tenants. Additionally, AB 1384 (Havice) established “partial eviction” provisions in California. This allows the city attorney to evict only the tenant arrested for a drug crime, leaving the “innocent” tenants in the residence. The goals of the pilot programs are to remove drug dealers from neighborhoods and to provide law enforcement with an effective and efficient option for evicting nuisance tenants. Bill AB 1384 and subsequent legislation for the unlawful detainer (U.D.) pilot programs provide for an evaluation of the program to determine if the programs are meeting these goals. This is the fifth report to the legislature on the U.D. program. Prior reports to the legislature submitted by the Judicial Council demonstrated that this program is being used, but have not fully evaluated the merits of this program. Consistent with the requirements of Chapter 613, Statutes of 2009-2010, the California Research Bureau (CRB) evaluated the 2010 data on unlawful detainer use and outcomes. CRB finds that the program is in use and is supported by the city attorneys and police officers at the pilot locations. However, current data reporting requirements limit the scope of the analysis. In this report, CRB provides the legislature with both an overview of the current program and an alternative program evaluation model to facilitate a more informative analysis in future reports. Our evaluation of the current data, along with conversations with key stakeholders, revealed several key findings. The key findings are located in Table 1. CRB found that important questions posed by the legislature and legislative staff are not currently being answered by the pilot program evaluation. Additionally, several potential benefits of the pilot programs are not currently being measured by the program evaluation. In this report, we provide key findings available with the current data and those gleaned through conversations with key stakeholders. Additionally, we provide a discussion of program evaluation and potential methods for the legislature or future research staff to answer important questions about the use and outcomes of the pilot programs. Details: Sacramento: California Research Bureau, 2010. 105p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 23, 2011 at: http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/11/Unlawful_Detainer_Pilot_Program_Report.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/11/Unlawful_Detainer_Pilot_Program_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 121778 Keywords: Civil Sanctions Drug Offenders (California) Gangs Housing Nuisance Behaviors and Disorders

Author: California. Judicial Council. Administrative Office of the Courts, Office of Court Research Title: Unlawful Detainer Pilot Program: Report to the California Legislature under Health and Safety Code Section 11571.1 and Civil Code Section 3485 Summary: In 1998, Assembly Bill 1384 ([Havice]; Stats. 1998, ch. 613) created an initial three-year unlawful detainer pilot program in cities within five former municipal court districts in the County of Los Angeles to allow city attorneys and prosecutors to seek the eviction of any person who was in violation of the nuisance or controlled substance law. The legislation, which became effective on January 1, 1999, authorized the pilot courts to issue a partial or total eviction order to remove an individual who engages in drug-related activity. AB 1384 also required the participating cities to collect specified data on their experiences under the pilot program and to file reports annually about these cases with the Judicial Council. The legislation further required the Judicial Council to submit a brief report to the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees on or before January 1, 2001, summarizing the information provided by the participating cities and evaluating the merits of the program. The Judicial Council report required under this legislation provided a summary of the program data submitted by the participating cities. Using additional information provided by the Long Beach pilot program, the report also looked into additional areas of program operations, including the type of drug violations leading to the issuing of eviction notices and the timing of the filing of unlawful detainer actions. In 2001, Assembly Bill 815 ([Havice]; Stats. 2001, ch. 431) reauthorized the pilot program for three more years, imposed more specific reporting requirements on the participating cities, and required the Judicial Council to issue another report and evaluation of the program. The Judicial Council’s report that was issued under AB 815 compiled the program data submitted by the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Based on the more specific information on program activities, the report provided an analysis of different components of each pilot program, including, among other things, the use of the pilot program provisions to accomplish partial eviction of the offending tenants. In 2004, Assembly Bill 2523 ([Frommer]; Stats. 2004, ch. 304) further extended the sunset of the pilot program to January 1, 2010, made additional augmentations to the reporting requirements, and expanded the program to include cities in Alameda and San Diego Counties. The legislation also required two additional Judicial Council reports to the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees, one on or before April 15, 2007, and the other on or before April 15, 2009, summarizing the information provided by the participating cities and evaluating the merits of the pilot program. In 2007, Assembly Bill 1013 ([Krekorian]; Stats. 2007, ch. 456) expanded the list of circumstances deemed to constitute a nuisance to include a person who commits an offense involving unlawful possession or use of illegal weapons or ammunition or who uses the premises to further that purpose. It additionally created a similar UD pilot project authorizing evictions based on such nuisance activities in the same cities covered by the original legislation, and added the city of Sacramento to the new pilot program. Details: Sacramento: Judicial Council of California, 2009. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 24, 2011 at: http://208.96.4.104/xbcr/cc/unlawful_detainer_pilot.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 121786 Keywords: Civil Sanctions Drug Offenders (California) Gangs Housing Nuisance Behaviors and Disorders

Author: Kirk, David S. Title: The Structural and Cultural Dynamics of Neighborhood Violence Summary: Over the past two decades, sociologists have given considerable attention to identifying the neighborhood-level structural and social-interactional mechanisms which influence an array of social outcomes such as crime, educational attainment, collective action, mortality, and morbidity. Yet, cultural mechanisms are often overlooked in quantitative studies of neighborhood effects, largely because of outdated notions of culture. This study aims to inject a much needed cultural dimension into neighborhood effects research, and, in the process, provide an explanation for the paradoxical co-existence of law-abiding beliefs and law violating behavior that characterize so many disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. To these ends, we explore the origins of legal cynicism as well as the consequences of cynicism for neighborhood violence. Legal cynicism refers to a cultural frame in which people perceive the law, and the police in particular, as illegitimate, unresponsive, and ill-equipped to ensure public safety. We address four empirical objectives in the study. First, we examine the correlates of legal cynicism. Second, we examine the cross-sectional relationship between neighborhood violence and legal cynicism as well as the relationship between neighborhood violence and tolerant attitudes toward violence and deviant behavior. Third, we seek to determine if legal cynicism predicts the change in neighborhood violence over time, net of changes to the structural conditions of a given neighborhood. Fourth, in order to determine if legal cynicism makes all types of violence more likely or remained stable (and even increased) in some Chicago neighborhoods during the 1990s despite declines in poverty and drastic declines in violence city-wide. Our findings—of total, gang, and non-gang homicides—also indicate that cynicism of the law has a general effect on violence, and that collective efficacy substantially mediates the association between legal cynicism and homicide. Legal cynicism undermines the collective efficacy that is so vital to the social control of neighborhood violence. The most important policy implication of this research is that improving structural and economic conditions of impoverished neighborhoods or increasing deterrence-based policing efforts alone may not be sufficient for reducing crime. Rather, our results suggest that crime reduction efforts should explicitly incorporate approaches that decrease cynicism of the law. Details: Final Report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2011. 91p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 27, 2011 at: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/234629.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/234629.pdf Shelf Number: 121839 Keywords: Gangs Legal Cynicism Neighborhoods and Crime (U.S.) Urban Crime Violent Crime

Author: Mannava, Priya Title: Dependent on Development: The Interrelationships Between Illicit Drugs and Socioeconomic Development Summary: In spite of the complex interrelationships between illicit drug production, trade and use and socioeconomic development (SED), drug control and development policies tend to occur in isolation of each other, as exemplified by the lack of inclusion of illicit drugs in the Millennium Development Goals. A failure to acknowledge the interconnections between these two areas hinders the effectiveness of both drug and development policies and also undermines a human rights based approach to both illicit drug policy and development policies and programs. 1.1 Aims of the report This report highlights the multifaceted relationships between illicit drug production, trade and use, and SED, and then demonstrates the ways in which the implementation of illicit drug control policies often hinders development sector gains; and furthermore, the ways in which many development sector policies actually increase vulnerability to illicit drug production, trade and use. By raising awareness on the links between drugs, drug policy, and SED, this paper aims to facilitate future research as well as initiate dialogue and collaboration between development and drug control agencies. 1.2 Approach & Terminology The report is based on the hypothesis that ‘Equitable SED is necessary for successful control of illicit drugs, while effective and human rights based illicit drug control is required to foster sustainable SED’. To test this hypothesis, we begin by examining the impact of SED on illicit drug production, trade, and consumption, and then conversely the affect of the three processes on SED. In so doing, we consider ‘illicit drug production/trade/consumption’ and ‘SED’ as independent variables, and expect that outcomes will hold true for diverse settings at various times and for different drugs. We also note that we are exploring associations rather than causality, expecting that there will be limited, and largely anecdotal, evidence available – at least these early formative research stages. Here, we define ‘socioeconomic development’ as the processes of social and economic development in a society, whereby the ‘socio-’ in socioeconomic development consists of “social change designed to promote the well-being of a population as a whole” (Midgley 2005) while the ‘economic’ refers to “qualitative change and restructuring in a country’s economy in connection with technological and social progress” (World Bank definition). ‘Control’ is referred to here as the processes undertaken in order to minimize the harms associated with the availability and use of drugs in a community at a given point of time. In line with the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, ‘illicit drugs’ are defined as drugs produced, traded, and consumed for purposes prohibited by law, as outlined by the international drug control conventions. 1.3 Methods We conducted a review of formal and non-formal English language literature published between 1990 and 2010 on the relationships between illicit drug production, trade, and consumption, illicit drug policies, SED, and human rights. 2. Sizing the problem: illicit drugs – an overview 2.1 The need to control Policies and programs that aim to control or eradicate illicit drugs have been justified by the real and potential harms associated with illicit drugs: health problems, crime, decreased productivity, unemployment, and poverty. An international drug control system, based on three international conventions, specifies the types of illicit drugs and how these should be regulated. Despite control efforts, supply and demand of illicit drugs continue to be widespread. 2.2 The extent of illicit drug use, production, and trading. Noting the difficulties in measuring indicators related to illicit drugs, it is estimated that around 3.5% to 5.7% of the world’s populations aged between 15 to 64 years (155 to 250 million) consumes illicit drugs. Consumption continues to be higher in the wealthier regions of North America, Western Europe, and Oceania, though sharp rises in use are being witnessed in East and West Africa, the Middle East, and South America. Production of opium, which increased by 80% between 1998 and 2009, is highest in Afghanistan, which accounted for 60% of the world’s supply during the same period. Supply of cocaine, largely produced in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru, was reported to have increased during the period of 2004 to 2007 as compared to earlier years, though the increase was not as dramatic as that of opium. Production of cannabis, the most widely produced illicit drug globally, and amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) is prevalent in countries world-over. The illicit drug trade is also widespread, though data on seizures suggest the problem is more acute in those surrounding nations where illicit drug production or consumption is high. 2.3 Understanding demand and supply Demand and supply of illicit drugs are influenced by many interrelated and complex factors. Various intrapersonal, micro-environmental, and macro-environmental elements create vulnerabilities to the use of illicit drugs, while the employment opportunities and profits arising from illicit drug production and trading act as incentives to supply. There are thus broader socioeconomic issues which impact on engagement with illicit drug economies. 3. The interrelationships between socioeconomic development and illicit drugs 3.1 Impact of socioeconomic development on illicit drugs Both poor SED and enhanced SED can fuel illicit drug production, trade and consumption. Rural underdevelopment, conflict and economic crises are all factors that contribute to farming of illicit drug crops. Characteristics of plant-based illicit drugs mean that these crops are often a more viable option than licit ones in settings of poor SED. In countries ranging from Afghanistan to Colombia, to Morocco and Myanmar, evidence suggests that regions cultivating illicit drug crops are geographically and/or socially isolated, underdeveloped with few economic opportunities, and may also be plagued by violent conflict. Conflict, and the resultant instability, not only helps to facilitate and proliferate illicit drug economies, but in turn, often sustains the conflict – creating a mutually reinforcing cycle. In countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia, and Myanmar, rebel and pro-government forces have used illicit drug economies to finance their activities. Conditions which contribute to weak SED such as unemployment, poverty, and marginalization may also create vulnerable environments for illicit drug use in both wealthy and less developed countries. For example, in the United States and United Kingdom, illicit drug use has been linked to socially and economically deprived urban settings. Similarly, studies in various countries of South America found that drug users were generally poorer, unemployed, and less educated. On the flip side, processes such as trade liberalization may in fact facilitate the flow of illicit drugs across borders. Though the type of association that exists between free trade and illicit drugs is yet to be understood, a modeling study suggests that in consuming countries, efforts to control trading may be hindered by free-trade policies. Modernization and the resultant change in values or norms that often accompanies SED may also lead to increased consumption of illicit drugs. In Indonesia and Pakistan, for instance, illicit drug use increased with newfound wealth and youth identifying themselves with images of Western popular culture. Within the socially marginalized Akha tribe in Laos, consumption of heroin and ATS increased following participation in the country’s market economy and in parallel with the country’s opium eradication program. 3.2. Impact of illicit drugs on socioeconomic development Simultaneously, illicit drug production, trade and consumption also affect SED. In the short-term, farmers and other members of impoverished communities benefit from illicit drug production and trade due to increased disposable income. At the national level, there may be a boost in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), reduced unemployment, and multiplier effects in other sectors, either due to increased expenditure in local markets or increased demand for production inputs of illicit drugs. For instance, a study dating back to the early 1990s found that a 10% increase in cocaine production in Bolivia resulted in a 2% increase in GDP and 6% decrease in unemployment. In Colombia, multiplier effects arising from the illicit drug economy helped to fuel growth in the property market. However, most of these short-term benefits are offset by the myriad of long-term adverse affects triggered by illicit drug economies. Firstly, the sheer volumes of money flowing from illicit drug economies help to encourage corruption. In several settings, there are reports of government and law enforcement officials turning a blind eye to illicit drugs in exchange for bribes. Secondly, social structures are disrupted as carers, such as single mothers or the income earner of the family, engage in risky trading of illicit drugs. As members of communities who participate in drug economies become richer, tensions in traditional power dynamics are created, thereby disrupting social harmony. Macroeconomic instability may also occur as a result of decreased investment in licit sectors, strengthening of the real exchange rate, and weakened effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policies. The evidence to support these findings, however, is more limited. Violence and conflict between drug gangs, as well as between gangs and members of law enforcement, causes substantial mortality and morbidity while also isolating communities. In Mexico for example, drug-related killings have reached 28,000 over the past four years. In the United States, homicide rates have fluctuated in tandem with crack cocaine markets in cities where consumption is high and market sizes are substantial. There are considerable health costs associated with illicit drug use; for example, injecting drug use accounts for 10% of all HIV infections worldwide, and 30% outside sub-Saharan Africa. Drug users are also likely to be less productive; a study by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 5 different countries found that occupational injuries were 2-4 times higher and absenteeism 2-3 times greater amongst drug users as compared to non-drug users. The relationships between illicit drug economies and SED are thus two-way and simultaneous. Causality is more difficult to determine given that illicit drug economies and factors that contribute to SED can interact in a mutually reinforcing cycle. Corruption, violence and conflict can for example facilitate illicit drug production, trade and consumption, which in turn can sustain corruption, violence and conflict. 4. Paradox on paradox: effects of illicit drug control policy on socioeconomic development International and national illicit drug control policies have traditionally focused on reducing demand and supply of illicit drugs. Policies that focus on minimizing the harms associated with drug use are increasingly being adopted by many nation states. Supply side policies comprise traditional law enforcement approaches, including attempts to eradicate illicit drug cultivation and production; this latter approach sometimes accompanied by ‘alternative development’ programs that focus on providing other economic opportunities to communities that farm illicit drugs. To date, evidence suggests that these policies have been largely ineffective in deterring cultivation of illicit drug crops, as supply of various drugs has either been maintained or increased. In response to eradication programs in Colombia and Mexico, for instance, farmers simply shifted to farming opium on smaller and more dispersed fields. These policies have largely been unsuccessful in part because of the weak acknowledgement of the fact that illicit drugs and associated harms are often a result of a broader range of political, cultural and socioeconomic factors. By adopting approaches that are guided by narrowly defined goals and are not based on the political, social or cultural realties of a particular development context, law enforcement and eradication attempts actually cause further, multiple, harms and thereby weaken SED in communities. Examples from coca-producing Andean countries, as well as from Afghanistan and Myanmar where opium poppy cultivation is widespread, show how law enforcement and eradication programs actually wipe out the livelihoods of poor farmers social and economically disadvantaged communities. With few viable economic opportunities available, these households often resort again to farming of illicit drugs, simply from survival necessity. Successful alternative development programs are rare, although in Thailand a long-term (highly subsidized) approach has met with some success. Interdiction – programs aimed at reducing or stopping trading – has contributed to a diversification of smuggling routes, often to countries where law enforcement is weak. For example, the low-income country of Guinea Bissau has become a new trading corridor for drugs being smuggled to Europe. Ironically, a systematic review that found a positive correlation existed between increased law enforcement and increases in violence and crime. This is explained in part by the fact that law enforcement activities can create a riskier environment in which illicit drug trading and dealing occurs, making the situation more volatile and prone to drug gang power dynamics when members or leaders are arrested. There is even less evidence available on the impacts of demand side policies, which include primary prevention of drug use (mass media campaigns, community based programs, and education), treatment (secondary prevention), and law enforcement. While studies on the effectiveness of treatment for drug users have found that it helps reduce crime and risky injecting behavior, stringent law enforcement practices directed against drug users have only served to increase risky behavior, shift patterns in drug use, and deter health seeking. Studies examining the impact of law enforcement on drug use in Vancouver and Sydney found that drug use did not decrease, but riskier forms of use did. Following a ‘war on drugs’ campaign in Thailand, drug users reported increased reluctance to seek healthcare. Thus, social and economic costs to society are only sustained or even intensified, and are therefore likely to negatively impact SED. Harm reduction (policies and programs aimed at reducing harms associated with drug use) encompasses many components in immediate impact, harm reduction as currently defined is cost effective and has positive impacts on social development. There is a need for harm reduction approaches to be further developed and integrated, and be more broadly defined so they can have more impact across the range of drug issues. Studies suggest that benefits include: reduced risky drug use behavior, decreased transmission of HIV, safer disposal of injecting equipment, and less public nuisance. These findings indicate that social and health costs to societies may thus be reduced, thereby helping to enhance SED. 5. The forgotten victim: human rights Not only do some illicit drug policies have potential negative impacts on SED, but they also lead to violation of human rights. Eliminating families’ main source of income without creating viable alternatives robs them of their livelihood and dignity. Harsh law enforcement and militaristic approaches to controlling supply and demand of illicit drugs have had serious human rights implications, with physical abuse, sexual assault, public humiliation, denial of legal representation, and mortality being reported in the name of law enforcement. Moreover, in many countries, drug users are forced to undergo ‘treatment’ which is not evidenced-based. Stringent drug laws have often been used as an excuse to discriminate against poor and marginalized groups of society, especially ethnic minorities. Worldwide, drug users continue to be discriminated against, and are denied treatment and other social rights on the basis of their consumption of drugs. 6. Conclusions The interrelationships between illicit drug economies and SED are real and complex. Factors linked to SED may lead to or deter engagement with illicit drugs, while illicit drug economies negatively impact on SED in the long-term, despite possible shortterm benefits. By not acknowledging these linkages, illicit drug policies which focus solely on reducing demand and supply through law enforcement or forceful measures have often had consequences that adversely impact on SED, and also violate human rights – causing more harm than the drugs themselves. Thus, our original hypothesis that illicit drug policies are development policies are interdependent holds true based on the evidence available. The limitations of our review must be recognized. Our findings are based on limited evidence, which includes very few quantitative and detailed studies on the interrelationships, as well as a lack of rigorous evaluations of drug control programs. Our expectation of limited data availability was therefore also validated. In addition, there are inherent issues with determining impact of and on SED, and in this study we have assumed impact based on anecdotal and qualitative information rather than modeling or quantitative analyses. Having said this, our review substantiates the need for greater collaboration between illicit drug control and development agencies. It is imperative for development agencies and governments of developing and transitional countries to investigate and account for the impact of development on vulnerabilities to drug production, trade, and use. All aspects of development, ranging from infrastructure projects to education programs, especially if donor funded, must consider implications for illicit drug production, trade, and use, as is currently done with respect to poverty, the environment or gender dynamics. At the same time, current illicit drug policies need review in light of their inequitable and damaging effects in relation to social development. While acknowledgement of the link between both fields has been increasing, further research in the area will help to provide a stronger base for advocacy to ensure that theory is translated into practice. Details: Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 28, 2011 at: http://www.countthecosts.org/sites/default/files/Dependent-on-Development.pdf Year: 0 Country: International URL: http://www.countthecosts.org/sites/default/files/Dependent-on-Development.pdf Shelf Number: 121880 Keywords: Drug Control Policies Drug Enforcement Drug Trade Drug Trafficking Drugs Abuse and Addiction Economics and Crime Gangs Poverty Socioeconomic Development

Author: Deuchar, Ross Title: The Impact of Curfews and Restriction of Liberty Orders (RLOs) on Young Gang Members in Glasgow Summary: This exploratory study focused on the impact of curfews and electronic monitoring (EM) on a small sample of young people in the West of Scotland who had a history of gang involvement and who had progressed to more serious criminal offending. It sought to explore the perceived impact of such spatial and temporal restrictions on the social capital, wellbeing, agency and citizenship experienced by both the young offenders themselves and their families and carers. It also sought to explore the motivations underpinning young offenders’ patterns of compliance and short-term desistance from offending. Drawing upon data from the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2006 (SIMD), three communities with particularly high proportions of multiple deprivation were identified. Open-ended interviews were conducted with local gatekeepers such as social workers and youth workers, and these gatekeepers facilitated contact with young people and families. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten young men1 between the ages of 16 and 21 across the focused communities, all of whom were either currently assigned to a curfew or had been assigned to one in the past two years. Interviews were also conducted with members of the young offenders’ immediate support units, such as parents, carers or partners. Through a process of snowball sampling, the researcher subsequently gathered further intelligence from local gatekeepers about young men who belonged to each of the identified communities but who were serving prison sentences in Polmont Young Offenders’ Institution in Scotland. Through a subsequent process of liaison with the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), a further six young men agreed to participate in interviews. This allowed a comparative element to emerge, which focused on the perceived severity of different sanctions associated with the restriction of young people’s liberty. Details: Strathclyde, UK: University of Strathclyde, School of Education, 2010. 5p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 7, 2011 at: http://www.uws.ac.uk/schoolsdepts/education/documents/TheImpactofCurfewsandRestrictionofLibertyOrders.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.uws.ac.uk/schoolsdepts/education/documents/TheImpactofCurfewsandRestrictionofLibertyOrders.pdf Shelf Number: 122003 Keywords: Curfews Electronic Monitoring Gangs Juvenile Offenders (Scotland)

Author: Vetten, Lisa Title: Urban Predators: An Analysis of Gang Rapes Reported at Six Inner-City Johannesburg Police Stations Summary: Little is known about rape involving multiple perpetrators in South Africa. This policy brief, a quantitative analysis of 162 rapes (both attempted and completed) reported at six police stations in Johannesburg during 1999 and involving two or more perpetrators, outlines and describes a variety of features associated with such rapes. It also explores what differences, if any, exist between rapes involving one assailant and those with multiple assailants, and provides some recommendations aimed at combating gang rape. Details: Braamfontein, South Africa: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, 2005. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: CSVR Gender Programme, Policy Brief No. 01: Accessed July 8, 2011 at: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/gender/urban.pdf Year: 2005 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/gender/urban.pdf Shelf Number: 122012 Keywords: Gang Rape (South Africa) Gangs Sexual Violence

Author: Schaefer, Agnes Gereben Title: Security in Mexico: Implications for U.S. Policy Options Summary: The security structure in Mexico is characterized by shifting responsibilities, duplication of services, and general instability, along with a lack of coordination among federal, state, and local security forces. The backdrop of a deteriorating security situation in Mexico and change in administration in the United States demands a closer examination of potential priorities and policy options to guide future U.S.-Mexico relations. U.S. aid to Mexico has typically focused on a narrow set of outputs — improved technology, training, and equipment to prevent drug trafficking. Despite these efforts, Mexico's security situation continues to deteriorate. To help inform debate, this study examined a set of policy options for the United States (strategic partnership, status quo, and retrenchment), along with promising potential policy priorities (help Mexico streamline delivery of security services, bridge the gap between federal and local security, support Mexico's efforts to address domestic security concerns, and build trust in security institutions). Problems related to drug and human trafficking, corruption, weapon smuggling, and gang violence have spilled into the United States, reaching far beyond the border. For this and other reasons, the United States has a significant stake in the success or failure of Mexico's security reform measures. Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2009. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 22, 2011 at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG876.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG876.pdf Shelf Number: 122145 Keywords: Border Security Drug Cartels Drug Trafficking (Mexico) Drugs Gang Violence Gangs

Author: San Francisco. Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice Title: SF Safe City: A Report on Ongoing Initiatives to Reduce Crime and Violence in San Francisco Summary: In the summer of 2006, San Francisco launched SF Safe Summer 2006, a coordinated effort amongst City departments, law enforcement, the courts and the community to combat the high rate of violence plaguing San Francisco. Together, these efforts created new job opportunities for at risk youth and adults, advanced new strategies to combat gun and gang violence, and bolstered social services for families impacted by violence. The summer passed but the city's efforts to stop violence continue to grow. The Mayor's Office prepared SF SAFE CITY to report on San Francisco's ongoing violence prevention and reduction strategies moving forward. These efforts are organized into five key elements: collaboration, prevention, intervention, enhanced criminal justice system effectiveness, and community policing. In 2005, homicides in San Francisco reached a ten-year high, with 96 people slain. So far this year, San Francisco continues to see high numbers of lives lost to violence. Homicides from gun violence constitute the majority of homicides in San Francisco. The violence and homicides disproportionately affect low-income communities of color. Victims of violence need support services to help them heal. Perpetrators must be prosecuted and held accountable for their actions. Youth and young adults need access to positive and productive activities as alternatives to crime and violence. Residents need to be safe in their communities. San Francisco launched SF Safe Summer 2006 to advance the kind of collaboration and innovation needed to solve this intolerable problem. Among other accomplishments, the Juvenile Probation Department and the Department of Children, Youth and their Families spearheaded the most ambitious effort in San Francisco history to provide jobs to youth on probation. The Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development expanded its CityBuild Academy to provide job-training services in the construction field. The Department of Children, Youth and their Families commenced an effort to expand the Community Response Network crisis response program in the Mission and bring this model to the Bayview and Western Addition neighborhoods. The Department of Public Health initiated a new citywide Crisis Response Team to assist family members and witnesses of violent incidents. Operation Ceasefire, a collaboration among local and federal public safety agencies to combat gun and gang violence, began extensive data collection and planning. The District Attorney and Public Defender continued their efforts to improve outcomes for people exiting jail, and Police District Stations carried out violence reduction plans to tackle the unique crime problems in each neighborhood. These initiatives have laid the foundation for change, but a tremendous amount of work lies ahead. The ongoing violence must be stopped through a combination of intensive prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies that can both respond to the immediate crisis on the streets and begin to deal with the underlying social and economic conditions that contribute to instability, violence, and crime. This report, SF SAFE CITY, describes San Francisco's ongoing violence prevention, intervention, and reduction efforts. Details: San Francisco: Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, 2006. 89p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 22, 2011 at: http://sfmayor.typepad.com/sf_mayor/files/SFSafeCity.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://sfmayor.typepad.com/sf_mayor/files/SFSafeCity.pdf Shelf Number: 122152 Keywords: Collaboration Crime Prevention (San Francisco) Gangs Gun Violence Homicides Violence Violent Crime

Author: Reiter, Keramet Title: Parole, Snitch, or Die: California’s Supermax Prisons & Prisoners, 1987-2007 Summary: Supermax prisons across the United States detain thousands in long-term solitary confinement, under conditions of extreme sensory deprivation. They are prisons within prisons, imprisoning those who allegedly cannot be controlled in a general population prison setting. Most supermaxes were built in a brief period, between the late 1980s and the late 1990s. In 1988 and 1989, California opened two of the first and largest of the modern supermaxes: Pelican Bay and Corcoran State Prisons. Today, California houses more than 3,300 prisoners in supermax conditions. Each month, between 50 and 100 people are released directly from these supermaxes onto parole. Using statistics obtained from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, this paper explores who these parolees are: what race are these prisoners, how long did they spend in solitary confinement, how frequently are they released, and how frequently are they returned to prison? These supermax-specific statistics are then compared with publicly available state statistics describing the overall race and return-to-prison rates of parolees in California, revealing that supermax prisoners are disproportionately Latinos who have served long prison sentences, under severe conditions. The potential effects of supermax confinement on levels of violence within supermax institutions and throughout the state prison system are also explored, through the lens of prisoner death and assault statistics; no conclusive data establish a direct relationship between supermaxes and reductions in violence. Analysis of interviews with correctional department administrators about the original goals and purposes of the supermaxes further contextualizes these data, revealing that supermaxes today function rather differently than their designers envisioned twenty years ago. In sum, this research provides one of the first evaluations of how supermaxes function, in terms of whom they detain and for how long, and how these patterns relate to their originally articulated purposes. Details: Berkeley, CA: Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of California Berkeley, 2010. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: ISSC Fellows Working Papers: Accessed July 26, 2011 at: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/04w6556f` Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/04w6556f` Shelf Number: 122154 Keywords: Gangs Inmates Parolees Prison Violence Prisoners Recidivism Solitary Confinement Supermax Prisons (California)

Author: Solis Rivera, Luis Guillermo Title: Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean: Summary of Articles Summary: This document is both a summary and translation of the book Crimen Organizado en América Latina y el Caribe, which was edited by MA. Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera and PhD. Francisco Rojas Aravena. The book was developed by the General Secretariat of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO after its initials in Spanish) and the Open Society Institute (OSI). It was originally published by Editorial Catalonia and the General Secretariat of FLACSO in 2008. The book is made up of 12 essays and it has 379 pages. The essays have been written by a group of distinguished authors from different backgrounds and each one contributed in the area of his or her expertise. The 12 essays are characterized by their diversity because each of them addresses different aspects of organized crime. And even though most authors agree that the strongest manifestation of organized crime is drug trafficking, they also analyze other intimately related issues such as human trafficking, arms trafficking, the smuggling of various goods, juvenile gangs, and money laundering. They also agree on some of the most important consequences of organized crime such as the corruption of many public officials, violence, insecurity, problems with democratic governance and the gradual erosion of the democratic system as a whole. The authors agree on the above aspects, but they each analyze the problem from a different perspective. Some essays address the issue from a general perspective and the perspective of the Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole, while other essays focus on certain case studies like the current situation in Mexico, Brazil, Peru, and Colombia, among others. Aside from this geographic variety, there is a methodological variety as well. Some authors focus on the definition of organized crime and other concepts that are linked with it such as public safety, democracy, corruption, and democratic governance. Other essays, however, evaluate empirical facts and current data for various countries of the region. Some authors explore the regional history, and why the particular histories of some countries have made them vulnerable to organized crime. Others reflect mainly on the current situation and search for answers to this serious problem. What they have in common is that, both from a past or present perspective, they analyze organized crime in its entire context and how the multiple economic, social, political, and cultural structural deficiencies have made Latin America prone to these criminal activities. This book provides solutions for the problem such as the need to strengthen international cooperation, transparency and governance, participation of civil society, and the importance of not attacking violence with violence, but concentrating on solving the structural and systemic problems. In sum, it analyzes organized crime from an integral and multidimensional perspective. Details: San Jose, Costa Rica: FLACSO, 2009. 95p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed July 27, 2011 at: http://www.flacso.org/uploads/media/Organized_Crime.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Central America URL: http://www.flacso.org/uploads/media/Organized_Crime.pdf Shelf Number: 122180 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gangs Human Trafficking Organized Crime (Latin America and Caribbean) Smuggling Violent Crime

Author: Scotland. Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland Title: Thematic Report on Knife Crime Summary: In 2005/06 882 people received a custodial sentence for ‘handling an offensive weapon’ and spent an average of 117 days in custody. Over half (54%) of these received sentences of 3 months or less, 41% were sentenced to between 3 and 6 months behind bars and the remaining 5% got between 6 months and 2 years. In 2009/10 the same statistics show that whilst those sentenced for the same crime rose slightly to 916, the length of sentence had increased dramatically. Only 16% received a sentence of less than 3 months, 38% received between 3 and 6 month sentences and 42% were in the 6 month to 2 year category. [In the future this trend may be affected by new provisions in the Criminal Justice and Licensing Act of 2010 3 that create a presumption against the court passing sentences of imprisonment (for any offence) of 3 months or less unless it considers that no other method of dealing with the person is appropriate.] Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Government, 2011. 62p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 29, 2011 at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/353265/0119014.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/353265/0119014.pdf Shelf Number: 12226 Keywords: Gangs Knives and Crime (Scotland) Violent Crime

Author: Olscamp, David M. Title: Project Exile: Beyond Richmond Summary: Over the past four years, the federal government has spent over $1 billion on Project Safe Neighborhoods. The program, which is modeled after Richmond, Virginia’s Project Exile and Boston, Massachusetts’ Operation Ceasefire, is designed to reduce gun violence by integrating federal, state and local resources. Project Safe Neighborhoods was announced by President Bush on May 14, 2001 and has continued to be his administration’s main crime fighting initiative. This paper attempts to resolve whether or not Project Exile is effective at reducing homicides. Even though Project Exile was nationalized through Project Safe Neighborhoods, there has been little academic inquiry on the program. Details: Atlanta, GA: Emory University, Department of Economics, 2006. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 11, 2011 at: http://www.economics.emory.edu/Working_Papers/wp/Olscamp.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://www.economics.emory.edu/Working_Papers/wp/Olscamp.pdf Shelf Number: 119165 Keywords: Gangs Gun Violence Guns Homicides Project Exile Violent Crime

Author: Gayle, Herbert Title: Male Social Participation and Violence in Urban Belize: An Examination of Their Experience with Goals, Guns, Gangs, Gender, God and Governance Summary: The report has ten chapters, divided into four sections. • The first is the Introduction comprised of the Research Design or methodology and the Critical Background. • The second section is an Assessment of the Human Ecology of Belize with emphasis on the urban centres, where social violence is concentrated. It is comprised of three chapters and is a discussion of the ‘pre‐conditional’ areas of the human ecology that contribute to social violence. These are the areas of a society that socialize and or nurture its populace: home, school and community. In the latter we have selected those institutions that comprise the central political authority, responsible for discipline, justice and equality. A breakdown in any of these institutions creates major crises leading to social violence. The third section is the Male Social Participation and Violence which is comprised of four chapters focused on the crisis of youth living in and affected by violence, with the emphasis on boys. The section begins with an Animated Life History of the very young children, ages 6‐13, followed by a PEER analysis of youth, then an Integrated Trauma Survey, and ends with a chapter on Gang Formation and Maintenance in urban Belize. The final section is the Summary and Suggestion. Details: Belize City: Ministry of Education, 2011. 401p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 7, 2011 at: http://www.belize.gov.bz/public/Attachment/0112315573071.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Belize URL: http://www.belize.gov.bz/public/Attachment/0112315573071.pdf Shelf Number: 122677 Keywords: Gangs Gender and Violence Males Poverty Urban Areas Violence Violent Crime (Belize) Youth Violence

Author: Karp, Aaron Title: Estimating Civilian Owned Firearms Summary: Most of the world’s firearms are privately owned. They include improvised craft guns as well as handguns, rifles, shotguns, and machine guns. The legal definition of a civilian firearm varies; some states allow civilian ownership of certain firearms that are restricted to military use in other states. The word civilian is used here to refer to actual possession, not legality. In 2007, the Small Arms Survey estimated the number of civilian firearm ownership worldwide at approximately 650 million weapons out of some 875 then in existence. National ownership rates range from a high of 90 firearms per every 100 people in the United States, to one firearm or less for every 100 residents in countries like South Korea and Ghana. With the world’s factories delivering millions of newly manufactured firearms annually, and with far fewer being destroyed, civilian ownership is growing. Poor record-keeping and the near absence of reporting requirements for detailed information complicate assessments of global stockpiles of small arms and light weapons. When it comes to estimating civilian firearm ownership, differences in national gun culture - each country’s unique combination of historic and current sources of supply, laws and attitudes toward firearms ownership — often have distinct effects on the classification, ownership and perception of firearms. In addition, categories of firearm holders may overlap, as some individuals may use their private firearms at work as security guards, in armed groups, or in gangs. Details: Geneva: Small Arms Survey. Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, 2011. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Note No. 9: Accessed September 15, 2011 at: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/H-Research_Notes/SAS-Research-Note-9.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/H-Research_Notes/SAS-Research-Note-9.pdf Shelf Number: 122739 Keywords: Firearms and Crime Gangs Gun Ownership Guns Violence

Author: Hagedorn, John M. Title: Variations in Urban Homicide: Chicago, New York City, and Global Urban Policy Summary: In the United States during the 1990s, some cities saw drastic drops in violence while others did not. Detroit, Washington DC, and New Orleans, for example, remain among the most violent cities in the world. On the other hand, San Francisco, Houston, Boston, and San Diego have seen rates of violence plummet to European-like lows. Entering the 1990s, Chicago and New York City had similar homicide rates, but the two cities sharply diverged in the next few years, with Chicago’s murder rate hovering at three times New York’s rate or roughly equivalent to homicide rates in Mexico City or Moscow. Notions that policing strategies largely explain variation in rates of violence have been skeptically greeted by criminologists (Blumstein and Wallman 2000). However, no plausible explanation for the stark divergence in U.S. urban homicide rates has been credibly presented. One reason for this may be the narrowness of criminological investigations. In fact, very few studies, in the US of internationally, look at variation in violence between cities, instead focusing on national-level analyses (e.g. Gurr 1989). This essay seeks to supplement the criminological thinking on homicide by adding insights from studies in urban and globalization research. First, we review several literatures relating to violence. Second, we describe the methods of a study of homicide in the 1990s in Chicago and New York City and present its qualitative and quantitative data. Finally, we discuss some implications of our study for policy on urban violence through-out the world. Details: Chicago: University of Illinois at Chicago, Great Cities Institute, 2004. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed SEptember 19, 2011 at: http://www.gangresearch.net/Archives/hagedorn/articles/homvar2.pdf Year: 2004 Country: United States URL: http://www.gangresearch.net/Archives/hagedorn/articles/homvar2.pdf Shelf Number: 122781 Keywords: Gangs Homicides Urban Areas Violence Violent Crime

Author: Rodgers, Dennis Title: Urban Violence Is not (Necessarily) a Way of Life: Towards a Political Economy of Conflict in Cities Summary: As the world moves towards its so-called urban ‘tipping point’, urbanization in the global South has increasingly come to be portrayed as the portent of a dystopian future characterized by ever-mounting levels of anarchy and brutality. The association between cities, violence, and disorder is not new, however. In a classic article on… ‘Urbanism as a way of life’, Louis Wirth (1938: 23) famously links cities to ‘personal disorganization, mental breakdown, suicide, delinquency, crime, corruption, and disorder’. He does so on the grounds that the urban context constituted a space that naturally generated particular forms of social organization and collective action as a result of three key attributes: population size, density, and heterogeneity. Large numbers lead to a segmentation of human relations, the pre-eminence of secondary over primary social contact, and a utilitarianization of interpersonal relationships. Density produces increased competition, accelerates specialization, and engenders glaring contrasts that accentuate social friction. Heterogeneity induces more ramified and differentiated forms of social stratification, heightened individual mobility, and increased social fluidity. While large numbers, density, and heterogeneity can plausibly be considered universal features of cities, it is much less obvious that they necessarily lead to urban violence. This is a standpoint that is further reinforced by the fact that not all cities around the world – whether rapidly urbanizing or not – are violent, and taking off from Wirth’s characterization of the city, this paper therefore seeks to understand how and why under certain circumstances compact settlements of large numbers of heterogeneous individuals give rise to violence, while in others they don’t, focusing in particular on wider structural factors as seen through the specific lens of urban gang violence. Details: Helsinki: United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economics Research, 2010. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper No. 2010/20: Accessed September 21, 2011 at: http://www.urbantippingpoint.org/documents/rodgers_wp2010_20.pdf Year: 2010 Country: International URL: http://www.urbantippingpoint.org/documents/rodgers_wp2010_20.pdf Shelf Number: 122801 Keywords: Gangs Urban Areas Violence Violent Crime

Author: Polczynski, Christa G. Title: The Driving Force: A Comparative Analysis of Gang-Motivated, Firearm-Related Homicides Summary: The knowledge of gang homicides is constantly increasing, but one aspect of gangs rarely studied is drive-by shootings (Dedel 2007; Hutson, Anglin, and Pratts 1994; Hutson, Anglin, and Eckstein 1996; Polczynski 2007; Sanders 1994; Sugarmann and Newth 2007). In this paper are comparative analyses of gang-motivated, firearm-related homicides perpetrated through a drive-by shooting to those which are not perpetrated through a drive-by shooting, by spatial and regression analyses. The data used for the analyses are a combination of incident variables, such as victim, offender, and incident characteristics, as well as social and economic characteristics of the communities in which the homicides occurred for a 31 year time period in Chicago. The findings indicate that there are differences in the characteristics and spatial location of gang-motivated, firearm-related homicides whether perpetrated through a drive-by shooting or by some other means. Based on the findings there may be policy implementations that are available in order to reduce the likelihood of a gang-motivated drive-by shooting. Details: Orlando, FL: Department of Sociology, University of Central Florida, 2009. 211p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 6, 2011 at: http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0002524/Polczynski_Christa_G_200905_PhD.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0002524/Polczynski_Christa_G_200905_PhD.pdf Shelf Number: 122992 Keywords: Drive-By Shootings (U.S.) Gang Violence Gangs Gun Violence Homicides

Author: International Crisis Group Title: Guatemala: Drug Trafficking and Violence Summary: The bloody eruption of Mexican-led cartels into Guatemala is the latest chapter in a vicious cycle of violence and institutional failure. Geography has placed the country – midway between Colombia and the U.S. – at one of the world’s busiest intersections for illegal drugs. Cocaine (and now ingredients for synthetic drugs) flows in by air, land and sea and from there into Mexico en route to the U.S. Cool highlands are an ideal climate for poppy cultivation. Weapons, given lenient gun laws and a long history of arms smuggling, are plentiful. An impoverished, underemployed population is a ready source of recruits. The winner of November’s presidential election will need to address endemic social and economic inequities while confronting the violence and corruption associated with drug trafficking. Decisive support from the international community is needed to assure these challenges do not overwhelm a democracy still recovering from decades of political violence and military rule. Gangs and common criminals flourish under the same conditions that allow drug traffickers to operate with brazen impunity: demoralised police forces, an often intimidated or corrupted judicial system and a population so distrustful of law enforcement that the rich depend on private security forces while the poor arm themselves in local vigilante squads. Over the past decade, the homicide rate has doubled, from twenty to more than 40 per 100,000 inhabitants. While traffickers contribute to the crime wave in border regions and along drug corridors, youth gangs terrorise neighbourhoods in Guatemala City. The outrages perpetrated by the most violent Mexican gang, the Zetas – who decapitate and dismember their victims for maximum impact – generate the most headlines. Violent drug cartels, however, are only one manifestation of the gangs and clandestine associations that have long dominated Guatemalan society and crippled its institutions. How to change this dynamic will be one of the most difficult challenges facing the winner of November’s presidential election. Both Otto Pérez Molina and Manuel Baldizón have promised to get tough on criminals, but a hardline approach that fails to include a strategy to foster rule of law is unlikely to yield anything more than sporadic, short-term gains. For decades, the state itself was the most prolific violator of human rights. During the 36-year conflict that ended with the peace accords of 1996, the armed forces murdered dissidents in urban areas and razed villages suspected of harbouring guerrilla forces. Just as Guatemala was recovering from years of political violence, control of the South American drug trade was shifting from Colombia to Mexico. Increased interdiction in the Caribbean, plus the arrest of Colombian cartel leaders, allowed Mexican traffickers to begin taking over drug distribution in the late 1990s. Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s crackdown after 2006 forced traffickers to import increasing amounts of contraband into Central America and then move it north over land. The shipment of more drugs through Central America has had a multiplier effect on illegal activities. Violence is especially intense in coastal and border departments, where traffickers and gangs have diversified into other activities, such as local drug dealing, prostitution, extortion and kidnapping. In some regions, narcotics traffickers have become prominent entrepreneurs, with both licit and illicit businesses. They participate in community events, distribute gifts to the needy and finance political campaigns. Their well-armed henchmen offer protection from other gangs and common criminals. Those who finance opium poppy cultivation provide impoverished indigenous communities with greater monetary income than they have ever known. But these domestic trafficking groups also operate with impunity to seize land and intimidate or eliminate competitors. Local police and judicial authorities, under-resourced and widely mistrusted, offer little opposition. There are signs of progress. The attorney general is reviving long-stalled investigations into past human rights abuses while aggressively pursuing the current threat posed by organised crime. A veteran human rights activist was tapped by the outgoing government to reform the police. The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), a UN-Guatemalan initiative, is pursuing high-profile criminal cases. Donors are financing vetted units, providing new investigative tools and building new judicial facilities. Moreover, over the past year, Central American authorities, with international help, have arrested half a dozen high-level Guatemalan traffickers who are awaiting extradition to the U.S. But ending the impunity that has allowed trafficking networks and other illegal organisations to flourish will require a long-term, multi-dimensional effort. To shore up recent gains and lay the ground work for sustainable reform it is urgent that: •the new president allow Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz to complete her four-year term, fully support Police Reform Commissioner Helen Mack and encourage CICIG’s efforts to pursue high profile cases and build prosecutorial capacity; •political and business leaders work together both to increase government revenues for crime-fighting and social programs and to devise anti-corruption initiatives that will hold officials responsible for their use of public funds; •regional leaders increase cooperation to interdict illegal narcotics shipments and to break up transnational criminal groups through entities such as the Central American Integration System (SICA); •the U.S. and other consuming countries provide financial aid commensurate with their national interest in stopping the drug trade and aimed not just at arresting traffickers but also at building strong, democratically accountable institutions; and •international leaders open a serious debate on counter-narcotics policies, including strategies designed to curtail both production and consumption; it is past time to re-evaluate policies that have failed either to alleviate the suffering caused by drug addiction or to reduce the corruption and violence associated with drug production and trafficking. Details: Bogota; Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2011. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Report No. 39: Accessed October 18, 2011 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/39%20Guatemala%20--%20Drug%20Trafficking%20and%20Violence.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Guatemala URL: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/39%20Guatemala%20--%20Drug%20Trafficking%20and%20Violence.pdf Shelf Number: 123052 Keywords: Drug Cartels Drug Trafficking (Guatemala) Drugs and Crime Gangs Homicides Organized Crime Violent Crime

Author: Disley, Emma Title: Individual Disengagement from Al Qa'ida-Influenced Terrorist Groups. A Rapid Evidence Assessment to Inform Policy and Practice in Preventing Terrorism Summary: This paper looks at why and how individuals stop being violent and whether there are intervention practices to learn from. It also explores transferable knowledge from the literature on street gangs, religious cults, right-wing groups and organised crime groups. Details: London: Home Office, 2011. 137p. Source: Internet Resource: Occasional Paper No. 99: Accessed November 9, 2011 at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/counter-terrorism-statistics/occ99?view=Binary Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/counter-terrorism-statistics/occ99?view=Binary Shelf Number: 123276 Keywords: Counter-Terrorism Desistance Extremist Groups Gangs Organized Crime Radical Groups Terrorism Violence

Author: Froundigoun, Liz Title: Tackling Youth Offending and Violence: Intensive Policing and/or Dispersal Orders Summary: This research for Strathclyde Police was supported by a small grant from the Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR). The research was requested by Strathclyde Police to examine two specific policing initiatives – The Enhanced Policing Plan and Dispersal Orders - for dealing with youth on-street disorder and violence in B Division; historically these neighbourhoods have been characterised by the endemic problem of youth on-street disorder, violence and gang activity. It set out specifically to examine if there was evidence of any long-term benefits from the Enhanced Policing Plan (EPP), an innovative partnership approach to policing in BD sub-division - Shettleston, Baillieston and Greater Easterhouse - which ran in the 6-month period from October, 2007 to February, 20081; and to examine the implementation and efficacy of Dispersal Orders in the neighbouring BA sub-division – Dennistoun, Parkhead and Bridgeton. The EPP was developed in accordance with ACPOS Public Reassurance Strategy and delivered in conjunction with Community Planning Limited (CPP) through a multi-agency approach2 following the ethos for the Community Planning and Community Regeneration Fund. It drew on the principles of the Glasgow City Centre Policing Plan, Operation Reclaim, Operation Phoenix, and Glasgow Anti-Social Behaviour Task Force where intensive policing and the delivery of diversionary activities, were found to have had a significant impact on the levels of reported crime, violence and gang activity. It was structured specifically to increase public reassurance through intensive policing by addressing on the one hand local concerns about youth and gang activity; and on the other the needs of these youths through the delivery of a combination of educational and diversionary activities. Dispersal Orders had been implemented in various areas of BA sub-division prior to the introduction of the EPP, around the same time as the EPP was running, and again during the period of this study, September 2009 – January 2010, to address alcohol-related on-street disorder and violence. Scottish Police Forces were given the power to introduce Dispersal Orders in the Anti-Social Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. These controversial orders (Crawford & Lister, 2007) confer on the police the discretion to disperse groups of 2 or more individuals whom they deem to be likely to cause anti-social behaviour. The perception on the part of the police service in Scotland is that, in comparison to England and Wales, the nature and activities of youth on-street disorder and gang membership in Scotland are based on ‘territorialism’, a distinction which is generally perceived as being the most significant characteristic, whereas the relationship with organised crime that is said to characterise the criminality of gang membership in other locations in the UK is thought to be less significant in these locations. Therefore, after the deployment of these two approaches aimed at encouraging desistence from criminality associated with gang membership and on-street youth disorder, it is important to re-examine the perceptions, concerns and needs of the local communities, particularly those of the young people, and the police on: the effects the initiatives have had for on-street disorder and violence, gang activity and territorialism; perceptions of policing; and young people’s perceptions of diversionary activities and local facilities available to them in the communities in which they live. The research accordingly aims to establish what can be learned from these two diverse policing approaches and to identify any changes: in crime levels during the period when Dispersal Orders were implemented; in crime levels since the end of the period of implementation of the EPP; in the views of the police, community planning partners, youth workers and young people about what it is like living in the East End of Glasgow; in the effect gang and violent behaviour has had/is having on their neighbourhood; in the community views and perceptions of the effectiveness of the EPP and Dispersal Orders in tackling these behaviours, and in increasing public reassurance within the area; in what youths identify they need to encourage them to make attitudinal changes in making life choices; and in the working partnerships of the CPP and the police. Details: Glasgow: Glasgow Caledonian University, 2010. 89p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 11, 2011 at: http://www.sipr.ac.uk/downloads/Youth_offending_2010.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sipr.ac.uk/downloads/Youth_offending_2010.pdf Shelf Number: 123313 Keywords: Alcohol Related Crimes, Disorder Antisocial Behavior (Scotland) Disorderly Conduct Gangs Nuisance Behaviors and Disorders Policing Public Disorder Public Order Management Public Space

Author: Great Britain. HM Government. Violent and Youth Crime Prevention Unit Title: Ending Gang and Youth Violence: A Cross-Government Report including further evidence and good practice case studies Summary: Gangs and youth violence have been a blight on our communities for years. The disorder in August was not caused solely by gangs but the violence we saw on our streets revealed all too vividly the problems that sometimes lie below the surface and out of sight. Over the years successive government interventions, initiatives and funds have failed to stop the problem. A concerted, long-term effort is now needed. Since August, a group of senior ministers – led by the Home Secretary, working closely with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – has undertaken a thorough review of the problem of gang and youth violence. They have visited a range of projects working to stop youth violence; heard from international experts about what works in the United States and elsewhere; consulted with senior police officers and local authority officials; and talked to young people themselves. Several key messages have emerged. Firstly, the vast majority of young people are not involved in violence or gangs and want nothing to do with it. Secondly, the small number of young people who are involved have a disproportionately large impact on the communities around them in some parts of the UK. It is clear that gang membership increases the risk of serious violence. And thirdly, this small minority of violent young people is not randomly distributed and does not appear out of the blue. Some areas suffer significantly greater levels of violence than others; some individual and family risk factors repeat themselves time and time again. The police and other agencies need the support and powers to protect communities affected by gangs and to bring the violence under control. But gang and youth violence is not a problem that can be solved by enforcement alone. We need to change the life stories of young people who end up dead or wounded on our streets or are getting locked into a cycle of re-offending. Only by encouraging every agency to join up and share information, resources and accountability can these problems be solved. The Government has already set in motion a number of far-reaching reforms to address the entrenched educational and social failures that can drive problems like gang and youth violence. Our welfare reforms will give young people better opportunities to access work and overcome barriers to employment. Our education reforms will drive up pupil performance and increase participation in further study and employment. The new Localism Bill will give local areas the power to take action and pool their resources through Community Budgets. Our plans to turn around the lives of the most troubled families will also be crucial. A new Troubled Families Team in the Department for Communities and Local Government, headed by Louise Casey, will drive forward the Prime Minister’s commitment to turn around the lives of 120,000 troubled families with reduced criminality and violence key outcomes for this work. Not every area will have a problem of gangs or youth violence, so our focus will be on the areas that do. We will offer them support to radically improve the way their mainstream services manage the young people most at risk from gangs or violence. At every stage of a young person’s life story, the mainstream agencies with which they have most contact – health visitors, GPs, teachers, A&E departments, local youth workers and Jobcentre Plus staff – need to be involved in preventing future violence. That means simple risk assessment tools, clear arrangements for sharing information about risk between agencies, agreed referral arrangements to make sure young people get the targeted support they need, and case management arrangements which bring agencies together to share accountability for outcomes and track progress. This Report sets out our detailed plans for making this happen. Providing support to local areas to tackle their gang or youth violence problem. We will: • establish an Ending Gang and Youth Violence Team working with a virtual network of over 100 expert advisers to provide practical advice and support to local areas with a gang or serious youth violence problem; • provide £10 million in Home Office funding in 2012-13 to support up to 30 local areas to improve the way mainstream services identify, assess and work with the young people most at risk of serious violence, with at least half this funding going to the non-statutory sector; and • invest at least £1.2 million of additional resource over the next three years to improve services for young people under 18 suffering sexual violence in our major urban areas – with a new focus on the girls and young women caught up in gang-related rape and abuse. Preventing young people becoming involved in violence in the first place, with a new emphasis on early intervention and prevention. We will: • deliver our existing commitments on early intervention, which research shows is the most cost-effective way of reducing violence in later life. We will double the capacity of Family Nurse Partnerships and recruit 4,200 more health visitors by 2015 and will invest over £18 million in specialist services to identify and support domestic violence victims and their children (who themselves are at particular risk of turning to violence in adulthood); • assess existing materials on youth violence prevention being used in schools and ensure schools know how to access the most effective; • improve the education offered to excluded pupils to reduce their risk of involvement in gang violence and other crimes; and • support parents worried about their children’s behaviour by working with a range of family service providers to develop new advice on gangs. Pathways out of violence and the gang culture for young people wanting to make a break with the past. We will: • continue to promote intensive family intervention work with the most troubled families, including gang members, with a specific commitment to roll out Multi-Systemic Therapy for young people with behavioural problems and their families to 25 sites by 2014; • set up a second wave of Youth Justice Liaison and Diversion schemes for young offenders at the point of arrest, which identify and target mental health and substance misuse problems. These will be targeted at areas where there is a known and significant gang or youth crime problem; • work, through the Ending Gang and Youth Violence Team, with hospital Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments and children’s social care to promote better local application of guidance around young people who may be affected by gang activity presenting at A&E; • explore the potential for placing youth workers in A&E departments to pick up and refer young people at risk of serious violence; • support areas, through the Ending Gang and Youth Violence Team, to roll out schemes to re-house former gang members wanting to exit the gang lifestyle; • explore ways to improve education provision for young people in the secure estate and for those released from custody; and • implement new offending behaviour programmes for violent adult offenders in prison and under community supervision, including new modules on gang violence. Punishment and enforcement to suppress the violence of those refusing to exit violent lifestyles. We will: • extend police and local authority powers to take out gang injunctions to cover teenagers aged 14 to 17; • implement mandatory custodial sentences for people using a knife to threaten or endanger others – including for offenders aged 16 and 17; • introduce mandatory life sentences for adult offenders convicted of a second very serious violent or sexual crime; • extend the work that the UK Border Agency undertakes with the police using immigration powers to deport dangerous gang members who are not UK citizens, drawing on the success of Operation Bite in London; and • consult on whether the police need additional curfew powers and on the need for a new offence of possession of illegal firearms with intent to supply, and on whether the penalty is at the right level for illegal firearm importation. Partnership working to join up the way local areas respond to gang and other youth violence. We will: • issue clear and simple guidelines on data sharing that clarify once and for all the position on what information can be shared between agencies about high risk individuals on a risk aware, not risk averse, basis; • promote the roll-out of Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hubs (MASH), which co-locate police and other public protection agencies, to cut bureaucracy and make it easier to share information and agree actions; • deliver on our commitment that all hospital A&E departments share anonymised data on knife and gang assaults with the police and other agencies and pilot the feasibility of including A&E data on local crime maps; • encourage the use of local multi-agency reviews after every gang-related homicide to ensure every area learns the lessons of the most tragic cases. This Report marks the beginning of a new commitment to work across government to tackle the scourge of gang culture and youth violence. An Inter-Ministerial Group, chaired by the Home Secretary, will meet on a quarterly basis to review progress, including by the Ending Gang and Youth Violence team. We will also establish a forum of key external organisations to meet regularly with Ministers and hold the Government to account on delivery. And we will ensure the views of young people themselves are heard too. Details: London: UK Stationery Office, 2011. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Command Paper 8211: Accessed November 19, 2011 at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/ending-gang-violence/gang-violence-detailreport?view=Binary Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/crime/ending-gang-violence/gang-violence-detailreport?view=Binary Shelf Number: 123400 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Juvenile Crime Juvenile Offenders Youth Violence (U.K.)

Author: Liu, Xiaodong Title: Criminal Networks: Who is the Key Player? Summary: We analyze delinquent networks of adolescents in the United States. We develop a theoretical model showing who the key player is, i.e. the criminal who once removed generates the highest possible reduction in aggregate crime level. We also show that key players are not necessary the most active criminals in a network. We then test our model using data on criminal behaviors of adolescents in the United States (AddHealth data). Compared to other criminals, key players are more likely to be a male, have less educated parents, are less attached to religion and feel socially more excluded. They also feel that adults care less about them, are less attached to their school and have more troubles getting along with the teachers. We also find that, even though some criminals are not very active in criminal activities, they can be key players because they have a crucial position in the network in terms of betweenness centrality. Details: London: Centre for Economic Policy Research, 2011. 75p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper Series, No. 8185: Accessed January 10, 2012 at: www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP8185.asp Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 123539 Keywords: Gangs Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile Offenders

Author: Anti-Defamation League Title: Bigots on Bikes: The Growing Links between White Supremacists and Biker Gangs Summary: In recent years, a disturbing trend has emerged on the white supremacist scene in the United States. More and more white supremacists are developing links to motorcycle clubs across the country, including outlaw motorcycle gangs frequently involved with criminal activity. Though there has always been a small amount of crossover between white supremacist subcultures on one hand and the biker subculture on the other, these contacts have heretofore been relatively limited. Now, however, bikers and white supremacists are commingling with increasing frequency in a number of different ways. All five of the major white supremacist movements in the United States—neo-Nazis, racist skinheads, Ku Klux Klan groups, racist prison gangs, and Christian Identity groups—have developed noteworthy ties to the biker subculture. There is a significant overlap between elements of the biker subculture and elements of white supremacist subcultures, including shared symbology, shared slang and language, and in some cases shared dress. These cultural connections make encounters between the different movements easier. As a result of these individual connections, the number of people who hold dual membership in biker clubs and white supremacist groups has grown. Institutional connections have also grown, including biker gangs co-sponsoring white power events and allowing white supremacists to meet at their club houses. The most disturbing development has been the formation in recent years of a number of explicitly white supremacist biker gangs and clubs. If these connections continue to increase, they could add strength to white supremacist movements and could also increase ties between white supremacists and organized crime. Details: New York: Anti-Defamation League, 2011. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 21, 2012 at http://www.adl.org/extremism/ADL_CR_Bigots_on_Bikes_online.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.adl.org/extremism/ADL_CR_Bigots_on_Bikes_online.pdf Shelf Number: 123712 Keywords: Gangs Hate Crime Organized Crime Racism

Author: Ramirez, Victoria Title: The Effectiveness of Implementing Gang Injunction in Latino Communities Summary: Gang injunctions are restrictions that prohibit gang members from certain activities intended to break a gang’s common routines in a neighborhood. There have been studies on both sides of the spectrum, those allegedly against gang injunctions and those in favor of placing them. This study measures the effectiveness of gang injunctions through the use of surveys and interviews where I compare the responses of the residents living outside the gang injunction area to those living within the gang injunction area in the city of Compton, California. This study evaluates the way a gang injunction is introduced, implemented, and what results from it from a Latino resident’s point of view focusing on neighborhood safety, police involvement in the community, and community involvement by residents. Furthermore, this study shows that reduction in crime is in no way linked to the implementation of a gang injunction, as the relationships between residents and the police have decreased. According to the responses, residents are reluctant to call the police, not due to fear but because they do not provide the safety they are looking for; therefore, the removal of gang injunctions will eliminate the invisible barrier they create between residents and law enforcement. Details: Unpublished. University of California, Irvine, 2010. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 4, 2012 at http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=%22the%20effectiveness%20of%20implementing%20gang%20injunctions%20in%20latino%20communities%22&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicanolatinostudies.uci.edu%2Ffiles%2Fchicanolatinostudies%2Fdocs%2F2011%2FAwards%2FJeff%2520Garcilazo%2520Awards%2F2009-10Winners%2F2ndPlace-EffectivenessOfImplementingGangInjunctions.doc&ei=u64tT7bJLujk0QG0oZXiCg&usg=AFQjCNGwMG5TtZWw7LNReVp-7Bx3ZeryyA Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=%22the%20effectiveness%20of%20implementing%20gang%20injunctions%20in%20latino%20communities%22&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chicanolatinostudies.uci.edu%2Ffil Shelf Number: 123975 Keywords: Evaluative Studies Gang Injunctions Gangs Latinos

Author: Correia, Debbie Title: Gang Involvement Among San Diego County Arrestees in 2010 Summary: The nexus between gangs and crime is commonly accepted and well documented in the research. While crime has been trending downward, gang activity and membership have been reported to be on the increase. According to the recently released National Gang Threat Assessment (National Gang Intelligence Center, 2011), a steady resurgence of gang problems has occurred in many jurisdictions in recent years. In addition to increasing numbers, gangs are expanding into more non-traditional criminal enterprises such as pimping/pandering, human trafficking, and white-collar crimes. San Diego County has not necessarily seen an increase in gang membership or gang sets with approximately 170 different gangs consisting of around 7,700 members (San Diego Police Department, 2011). However, the region has experienced the diversification of gang activities with human trafficking (e.g. prostitution) and pimping/pandering gaining increased attention from law enforcement, non-profit organizations, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Additionally, because of San Diego County’s close proximity to the Mexican border, some local gangs under the supervision of the Mexican Mafia are trafficking narcotics for the cartels on the U.S. side of the border (San Diego Police Department, 2010). Details: San Diego, CA: Criminal Justice Research Division, SANDAD, 2011. 14p. Source: CJ Bulletin: Internet Resource: Accessed February 5, 2012 at http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1618_13746.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1618_13746.pdf Shelf Number: 123986 Keywords: Adult Offenders Arrestees (San Diego) Gangs Juvenile Offenders

Author: Anti-Defamation League Title: The Aryan Circle: Crime in the Name of Hate Summary: The Aryan Circle is a large, growing and dangerous white supremacist prison gang based primarily in Texas, though it has a presence in a number of other states. It is active both in prisons and on the streets. It is an extreme and violent group, with a long track record of murder, including the deaths of two police officers in Bastrop, Louisiana, in 2007. The Aryan Circle is an organized crime group; its white supremacy often takes a backseat to traditional criminal motives. However, it uses its white supremacy as a bond to cement the loyalty of individual members to the group, creating an extended Aryan crime "family." It originated in the Texas prison system in the mid-1980s. For many years it was a small group, but by 2009 it has become the second largest white supremacist gang in the Texas prison system. The Aryan Circle has four distinct segments: its Texas prison population, its federal prison population, its out-of-state prison population, and its "street" or "free world" population. The total number of Circle members is probably over 1,400, making it one of the largest white supremacist groups in the United States. Perhaps the most disturbing trend is the rapid growth in its "free world" membership, which has resulted in an epidemic of criminal activity across Texas and beyond. The Aryan Circle is headed by an elected president and run by senior members comprising an Upper Board who control the four segments mentioned above. Each segment has hierarchies that comprise a Middle Board as well as officers such as majors, captains/district captains, and lesser ranks. After several years of divided leadership, Billy "Thumper" Haynes was elected the Circle's new president in 2008. However, dissatisfaction with this choice led to in-fighting and dissent. After Haynes was arrested for alleged murder in late 2008, Greg "Droopy" Freeman replaced him, but internal dissent continues. The Aryan Circle recruits in the prisons and on the streets. Recruits or "prospects" must undergo a lengthy apprentice period in which their background is checked and they are indoctrinated into the rules and beliefs of the Circle. Only after many months are they allowed full Circle membership. Aryan Circle members tend to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and their criminal activity often supplements a blue collar or service industry paycheck. Many Aryan Circle members work in the oil industry in Texas. The Aryan Circle is somewhat unusual among racist prison gangs in that women can and do become full-fledged members. The Circle has a significant female component that takes part in all Circle activities—administrative, social, and criminal. Some women have achieved positions of considerable importance and responsibility within the Circle, but sexism prevents them from rising to the highest ranks. By the late 1990s, the Aryan Circle developed a significant presence in the free world across Texas and beyond. This has increased the group's criminal opportunities and ability to recruit. The Circle expects released prisoners to report to their "free world" district captain and continue their association with the group. The original "homegrown" white supremacy of the Aryan Circle has become more sophisticated, closer to that of "traditional" white supremacists such as neo-Nazi and Klan groups. However, many Circle members still have only a crude understanding of white supremacist ideology. The Circle uses its white supremacy to increase solidarity within its ranks, consciously trying to create the atmosphere of an extended Aryan family or clan to which all are unbendingly loyal. The Aryan Circle has few relationships with "traditional" white supremacist groups. Its relations with other prison gangs, such as the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas or the White Knights, are more often violent than not; the Aryan Circle has been involved in a number of violent prison gang wars. The Aryan Circle not only deals drugs; many of its members abuse drugs, especially methamphetamine, which has caused serious problems for the group and its members. Efforts by Circle leaders in the past to combat drug use by members have failed. A new effort started in 2008 that creating a "Chemical Free" program, complete with distinctive tattoo, faces serious hurdles. Much of the Aryan Circle's criminal activities are profit-driven. Inside prisons, Circle members engage in protection rackets and other schemes, but the smuggling of contraband (particularly illegal drugs and tobacco) is the most important endeavor. Outside prison walls, Circle members engage in a wide variety of activities, of which illegal drugs (especially methamphetamine) are the most important, followed by a variety of theft and robbery rings.Organized violence is also a feature of Aryan Circle activity. Behind prison walls, Aryan Circle members engage in violence against rival gangs, while inside and outside of prisons, the Circle has killed or attempted to kill a number of suspected informants or other people perceived to be "weak links," in order to protect the group. In and out of prisons, Aryan Circle members have committed a variety of violent acts against African-Americans, Hispanics, homosexuals and transgender people, and others. Though their main motivations are those of an organized crime group, they live up to the hatred implicit in their white supremacist beliefs as well. Details: New York: Anti-Defamation League, 2009. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 18, 2012 at http://www.adl.org/extremism/Aryan-Circle-Report.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.adl.org/extremism/Aryan-Circle-Report.pdf Shelf Number: 124169 Keywords: Bias Crime Gangs Hate Crimes Organized Crime

Author: Roman, Caterina G. Title: Social Networks, Delinquency, and Gang Membership: Using a Neighborhood Framework to Examine the Influence of Network Composition and Structure in a Latino Community Summary: As part of the Social Networks, Delinquency, and Gang Membership project, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, social network data were collected from youth in a small, at-risk neighborhood. The data were analyzed using social network methods. Results indicated that individuals with multiple, separate groups of friends have greater constraints on their behavior and are less likely to be delinquent. Results also suggested that networks with very low densities (fewer connections) are more successful contexts for intervention. These findings are relevant to developing appropriate delinquency programs and shed light on the efficacy of neighborhood-based interventions. Details: Washington, DC: Department of Criminal Justice, The Urban Institute, 2012. 273p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 14, 2012 at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412519-Social-Networks-Delinquency-and-Gang-Membership.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412519-Social-Networks-Delinquency-and-Gang-Membership.pdf Shelf Number: 124532 Keywords: Gangs Juvenile Delinquency Latinos Social Networks Youth Gangs

Author: Diaz-Cayeros, Alberto Title: Living in Fear: Social Penetration of Criminal Organizations in Mexico Summary: Citizens in Mexico are trapped in between two illegitimate forces { the criminal organizations and the police who are supposed to protect them. Through the use of list experiments within the Survey on Public Safety and Governance in Mexico (SPSGM), we measure the pervasiveness of drug gang activity as it pertains to strategies of coercion (extortion) and co- optation (offering help) to ordinary citizens. The paper seeks to provide a better understanding of which groups are most vulnerable and where is it that drug gangs have become most embedded in society. Our findings suggest that although narcotracantes extort citizens the most in high violence regions and the police does so in low violence ones, both forms of extortion are present everywhere in Mexico. This has triggered a spiral of fear: drug gangs signal unambiguously that they are in control, they overtly operate in many of Mexico's localities, while the police can't credibly signal that they can regain control of the streets. Police corruption is hence an essen- tial part of the story of Mexico's violence. Ever more fearful citizens have turned to the narcos for help, we demonstrate, and hence many tacitly {or even openly{ support them. Public strategies emphasizing military action and harsh treatment might not affect the social embeddedness that protects drug gangs and criminal organizations, even though it is a necessary action in the short-run. Instead, enhancing citizen trust within communities by effectively cleaning the police forces while improving the adjudication of justice are more likely to strengthen the social fabric. Details: San Diego: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego, 2011. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 3, 2012 at: http://irps.ucsd.edu/assets/001/502967.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Mexico URL: http://irps.ucsd.edu/assets/001/502967.pdf Shelf Number: 124810 Keywords: Criminal Cartels Drug Violence Gangs Organized Crime (Mexico) Police Corruption

Author: Shifter, Michael Title: Countering Criminal Violence in Central America Summary: Violent crime in Central America—particularly in the "northern triangle" of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala—is reaching breathtaking levels. Murder rates in the region are among the highest in the world. To a certain extent, Central America's predicament is one of geography—it is sandwiched between some of the world's largest drug producers in South America and the world's largest consumer of illegal drugs, the United States. The region is awash in weapons and gunmen, and high rates of poverty ensure substantial numbers of willing recruits for organized crime syndicates. Weak, underfunded, and sometimes corrupt governments struggle to keep up with the challenge. Though the United States has offered substantial aid to Central American efforts to address criminal violence, it also contributes to the problem through its high levels of drug consumption, relatively relaxed gun control laws, and deportation policies that have sent home more than a million illegal migrants with violent records. In this Council Special Report, sponsored by the Center for Preventive Action, Michael Shifter assesses the causes and consequences of the violence faced by several Central American countries and examines the national, regional, and international efforts intended to curb its worst effects. Guatemala, for example, is still healing from a thirty-six-year civil war; guns and armed groups remain common. El Salvador's ironfisted response to widespread gang violence has transformed its prisons into overcrowded gang-recruiting centers while doing little to reduce crime. Even relatively wealthy countries like Costa Rica and Panama are threatened by poor police capacity and significant problems with smuggling and money laundering. Virtually all countries are further plagued by at least some level of public corruption. While hard-hitting or even militarized responses to criminal violence often enjoy broad public support, Shifter writes, Nicaragua's experience with crime prevention programs like community policing and job training for youth suggests that other approaches can be more effective at curbing crime. Shortages of local funding and expertise remain problematic, however, and only large-scale, national programs can effectively address national-level problems with corruption or the quality of the legal system. Moreover, many of the root causes of the region's violence are transnational—the international trade in drugs, guns, and other contraband being only the most obvious example. Multilateral organizations have stepped in to support national-level responses, as have Central America's neighbors. The UN's flagship effort, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, supports domestic prosecutions of organized criminal gangs and their allies in Guatemala's government. In recent years, the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to efforts to improve regional collaboration on anticrime initiatives; last year they pledged $1.5 billion more over the next few years. Colombia and Mexico have both provided advice and training for Central America's police services and judiciary. The United States is also contributing significant resources. Washington now provides about $100 million annually, targeted mainly at drug interdiction and law enforcement, though some funding also goes toward institutional capacity building and violence protection. Still, much more remains to be done, and Shifter offers several recommendations for U.S. policymakers. Strengthening the judiciary and law enforcement services should, he says, be a central goal; the region's ineffective and corrupt legal systems are severely hampering efforts to curb the violence. He also advocates rethinking U.S. policies that contribute to violence in Central America, including drug laws, gun control policies, and immigration rules regarding violent offenders. Countering Criminal Violence in Central America provides important insights into the varied causes of criminal violence in the region. Its authoritative and nuanced analysis acknowledges the strengths and weaknesses of ongoing efforts to address the problem, and it offers thoughtful recommendations on how those efforts might be built on and improved. Despite the daunting complexity of the challenges underpinning the region's growing violence, this report successfully argues that this trend can—and should—be reversed. Details: Washington, DC: Council on Foreign Relations, 2012. 59p. Source: Internet Resource: Council Special Report No. 64: Accessed April 4, 2012 at: http://www.cfr.org/central-america/countering-criminal-violence-central-america/p27740 Year: 2012 Country: Central America URL: http://www.cfr.org/central-america/countering-criminal-violence-central-america/p27740 Shelf Number: 124814 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gangs Gun Violence Homicides Police Corruption Violence (Central America) Violent Crime

Author: Morselli, Carlo Title: The Factors That Shape Organized Crime Summary: Organized crime has received considerable attention among policy-makers and law enforcement agencies in recent decades. This development is, in part, due to the disproportionate harms produced by the illicit activities of criminal organizations and networks, as opposed to individuals and small groups. High-profile wars between rival groups, such as that between the Hells Angels and Rock Machine occurring in Quebec during the 1990s, have also contributed to the growing concern about organized crime. In addition, an increasing volume of violence, especially homicide, in Canada appears to be gang-related. In response to the increases in organized crime, federal, provincial and territorial governments want to further understand the nature of organized crime, by building upon existing research that would allow decision-makers to implement approaches to combat organized crime that were based on empirical evidence. There continues to be substantial gaps in the empirical data, impeding the development of appropriate policy responses to criminal activities that may be associated with organized crime. One area that has been of particular interest is the structure of organized crime groups and the factors that contribute to varying structures. The literature reviewed indicated that the structure of organized crime varies in terms of their flexibility and adaptability. Studies of organized crime groups increasingly show that social networks are critical to their understanding and that there are many small, loosely structured networks. The assumption of using social network analysis is that the connections between individuals and groups are crucial determinants of the performance and sustainability of criminal organizations. The social network approach may also be applied at different levels of analysis, thus offering a more complete understanding and approach for containing organized crime. Such applications have been well documented at the individual level, as criminal career research has demonstrated. In this particular project, the network approach was used to identify those variables that have the greatest impact upon criminal organizations and the linkages between them. The framework for this project complements the recent work by the Australian Federal Police who have established the Target Enforcement Prioritization Index (TEPI). The TEPI is designed along a matrix (or quadrant) framework in which decision makers are able to contemplate the level of risk associated with a target and the level of success that enforcement may have if targeting such a threat. The AFP experience with the TEPI is an initial guide for the present report in that it provides an understanding of how specific features of individuals, groups, and environments may be used to assess the scope and structure of organized crime in a given setting. The focus on this project was to review the literature pertaining to the structure of criminal organizations and networks in order to ultimately identify the relevant variables that can then be applied to the development of analytical models. The identification of variables affecting the structures of and linkages between organizations will then serve as the basis for future statistical modeling that will enhance the understanding of these organizations/networks and inform strategies to disrupt them. The information provided in this report will help police and policy-makers to understand how specific features of individuals, groups and environments may help in the assessment of the scope and structure of organized crime in a particular setting. The analytical report created in this project includes:  A catalogue of relevant individual, group, and environmental level variables;  Justification from previous research or theory for the inclusion of each variable, with regard to how and why it is relevant to criminal organizational structures and linkages;  The levels of measurement applicable to each variable;  Sources for the data necessary to measure each variable;  The explanatory power of each variable, given the evidence; and  A discussion of the overall dataset and the implications for modeling and analytical purposes The report assesses a number of individual, group/organization, and environmental level variables that may influence how individuals or groups structure their criminal operations in a variety of criminal market and legitimate settings. In as much as possible, we categorize such factors along individual, group, and environmental levels of measurement. In many cases, however, a factor transcends more than one level of analysis, forcing us to address the issue more broadly. The report focused on the following themes:  Formal Organizational Membership and Trust  Personality  Financial and Material Resources  Violence  Technological and Private Protection Capacities  Language Skills, Ethnic Composition, and Social Embeddedness  Crime Mobility, Diversity, and Continuity  Upperworld Conditions and Facilitators  Criminogenic Opportunities  Target Priority Furthermore, an inventory of the variables found to explain the structure of crime in organized crime, criminal market, and criminal network research has been assembled in a separate catalogue (refer to the Appendix). This catalogue is meant to facilitate the work of law-enforcement and policy officials who are in constant search of new avenues of inquiry to a wide array of problems addressed in this report. The catalogue is designed as an outline of the more elaborate research review. It provides details on the variable’s level of measurement, essential coding, impact on the structural features of criminal groups, explanatory power, and possible data sources that may be used to gather factual data for practical purposes. Details: Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, 2010. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 5, 2012 at: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/sp-ps/PS4-89-2010-eng.pdf Year: 2010 Country: International URL: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/sp-ps/PS4-89-2010-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 124849 Keywords: Criminal Organizations Gangs Organized Crime Social Network Analysis

Author: Wood, Rebecca Title: Youth Deaths: The Reality Behind the 'Knife Crime' Debate Summary: The media portrayal of, and government response to, the ‘knife crime epidemic’ created a distorted image of the reality on the ground, according to new research undertaken by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR). The evidence suggests that, whilst some marginalised young people are carrying knives, the image of violently nihilist, feral, often Black or ethnic minority teen gangs armed with knives and guns is, at best, only a snapshot of the grim reality for a very small minority. At worst, this kind of imagery, replicated unchallenged and unqualified on our screens and from the dispatch box, leads to a punitive and misguided political climate which may ultimately fail the very teenagers it aims to reach. Here, the IRR publishes a summary of its key findings for 2008. It aims to provide a description of who was killed and by whom and in what circumstances – a factual description which was largely missing from much media and political evaluation at the time. Details: London: Institute of Race Relations,2010. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: IRR Briefing Paper No. 5: Accessed April 6, 2012 at: http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf2/IRR_Briefing_No.5.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf2/IRR_Briefing_No.5.pdf Shelf Number: 124887 Keywords: Gangs Knives and Crime (U.K.) Violent Crimes

Author: Ulmenstein, Sibylle von Title: Group Violence Reduction Strategy: Four Case Studies of Swift and Meaningful Law Enforcement Responses Summary: The publication captures examples of successful and creative law enforcement responses to group violence as carried out by police departments at key National Network jurisdictions. It explores: • How law enforcement partners identified the prohibited violent act that triggered their response • How the act was linked to a particular street group or gang • How active group members were identified for special enforcement attention • How creative levers and sanctions were designed and applied to make the response swift and meaningful • What outcomes were achieved • What important lessons were learned While some of the enforcement actions presented here might have been shaped by specific local conditions at the time of strategy implementation, the ideas, methods, and tactics used can nevertheless be broadly applied in other jurisdictions. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 9, 2012 at: http://www.nnscommunities.org/LE_Case_Studies.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.nnscommunities.org/LE_Case_Studies.pdf Shelf Number: 124899 Keywords: Gangs Group Violence Police Problem-Solving Violent Crime Youth Violence

Author: Stys, Yvonne Title: Conditional Release of Federal Offenders Convicted of Criminal Organization Offences Summary: Past research on criminal organization offenders has typically centred on the nature of the offences committed and profiling those offenders. This study extended the extant knowledge of criminal organization offenders by updating past profiles, focusing on community outcomes while on conditional or statutory release, and identifying risk factors related to re-offending for these offenders. Overall, 451 offenders were identified in the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) Offender Management System (OMS) as being convicted of a criminal organization offence, as outlined in Sections 467.11 to 467.13 of the Criminal Code of Canada (CCC), between April 25, 1997 and March 31, 2009. This included 418 non-Aboriginal males, 19 Aboriginal males, and 14 women offenders, with an average sentence length of 5.2 years. Most offenders convicted of a criminal organization offence had some prior involvement with the criminal justice system, with 21.5% having served a previous adult term in a federal penitentiary. Along with their current criminal organization conviction, offenders were most commonly also convicted of drug offences (59.6%) or attempted murder (8.2%). Examination of criminogenic risk, need and reintegration potential found that the typical criminal organization offender was assessed as being “medium” risk (58.1%) and “high” need (45.9%), with “high” reintegration potential (68.8%). Domain-level analyses of need illustrated that criminal organization offenders were significantly more likely to have some or considerable need in the areas of criminal attitudes and criminal associates than a matched sample of CSC offenders. Of the 451 offenders who were convicted of a criminal organization offence, 332 (73.6%) had been released to the community. The majority were released on day parole (51.8%) or statutory release (44.9%). Most (76.4%) had been employed at some point during release, and 14.8% of those released were participating in some sort of community intervention program, with the most common programs including education, Counter-Point, and living skills programs. Of those who were released, 12.7 % (42) were re-admitted to a federal institution. Most had their release revoked without a new offence (76.2%), while 14.3% (n=6) were convicted of a new offence. Survival analyses conducted to determine the risk of failure upon release found that those convicted of criminal organization offences were significantly less likely than the matched group to be returned to custody. Risk factors found to be especially predictive of readmission or re-conviction included age at release and type of release, with younger offenders and those on statutory release more likely to fail than those released at an older age or released on day or full parole. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, 2010. 47p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report 2010 No R-227: Accessed April 16, 2012 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rsrch/reports/r227/r227-eng.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Canada URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rsrch/reports/r227/r227-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 124986 Keywords: Conditional Release (Canada) Criminal Organizations Day Parole Gangs Organized Crime Parole Punishment Recidivism

Author: Violence Policy Center Title: Drive-By America, Second Edition Summary: Drive-by shootings are commonly defined as an incident in which the shooter fires a firearm from a motor vehicle at another person, vehicle, building, or another stationary object. This study is a follow-up to the July 2007 Violence Policy Center (VPC) report Drive-By America, which, using a limited sample of information, offered for the first time a nationwide overview of drive-by shootings. Three years after the publication of the original VPC study, there remains no national data on the prevalence of drive-by shootings, those who commit them, those who are killed and injured as a result of them, the firearms used, where they take place, or at what times they most often occur. The goal of this new edition of Drive-By America is to continue the VPC’s efforts to fill the information gap surrounding drive-by shootings while illustrating the need for improved data collection regarding this specific category of firearms violence. From July 1, 2008, through December 31, 2008, the Violence Policy Center used the Google news search engine to collect every reported news article that contained the term “drive by.” From these results, the VPC removed all results not related to a drive-by shooting incident (for example, extraneous results included news reports of football games detailing a “drive by” one team against another, etc.). Recognizing the limitations of the survey tools used, and taking into account prior studies looking at the number of drive-by shootings in specific jurisdictions, it is likely that the number of shootings is dramatically underreported. The number of reported instances may also be influenced by local media focus. During the six-month period covered in this report, 733 drive-by shooting incidents were reported in the news media as identified by Google, claiming 154 lives and injuring 631 individuals. Details: Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2010. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2012 at http://www.vpc.org/studies/driveby2010.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.vpc.org/studies/driveby2010.pdf Shelf Number: 125215 Keywords: Crime Statistics Crime Trends Drive-By Shootings (U.S.) Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence

Author: Roque, Silvia Title: Youth and Urban Violence in San Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Praia Summary: Overall, despite the differences between Rio de Janeiro, San Salvador and Praia in terms of the incidence of youth violence, historical approaches and experience in dealing with the issue, Brazil, El Salvador and Cape Verde have all favoured an enforcement-based approach, focusing primarily on repression and law-enforcement mechanisms (police action, specific youth violence legislation, and prosecution, prison and socio-educational systems), instead of interventions aimed at the root causes of violent behaviour. However, recent changes in federal government approaches to public security in Brazil, coupled with state level changes, suggest the materialisation of a discourse shift in the field of youth violence, which has been in the making since the late 1990s. Another common feature in these countries is the incomplete availability of qualified information systems on violence and violent criminality, especially on organised crime and female involvement in urban violence. Civil society actions to prevent and combat urban violence are very diverse. In Brazil, especially Rio de Janeiro, NGOs, associations and grassroots organisations have a fairly long track record when dealing with the issue of youth violence, promoting initiatives and programmes mostly aimed at youth violence prevention, especially at the primary level. These initiatives and programmes have been based on skills training, sports, culture, empowerment and, to lesser extent, professional training and labour market integration. In San Salvador, despite the severity of youth violence, civil society approaches are less diversified and effective. Like any other violence-afflicted country in Central America, violence prevention and especially intervention programmes, namely those aimed at the perpetrators of violence, face greater disadvantages and less funding and support from the region’s crime-weary population. In Praia, the involvement of civil society in this matter has been slow. However, in recent years, the experiences of civil society organisations, sometimes in partnership with public institutions, have been singled out as good examples and as having had some direct impact on youth involved in violence in the Cidade da Praia. Responding to and effectively preventing youth urban violence requires a comprehensive approach which takes into account the intra-social forms of violence committed by and against youth, as well as the structural conditions which determine the marginalisation of youth. This includes prevention programmes which help young people in vulnerable situations, intervention programmes which offer alternatives for those attracted to violence, rehabilitation prospects for those who wish to leave violent groups, and those leaving prison and socioeducational systems. Capable and accountable law-enforcement bodies, protection and support mechanisms for victims of violence, adequate arms control policies, up-to-date data collection and analysis systems on youth and violence, and whole-of-government and multi-disciplinary approaches to violence are also key. Details: Brussels: Peace Studies Group, Initiative for Peacebuilding, 2012. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 9, 2012 at: http://www.ifp-ew.eu/pdf/201202IfPEWYouthViolenceRioSanPra.pdf Year: 2012 Country: South America URL: http://www.ifp-ew.eu/pdf/201202IfPEWYouthViolenceRioSanPra.pdf Shelf Number: 125228 Keywords: Gangs Juvenile Offenders Urban Crime Violent Crime Youth Violence (San Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Cape

Author: Wong, Jennifer Title: Effectiveness of Street Gang Control Strategies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Evaluation Studies Summary: This systematic literature review and meta-analysis of evaluation studies on street gang control strategies focused on articles and reports from multiple bibliographic databases. The database search resulted in a total of 2,060 hits. Of the 297 studies that were examined, only 38 were retained for the systematic review after all screening procedures and inclusion criteria were applied. This list of studies was classified into a typology of five broad categories of street gang control strategies, including: 1) prevention, 2) gang activity regulation, 3) justice system based intervention, 4) comprehensive, and 5) holistic. A quantitative synthesis of program outcomes could not be undertaken because of the difficulty in pooling together studies that were incommensurate; it was considered substantively meaningless to produce a summary effect. Instead, a systematic review was undertaken. The systematic review of street gang control strategy evaluation studies revealed that findings in regard to effectiveness were not encouraging, especially for studies evaluating general prevention, and gang membership prevention programs. Overall, it was found that the more specific the targeted population, the more evaluations tended to show signs of effectiveness. Gang activity suppression programs was the only category of approaches in which evaluations found consistent positive outcomes. It was also found that the more chronic the gang problem, the more effective gang activity suppression approaches. None of the evaluations of comprehensive and holistic programs produced any strong evidence in terms of effectiveness. Probably the most surprising finding in this report concerned the Spergel Model, which was shown to be ineffective mostly due to implementation fidelity. Three major recommendations concerning gang control strategies were discussed: the need for consistent independent evaluations applying scientific methodologies; programs should be built on empirical research findings and not intuition or common sense; and evaluations should be an integral part of the implementation process of a program. Details: Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, 2012. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 2, 2012 at: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/sp-ps/PS4-121-2012-eng.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/sp-ps/PS4-121-2012-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 125446 Keywords: Gang Control Strategies Gangs Meta-Analysis

Author: Morgan, Katherine Ann Title: Domestic Human Trafficking, Pimping, and Prostitution Enforcement in San Diego: A Policy Analysis and Case Study Summary: This research aimed to understand the scope, dynamics, and characteristics of domestic human sex trafficking in San Diego County. The methodology included a content analysis of 17 pimping case investigations, 12 face-to-face interviews with experts in the field, and an examination of the county's current policy and programming responses to these issues. The results of this study are limited due the small sample and lack of direct contact with pimps or prostitutes. This study found that the extent of pimping in San Diego County is greater than previous research indicated. Respondents who work in the field also noted that the rate of gang-related pimping appears to have significantly increased over the past five years and rival gangs are believed to share information and resources to maximize profits resulting from the sexual exploitation of young women. Additionally, major gaps in victim services were noted, such as lack of beds in safe houses, minimal 24- hour emergency services, and scant availability of programs tailored to juveniles and victims with children. Details: San Diego, CA: San Diego State University, 2012. 120p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed July 2, 2012 at: http://sdsu-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.10/1904/Morgan_Katherine.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://sdsu-dspace.calstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10211.10/1904/Morgan_Katherine.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 125454 Keywords: Gangs Human Trafficking (U.S.) Prostitutes Prostitution Sexual Exploitation

Author: Freeman, Michael Title: Gangs and Guerrillas: Ideas from Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism Summary: In a discussion at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, it became apparent that there were many similarities between insurgent behavior and gang behavior – similarities that would make a more rigorous analysis worthwhile. With this theme in mind, the faculty of the Defense Analysis Department at the Naval Postgraduate School, experts in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations, were enlisted to address these similarities and to share their theories, models, and ideas from their own disciplines of political science, sociology, anthropology, international relations, and more. This collection of short papers is the result. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2011. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 3, 2012 at: http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/TR/2011/NPS-DA-11-001.pdf Year: 2011 Country: International URL: http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/TR/2011/NPS-DA-11-001.pdf Shelf Number: 125465 Keywords: Counter-Terrorism Counterinsurgency Gangs Terrorism

Author: Cukier, Wendy Title: The Feasibility of Increased Restrictions on the Civilian Possession of Military Assault Weapons at the Global Level Summary: The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of the feasibility of increased restrictions on the civilian possession of military assault weapons at the global level. Many states and non-governmental organizations pushed for such measures at the 2001 United Nations Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects but were not successful in getting language included in the final Programme of Action. However, this remains a priority for many. The proliferation and misuse of small arms has been increasingly seen as an epidemic, affecting countries ostensibly “at peace” as well as in conflict zones. Although they do not account for the majority of small arms deaths worldwide, military assault weapons pose a particular threat because of their lethality. These weapons are very efficient – they are designed to allow users with limited skill to kill as many people as possible. They are typically fully automatic or semi-automatic and accept large capacity magazines capable of firing 30-50 bullets without reloading. Victims often die of multiple gunshot wounds. Because they require little skill to use, military assault weapons also make it easy for children to become killers and in some cases, members of armed criminal gangs and informal “child soldiers.” The evidence is clear that the circulation of weapons following the cessation of conflict has a high cost. Interpersonal violence often substitutes for the violence between warring factions and leads to levels of violence comparable to those experienced during conflict.1 For the purposes of this paper, military assault weapon will be defined as fully automatic and selective-fire weapons along with selected semi-automatic rifles designed for military purposes and possessing military features such as use of a large capacity magazine. This definition is consistent with the definition used in the 1994 ban on military assault weapons in the US2 and is consistent with the approach used in Canada and many other countries. Restricting the definition to only fully automatic firearms limits the potential impact of global action. At the same time it is critical that the definition be sufficiently precise to allay the concerns of those who believe that the discussion on civilian possession of military weapons is actually aimed at all firearms. The importance of effective firearms regulation in post-conflict situations has been well-established and a number of UN expert groups have called for a prohibition on the civilian possession of military assault weapons, but there has been limited discussion on the feasibility of proceeding with such a prohibition. This paper draws heavily on the experience of industrialized countries where there have been extensive and complex initiatives undertaken to define and restrict civilian access to military assault weapons in an effort to shed light on issues that affect the feasibility of global action. This paper reviews 1) The impact of the misuse and proliferation of military assault weapons in civilian hands 2) Sources of these weapons in civilian hands, including both legal and illegal markets 3) Definitions of military assault weapons 4) Current approaches to regulating military assault weapons 5) Limitations of current approaches to prohibiting civilian possession of military assault weapons 6) Potential measures that might be taken at the global level 7) Potential roles for Canada 8) Conclusions. Details: Waterloo, ONT: Project Ploushares, 2005. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Ploushares Working Paper 05-2: Accessed July 5, 2012 at: http://www.guncontrol.ca/English/Home/Releases/wpMAW.pdf Year: 2005 Country: Canada URL: http://www.guncontrol.ca/English/Home/Releases/wpMAW.pdf Shelf Number: 125478 Keywords: Gangs Gun Control (Canada) Gun Violence Military Assault Weapons

Author: LaBoucane-Benson, Patti Title: Soccer Moms are Part of the Solution "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of a Volunteer-Based Gang Prevention Initiative" Summary: Gang crime prevention is a large, all encompassing descriptor that includes a variety of actions that are taken at the community, municipal, provincial and national levels. For government and policy makers, crime prevention is most often the creation of legislation, policy and funding for services (correctional, policing or justice) that focuses on the reduction and prevention of crime. At the community level, crime prevention can be purposeful, community-based mobilization of members to prevent crime in their communities or may be the result of community member actions that are not necessarily intended to prevent crimes, but nonetheless clearly result in crime. The research presented here begins with a case study of community mobilization that took place in Edmonton, Alberta in 2008. Names and information pertaining to children and community members involved in this action have been changed to protect their privacy. The event itself is recounted using narrative methodology that relates the details of the events in a coherent, holistic story that is based upon interviews with key informants who were part of the narrative. In general, the narrative describes how two self-described “soccer moms” reached out to connect Aboriginal and refugee children to soccer, and how these actions not only had an impact on these children but also describes how these acts triggered a series of actions that lead to the development of summer recreational and cultural programming for 100 children a week for a six–week period. It is a story of how change is created in the community by individuals who set out to the open doors of opportunity to vulnerable children. Details: Ottawa: Aboriginal Corrections Policy Unit, Public Safety Canada, 2009. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 7, 2012 at: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/res/cor/apc/apc-31-eng.aspx Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/res/cor/apc/apc-31-eng.aspx Shelf Number: 125498 Keywords: Crime Prevention, Gangs 00 Voluntary and Community Delinquency Prevention Gangs Sports Volunteers (Canada)

Author: Harvard Law School, Human Rights Program, International Human Rights Clinic Title: No Place to Hide: Gang, State, and Clandestine Violence in El Salvador Summary: Fifteen years after the civil war in El Salvador came to an end, violence and insecurity continue to shape the daily lives of many Salvadorans. This report examines the phenomenon of youth gangs and documents human rights violations associated with gang violence and Salvadoran governmental responses to it. Our examination is situated in the context of an assessment of the current state of the rule of law in El Salvador. The war in El Salvador during the 1980s was one of the bloodiest and most brutal in a region gripped with civil conflicts throughout that decade. The Salvadoran conflict gained worldwide notoriety for the prevalence of human rights abuses and death squads, that operated with the apparent acquiescence of state authorities, to terrorize civilian populations. Unfortunately, as discussed in Section I of this report, efforts since the war to build functioning democratic institutions in El Salvador have largely failed to overcome the legacies of institutional incapacity and politicization. Current levels of violence are extraordinarily high. El Salvador’s homicide rate is nearly double the average for Latin America, a region with high levels of violence by global standards. Continued political polarization, weak judicial and law enforcement institutions, and the persistence of extra-judicial violence seriously undermine citizen security and the rule of law in El Salvador. Violent street gangs have grown rapidly in this fractured and dysfunctional socio-political context. The deportation of tens of thousands of Salvadorans from the United States since the late 1990s (a consequence of forced emigration of Salvadoran families during the civil war years and subsequent changes to U.S. immigration laws) helped spur the growth and development of these gangs, a process we describe in Section II. In recent years, and as a result of particularized political conditions and law enforcement responses in El Salvador, the dynamics of the gang phenomenon have evolved. The two major rival gangs – the Mara Salvatrucha and the Mara 18, both of which have U.S. roots and a U.S. presence – engage in brutal battles for control of neighborhoods and communities throughout the country. Gangs’ methods of recruitment, and the sanctions they impose on members who demonstrate disloyalty or who attempt to withdraw from active gang life, are increasingly violent. Active and former gang members report that it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for young people to escape the pressure of gang recruitment or to leave a gang. Gangs frequently use extortion to gather funds and solidify territorial control. There is evidence that organized criminal networks are operating with growing sophistication and impunity in El Salvador. The relationship between these organized criminal networks and the upper tiers of gang hierarchies is uncertain, as is the role of state actors in these activities, but the effect on Salvadoran citizens – a deepening sense of impunity and insecurity – is clear. The primary governmental response to the gang phenomenon, which relies heavily on repressive law enforcement-military tactics, mass arrests, and profiling of youth and alleged gang members, has been ineffective and even counter-productive. Governmental responses to the gang phenomenon are explored in great depth in Section III of this report. Homicide rates have soared since 2003, when former President Francisco Flores launched the Mano Dura (“Iron Fist”) crackdown. Meanwhile, the government’s focus on anti-gang efforts has distorted the complex nature of violence in El Salvador. The vast majority of homicides in El Salvador remain in impunity. Human rights organizations and civil society observers believe that some of the upsurge in killings in recent years is attributable to death squads who target alleged gang members or other criminals and who operate with impunity. Also in the past several years, the political roots of violence in El Salvador have become increasingly visible. Clashes between protesters and police on July 5, 2006 are one example of the relationship between political polarization and violence in El Salvador, and spikes in unexplained, brutal homicides in periods prior to national elections are another. In the midst of this social and political conflict, individual Salvadorans living in poor and marginalized communities have no place to hide: they are targeted by violent actors on all sides. Young people and other residents of areas with a gang presence, active gang members, and inactive gang members are targeted for threats, abuses, and even killings by gangs, police, and clandestine actors like death squads. We present narrative excerpts from interviews with victims and witnesses of gang, police, and clandestine violence in El Salvador in Section IV. The report is based on fact-finding visits to El Salvador in March- April and August-September 2006, and months of follow-up research prior to and after these trips. It draws extensively on interviews with current and former gang members and other victims and witnesses of violence in El Salvador, as well as with staff of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and governmental officials. To protect the safety of confidential sources, we refer to them only by pseudonyms and initials. Details: Cambridge, MA: Harvard Law School, Human Rights Program, 2007. 111p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2012 at: http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/documents/FinalElSalvadorReport(3-6-07).pdf Year: 2007 Country: El Salvador URL: http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/hrp/documents/FinalElSalvadorReport(3-6-07).pdf Shelf Number: 110108 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Homicides Organized Crime Violence (El Salvador) Violent Crime

Author: Weiss, Billie Title: An Assessment of Youth Violence Prevention Activities in USA Cities Summary: Research has shown that violence is a serious issue for cities. Despite the evidence little data have been collected reporting on cities’ overall strategies, resources, and activities to address this problem. In an effort to inform urban efforts to reduce violence, UNITY conducted an assessment to establish baseline measurements of the magnitude of youth violence, the level of concern within the city and collaborative efforts to address and monitor the issue. The assessment was conducted by Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center (SCIPRC) at UCLA School of Public Health. The study included standardized interviews with Mayors, Police Chiefs, Health Department Directors and School Superintendents, or their designees in a representative sample of the largest cities, populations of 400,000 or more, across the U.S. Major Findings • Most cities cited a lack of a comprehensive strategy. • Public Health Departments are not generally included in city strategies. • Law enforcement and criminal justice are the most prevalent strategy used in the cities. • Gang violence was identified as the major type of youth violence. • Cities, for the most part, lack clearly developed outcomes, evaluations, or evaluation plans to measure and monitor their efforts. • Cities with the greatest coordinated approach also had the lowest rates of youth violence. Recommendations For cities: • Adopt a comprehensive approach to youth violence that includes an equitable distribution of prevention, intervention and suppression/enforcement. • Establish greater collaboration between city entities and across jurisdictional borders to county and state entities. • Develop and implement a city-wide plan with measurable objectives and an evaluation component. For the nation: • Create a national agenda to address youth violence in the largest cities developed and adopted by several national partners. • Provide training for State and Local Public Health Departments about their role in violence prevention and also provide incentives and opportunities to participate in city-wide efforts. • Provide cities with the opportunity to network and mentor each other in their efforts to reduce and prevent violence through UNITY. Details: Los Angeles: Southern California Injury Prevention Research Center, UCLA School of Public Health, 2008. 153p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 19, 2012 at: http://www.ph.ucla.edu/sciprc/pdf/UNITY-SCIPRCassessment.June2008.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.ph.ucla.edu/sciprc/pdf/UNITY-SCIPRCassessment.June2008.pdf Shelf Number: 125680 Keywords: Delinquency Prevention Gangs Juvenile Offenders Urban Areas Violent Crime Youth Violence (U.S.)

Author: Canada. Parliament. House of Commons. Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights Title: The State of Organized Crime: Report of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights Summary: Organized crime poses a serious long-term threat to Canada’s institutions, society, economy, and to our individual quality of life. Many organized crime groups use or exploit the legitimate economy to some degree by insulating their activities, laundering proceeds of crime and committing financial crimes via a legitimate front. Organized crime groups exploit opportunities around the country and create a sophisticated trans-national network to facilitate criminal activities and challenge law enforcement efforts. The Committee was informed that gangs and organized crime have been with us for at least 150 years. Alienated and disenfranchised young men long ago forged a common bond of lawlessness, using crime as a means of generating wealth. New opportunities for organized crime arrived when illicit drugs became more widely available, due to the increasing ease of international travel and commerce.5 Organized crime involves white collar criminal activity, gang activity and both domestic and foreign participants. Organized crime is of concern not only for its direct impacts, such as the selling of illicit drugs, but also for the indirect impacts, such as the violence that spills into the larger community when rival organized crime groups try to gain control over areas in which to sell drugs. There are immediate and direct costs to the victims of organized crime. These costs can be financial but, more importantly, they can be physical in nature as well as mentally and emotionally traumatic. The losses suffered by victims through such things as the violation of their sense of personal safety and security are long-lasting and difficult to measure. Victims of organized crime can be found everywhere as this type of crime knows no boundaries and carries out its activities in communities of all sizes. Such activities can occur everywhere through such things as fraud over the Internet, the sale of counterfeit goods, and breach of intellectual property laws. The cost of crime is not only a personal one, however, as it is passed on from victims to their insurance companies to businesses and then to consumers. In this way, the personal toll of organized crime becomes a burden on society as a whole. Furthermore, there is also a high price for taxpayers in the form of increased costs for law enforcement and the justice and correctional systems. Domestic policing efforts across Canada increasingly require the development of strategies and programs that address the international components of organized crime. Currently, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and local law enforcement units are focused on reducing the threat and impact of organized crime. In countering the growth of organized crime groups and dismantling their structures and sub-groups, a critical component is the improved coordination, sharing and use of criminal intelligence and resources. This sharing of information and resources is used in support of integrated policing, law enforcement plans and strategies, and assists the police in communicating the impact and scope of organized crime. The impact of organized crime on the lives of Canadians was certainly communicated clearly to the Committee throughout its hearings. The Committee also heard a level of frustration with how the justice system functions in this regard. There was often an expressed perception that this system operates with a bias in favour of the accused rather than the victim. Details: Ottawa: House of Commons, 2012. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed july 20, 2012 at: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/parl/XC66-1-411-01-eng.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Canada URL: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/parl/XC66-1-411-01-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 125701 Keywords: Gangs Organized Crime (Canada) White Collar Crime

Author: Institute for Security Studies Title: Unban Violence and Humanitarian Challenges: Joint Report Summary: This second colloquium organised jointly by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) aimed to present the causes and humanitarian consequences of urban violence, as well as related trends and challenges for the European Union and humanitarian actors. Two case studies have been selected, focusing on different types of violence affecting urban environments. The first case study examines pilot projects to address humanitarian needs arising from organised crime and gang violence in megacities; the second is an analysis of the humanitarian challenges emerging from urban violence in the context of uprisings, referring specifically to the lessons learned from the protests in the Arab world. Urban violence represents numerous challenges for policy makers and humanitarian actors alike. Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities and it appears that urban centres will absorb almost all new population growth in the coming decades. It has therefore become increasingly important to understand the dynamics of violence in an urban setting. By bringing together experts, academics and representatives from various relief organisations, the ICRC and the EUISS hope to have contributed to the debate and spurred further interest in this increasingly important issue. The present publication includes summaries of both the presentations provided by the speakers and the discussions held during the colloquium. Details: Paris: Institute for Security Studies, 2012. 88p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 25, 2012 at: http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/Urban_violence_and_humanitarian_challenges.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://www.iss.europa.eu/uploads/media/Urban_violence_and_humanitarian_challenges.pdf Shelf Number: 125774 Keywords: Cities and Crime Gangs Organized Crime Urban Areas (International) Violence Violent Crime

Author: Chadwick-Parkes, Sandra Title: Youth Armed Violence Interventions: The Caribbean and its Toronto Diaspora Summary: With 66 per cent of all homicides occurring in countries not experiencing major violent conflict, armed violence is now a global social problem. Even more alarming is that much of this violence is perpetrated by young people, who are also over-represented among the victims. Youth armed violence is now a grave concern at every level of society and initiatives to deal with this issue have been increasing. More recently, steps have been undertaken to map those initiatives, especially at the community level, and document and disseminate good practice in addressing the problem. In furtherance of the goal of the Small Arms Working Group and Project Ploughshares to reduce violence and build peace, this study presents case studies of two specific programs that are enjoying some measure of success: The Peace Management Initiative (PMI) in Kingston, Jamaica and the Breaking the Cycle (BTC) Project in Toronto. Both programs were selected because of their success with gang-associated, violent youth in Jamaica’s inner city and in Toronto’s Caribbean diaspora communities respectively. Both are linked by the study’s Caribbean youth focus. The link goes even deeper: the perception is that much of the violence in Toronto is perpetrated by youth of Caribbean, particularly Jamaican, heritage. The research highlights several models for addressing youth armed violence. While both programs adopt variations of these approaches, the Armed Violence Reduction and Development (AVR) approach, which aims at reducing the risks and impacts of armed violence, is particularly relevant. PMI intervenes first to quell violence and then offers livelihood opportunities to address poverty. Also acknowledging the direct link between low socio-economic status and violence, BTC offers the opportunity to exit gangs and lead more productive lives through education and by building leadership skills. Both programs also address the psychological issues typical of violence, such as anger management, conflict resolution and the need for life-coping skills. However, because of the complex and interrelated causes of such violence, the models associated with youth armed violence agree on the need for multi-sector, multi-level interventions. Details: Waterloo, ONT: Project Ploughshares, 2012(?). 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 10, 2012 at: http://www.ploughshares.ca/sites/default/files/youth%20violence%20manual%20web%20pdf.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Jamaica URL: http://www.ploughshares.ca/sites/default/files/youth%20violence%20manual%20web%20pdf.pdf Shelf Number: 125954 Keywords: Gangs Gun Violence Homicides Violent Crime Youth Violence (Jamaica, Toronto)

Author: Baltazar, James Title: Pathways to Gang Violence: Analysis and Recommendations Summary: Gang activity is an endemic problem in many national metropolitan areas, including the city of Minneapolis. Understanding underlying causes and identifying key intervention points for gang involvement are necessary to improve prevention strategies. The task of the Pathways to Gang Involvement research project was to review a dataset provided to us by a Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support (MDHFS) public health official and develop a restructuring and analysis plan for the dataset in collaboration with MDHFS. This paper is an exploratory study of the dataset with which we were presented. It includes the following components: literature review, demographic analysis, spatial analysis, statistical analysis, and qualitative analysis. We sought to determine any correlations between roles in crimes early in life, geographic area, age, and gang activity, as well as identifying key intervention points for reducing gang violence in Minneapolis youth. Our research yielded several findings. Demographic analysis illustrated the composition of gang-related youth in the city, spatial analysis revealed the density of neighborhood patterns of crime, empirical analysis uncovered patterns of association between key indicators, and our qualitative assessment provided local perspective. Through these analyses we sought to establish avenues for public officials to understand the broader context for gang related offenses in the city of Minneapolis. Details: Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, 2012. 88p. Source: MMP Professional Paper, Masters Degree: Internet Resource: Accessed September 13, 2012 at http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/123483/1/Baltazar_Pathways%20to%20Gang%20Violence%20Analysis%20and%20Recommendations.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/123483/1/Baltazar_Pathways%20to%20Gang%20Violence%20Analysis%20and%20Recommendations.pdf Shelf Number: 126338 Keywords: Demographic Trends Gang Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Boudreau, Julie-Anne Title: Constructing Youth Citizenship in Montreal and Mexico City: The Examples of Youth-Police Relations in Saint-Michel and Iztapalapa Summary: Montreal has witnessed cyclical concerns about youth violence and street gangs. The threat is often “politically” constructed. Currently, Mexico City is struggling with a pervasive sense of insecurity. While the threat in Canada was largely attributed to mafias and organized crime throughout the 1990s (Sheptycki 2003), fear has crystallised on the figure of the young gang member in Mexico and Canada in the past few years. As Ungar writes, [y]outh thus become objects of collective fear, seen not as individuals but for the anxieties they cause and the jarring cultural changes they are seen to embrace. The particular impulsiveness of youths, wrapped up in their hostility to tradition and authority, only serves to aggravate these tensions. (Ungar 2009: 208)1 As a result, youths become the target of police action in public spaces. New repression measures are implemented, such as zero-tolerance policies or anti-gang operations, combined with a strengthened set of preventive actions ranging from youth brigades, to participatory youth projects, to community policing. In Montreal, preventive programs are generously financed by the Quebec Government and the Government of Canada. The money is channelled in priority boroughs selected on the basis of their scoring on a set of risk factors (such as household socio-economic status, school dropout rates, number of single-parent households, proportion of immigrants, general state of the built environment, the presence of gang activities in the borough, etc.). In Mexico City, particularly under the mayorship of Lopez Obrador (2000-2005), police reforms focused on community-run policing programs. The City of Mexico now has several programs for “at-risk” youths, including community youth brigades. Notably, and as discussed in greater detail in the Mexico section, today the Policía Sectorial, which is centrally overseen by the City, manages an outreach program for youth in schools that attempts to connect youth and police in a non-threatening environment. In addition to the citywide effort, Iztapalapa, the only borough in Mexico City with Auxiliary police directly under its command, also has a small team of Auxiliary police officers that implement similar efforts within the delegación. These programs are the closest thing to gang prevention efforts conducted by police in this borough. Such area-based approaches to crime prevention are reflected in the United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Crime (2002) and the earlier United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Urban Crime (1995), which call for a local approach to problem solving, taking into account the context of vulnerability to being victimized and/or to offending, as well as local resources. Situational approaches build on the “broken windows theory” (Wilson and Kelling 1982) among others, and community crime prevention, which includes consideration of such issues as social capital. The literature on street gangs by criminologists or psychologists (Goldstein 1991; Thornberry et al. 1993; Hawkins 1998) are also relevant. The concern is generally to find causal relationships between background factors (or risk factors) and illegal or violent acts, in order to point towards elements in which to intervene preventively. Over the course of the 1990s, this came to be known as the “new penology” (Feely and Simon 1992), which positions the criminal as a statistical probability to manage. Crime is not conceptualized as transgression; it is understood as the result of the accumulation of risk factors in a territory or an individual. Following this logic, the prevention system aims more to neutralize danger by regulating risks than by punishing or rehabilitating individuals. The stigmatizing effects of this (such as ghettoizing and/or racial profiling) have been largely documented by urban geographers and sociologists (Davis 1998; Symons 1999; Romero 2006; Wacquant 2006; Dikeç 2007). The work of Philoctète at the Maison d’Haïti in Saint-Michel in Montreal (confirmed by the data presented here) has documented how youths perceive the stigmatizing effects of prevention programs and research on their neighbourhood. Yet Saint-Michel has been very innovative in its approach to issues of street crime and insecurity in the borough, developing a comprehensive crime prevention approach which encompasses a range of socio-cultural, developmental and structural concerns. The neighbourhood police work on an area-based logic given the administrative structures in place, but recognize Saint-Michel as a community as well. The neighbourhood has seen many projects beyond gang prevention: support services of all types, work with migrant communities, cross-sector partnerships, community mobilization, etc. As Fady Dagher, former Police Commandant in Saint-Michel, said in a presentation at the 12th UN Congress in Salvador, they are trying to explicitly move from “zero tolerance” to “tolerance”. Much of this local approach is focused on the neighbourhood and the immediate community. Yet, a previous project has shown how moving around the city is important to youths and contributes greatly to their development (Cissé and Boudreau 2009; Guthrie 2009; Boudreau, Janni, and Chatel, 2011; see also Madzou and Bacqué 2008). This mobile and fluid aspect of youths’ everyday life is not always taken into account in prevention projects in Montreal and Mexico City. The developments in Saint-Michel are encouraging, but the youths to whom we spoke still feel at a distance from these programs and labelled as “vulnerable”. The previous research conducted by VESPA has highlighted depoliticization (making delinquency a technical, rather than a publicly debatable problem) as an important effect of these preventive approaches (Boudreau, Janni, and Chatel 2011). It became clear that one of the important effects of preventive measures framed by “at-risk” categorizations is to deny youths any sense of meaningful socio-political agency. As a street worker stated, “it is important to humanize the gang. In it, there are individuals with broken lives” (November 18, 2008, our translation). Viewing gangs as a technical problem of risk management depoliticizes the issue, while stripping youths of individual and group subjectivity. They are seen as vulnerable to gang recruitment rather than as individuals and groups able to act intentionally and autonomously. Parazelli’s (2004) work with street youths in Montreal demonstrates how they create their own autonomous space of action in reaction to the effects of this risk management logic of preventive action. Fortunately, some innovative projects on youth participation are seeking to counteract this (ICPC Youth Resource Guide 2010). With this project, we seek to contribute to this search for solutions. Details: Montreal: Institut national de la recherche scientifique Centre - Urbanisation Culture Société, 2012. 167p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 21, 2012 at: http://im.metropolis.net/research-policy/research_content/doc/Youth-police_relations_in_Montreal_and_Mexico_City-final_report.pdf Year: 2012 Country: International URL: http://im.metropolis.net/research-policy/research_content/doc/Youth-police_relations_in_Montreal_and_Mexico_City-final_report.pdf Shelf Number: 126389 Keywords: At-Risk Youth (Montreal, Canada, Mexico City) Gangs Juvenile Offenders Police-Citizen Interactions Police-Community Relations Urban Crime Youth Gangs Youth Violence

Author: Pyrooz, David Cyrus Title: The Non-Criminal Consequences of Gang Membership: Impacts on Education and Employment in the Life-Course Summary: Research on the consequences of gang membership is limited mainly to the study of crime and victimization. This gives the narrow impression that the effects of gang membership do not cascade into other life domains. This dissertation conceptualized gang membership as a snare in the life-course that disrupts progression in conventional life domains. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Cohort of 1997 (NLSY97) data were used to examine the effects of adolescent gang membership on the nature and patterns of educational attainment and employment over a 12-year period in the life-course. Variants of propensity score weighting were used to assess the effects of gang joining on a range of outcomes pertaining to educational attainment and employment. The key findings in this dissertation include: (1) selection adjustments partially or fully confounded the effects of gang joining; despite this (2) gang joiners had 70 percent the odds of earning a high school diploma and 42 percent the odds of earning a 4-year college degree than matched individuals who avoided gangs; (3) at the 11-year mark, the effect of gang joining on educational attainment exceeded one-half year; (4) gang joiners made up for proximate deficits in high school graduation and college matriculation, but gaps in 4-year college degree and overall educational attainment gained throughout the study; (5) gang joiners were less likely to be employed and more likely to not participate in the labor force, and these differences accelerated toward the end of the study; (6) gang joiners spent an additional one-third of a year jobless relative to their matched counterparts; and (7) the cumulative effect of gang joining on annual income exceeded $14,000, which was explained by the patterning of joblessness rather than the quality of jobs. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings, as well as directions for future research, are addressed in the concluding chapter of this dissertation. Details: Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University, 2012. 179p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 25, 2012 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239241.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239241.pdf Shelf Number: 126447 Keywords: Education Employment Gangs Unemployment and Crime Youth Gangs

Author: Decker, Scott H. Title: Leaving the Gang: Logging Off and Moving On Summary: Why do people leave a group that they have been a member of? What do they do to leave their group? What role, if any, do the use of social media and the Internet play in this process? These questions and more are addressed in this paper, which is a follow-on to the Summit Against Violent Extremism (SAVE) held by Google Ideas and CFR in Dublin in June 2011. In criminology the focus on desistance has been a part of the life course study of crime. This approach examines involvement in crime across the life span, and pays particular attention to initial involvement in crime during adolescence as well as declines in crime that tend to occur beginning in the early twenties. This latter process is referred to as desistance from crime and tends to occur rather rapidly, usually starting in the late teens. This is typically a period of considerable maturation, marked by the movement from adolescence into adulthood and the increasing involvement in family and the labor market. Social media play an increasingly important role in the lives of adolescents as they transition to adulthood. We examine the results from 177 in-person interviews conducted in Fresno, California; Los Angeles, California; and St. Louis, Missouri. These interviews focus on embeddedness in the gang, use of the Internet, and involvement in offending and victimization. The interviews document why and how individuals leave their gang, and also examine the consequences of leaving the gang. We hope through this research to shed additional light on these important issues. Details: New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 2011. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 15, 2012 at http://i.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/SAVE_paper_Decker_Pyrooz.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://i.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/SAVE_paper_Decker_Pyrooz.pdf Shelf Number: 126745 Keywords: Adolescents Criminal Careers Desistance from Gangs Gangs

Author: American Land Forces Institute Title: Transnational Criminal Networks in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Network-Centric Enterprise Summary: The purpose of this study is to understand the networks involved in transnational criminal organizations across Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. This study uses Social Network Analysis and general socio-cultural analysis techniques to analyze information gathered from open source news media, secondary data collections, analyses conducted by academics and nonprofit organizations, and interviews with former law enforcement officials. . This study analyzes the criminal organizations of each region (Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean) in terms of their (1) historical background, (2) hierarchy and composition, (3) alliances and rivalries with other regional criminal organizations, (4) major criminal activities, (5) recruitment methods and sources, and (6) weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Details: Mico, TX: American Land Forces Institute, 2012. 77p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 26, 2012 at: http://alfinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Crime-Families.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Central America URL: http://alfinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Crime-Families.pdf Shelf Number: 126810 Keywords: Criminal Cartels Criminal Networks Drug Trafficking Gangs Organized Crime Social Network Analysis Transnational Crime (Latin America, Caribbean)

Author: Berlowitz, Sue Title: I thought I was the only one. The only one in the world. The Office of the Children’s Commissioner’s Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation In Gangs and Groups Summary: Imagine that within three medium sized secondary schools every pupil was being subjected to sexual violence on a routine basis over months, and sometimes years, by multiple perpetrators; or that within 20 medium sized secondary schools every child was displaying behaviours which indicated they were at significant risk of being sexually exploited, and only a small number of staff acted on these warning signs. The equivalent of this is true. Based on evidence submitted to the CSEGG Inquiry, at least 16,500 children were identified as being at risk of child sexual exploitation during one year and 2,409 children were confirmed as victims of sexual exploitation in gangs and groups during the 14-month period from August 2010 to October 2011. Evidence to the Inquiry indicates that in any given year the actual number of children being abused is far greater than the 2,409 that have been confirmed. Interviews with children and young people, evidence collected during site visits and gathered at hearing sessions all indicated that many children who were sexually exploited either remained unseen by professionals or, even when known, were not recorded in the call for evidence submissions received by the OCC. 16,500 children from across England were identified as being at high risk of child sexual exploitation during the period April 2010-March 2011. This figure is based on children who displayed three or more signs of behaviour indicating they were at risk of child sexual exploitation. These are the main findings of the Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups (CSEGG) by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC). Details: London: Children's Commissioner, 2012. 138p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 28, 2012 at: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/publications/content_636 Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/publications/content_636 Shelf Number: 127028 Keywords: Child Sexual Abuse (U.K.) Child Sexual Exploitation Gang Violence Gangs Group Violence

Author: Youth Justice Coalition Title: Tracked and Trapped: Youth of Color, Gang Databases and Gang Injunctions Summary: Tracked and Trapped represents the preliminary results from a larger research project currently being conducted by the Youth Justice Coalition's RealSearch Action Research Center on the impacts of gang injunctions and gang databases on Los Angeles' youth and communities. In the 25 years since the LA County Sheriffs established the nation's first gang database, and 30 years since LA County implemented the nation's first gang injunctions, there has been almost no release of data regarding gang suppression policies - including who's impacted, let alone an evaluation of their cost or effectiveness. This report represents the most comprehensive data ever released regarding who is on the Cal Gang Database by county, age and race. We don't say this out of pride, but out of concern for the total lack of state and local transparency and accountability in regards to the implementation of gang suppression. It is our intention to expose these policies and practices to the light of community evaluation and oversight. Details: Los Angeles, CA: Youth Justice Coalition, 2012. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 13, 2013 at http://www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/default/files/tracked_and_trapped.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.ushrnetwork.org/sites/default/files/tracked_and_trapped.pdf Shelf Number: 127265 Keywords: Crime Statistics Gang Injunctions Gangs

Author: Berman, Greg Title: From Chicago to Brooklyn: A Case Study in Program Replication Summary: The last 25 years have seen the emergence of a remarkable number of new criminal justice innovations in the United States. Drug courts, family justice centers, HOPE Probation, community policing programs… these and other initiatives have spread from coast to coast. Most of these projects began life as one-of-a-kind experiments before being broadly replicated. Replication sounds easy, but experience tells us that it is anything but. Just because a program works in one location doesn’t mean it will automatically be effective in another. Balancing the demands of model fidelity with the need to adapt to local conditions on the ground is one of the most pressing challenges of replication, but it is far from the only one. In an effort to highlight some of the issues that replication efforts inevitably face, this paper tells the story of Save Our Streets (S.O.S.) Crown Heights, an effort to bring CeaseFire, a violence reduction project that originated in Chicago, to Brooklyn. The goal is to provide a ground-level view of the replication process from the perspectives of those charged with implementing the model. Along the way, this essay attempts to tease out lessons that will be relevant not just to those interested in the CeaseFire model, but to anyone charged with replicating a model originally created somewhere else. Details: New York: Center for Court Innovation, 2011. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 29, 2013 at: http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/documents/Chicago_Brooklyn.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/documents/Chicago_Brooklyn.pdf Shelf Number: 127410 Keywords: Ceasefire Program Gangs Gun Violence Violent Crime

Author: Glasser, Uwe Title: Estimating Possible Criminal Organizations from Co-offending Data Summary: A method of data mining regular police records to identify possible criminal organizations has been developed. Between 2001 and 2006, offending related to 236 possible criminal organizations was reported to RCMP "E" Division, with 39 of the groups being particularly serious. This study combined computational mathematical analysis, social network analysis methods, and data mining techniques in a unique way to automatically identify traces of possible criminal organizations in operational police records. Under Canadian law organized crime groups, such as gangs, are termed "criminal organizations." The minimum requirements characterizing a criminal organization are that it consists of three or more people; that there is the commission of a serious criminal offence that can result in a material benefit; and that group offending happen more than once. The dataset that was used in the study was extracted from the Police Information and Retrieval System of RCMP "E" Division. (RCMP "E" Division covers most of British Columbia, not including some urban areas in the Lower Mainland like Vancouver and the Victoria area.) The massive dataset of more than 4 million records covered all reported offences and all persons associated with a crime, from complaint to charge, from mid-2001 to mid-2006, for the policing jurisdiction. Using social network analysis methods, the research first identified groups of people that the police-reported data indicated had co-offended with one another. (A "co-offence" is when one or more offenders are associated with a crime incident.) The level of activity, seriousness of criminality, and material benefit associated with the offending for these co-offending groups was then calculated and compared between years. Two different methods were used to determine the level of criminality for a co-offending group. This identified which co-offending groups demonstrated the minimum characteristics of a possible criminal organization and which demonstrated the characteristics of a particularly serious criminal organization. The research then examined how group membership and the structure of these groups changed over time. The analysis identified more than 18,000 groupings of co-offenders in the crimes that came to police attention. Of these 18,000 groupings, approximately 300 groups were active over a period of time. Of the 300 groups active over a period of time, 236 committed at least one serious offence. These 236 groups represent possible criminal organizations, as they met the minimum quantitative criteria under law for a criminal organization. When only co-offending groups that were active over a period of time which consistently committed crimes that were of above average seriousness were considered, 39 possible criminal organizations of particular seriousness were identified. Most of the more serious criminal organizations that were identified were also very active over a number of years, indicating their greater stability and intensity of offending compared to the other possible criminal organizations. Similarly, if a group was more criminally active, its members were more likely to have committed serious crimes. Estimating Possible Criminal Organizations from Co-offending Data PUBLIC SAFETY CANADA - Most of the possible criminal organizations were quite small, with an average core group's size being between six and seven individuals. The particularly serious possible criminal organizations had an even smaller average size, of just less than five. The less serious possible criminal organizations tended to have more peripheral members and a less tightly connected core group. This type of analysis may eventually provide a useful tool for operational policing in the real-time identification of individuals possibly associated with a criminal organization, as well as serve as an alternative source of information in intelligence gathering and verification. Intelligence and further criminal analysis is required to properly use this type of information in the investigation of, and reporting on, organized crime because there are a number of caveats regarding these possible criminal organizations that have been identified. Further work would be required to determine if the possible criminal organizations identified were component parts of larger organized crime groups. It is possible that not all individuals in a criminal organization are included in the identified networks because only police-reported crime information was analyzed. Individuals operating in the background or who are more able to escape police interventions, who may be more likely to direct the activities of others, would not be captured with this type of methodology. Details: Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, 2012. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 13, 2013 at: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/sp-ps/PS14-7-2012-eng.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Canada URL: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2012/sp-ps/PS14-7-2012-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 127602 Keywords: Co-offending Criminal Organizations Gangs Organized Crime (Canada)

Author: Whitbeck, Barbara Title: Gangs and Youth Violence Interventions: A Review of Research and Literature Addressing Evidence‐Based and Promising Practices for Gang‐Affiliated and Violent Youth in Juvenile Institutions and Detention Centers Summary: This report reviews current research and literature to determine which evidence-based and promising practices work best for gang‐affiliated and violent youth in juvenile institutions and other detention settings, and what factors need to be considered when implementing best practices. It also notes evidence‐based practices currently used by Washington’s DSHS Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (JRA), and practices JRA may consider for future implementation. Details: Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, 2010. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Report 2.23: Accessed February 27, 2013 at: http://www.dshs.wa.gov/graphics/Main/jra/VIP%20Literature%20review.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.dshs.wa.gov/graphics/Main/jra/VIP%20Literature%20review.pdf Shelf Number: 127735 Keywords: Evidence-Based Practices Gang Prevention Gang Violence Gangs Juvenile Detention Juvenile Offenders

Author: Gurung, Sundip Title: Silent Sufferers: Street Children, Drugs, and Sexual Abuse in Kathmandu, Nepal Summary: Objective: To observe socio-demographic distribution among street children in Kathmandu, and to identify associations between drug use and sexual abuse with regards to socio-demographic variables and predictive variables. Design and participants: A cross sectional study was conducted among 248 street children in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2009. Children were recruited on purposive sampling method and were asked about socio-demographic factors, drug use, sexual abuse, visits to/contact with family, gang involvement, and years spent in the streets. Results: There were significant differences among boys and girls with regard to ethnicity (p=0.002) and main source of income (p=<0.001) as well as with regard to drug use (p=<0.001), gang involvement (p=<0.001), alcohol consumption (p=<0.001), contact with family (p=<0.001), and sexual abuse (p=<0.001). After controlling the potential confounders, an association was observed between drug use and source of income among the boys [begging, OR of 4.9 CI (1.4-17), and thief/pick pocket, OR of 4.8 CI (1.1-24)]. Similarly, there was an association between drug use and alcohol consumption [Casual drinkers, OR of 3.2 CI (1.4-7.4), and regular drinkers, OR of 8.1 CI (2.0-32)]. Conclusion: The study provides important information on how distribution pattern of socio-demographic factors and predictive variables differ among boys and girls in street of Kathmandu. It also provides the information on association of drug use with regards to some of the socio-demographic factors and predictive variables. Details: Umea, Sweden: Umeå International School of Public Health, Epidemiology and Global Health, 2011. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed March 18, 2013 at: http://www.phmed.umu.se/digitalAssets/91/91830_sundip-gurung.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Nepal URL: http://www.phmed.umu.se/digitalAssets/91/91830_sundip-gurung.pdf Shelf Number: 128009 Keywords: Begging Child Sexual Abuse Drug Abuse and Addiction Gangs Street Children (Nepal)

Author: Brankovic, Jasmina Title: Leaving the Gangster Things to the Boys Growing Up Now: Young Men, Physical Violence, and Structural Violence in Post-Transition South Africa Summary: This paper examines the intersection of physical violence, structural violence, and masculinity through the life history narrative of a 20-year-old man exiting an informal gang in Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town. Beginning and remaining with James Madoda’s narrative, the paper shows how the gendered physical violence between young men in townships emerges from historical and present-day structural violence - here defined as institutionalised power inequalities that limit life opportunities - and argues that structural violence needs to be discussed and addressed as a policy issue in South Africa. It also suggests that structural violence may provide a platform for collaboration among civil society actors working on socioeconomic transformation and the prevention of violence. Details: Cape Town: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape, 2012. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 18, 2013 at: Cape Town: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and Centre for Humanities Research, University of the Western Cape Year: 2012 Country: South Africa URL: Shelf Number: 128411 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Gender-Based Violence (South Africa Violent Crimes

Author: Lambrechts, Derica Title: The Impact of Organised Crime on Social Control by the state: A study of Manenberg in Cape Town, South Summary: This study set out to research the influence of a local non-state actor on the role and authority of the state, in the domestic environment. Accordingly, the research problem focused on the impact of a domestic actor on the association between the state and the society. This study only focused on the state at the level of local government and the impact of one specific actor, organised criminal groups, on social control by the state. Thus, state-society relations were discussed in this context. In order to guide this study, the main and two supportive research questions were stated as follows: What is the impact of organised crime on the social control by the state? What are the power dynamics between local governance, criminal agents and society? Has the state become criminalised at the level of local government, as a result of the activities of organised crime, and if so, to what extent? The state thus functioned as the dependent variable and organised criminal groups as the independent variable. The theoretical foundation of this study was located in state-society relations, and specific reference was given to the work of Migdal (1988) and his analysis of state social control, pyramidal and weblike societies. Furthermore, a neo-pluralist view of the state was followed. A conceptualisation of the criminalisation of the state was provided, as the criminalisation of the state was regarded as one possible impact of organised crime on the state. In order to analyse the criminalisation of the state, a framework was constructed from four main avenues of empirical observation. In order to answer the research questions, a case study research design and a predominantly qualitative methodology was selected. As a case, the City of Cape Town was selected and Manenberg, located on the Cape Flats, as the site for the research. A case study research design created the opportunity to describe the context in detail and to connect the micro level of analysis to the macro level; thus, it provided insight on the research topic that enabled the researcher to expand/build theory. The field research process occurred over a period of three months using a triangulation of methods: Key informant interview, small group discussions and observation with three categories of respondents. These three categories included: Community members of Manenberg, organised criminal groups and agents of local government and local governance. In order to set the stage for the empirical analysis, a contextualisation of the dependent and independent variables were provided. It was stated that there is a lack of a universally agreed upon definition of organised crime, and as a result, a conceptualisation of organised crime was generated for this study. It was further argued that the majority of literature treats organised criminal groups and organised criminal gangs as two separate concepts, despite the fact that there are more similarities than differences. Thus, for the purpose of this study, a conclusion was reached that the difference is inconsequential. The development of organised crime in South Africa and an examination of the historical development of the gangs on the Cape Flats were described. With regards to the dependent variable, the context was provided for an analysis of local government in South Africa. The demographical and operational features of the municipal area of the City of Cape Town were explained, with specific reference to safety and security elements. The primary data collected was analysed according to the indicators of social control (compliance, participation and legitimacy), as identified by Migdal (1988). In addition, the framework to analyse the criminalisation of the state at the level of local government was applied on the case study. Based on the analysis, a different system, to what was described by Migdal (1988) in his narrative of a triangle of accommodation was found to be in operation in Manenberg on the Cape Flats. It was confirmed that there is the presence of a weakened state and accordingly, a weblike society, where social control is fragmented between local government and the criminal community. However, in this weblike society a system of local power dynamics exists between the criminal community, social community and local agents of governance, where dyadic collaboration occurs between all three the actors. However, despite the collaboration, the criminalisation of the state does not occur, but rather the statification of the organised criminal community, as it provides goods and service to the social community. The main findings can be summarised as: If a state lacks extensive social control and a rival authority has claimed a level of social control, this will not necessarily lead to the further weakening of the state, as a result of a system of power dynamics in place, where collaboration between the social community, the criminal community and local agents of governance occurs. This system is kept in place by: On-going efforts by the state to maintain (or regain) compliance, participation and legitimacy; corrupt agents of the state (specifically in the security sector); a level of operational ease that exists for the criminal community (and the interweaving of the criminal community in the social community) and a relatively strong society that acknowledges the benefits of criminal activities for the social community, but also recognises the authority and control of the state. Details: Stellenbosch, South Africa: Stellenbosch University, 2013. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 25, 2013 at: http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/80057 Year: 2013 Country: South Africa URL: http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/80057 Shelf Number: 128494 Keywords: Economics of Crime Gangs Organized Crime (South Africa)

Author: Lamb, Robert Dale Title: Microdynamics of Illegitimacy and Complex Urban Violence in Medellin, Colombia Summary: For most of the past 25 years, Medellin, Colombia, has been an extreme case of complex, urban violence, involving not just drug cartels and state security forces, but also street gangs, urban guerrillas, community militias, paramilitaries, and other nonstate armed actors who have controlled micro-territories in the city's densely populated slums in ever-shifting alliances. Before 2002, Medellin's homicide rate was among the highest in the world, but after the guerrillas and militias were defeated in 2003, a major paramilitary alliance disarmed and a period of peace known as the "Medellin Miracle" began. Policy makers facing complex violence elsewhere were interested in finding out how that had happened so quickly. The research presented here is a case study of violence in Medellin over five periods since 1984 and at two levels of analysis: the city as a whole, and a sector called Caicedo La Sierra. The objectives were to describe and explain the patterns of violence, and determine whether legitimacy played any role, as the literature on social stability suggested it might. Multilevel, multidimensional frameworks for violence and legitimacy were developed to organize data collection and analysis. The study found that most decreases in violence at all levels of analysis were explained by increases in territorial control. Increases in collective (organized) violence resulted from a process of "illegitimation," in which an intolerably unpredictable living environment sparked internal opposition to local rulers and raised the costs of territorial control, increasing their vulnerability to rivals. As this violence weakened social order and the rule of law, interpersonal-communal (unorganized) violence increased. Over time, the "true believers" in armed political and social movements became marginalized or corrupted; most organized violence today is motivated by money. These findings imply that state actors, facing resurgent violence, can keep their tenuous control over the hillside slums (and other "ungoverned" areas) if they can avoid illegitimizing themselves. Their priority, therefore, should be to establish a tolerable, predictable daily living environment for local residents and businesses: other anti-violence programs will fail without strong, permanent, and respectful governance structures. Details: College Park, MD: University of Maryland, 2010. 657p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 6, 2013 at: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/10242 Year: 2010 Country: Colombia URL: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/10242 Shelf Number: 128671 Keywords: Gangs Homicides Militias Organized Crime Paramilitaries Rule of Law Urban Areas Violence (Colombia) Violent Crime

Author: Wilson, David A. Title: Violent Crime: A Comparative Study of Honduras and Nicaragua Summary: This thesis explains variation between contemporary Honduras and Nicaragua in terms of their levels of violent crime. The thesis is driven by an empirical observation: Nicaragua, a country that shares a border with Honduras and where the U.S.-backed Contras waged a civil war against the Sandinista government during much of the 1980s, is considerably less violent than Honduras, which did not undergo civil war. This variation conflicts with expectations in studies of security in Central America that countries that have experienced civil war will, during the post-conflict period, experience higher rates of violent crime than countries that have not. In contrast, this thesis argues that in Nicaragua it was precisely the conclusion of the civil war that drew attention from domestic and international actors who implemented changes that resulted in the demilitarization of internal security, the reduction of weapons in society, and the emergence of social movements that gave ex-combatants voice through non-violent means. Honduras, which did not experience civil war and a subsequent peace process, has seen the circulation of large amounts of weaponry and ongoing military participation in internal security, which has meant human rights abuses and low social capital. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2009. 93p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 13, 2013 at: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=703242 Year: 2009 Country: South America URL: https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=703242 Shelf Number: 128723 Keywords: Civil Wars Gangs Post-Conflict Societies Social Capital Violence Violent Crimes (Honduras; Nicaragua)

Author: Ip, pau-fuk, Peter Title: The Sociolinguistics of Triad Language in Hong Kong Summary: This thesis contains a study of the use of triad language in Hong Kong today. In it I have set out to discuss a number of important aspects of triad language. In Chapter 2, I discussed the literature on the subject, and then I gave a statement of my research issues. My research is concerned with the identifying and describing a distinct group of linguistic items which we can identify as 'triad language': discussing the social factors that influence their usage; relating a knowledge of traditional triad ritual and triad writings necessary to understand and explain the use of triad jargon today; and discussing its spread into the wider community. At the centre of the thesis is a wordlist containing four hundred and fourteen items of various types of triad language. A selection of these items, numbering thirty-nine in all are discussed in Chapter 5 of the thesis. Details: Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, 1999. 178p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 29, 2013 at: http://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/33344 Year: 1999 Country: Hong Kong URL: http://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/33344 Shelf Number: 128848 Keywords: Gangs Language Linguistics Sociolinguistics Triads (China, Hong Kong)

Author: McGarrell, Edmund Title: Promising Strategies for Violence Reduction: Lessons from Two Decades of Innovation Summary: Since reaching peak levels in the early 1990s, the United States has witnessed a significant decline in levels of homicide and gun-related crime. Indeed, whereas in 1991 there were more than 24,000 homicides in the United States (9.8 per 100,000 population), this number declined to less than 15,000 in 2010 (4.8 per 100,000 population) (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011). Similarly, the number of violent victimizations declined from more than 16 million in 1993 to less than six million in 2011 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2013). Although the decline is certainly welcome, violent crime and homicide continue to exact a heavy toll in terms of the impact on victims, families, offenders, and neighborhoods. Indeed, some estimates put the cost of a homicide at more than $17 million per incident (DeLisi et al., 2010). Given these human and fiscal costs, it becomes critical to identify evidence-based practices that local, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies, criminal justice partners, community-based organizations, social service providers, governmental officials, and citizens can consider for possible implementation in their communities. Fortunately, since the mid-1990s several promising interventions have emerged with varying degrees of empirical support for their ability to prevent and reduce levels of crime and violence at the local level. These interventions share some common elements, although they vary in other respects. Different communities also make adaptations to these interventions when they implement them. This situation can make it difficult to specify the key dimensions of each intervention when transferring to other settings. To add to the confusion, two of the initiatives discussed below are commonly referred to as “Ceasefire” and some cities participating in the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative have also used the “Ceasefire” terminology. The following attempts to briefly describe the key elements of each intervention, their commonalities and their differences, and to summarize the existing research. Citations to the many reports that exist on these initiatives are provided so that interested readers can learn more about these efforts. Details: East Lansing, MI: School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 2013. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: Project Safe Neighborhoods Case Study Report #13; Accessed June 3, 2013 at: https://www.bja.gov/Publications/MSU_PromisingViolenceReductionInitiatives.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.bja.gov/Publications/MSU_PromisingViolenceReductionInitiatives.pdf Shelf Number: 128927 Keywords: Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence (U.S.) Homicide Program Ceasefire Project Safe Neighborhoods - Program Ceasefire

Author: Atha, Roberto J. Title: Transitions to Peace: Effects on Internal Security Forces in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala Summary: This thesis examines the effect of transitions to peace in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala on internal security forces. It reveals how the influence of the military affected the implementation of internal security reforms, influencing the professionalism and effectiveness of police forces in the fight against violence and gangs today. The research shows Sandinista influence allowed Nicaragua to maintain an experienced core of security personnel that has confronted the present challenges more effectively. Reforms in El Salvador yielded a new, highly restructured and reduced security force of which only one-fifth some policing experience, reducing the short-term effectiveness of the force in the fight against insecurity, but increasing the probability for long term consolidation of a professional and effective police institution. In Guatemala, the transitions resulted in the creation of a new police force mostly manned by former security personnel, perpetuating the corruption that permeated the force prior to the transitions--a fact reflected in the high levels of crime in the country today. The thesis proposes that the effect of the transitions on the current forces is a pivotal factor on their effectiveness, and must be addressed in order to improve security for citizens and democracy. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2008. 83p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 22, 2013 at: http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA493659 Year: 2008 Country: Central America URL: http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA493659 Shelf Number: 129139 Keywords: Community Policing Corruption Gangs Violence (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala)

Author: Brands, Hal Title: Criminal Fiefdoms in Latin America: Understanding the Problem of Alternatively Governed Spaces Summary:  The problems of criminal fiefdoms—alternatively governed spaces (AGSs) in which criminal organizations, rather than formal authorities, effectively control the population and act as the arbiter of internal order—have become a serious security issue in Latin America. In several countries, criminal fiefdoms have taken shape against the backdrop of rampant criminality that has afflicted much of the region over the past two decades, with this phenomenon intensified by competition between rival transnational drug trafficking organizations (DTOs).  In nations as varied as Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Brazil, criminal organizations ranging from youth gangs to sophisticated DTOs control large portions of the national territory. They serve as de facto governments as they collect “taxes” through dues and extortion, demand the loyalty, or at least the acquiescence, of the people under their control, and punish those who interfere with their illicit activities. Such groups wage irregular warfare—defined as “a violent struggle among state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant populations”—against their competitors and governments.1  While criminal organizations like MS-13 and the First Capital Command (PCC) of São Paulo sometimes provide order and limited social services, they also exploit and terrorize the populace. Criminal fiefdoms have thus exposed the weakness of governance, showing that states cannot control their territory or protect their citizens. This is having a corrosive impact on the public psyche, material conditions and is undermining democracy.  Addressing this problem will be a difficult and complex task. The issue of criminal fiefdoms is rooted in structural problems—inequality, lack of opportunity, corruption, and above all, weak state capacity. Efforts must concentrate on building broad political compacts in support of holistic anti-crime programs and efforts to strengthening the state. • Within this context, there are several initiatives to consider, including:  Smarter targeting and efforts to develop tools necessary to sustain long-term investigations and successful prosecutions;  Creative policing strategies that focus on policecivilian interaction and protection of the population;  Short and long-term efforts to strengthen honest law enforcement and judicial officials to reduce corruption;  Building the institutional capacity of the agencies and offices charged with combating and prosecuting organized crime;  Macro and micro-economic initiatives to broaden opportunity and stem the stream of recruits for organized crime;  Intensified U.S. efforts to deal with the demand side of the DTO problem and a capacity and willingness for innovation and experimentation. During the Cold War, Latin America was roiled by Marxist insurgencies that, in the process of seeking to overthrow governments, carved out “liberated zones” in which insurgents could operate freely and extract resources from the population. Today, ideological violence has faded, but the problem of alternatively governed spaces (AGSs)—areas in which some groups other than the government are the de facto arbiter of internal order—continues to plague the region. A variety of criminal organizations, ranging from youth gangs to transnational drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs), have established “criminal fiefdoms” in which they operate with little or no interference from the authorities and have established a form of dominance—complete with “taxation,” limited social services, and often-brutal punishment—over the population. This phenomenon is most pronounced in Central American countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, but it is also evident in Brazil. Where fiefdoms exist, states are essentially experiencing irregular warfare, as criminal groups compete with established governments for control and influence over the civilian population. This phenomenon has highlighted the weakness of many states, and is having a severely corrosive impact on democratic governance and the rule of law. This paper thus analyzes the origins, manifestations, and ramifications of the problem of criminal fiefdoms. The first section offers an analytical framework for understanding the issue. The second and third sections present case studies, focusing on the current situation in Guatemala and São Paulo, Brazil. The fourth section discusses policy implications. Details: Miami: Florida International University, Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center, 2010. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 25, 2013 at: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=whemsac Year: 2010 Country: Asia URL: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=whemsac Shelf Number: 129154 Keywords: Drug Trafficking First Capital Command (PCC) Gangs MS-13 Organized Crime (Latin America) Violence Violent Crime

Author: IRIN (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) Title: Youth in Crisis: Coming of Age in the 21st Century Summary: Across the globe, a generation of youth is rapidly reaching adulthood bearing the tragic consequences of their nations’ worst problems. In this ‘Youth in Crisis’ In-Depth, IRIN traces the impact of the events shaping their lives, from the illegal forced marriage of teenage girls in Afghanistan and Ethiopia, to the tripling of school fees and the deteriorating education system in Zimbabwe. Cultural conservatism, as well as fear of attacks on schools by Taliban insurgents, and poverty, mean half of all Afghan children do not go to school, and those who do often ‘graduate’ to unemployment. To be young in some nations is to be more disadvantaged than one’s parents were: the numbers of children attending school in the Republic of Congo has fallen from almost 100 per cent before the 1998-2002 civil war to below 75 percent now. The same is true in northern Uganda where high illiteracy rates are a consequence of two decades of war and insecurity, condemning Acholi youngsters brought up in displaced peoples’ camps to a life of far fewer opportunities than older siblings, parents and even grandparents. Educational and economic collapse is given as one reason for the ease with which militias in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo recruited teenagers into their ranks - demobilisation programmes struggle to convince many of them to resume civilian lives. Young Somalis, who escaped violence at home, face a different problem: as part of an ‘educated elite’ at schools in refugee camps in Kenya, they are unable to put their education to good use as long as Kenya’s government curtails their movement outside the camps. Life beyond school is equally challenging: some medical students in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, arrive hours before classes just to save a space close enough to a university lecturer to hear him speak. Classes often stretch to more than 1,200 students and lecturers demand financial rewards for granting students good marks. Young Guineans with degrees end up hawking goods on city streets - a factor influencing their decision to agitate for political change, which they say “is going to come with violence”. University campuses in Côte d’Ivoire have become a breeding ground for pro-government political militancy and extortion, while Nigeria is trying to curb the influence of predatory student cults that in the past few years have opened fire on students in examinations, and continue to intimidate or kill anti-cult activists. Gang culture dominates the lives of tens of thousands of South Africans in Cape Town. In addition, youngsters addicted to tik (crystal meth) land up in juvenile detention centres where conditions and counselling are inadequate. Street gangs are also common in N’Djamena, capital of Chad, a country where the role of the youth is said to have been crucial to every political transition since 1975. Emotionally bereft, many Rwandan teenagers are not rebelling but still recovering from the 1994 genocide that defined their lives. Loss and injustice also characterise the lives of an estimated 250,000-300,000 Kenyan street children, while three-quarters of Kenyan sex workers interviewed for a United Nations report said they felt commercial sex was an acceptable way to make money. In Pakistan, the wealth gap between rich and poor is blamed for a surge in petty crime, committed mostly by people aged 16-25 years. Drug addiction is also a problem among the young and privileged. Since the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States and the war in Afghanistan that followed, many middle-class boys in Pakistan have been turning away from Western lifestyles and identifying with extremist Islamic groups and the violence they promote. ‘Soul hunters’ from religious or criminal groups in the densely populated Ferghana Valley linking Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan prey on young people facing unemployment or migration to Russia or Kazakhstan - vocational training set up under the Soviet system to provide skills for the labour market has collapsed. In the Occupied Palestinian Territories, some young people take pride in joining groups involved in what they term resistance to Israel, while in Lebanon more teenagers have joined Lebanon’s Hezbollah political party since the 2006 war between Hezbollah militias and Israel’s largely conscripted army. In Iraq, some families say they would rather see their teenagers and children die fighting American soldiers than become victims of spiralling sectarian violence. These issues form part of IRIN’s In-Depth on ‘Youth in Crisis,’ which also contains features on the transition from childhood to adulthood, education, war, migration, HIV/AIDS, violence and urbanisation, as well as photos, links and references. Details: Nairobi: IRIN, 2007. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: IRIN In-Depth: Accessed June 25, 2013 at: http://www.irinnews.org/pdf/in-depth/youth-in-crisis-irin-in-depth.pdf Year: 2007 Country: International URL: http://www.irinnews.org/pdf/in-depth/youth-in-crisis-irin-in-depth.pdf Shelf Number: 129162 Keywords: Forced Marriage Gangs Street Children Youth Poverty Youth Violence

Author: Frondigoun, Liz Title: The Scottish Campus Officer: Past, Present and Future Summary: Campus Officers were first deployed in Scottish Schools in 2002. The Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) provides a hub for information sharing and training of Campus Officers. However, the appointment and deployment of Campus Officers currently lies with the individual Police Force in which the officers serve (Frondigoun, Smith & MacLeod, 2013). However, to date there has been little empirical academic research in Scotland into the role of Campus Officers (Smith & Frondigoun, 2011). This report results from our SIPR1 sponsored two year research project into Campus Officers in Scotland. Our initial interest stemmed from a smaller project in which we tried to initiate a ‘Practice Note’ series of studies into Community Policing practices. Practice notes are a powerful medium for promulgating occupational skills and knowledge. We co-­authored one such practice note with a Campus Officer (see Smith & Frondigoun, 20112). Although a variety of academic issues interfered with our plans to further that project, we were so impressed by the work of the Campus Officer we worked with that we re-­thought our research strategy and decided to concentrate our efforts on a study of Campus Officers in a Scottish context. Since producing our first practice note in 2012 we have forged links with the VRU Campus Officers Forum. While the original aim of a series of briefing sheets has not been shelved, the quality and quantity of material gathered has grown substantially. In Scotland, prevention, intervention, diversion, and partnership approaches lie at the core of current youth justice thinking in relation to the policing of troubled and troublesome young people, reducing antisocial behaviour and increasing public reassurance. This research was developed in relation to one of SIPR’s aims: to promote the dissemination of policing policy and practice through ‘high quality, independent research [...] to make evidence-­based contributions to policing policy and practice. Details: Dundee: Scottish Institute for Policing Research, 2013. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/digital_assets/The_Scottish_Campus_Officer.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cypnow.co.uk/digital_assets/The_Scottish_Campus_Officer.pdf Shelf Number: 129165 Keywords: Campus Police (Scotland, U.K.) Gangs School Crime School Security

Author: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Criminal Investigative Division Title: (U) Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13): An International Perspective Summary: The purpose of this assessment is to provide an overview of the international activities of the MS-13 criminal organization. The report is the result of the analysis of arrest records, law enforcement reports, deportation records, interviews, and observations conducted by members of the MS-13 National Gang Task Force (NGTF) regarding documented MS-13 members in the United States; Chiapas, Mexico; El Salvador; and Honduras. Violent MS-13 members have crossed international boundaries and key members have documented links between the United States and the countries addressed in this assessment. Details: Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2005. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 11, 2013 at: http://info.publicintelligence.net/FBI-MS13.pdf Year: 2005 Country: International URL: http://info.publicintelligence.net/FBI-MS13.pdf Shelf Number: 129366 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)

Author: Whitfield, Teresa Title: Mediating Criminal Violence – Lessons from the gang truce in El Salvador Summary: During the 1980s El Salvador suffered a bitterly contested civil war. Negotiations mediated by the United Nations concluded in a peace agreement in 1992 and set the course for the, largely smooth, assimilation of former guerrillas in the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) into Salvadoran political life. Post-war, violence perpetrated by illegal armed groups escalated as a result of the involvement of gangs and a range of other criminal actors, in parallel to similar crises of security in Guatemala and Honduras. Honduras and El Salvador were subsequently placed first and second in the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime’s global index of homicide with 92 and 69 homicides per 100,000 respectively in 2011. In a shift from previous policies which had emphasized the robust suppression of violent crime, in March 2012 facilitators answerable to the Salvadoran government mediated a controversial truce between the country’s two main gangs. The truce brought about a dramatic reduction in the country’s homicide rate whilst raising multiple questions about the risks and benefits of direct engagement with criminal actors. This paper has been written while the outcomes of the gang truce in El Salvador are still unfolding. It suggests that the truce has been imperfectly managed and remains fragile, but is also a considerable achievement. Lessons that may be derived from it are limited by the specific characteristics and circumstances of the Salvadoran gangs. Yet, they merit consideration for several reasons. The Salvadoran truce, and the arrival in Mexico of a government determined to address the country’s spiralling violence, much of which is exacerbated by competition for the gains of the illicit economy and drug trade, have placed new emphasis on alternative paths to pacification. More broadly, counternarcotics policies that for decades have been framed as a “war on drugs” are being challenged, most recently in a groundbreaking report by the Organization of American States (OAS) that specifically addresses – among other issues – “the violence and suffering associated with the drug problem” in the Americas. Elsewhere, national and international actors are struggling to craft and implement responses to organised violence and crime in situations in which criminal activities have developed as a result of unresolved conflict grievances (in South Africa, Northern Ireland and Kosovo, for example), or where they seek to shape electoral politics (in Kenya, Jamaica and the Solomon Islands), or where they hide behind grievances which are fuelling armed conflict (in Colombia, Mali and Myanmar to name but three examples). They, too, can benefit from the lessons and questions that emerge from the Salvadoran experience. Details: Geneva, SWIT: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, 2013. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Oslo Forum Papers No. 001: Accessed July 11, 2013 at: http://www.hdcentre.org/uploads/tx_news/Mediating-Criminal-Violence.pdf Year: 2013 Country: El Salvador URL: http://www.hdcentre.org/uploads/tx_news/Mediating-Criminal-Violence.pdf Shelf Number: 129373 Keywords: Drug-Related Violence Gangs Violence (El Salvador) Violent Crime

Author: Ayuso, Tomas Title: Central America : The Downward Spiral of the Northern Triangle Summary: Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have entered a perilously new era in their history. Caught between the rise in criminal violence domestically and the presence of the international drug trade, the so-called Northern Triangle of Central America is fighting for its survival. A bleak economic landscape has fostered youth gangs known as maras and domestic smugglers to build a relationship with the great drug syndicates of Mexico and South America with impunity permitted by a corrupt police and government. How have the cartels exerted such dominance over Central America with most of the US bound cocaine now going through these countries? And what can be done to regain control of an isthmus in free fall? Details: NORIA: Network of Researchers in International Affairs (www.noria-research.com), 2012. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report: Accessed July 11, 2013 at: http://www.noria-research.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Tomas-pour-PDF.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Central America URL: http://www.noria-research.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Tomas-pour-PDF.pdf Shelf Number: 129376 Keywords: Drug Cartels Drug Trafficking (Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador Drug-Related Violence Gangs Organized Crime Violent Crime

Author: Title: Policing Urban Violence in Pakistan Summary: Endemic violence in Pakistan's urban centres signifies the challenges confronting the federal and provincial governments in restoring law and order and consolidating the state's writ. The starkest example is Karachi, which experienced its deadliest year on record in 2013, with 2,700 casualties, mostly in targeted attacks, and possibly 40 per cent of businesses fleeing the city to avoid growing extortion rackets. However, all provincial capitals as well as the national capital suffer from similar problems and threats. A national rethink of overly militarised policy against crime and militancy is required. Islamabad and the four provincial governments need to develop a coherent policy framework, rooted in providing good governance and strengthening civilian law enforcement, to tackle criminality and the jihadi threat. Until then, criminal gangs and jihadi networks will continue to wreak havoc in the country's big cities and put its stability and still fragile democratic transition at risk. Some of the worst assaults on religious and sectarian minorities in 2013 occurred in Quetta and Peshawar, including the 10 January suicide and car bomb attack that killed over 100, mostly Shias, in Quetta; the 16 February terror attack that killed more than 80, again mostly Shias, in Quetta's Hazara town; and the 22 September bombing of a Peshawar church that killed more than 80 people, mostly Christians. The provincial capitals of Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi and Lahore are bases of operations and financing for a range of extremist groups and criminal gangs that exploit poor governance and failing public infrastructure to establish recruitment and patronage networks. As urban populations grow, the competition over resources, including land and water, has become increasingly violent. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)'s capital, Peshawar, and Balochistan's capital, Quetta, are hostage to broader regional security trends. The conflict in Afghanistan and cross-border ties between Pakistan and Afghan militants have undermined stability in KPK and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Military-dictated counter-insurgency policies, swinging between indiscriminate force and appeasement deals with tribal militants have failed to restore the peace, and instead further empowered violent extremists. Police in Peshawar, which has borne the brunt of militant violence and where violence is at an all-time high, lack political support and resources and appear increasingly incapable of meeting the challenge. Indeed, while militants and criminals frequently target that city, the force is powerless to act when they then seek haven in bordering FATA agencies, because its jurisdiction, according to the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) 1901, does not extend to these areas. Balochistan's location, bordering on southern Afghanistan, the Afghan Taliban's homeland, and longstanding Pakistani policies of backing Afghan Islamist proxies are partly responsible for the growth of militancy and extremism that now threatens Quetta. Aided by a countrywide network, Sunni extremists have killed hundreds of Shias there, while their criminal allies have helped to fill jihadi coffers, and their own, through kidnappings for ransom. Civilian law enforcement agencies cannot counter this rising tide of sectarian violence and criminality, since they are marginalised by the military and its paramilitary arms. Continuing to dictate and implement security policy, the military remains focused on brutally suppressing a province-wide Baloch insurgency, fuelled by the denial of political and economic autonomy. The end result is more Baloch alienation and more jihadi attacks undermining peace in the provincial capital. In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, which generates around 70 per cent of national GDP, much of the violence is driven by the state's failure to meet the demands of a fast growing population and to enforce the law. Over the past decade, the competition over resources and turf has become increasingly violent. Criminals and militant groups attempt to lure youth by providing scarce services, work and a purpose in life. Demographic changes fuel ethno-political tensions and rivalries, accentuated by the main political parties: the mostly Sindhi Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) representing mohajirs and the predominately Pashtun Awami National Party (ANP) forging links with criminal gangs. Details: Brussels, Belgium: International Crisis Group, 2014. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Asia Report N�255: Accessed January 27, 2014 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-asia/pakistan/255-policing-urban-violence-in-pakistan Year: 2014 Country: Pakistan URL: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-asia/pakistan/255-policing-urban-violence-in-pakistan Shelf Number: 131805 Keywords: Extremist Groups Gangs Hate Crimes Urban Areas Violence Violent Crime

Author: Senior, Kate Title: Developing Successful Diversionary Schemes for Youth from Remote Aboriginal Communities Summary: This report explores the experiences and aspirations of youth in Wadeye, a remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory which has become synonymous with the deviant behaviours of its young people. The research was undertaken over a three year period, and builds upon a previous ten year period of community based research. As such it forms a unique longitudinal study of young people during a period of extreme change in their lives. The research applied a mixed methods approach, utilising ethnography, interviews and the application of a community wide survey. Although young community based people were the primary focus of the study, the research also included the wider community perspectives, service providers and a sample of imprisoned community members. The proliferation of gangs in the Wadeye community has become a primary focus for outsiders' interpretation of social issues in the community. These gangs have been defined by their violent and oppositional cultures. This period of research and the research which preceded it, emphasise the complexity of gang cultures and gang dynamics in this community. The report also emphasises that a primary focus on gangs serves to obscure other factors influencing young people's lives and behaviours. This includes those youth who do not engage in deviant behaviour, who attend school and progress to employment. It also includes youth who engage in non-gang related violent and anti-social behaviour. The report argues that effective service delivery and the development of appropriate diversion activities for young people must recognise the diversity and complexity of the youth experience in the community and recognise and develop their current strengths. Feedback from elders, young people and long-term community workers, advocates that more partnership approaches to further research and program evaluation must become an integral part of the process. Involving young people themselves as part of this research process will provide opportunities to create new roles for them and to establish a positive foundation for the future of the community. Details: Sydney: Criminology Research Advisory Group, 2012. 96p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 27, 2014 at: http://www.criminologyresearchcouncil.gov.au/reports/1314/26-0809-FinalReport.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Australia URL: http://www.criminologyresearchcouncil.gov.au/reports/1314/26-0809-FinalReport.pdf Shelf Number: 131811 Keywords: Aboriginals Antisocial Behavior At-Risk Youth Delinquency Prevention Gangs Indigenous Peoples Juvenile Delinquents Juvenile Offenders Longitudinal Studies

Author: Great Britain. Home Office Title: Ending Gang and Youth Vioelnce: Review 2012-13 Summary: This report supplements findings presented in the Ending Gang and Youth Violence Annual Report 2013. The original Ending Gang and Youth Violence report was published in November 2011 following the riots earlier in the summer. The subsequent programme re-prioritised $10 million of Home Office Funding for 29 areas identified as facing the biggest challenges in relation to youth violence and gangs to help these areas build their capacity to respond effectively to their particular local issues. These areas were also provided wider support and a peer review (which set out local strengths and recommendations for action). This report provides an overview on what happened in the 29 areas during the 2012-13 programme period, and how the programme performed. Details: London: Home Office, 2014. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265463/Ending_gang_youth_violence_12-13__3_.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/265463/Ending_gang_youth_violence_12-13__3_.pdf Shelf Number: 131836 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs

Author: Seelke, Clare Ribando Title: Gangs in Central America Summary: Congress has maintained an interest in the effects of gang violence in Central America, and on the expanding activities of transnational gangs with ties to that region operating in the United States. Since FY2008, Congress has appropriated significant amounts of funding for anti-gang efforts in Central America, as well as domestic anti-gang programs. This report focuses primarily on U.S.-funded international anti-gang efforts. The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and its main rival, the "18th Street" gang (also known as M-18), continue to threaten citizen security and challenge government authority in Central America. Gang-related violence has been particularly acute in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, which have had among the highest homicide rates in the world. Recently, some governments have moved away from repressive anti-gang strategies, with the government of El Salvador having facilitated a historic-and risky-truce involving the country's largest gangs in 2012. The truce contributed to a large reduction in homicides, before beginning to unravel in recent months. The truce carries risks for the Salvadoran government that will take office on June 1, 2014, such as what might happen if the gangs were to walk away from the truce stronger than before and/or if the truce were to end abruptly and prompt an escalation in intra-gang violence. U.S. agencies have engaged on both the law enforcement and preventive sides of dealing with Central American gangs; an inter-agency committee developed a U.S. Strategy to Combat Criminal Gangs from Central America and Mexico that was announced in July 2007. The strategy focuses on diplomacy, repatriation, law enforcement, capacity enhancement, and prevention. An April 2010 study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended that U.S. agencies consider strengthening the anti-gang strategy by developing better oversight and measurement tools to guide its implementation. U.S. law enforcement efforts may be bolstered by the Treasury Department's October 2012 designation of the MS-13 as a major Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) subject to sanctions pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13581. In recent years, Congress has dedicated funding to support anti-gang efforts in Central America. Between FY2008 and FY2013, Congress appropriated roughly $38 million in International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) funds for anti-gang efforts in Central America. Congress provided additional support in FY2008 and FY2009 for anti-gang efforts in the region through the Merida Initiative, a counterdrug and anticrime program for Mexico and Central America, and, more recently, through the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). Congressional oversight may focus on the efficacy of anti-gang efforts in Central America; the interaction between U.S. domestic and international anti-gang policies, and the impact of the Treasury Department's TCO designation on law enforcement efforts against MS-13. This report describes the gang problem in Central America, discusses country approaches to deal with the gangs, and analyzes U.S. policy with respect to gangs in Central America. Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2014. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: RL34112: Accessed March 18, 2014 at: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34112.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Central America URL: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34112.pdf Shelf Number: 131956 Keywords: 18th Street Gang Gang-Related Violence Gangs M-18 Mara Salvatrucha MS-13 Violence

Author: Dunbar, Laura Title: Gang Cohesion and Intervention Strategies: A Review of the Literature Summary: The proliferation of gang membership and activity has become an increasing concern in Canadian society. As the gang problem becomes more severe, CSC's need to better understand this population and find effective strategies to deal with gang-affiliated offenders has become more important. What we did A review of current literature was conducted to outline the status of gangs in Canada, examine gang cohesion, and provide an overview of gang management and intervention strategies, both in the community and in the institutional settings. What we found Despite a lack of consensus on the definition of a 'gang', some key elements of gang activity and structure have been identified and several typologies of gangs have been proposed. Based on continuous changes and their complex nature, gangs must be defined in the local Canadian context. In the community setting, street gangs are growing in number and type and are becoming more violent and sophisticated; Canada is becoming the center of operations for some trans-national organized crime groups; and there has been an increase in female gangs. Further, the line between different types of criminal groups is becoming less distinct. In the institutional setting, differences have been identified between gang affiliate types suggesting unique offender profiles rooted in gang groupings. Street gangs and prison gangs present a major challenge for correctional officials because of the high level of violence and criminogenic need commonly associated with these groups. Individuals may join gangs, maintain membership and leave gangs for a myriad of reasons; what is key is the understanding that gangs often serve to meet unfulfilled needs of their members. Variations in gang cohesion are related to the conditions under which the gang is founded or developed, the characteristics of the members, their collective choices, and the level of loyalty expected. Community-based interventions include suppression, detached-worker and school-based programs displaying limited success, and recent multi-faceted approaches showing promise. Management and suppression strategies are important for ensuring institutional safety and security, however their effectiveness is limited. Emphasis should be placed on research and development of correctional programming and treatment that respond to the unmet needs of gang-affiliated inmates. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, 2012. 62p. To obtain a PDF version of the full report, contact the following address: research@csc-scc.gc.ca. Source: Internet Resource: 2012 No. R-292: Accessed March 31, 2014 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/005/008/092/005008-0292-eng.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Canada URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/005/008/092/005008-0292-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 132032 Keywords: Gangs Interventions Youth Gangs

Author: Centre for Social Justice Title: Girls and Gangs Summary: This report shines a light on the harrowing reality of gang life for girls and young women. In conducting this research, the CSJ and XLP have engaged with a wide range of individuals and organisations involved in gangs from across the UK, drawing on the expertise of the CSJ's 350-strong Alliance of poverty-fighting charities. We spoke to many girls and young women who are or have been gang-associated and more than 30 organisations working to tackle gang problems. The stories we have heard shocked us, and reveal a parallel world that too few policy makers understand. We have heard about the toll gang life is taking on their education, and their families, friends and communities; the horror of sexual exploitation; and of an increase in criminal activity. Yet we also found several things that can be done to help girls exit gang association such as mapping the problem, and taking advantage of specific 'windows of opportunity' to access girls. We hope that this research gives policy makers and community leaders an insight into a world that has been long-neglected, and empowers them to help support girls to exit gang association. Details: London: Centre for Social Justice, 2014. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 7, 2014 at: http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/UserStorage/pdf/Pdf%20reports/Girls-and-Gangs-FINAL-VERSION.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/UserStorage/pdf/Pdf%20reports/Girls-and-Gangs-FINAL-VERSION.pdf Shelf Number: 132044 Keywords: Female Gang Members Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Van Luijk, Kim Title: Who is Who in Mano Dura? Rethinking the Actor/Audience Nexus in the Securitization of Organized Crime in Contemporary Guatemala Summary: The manifestation of mano dura in contemporary Guatemala demonstrates that the actor-audience nexus, as envisioned by the Copenhagen School of security studies, is too simplistic. In this thesis, traditional concepts of audience and securitizing actors are re-conceptualized to demonstrate that the relationship between actor and audience is not one-way but an a dynamic interplay in which dominant securitizing actors are subjected to the influence of other securitizing actors- and vice versa. Details: Utrecht: Utrecht University, 2012. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed April 9, 2014 at: http://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/254169/Kim%20van%20Luijk_3372987_MA%20Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2012 Country: Guatemala URL: http://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/254169/Kim%20van%20Luijk_3372987_MA%20Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 132056 Keywords: Gangs Organized Crime Violence

Author: Shirk, David A. Title: Building Resilient Communities in Mexico: Civic Responses to Crime and Violence Summary: This study is part of a multiyear effort by the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego to analyze the obstacles to and opportunities for improving citizen security in Mexico. Each of the authors featured in this edited volume makes a significant contribution to this endeavor through original research - including exhaustive data analysis, in-depth qualitative interviews, and direct field observations - intended to inform policy discussions on how to foster robust civic responses to the problems of crime and violence. This research was developed with an intended audience of policymakers, journalists, leaders of nongovernmental organizations, and other current and future leaders working to address these problems in Mexico. However, there are also important lessons from Mexico's experience that may have resonance in elsewhere in Latin America and other societies grappling with similar challenges. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2014. 294p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 24, 2014 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Resilient_Communities_Mexico.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Resilient_Communities_Mexico.pdf Shelf Number: 132178 Keywords: Crime Prevention Gangs Partnerships Police-Citizen Interactions Public Security Violence (Mexico) Violent Crime

Author: Yiu, Ho Lam Title: Community Change, School Disorder, School Social Bonds, and Youth Gang Involvement Summary: Kirk and Laub (2010) observed that community effects on crime should be studied as dynamic processes as communities change. The present research examined schools' role in regulating youth behavior and how community change affects school climate (School Disorder and School Social Bonds; SSB) using social disorganization and social bonds theories. G. Gottfredson, Gottfredson, Czeh, Cantor, Crosse, and Hantman (2000) collected data from a large, national probability sample of schools to examine youth gang problems and school-based intervention and prevention programs. I examined a subsample (N = 269) of these schools. Variables were collected from school rosters and self-report questionnaires. School variables were modeled as latent variables derived from the variance in student responses that is attributed to the school to which the student belonged. Community variables were constructed from the 1990 and 2000 Census data. Multilevel latent variable structural modeling allowed for the examination of individual and community effects on self-reported gang participation. I argued that school characteristics were related to its communities' characteristics, and that school variables contributed to student-reported gang involvement. School characteristics were also hypothesized to mediate the relation between community change and a student's likelihood of gang involvement. Some hypotheses were supported by this research. Findings lend support for the extension of social bonds theory to the school-level. Significant student predictors of the probability of gang involvement included Personal Victimization, Social Bonds, Fear, minority status, and age. At the group-level, SSB and School Disorder explained significant variance in gang involvement in the hypothesized directions, net of all other variables already in the model. A partial mediation of the relationship between School Disorder and the likelihood of gang involvement by the student variables was found. The community change variables were somewhat independent of the school characteristics measured. School-based gang prevention efforts may benefit from a climate characterized by prosocial bonds and low social disorganization, especially for schools in communities that have high levels of concentrated disadvantage and communities projected to experience demographic change. Practical applications of these findings in schools include smaller student-to-teacher ratios and implementing rules that are fair and clear. Details: College Park, MD: University of Maryland, 2013. 105p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 7, 2014 at: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/14432/1/Yiu_umd_0117E_14076.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/14432/1/Yiu_umd_0117E_14076.pdf Shelf Number: 132263 Keywords: Gangs School Crime Social Disorganization Youth Gangs

Author: Eventon, Ross Title: Eyes Wide Shut: Corruption and Drug-Related Violence in Rosario Summary: Drug trafficking is not a new phenomenon in the Argentinian city of Rosario. Since the 1990s, and largely under the public radar, the distribution of illicit drugs in the poor, peripheral neighbourhoods of the city has been managed by family-run gangs and small-time dealers; poverty and social marginalisation have facilitated the trade; young gang members, known as soldados, have fought over territory; local demand for illegal drugs has provided the engine; illicit profits have been laundered in collaboration with local lawyers and financial advisors; and corruption among the police and local officials has ensured that the main traffickers, while their identities are widely known, can operate with few concerns other than threats from rivals. This last element appears to explain why, until the issue was forced into the public domain, there had been a conspicuous lack of political concern with drug trafficking in the city. The change came on New Year's Day 2012. That day, three community activists were shot and killed in the Villa Moreno neighbourhood by gang members who mistook them for rivals. The killings were not unique, but the victims were: unlike the usual casualties, the activists had a movement behind them. Their deaths led to local demonstrations and calls for action. The press and local officials were suddenly impelled to pay attention to drug trafficking and related violence. Since then, a spate of official investigations has deepened public understanding of the nature of the drug trade in the city. They have also provided further evidence of the complicity of the security forces and the negligence of the state that have long been known to facilitate trafficking. Recommendations - Maintain the focus on the leadership of the most powerful and violent gangs, including following the money trail, and reverse the trend where simply increasing the number of security forces in violent areas is considered a sufficient policy response. - Re-focus the judiciary away from a two-tiered approach: recognize underage gang members as a vulnerable population, and that confronting the culture of violence will require special initiatives. - Root out corruption in the local and provincial security forces, recognise the way the state's approach facilitates this complicity, and produce more reliable statistics to better inform policymakers. Details: Amsterdam: Transnational Institute, 2013. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Briefing Series on Drug Markets and Violence, Nr 1: Accessed May 10, 2014 at: http://www.tni.org/sites/www.tni.org/files/download/dmv1.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Argentina URL: http://www.tni.org/sites/www.tni.org/files/download/dmv1.pdf Shelf Number: 132314 Keywords: Corruption Drug Trafficking Drug-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Illegal Drugs Poverty Violent Crime

Author: International Crisis Group Title: Corridor of Violence: the Guatemala-Honduras Border Summary: Competition between criminal groups over drug routes has made the frontier between Guatemala and Honduras one of the most violent areas in Central America, with murder rates among the highest in the world. In the absence of effective law enforcement, traffickers have become de facto authorities in some sectors. Crisis Group's latest report, Corridor of Violence: The Guatemala-Honduras Border, examines the regional dynamics that have allowed criminal gangs to thrive and outlines the main steps necessary to prevent further violence as well as to advance peaceful economic and social development. The report's major findings and recommendations are: - The border corridor includes hotly contested routes for transporting drugs to the U.S. Traffickers, with their wealth and firepower, dominate some portions. On both sides of the border, violence, lawlessness and corruption are rampant, poverty rates and unemployment are high, and citizens lack access to state services. - The arrest of local drug lords has been a mixed blessing to local populations, as the fracturing of existing groups has allowed a new generation of sometimes more violent criminals to emerge. - To prevent further violence, an urgent shift in national policies is needed. The governments should send not just troops and police to border regions, but also educators, community organisers and social and health workers. If criminal structures are to be disrupted and trust in the state restored, these regions need credible, legitimate actors - public and private - capable of providing security, accountability, jobs and hope for the future. - Guatemala and Honduras should learn from other countries facing similar security threats. The Borders for Prosperity Plan in Colombia and the Binational Border Plan in Ecuador and Peru can serve as examples for economic and social development in insecure areas. The U.S., Latin American countries and multilateral organisations should provide funds, training and technical support to embattled border communities to help them prevent violence and strengthen local institutions via education and job opportunities. Details: Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2014. 37p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Report No. 52: Accessed June 16, 2014 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/Guatemala/052-corridor-of-violence-the-guatemala-honduras-border.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Latin America URL: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/latin-america/Guatemala/052-corridor-of-violence-the-guatemala-honduras-border.pdf Shelf Number: 132467 Keywords: Border Security Criminal Networks Drug Control Drug Trafficking Drug-Related Violence Gangs Organized Crime Violent Crime

Author: Tanasichuk, Carrie Title: Process and Outcome Evaluation of the Saskatoon Gang Strategy: Evaluation Report Summary: This report contains the results of a process and outcome evaluation of the Gang Strategy of Saskatoon. The purpose of the current project was to describe the implementation and activities of the Strategy in the City of Saskatoon and to assess the effectiveness of the Strategy with respect to the goals and objectives set out by the Strategy. The evaluation was designed to identify strengths and weaknesses of the Strategy as implemented, to identify challenges to implementation, to suggest improvements, and to provide information to guide the Strategy in its further development. Strategy Overview The Saskatoon Gang Strategy uses an interagency approach designed to reduce gang-related crime within the City of Saskatoon. The Strategy is not a program per se but focuses on building upon existing community and government resources including employment programs, education, recreation, substance abuse programs, corrections-based interventions and law enforcement. The Saskatoon Gang Strategy uses an interagency approach designed to reduce gang-related crime within the City of Saskatoon. The Strategy is comprised of three pillars: - Prevention of gang formation and gang involvement, - Intervention with individuals associated with gangs, and - Suppression of gangs. Details: Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan, Department of Psychology, 2010. 199p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 26, 2014 at: Process and Outcome Evaluation of the Saskatoon Gang Strategy: Evaluation Report Year: 2010 Country: Canada URL: Process and Outcome Evaluation of the Shelf Number: 132544 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Kent, Tyler Title: Process Evaluation of a Non-Profit Youth Services Agency: Original Gangster's Basic Academy for Development. Summary: Based in Nampa, Idaho, the Original Gangster's Basic Academy of Development (OG's BAD) is a youth based services program founded in 2005. The mission of the Academy is to provide youth who are prone to gang involvement with alternatives to a gang lifestyle. The program provides at-risk youth with: 1) tutoring tailored to meet the specific needs of each participant to obtain high school credits or a GED; 2) internships at worksites for on-the-job training; and 3) recreational activities to demonstrate appropriate use of free time. The project also includes a drug strategy component, which focuses on deterring first time users and provides drug and/or alcohol treatment for participants. This process evaluation, performed by the Idaho Statistical Analysis Center, was initiated to provide the Idaho Grant Review Council and the Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) manager with an assessment of the development of OG's BAD program, problems encountered, solutions created, and overall accomplishments achieved. Details: Meridian, ID: Idaho Statistical Analysis Center, 2014. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 25, 2014 at: https://www.isp.idaho.gov/pgr/inc/documents/OGBAD.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://www.isp.idaho.gov/pgr/inc/documents/OGBAD.pdf Shelf Number: 132750 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Delinquency Prevention Gangs Rehabilitation Youth Gangs

Author: InSight Crime Title: Game Changers: Tracking the Evolution of Organized Crime in the Americas: 2013 Summary: Welcome to InSight Crime's 2013 Game Changers, where we have sought to highlight some of the year's most important and illustrative trends in the development of organized crime in the Americas. This year has been a year of contradictions. Large criminal groups that seemed untouchable appear to be on the ropes. Others waded through complicated peace and truce processes with incredible patience. Some of the more notable of these processes were initiated by the criminal groups themselves. At the same time, some dynamics in the underworld remained true to form and some new, ugly criminal economies have surged because of these dynamics. Amidst it all, weak states continued to face challenges from below and above, sometimes from those who simply feel they have no choice but to fight criminal groups on their own. These past 12 months could be termed the year of the negotiations. In Colombia, rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) continued their historic talks with the Colombian government of Juan Manuel Santos. By many accounts, these talks are moving along well, but there is concern that even if the FARC leadership signs a deal, parts of the organization will desert and enter the criminal economy. In El Salvador, the truce between the country's two largest gangs showed severe signs of fraying, if not rupturing completely. Homicides surged at the end of the year, as the presidential campaign shifted into full gear. While the mediators claimed the candidates had sought gang support for their campaigns, the country's security minister sought to undermine the truce via public and private channels. Meanwhile, a few more lasting criminal "pacts" emerged, brokered, it appeared, by the criminals themselves. In Medellin, Colombia, remnants of the old guard, known as the Oficina de Envigado, brokered a cease fire with the now surging Urabenos criminal organization, bringing homicides to their lowest levels in 30 years. In Juarez and Tijuana, Mexico, the Sinaloa Cartel's apparent dominance over those trafficking corridors led to equally dramatic drops in homicide rates and other criminal acts, such as car-jackings. The emergence of the Urabenos as the singular, monolithic criminal organization to survive the government's assault on the so-called Criminal Bands or "Bandas Criminales" (BACRIM) may be the biggest development in Latin America's underworld. The Urabenos have developed a sophisticated criminal model, which includes a huge variety of revenue streams. They appear to have overcome the loss of numerous top leaders and have an understanding of when to fight and when to make friends, as noted above. However, the Urabenos, and other groups like them, have also ushered in a new era of drug consumption in the region. The consumers are no longer just in Europe, the United States and Asia. They are in small cities and even rural areas throughout the region. They are poor; they are middle class; and they are the elite. And they are getting their drugs from the local criminal groups who are servicing the larger ones, like the Urabenos, throughout the distribution chain. From Brazil and Argentina, to Costa Rica and Mexico, this new, local criminal economy appears to be at the heart of much of the region's violence. It is this violence that pushed civilians to take up arms in places like Guerrero and Michoacan, two embattled Mexican states where so-called "self-defense" groups have surged to try to replace an inept, corrupted and co-opted state. These groups appear to have a wide range of backgrounds: from the poor peasant farmers to the sophisticated rival criminal groups. Yet, the government seems powerless to deal with them, to the point where many authorities have willingly allowed them to break the law in order to ensure others do not. A similar tension between maintaining the law and ensuring justice is also on the minds of the Bolivians as they try to keep some portions of their coca crop in the legal sphere and eliminate those deemed illegal. The challenge is monumental and, as we have seen this year, virtually impossible. Meanwhile, Bolivia's neighbor Peru, is coming to grips with the fact that it is the largest coca producing country in the world. That reality, which is a return to the 1990s status quo, has meant an influx of foreign criminal groups. Finally, for the second straight year, we need to note what is happening in Honduras. The country continues to open its doors to foreign criminal organizations, even while its homegrown groups continue to gain power. This includes one known as the Cachiros, which the US Treasury Department said had accumulated up to $800 million in assets, or roughly five percent of the country's GDP. A newly elected government, which takes power in January, seems to have little idea of how to combat these organizations, much less the resources. Details: s.l.: InSight Crime, 2013. 141p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 4, 2014 at: http://www.insightcrime.org/gamechangers/InsightCrimeGameChangers2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: South America URL: http://www.insightcrime.org/gamechangers/InsightCrimeGameChangers2013.pdf Shelf Number: 132877 Keywords: Corruption Criminal Networks Drug Trafficking Gangs Organized Crime Street Gangs Violence

Author: Noriega, Roger F. Title: Honduras Under Siege Summary: As stepped-up counternarcotics policies in Colombia and Mexico have increased pressure on regional drug trafficking networks, organized crime syndicates have relocated operations to Central America, where law enforcement agencies and institutions are ill-equipped to withstand the onslaught. These multibillion-dollar gangs are making common cause with some local politicians who are following a playbook honed by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. The result in Venezuela was the birth of a narco-state, and similar dramas are playing out in Central America. Like Chavez, caudillos are using the democratic process to seek power, weaken institutions, and undermine the rule of law - generating turmoil that accommodates narco-trafficking. Making matters worse for Honduras is that left-wing activists abroad, in support of ousted president and Chavez acolyte Manuel Zelaya, are waging a very public campaign of outlandish claims seeking to block any US assistance to help the Honduran government resist the drug cartels. It is imperative that US policymakers vigorously support democracy, the rule of law, and antidrug programs in Honduras. Details: Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 2013. 9p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin American Outlook No. 3: Accessed August 4, 2014 at: http://www.aei.org/files/2013/09/30/-honduras-under-siege_090033609069.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Honduras URL: http://www.aei.org/files/2013/09/30/-honduras-under-siege_090033609069.pdf Shelf Number: 132883 Keywords: Drug Cartels Drug Trafficking Gangs Organized Crime (Honduras) Violent Crime

Author: Bumpus, John Title: Best Practices in Reducing Violent Homicide Rates: Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico Summary: The 2011 World Development Report aptly points out that the nature of violent conflict has changed, warning that the 20th century tools developed to prevent, mitigate, and manage traditional forms of violence may no longer be up to the task. The report's evidence shows that while interstate and civil wars are on the decline, 1.5 billion people worldwide continue to live in areas severely affected-and even debilitated- by persistent gang violence and organized crime. In Central America alone, homicides related to organized crime have increased every year since 1999. This worrying trend is evident even in states that have simultaneously made progress addressing traditional forms of political violence. This disconnect raises the question: what new policy tools are needed to prevent, mitigate, and manage contemporary forms of violence? One way that victims and states are grappling with this dilemma is by leveraging the power of local actors to forge local solutions. Some subnational authorities have taken on the responsibility of reducing gang violence in their own communities. Experiments led by innovative coalitions of mayors, private sector leaders and associations, churches, and other community groups seem to have had some positive effects in Latin American countries. Also of note, some of the best police practices and judicial approaches have occurred at the municipal level. This study identifies and assesses some of these local and innovative efforts in El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico. Despite differences in the composition of violent actors and the nature of violence across these three countries, researchers set out to identify how local communities and nontraditional actors are addressing gang violence in their particular contexts. Findings indicate that non-traditional approaches must carefully consider the specific realities of their contexts, thus having implications for external donors and influential state actors like the United States. Summaries of country assessments, findings, and recommendations follow. Full treatment of these topics is available in each country report. Details: Princeton, NJ: Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, 2014(?). 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 6, 2014 at: https://wws.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/content/591g%20Homicide%20Reduction%20in%20Honduras_1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Central America URL: https://wws.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/content/591g%20Homicide%20Reduction%20in%20Honduras_1.pdf Shelf Number: 132911 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Organized Crime Violence Violent Crime

Author: International Alert Title: Getting Rid of Illegal Guns: Engineering a Peaceful Transition in the Bangsamoro Summary: The recently signed peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) commits both parties to undertaking a 'normalisation' process. This entails decommissioning MILF combatants and their weapons, redeploying some government military units and disbanding private armed groups. The proliferation of illegal firearms poses a real challenge to normalisation in the Bangsamoro territory. The success of the normalisation process and the peace process depends on the ability of both parties to effectively address the problem of illegal firearms. This policy brief proposes a three-pronged strategy that combines the work of decommissioning weapons in the hands of ex-combatants and other rebel groups; disrupting the activities of private armies and other criminal groups as well as capturing their weapons; and reforming the institutional framework that guides the control and management of firearms in Philippine society. Details: London: International Alert, 2014. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Policy Brief: Accessed August 12 at: http://www.international-alert.org/sites/default/files/Philippines_PolicyBriefIllegalGuns_EN_2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Philippines URL: http://www.international-alert.org/sites/default/files/Philippines_PolicyBriefIllegalGuns_EN_2014.pdf Shelf Number: 133010 Keywords: Gangs Gun-Related Violence Illegal Guns (Philippines)

Author: Gies, Stephen V. Title: Monitoring High-Risk Gang Offenders with GPS Technology: An Evaluation of the California Supervision Program: Final Report Summary: Despite the overall decline in violent crime nationally, gang violence rates throughout the country have continued at exceptional levels over the past decade. Therefore, it is vital for parole departments to have effective tools for maintaining public safety. The purpose of this evaluation is to determine the effectiveness of global positioning system (GPS) monitoring of high-risk gang offenders (HRGOs) who are released onto parole. This study integrates outcome, cost, and process evaluation components. The outcome component assesses the impact of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's Division of Adult Parole Operations (DAPO) GPS supervision program by employing a nonequivalent-group quasi-experimental design, with a multilevel discrete-time survival model. A propensity score matching procedure is used to account for differences between the treatment and comparison groups. The study population is drawn from all HRGOs released from prison between March 2006 and October 2009 in six specialized gang parole units in the State of California. The final sample includes 784 subjects equally divided between the treatment and control groups. The treatment group consists of HRGOs who were placed on GPS monitoring, and the control group consists of matched gang offenders with a similar background. The resulting sample shows no significant differences between the groups in any of the propensity score matching variables. The effectiveness of the program is assessed using an intent-to-treat (known as ITT) approach, with two main outcomes of interest: compliance and recidivism. Compliance is measured through parole violations; recidivism is assessed using rearrests and rearrests for violent offenses. Each outcome is assessed with a survival analysis of discrete-time recidivism data, using a random intercept complementary log-log model. In addition, frailty modeling is used to account for the clustering of parolees within parole districts. The findings indicate that during the two-year study period, subjects in the GPS group, while less likely than their control counterparts to be arrested in general or for a violent offense, were much more likely to violate their parole with technical and nontechnical violations. Descriptive statistics and summary analysis revealed more GPS parolees were returned to custody during the study period. These results will be studied further in a forthcoming follow-up report. The cost analysis indicates the GPS program costs approximately $21.20 per day per parolee, while the cost of traditional supervision is $7.20 per day per parolee - a difference of $14. However, while the results favor the GPS group in terms of recidivism, GPS monitoring also significantly increased parole violations. In other words, the GPS monitoring program is more expensive, but may be more effective in detecting parole violations. Finally, the process evaluation reveals the GPS program was implemented with a high degree of fidelity across the four dimensions examined: adherence, exposure, quality of program delivery, and program differentiation. Details: Bethesda, MD: Development Services Group, 2013. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 23, 2014 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/244164.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/244164.pdf Shelf Number: 133120 Keywords: Cost-Benefit Analysis Electronic Monitoring Gangs Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Offender Supervision Parole Supervision Parolees

Author: Carvajal, Roger A. Title: Violence in Honduras: An Analysis of the Failure in Public Security and the State's Response to Criminality Summary: The incidence of violence in Honduras currently is the highest in Honduran history. In 2014, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported the Honduras homicide rate, at 90.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, as the highest in the world for nations outside of war. It is the foundation of this thesis that the Honduran security collapse is due to unresolved internal factors - political, economic, and societal - as well as the influence of foreign factors and actors - the evolution of the global illicit trade. Two of the most important areas affecting public security in Honduras are the challenges posed by transnational organized crime and the relative weakness and fragility of the Honduran state to provide basic needs and security to the population. The emergence of criminal gangs and drug traffickers, and the government's security policies, are all factors that have worsened public security. The crime environment has overwhelmed the police, military, judicial system and overcrowded the prison system with mostly juvenile petty delinquents. Moreover, with a high impunity rate of nearly 95 percent for homicides, killing in Honduras has become an activity without consequences. The latest state's response is with re-militarization of security, highlighting the dilemma of the challenges of combatting internal violence and transnational organized crime in a weak state. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2014. 111p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed October 10, 2014 at: https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/42596/14Jun_Carvajal_Roger.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2014 Country: Honduras URL: https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/42596/14Jun_Carvajal_Roger.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 133901 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Drug-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Organized Crime Violence (Honduras) Violent Crime

Author: Long, Iain W. Title: Recruitment to Organised Crime Summary: Organised crime is unique within the underground economy. Unlike individual criminals, criminal organisations can substitute between a variety of inputs; chiefly labour and effort. This paper considers the effect of several popular anti-crime policies in such an environment. Using a profit maximisation framework, I find that certain policies may cause the organisation to reduce its membership in favour of more intensive activity. Others may lead to increases in membership. Consequently, policies designed to reduce the social loss suffered as a result of criminal activities may actually increase it. Results prove robust to differences in hiring practices on the part of the criminal organisation. Details: Cardiff: Cardiff Business School, 2013. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper No. E2013/10: Accessed October 16, 2014 at: http://business.cardiff.ac.uk/sites/default/files/E2013_10.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://business.cardiff.ac.uk/sites/default/files/E2013_10.pdf Shelf Number: 133960 Keywords: Criminal Careers Gangs Organized Crime (U.K.)

Author: Salamanca, Luis Jorge Garay Title: Understanding the Structure of Transnational Criminal Networks Operating in the U.S./Mexico Border and the Southeastern Border of the European Union Summary: Systemic crime and systemic corruption, much like any other activity, require the interaction of different agents. Some of those interactions are sporadic and some are permanent. In general, there are "many situations that social actors create and must negotiate in their behavior" (Radil, Flint, & Tita, 2010, p. 308), and it is possible to model and analyze those situations when arranged as a social network. Additionally several States and multilateral agencies acknowledge Transnational Criminal Networks (TCNs) as one of the most important threats for the domestic and transnational stability. Bearing this in mind, the purpose of this document is to model and analyze situations of crime consisting on Transnational Criminal Network (TCNs) operating in the southern border of The United States and the Southeastern border of the European Union, both regions concentrating some of the most dangerous and powerful TCNs on a global scale. The present document consists of eight sections. The first is the methodological and theoretical framework. The second is an introduction to the current situation of crime in Mexico. The third is the model and analysis of a TCN operating across Mexico and the United States, in which members of "Los Zetas" and "La Familia Michoacana" participate on activities of drug and hydrocarbons trafficking. The fourth section is an analysis of how the modeled Mexican TCN operates inside the United States. Implications for the stability and national security of the United States are also explored in the fourth section. The fifth section is an introduction to the situation of crime and corruption in Bulgaria, herein interpreted as the southeastern border of the European Union. In the sixth section four TCNs are modeled and analyzed: two consisting on crime transiting through Bulgaria, related to Drug Trafficking, and two consisting on exporting human trafficking from Bulgaria to Western Europe and a Skimming network. The final section is a summary of recommendations for improving the confrontation of TCNs. Details: Bogota, Colombia: Vortex Foundation; Sophia, Bulgaria: Risk Monitor, 2013. 235p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 27, 2014 at: http://www.informeescaleno.com.ar/images/Understanding_the_Structure_Bulg_grant.pdf Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://www.informeescaleno.com.ar/images/Understanding_the_Structure_Bulg_grant.pdf Shelf Number: 133820 Keywords: Border Security Criminal Networks Drug Trafficking Gang Violence Gangs Human Trafficking Organized Crime Political Corruption

Author: McClure, David Title: Developing an Evidence-Base for the Understanding and Prevention of Dog Fighting Crimes Summary: The Association of Prosecuting Attorneys (APA) is excited to share with you our next Prosecutor's Report: Developing an Evidence-Base for the Understanding and Prevention of Dog Fighting Crimes. APA has developed this series of publications to provide knowledge, insight and examples of innovative practices which are creating safer communities. Our goal is to provide prosecutors with the requisite skills to strengthen links between the criminal justice system and the community while promoting partnership building and encouraging problem-solving strategies. APA has published this most recent Prosecutor's Report in partnership with the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University in order to provide an extensive overview of dog fighting so that criminal justice practitioners may use this monograph to develop individual strategies to reduce this violent crime. This monograph includes the pertinent research, and considers the most promising avenues for successfully preventing, responding to and prosecuting dog fighting. Dog fighting may be used to facilitate other serious crimes and perpetrators of cruelty to animals are significantly more likely to commit violent crimes against humans. In many cases the perpetrators of this vicious crime are using animal brutality to send a signal to the community of the violence they are capable of perpetrating if their criminal actions are reported to the authorities. Many participants in dog fighting are members of criminal street gangs and criminal activity involving guns, drugs and gambling often occurs in and around fights. Understanding and preventing dog fighting can provide a valuable tool for prosecutors, investigators and our community partners. Details: Washington, DC: Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, 2011. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 10, 2014 at: http://www.apainc.org/files/DDF/Dog%20Fighting%20Monograph%20APA%20Format%20FINAL.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.apainc.org/files/DDF/Dog%20Fighting%20Monograph%20APA%20Format%20FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 134010 Keywords: Animal Cruelty Dog Fighting Dogs Gangs Prosecutors

Author: Felbab-Brown, Vanda Title: Changing the Game or Dropping the Ball? Mexico's Security and Anti-Crime Strategy under President Enrique Pena Nieto Summary: ANALYSIS - Even as the administration of Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto has scored important reform successes in the economic sphere, its security and law enforcement policy toward organized crime remains incomplete and ill-defined. Preoccupied with the fighting among vicious drug trafficking groups and the rise of anti-crime vigilante militias in the center of Mexico, the administration has for the most part averted its eyes from the previously highly-violent criminal hotspots in the north where major law enforcement challenges remain. - The Pena Nieto administration thus mostly continues to put out immediate security fires - such as in Michoacan and Tamaulipas - but the overall deterrence capacity of Mexico's military and law enforcement forces and justice sector continue to be very limited and largely unable to deter violence escalation and reescalation. - Identifying the need to reduce violence in Mexico as the most important priority for its security policy was the right decision of the Pena Nieto administration. But despite the capture of Mexico's most notorious drug trafficker, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, much of the security policy reform momentum that surrounded the Pena Nieto administration at the outset of its six-year term has prematurely dissipated. Key pillars of the policy are plodding along meekly, including the national gendarmerie, the new intelligence supercenter, and the mando unico. The October 2013 deadline to vet all police units for corruption and links to organized crime was missed once again and extended until October 2014. As with many institutional reforms in Mexico, there is large regional variation in the quality and even design of the reforms being implemented. At least, however, the Mexican Congress, overall a weak player in setting and overseeing anti-crime policy in Mexico, approved a new criminal code in the spring of 2014. The so-called National Code of Penal Procedure (Codigo Nacional de Procedimientos Penales) will be critical in establishing uniform application of criminal law across Mexico's thirty-one states and the Federal District, and standardizing procedures regarding investigations, trials, and punishment. - Instead of pushing ahead with institutional reforms, the Pena Nieto administration has highlighted poor coordination among national security agencies and local and national government units as a crucial cause of the rise of violent crime in Mexico. It has thus defined improving coordination as a key aspect of its anti-crime approach. - Despite its rhetoric and early ambitions, the Pena Nieto administration fell straight back not only into relying on the Mexican military in combination with the Federal Police to cope with criminal violence, but also doing so belatedly and with an essentially analogous lack of planning and prepositioning, and with essentially the same operational design as the previous Felipe Calderon administration. - Although homicides, including those perpetrated by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), have decreased in Mexico, the drop did not reach the 50% reduction in the first six months in office that the Pena Nieto administration had promised. Moreover, in various parts of Mexico, the violence reduction cannot be necessarily attributed to government policies, but rather is the outcome of new balances of power being established among criminal groups in previously highly contested hotspots. Many of these balances of power among the DTOs had emerged already in the last years of the Felipe Calderon administration. In these areas of newly established criminal control and deterrence, even kidnapping and extortion might be leveling off and becoming more predictable, even as they are overall on the rise in Mexico. - In its security and law enforcement efforts, the Pena Nieto administration has largely slipped into many of the same policies of President Felipe Calderon. In particular, the current administration has adopted the same non-strategic high-value targeting that defined the previous administration. Perhaps with the exception of targeting the Zetas and Los Caballeros Templarios, this interdiction posture mostly continues to be undertaken on a non-strategic basis as opportunistic intelligence becomes available and without forethought, planning, and prepositioning to avoid new dangerous cycles of violence and renewed contestation among local drug trafficking groups. This development is partially the outcome of institutional inertia in the absence of an alternative strategy, and of operational simplicity, compared to, for example, a more effective but also more demanding policy of middle-level targeting. - Importantly, the Pena Nieto administration has sought to pay greater attention to and respect for human rights issues, such as by allowing civilian claims of human rights violations by Mexico's military forces to be tried in civilian courts and establishing a victims' compensation fund. But the efforts to increase rule of law, justice, and the protection of human rights and to reduce impunity and corruption remain very much a work in progress, with the government's resolve, policies, and outcomes varying widely among Mexico's states. - The Pena Nieto administration's focus on socio-economic anti-crime policies and other crime prevention measures is highly laudable. But its signature anti-crime socio-economic approach - the so-called poligonos program - has not been well-operationalized and is not integrated with law enforcement efforts. The discreet efforts remain scattered. The theory, implementation, and monitoring parameters of the national crime prevention strategy are not yet adequately worked out. These deficiencies undermine the program's effectiveness and risk dissipating the dedicated yet relatively small resources allocated to the effort as well as the effort's energy. Monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of socio-economic anti-crime efforts, including the poligonos approach, is particularly weak and nebulous. Details: Washington, DC: Latin American Initiative, Foreign Policy at Brookings, 2014. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 13, 2014 at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2014/11/mexico%20security%20anti%20crime%20nieto%20felbabbrown/mexico%20security%20anti%20crime%20nieto%20v1%20felbabbrown.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2014/11/mexico%20security%20anti%20crime%20nieto%20felbabbrown/mexico%20security%20anti%20crime%20nieto%20v1%20felbabbrown.pdf Shelf Number: 134070 Keywords: Criminal Justice Policy Criminal Networks Drug Trafficking Drug-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Kidnapping Organized Crime Violence (Mexico) Violent Crime

Author: Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International Title: Tackling Knife Crime: A Review of Literature on Knife Crime in the UK. A report for the Royal Armouries Museum Summary: This study involved a systematic review of the literature and research pertaining to knife crime in the UK. It was found that a wealth of information was available but often this was contradictory, inaccurate and misleading. Perpetuity produced a review that identified the reliability and credibility of all data sources relating to knife crime, highlighted gaps in knowledge and provided recommendations on how to progress towards obtaining a comprehensive and measurable understanding of knife crime in the future. Details: Leicester, UK: PRCI, 2007. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 9, 2014 at: http://perpetuityresearch.com/811/royal-armouries-museum-tackling-knife-crime/ Year: 2007 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://perpetuityresearch.com/811/royal-armouries-museum-tackling-knife-crime/ Shelf Number: 134290 Keywords: Gangs Knife Crime (U.K.) Knives Violent Crime

Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Operation Likofi: Police Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo Summary: On November 15, 2013, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo launched "Operation Likofi," a police operation in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, aimed at ending crime by members of organized criminal gangs known as "kuluna." Gen. Celestin Kanyama, currently the police commissioner for all of Kinshasa, was the primary commander of the operation. Over the course of three months, police officers who participated in the operation extrajudicially executed at least 51 young men and teenage boys and forcibly disappeared 33 others. In raids across the city, police in uniform, often with black masks covering their faces, and with no arrest warrants, dragged suspected kuluna at gunpoint out of their homes at night. In many cases, the police shot and killed the unarmed youth outside their homes, while others were apprehended and executed in the open markets where they slept or worked or in nearby fields or empty lots. Many others were taken to unknown locations and forcibly disappeared. Police warned family members and witnesses not to speak out about what happened, denied them access to their relatives' bodies and prevented them from holding funerals. Congolese journalists were threatened when they attempted to document or broadcast information about Operation Likofi killings. Operation Likofi: Police Killings and Enforced Disappearances in Kinshasa is based on interviews conducted in Kinshasa with over 100 witnesses to abuses, family members of victims, police officers who participated in Operation Likofi, government officials, and others. Human Rights Watch calls on the Congolese government to hold those responsible for these abuses to account. General Kanyama should be suspended immediately pending a judicial investigation. The government should also provide information to family members on the fate or whereabouts of the victims. Details: Hew York: HRW, 2014. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 15, 2015 at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/drc1114_forUpload_0.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Congo, Democratic Republic URL: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/drc1114_forUpload_0.pdf Shelf Number: 134403 Keywords: Disappearances Gangs Homicides Organized Crime Police Brutality (Congo, Democratic Republic) Police Misconduct Police Use of Force

Author: InSight Crime Title: Game Changers: Tracking the Evolution of the Organized Crime in the Americas: 2014 Summary: Welcome to InSight Crime's Game Changers for 2014, where we highlight the year's most important trends in organized crime in the Americas. This year was one of dashed hopes. In the same year that Mexico celebrated the capture of the world's most wanted drug trafficker, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, it also had to accept the horror that came with a smaller, splinter criminal group executing 43 protesting students and burning their bodies to destroy the evidence. The group, known as the Guerreros Unidos, was believed to be acting in concert with the local police, a local mayor and his politically ambitious wife, in what is a blatant example of the regular collusion that exists between local authorities and criminal organizations throughout the region. The death of the students in Mexico shattered the facade created by the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto that by capturing the country's most wanted figures -- which, in addition to El Chapo, included the heads of the Juarez Cartel and the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO) -- and largely ignoring institutional reform, it could quell Mexico's criminal problem. Instead, the resulting atomization of large criminal organizations into smaller, more volatile groups that depend on local revenue streams, has led to bloody battles over the territory they need to keep the money flowing. The Guerreros Unidos, for instance, were once a part of the BLO. This fragmentation is a regional phenomenon. From Colombia to Brazil to Guatemala, large, hierarchical structures are now small, amorphous cells, working in networks, which are responsible for much of the violence that has made Latin America and the Caribbean the most homicidal region in the world. They are thriving, in part, because of the increase in the domestic consumption of illegal narcotics. The US market, while still the biggest consumer of drugs, is being challenged by growing drug use in countries like Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico, to name but a few, and these new markets are giving birth to new criminal syndicates that are feeding this violence. Lastly, the Mexico case highlighted a stark reality about security forces: that they are at the heart of much of the violence. This has been a central feature of the Colombian civil conflict and the same is true in Brazil. Brazil continues to implement its once vaunted citizen security project, the UPP, although belief that the program is a panacea is now waning, especially amidst continuing concern over the police's repressive tactics. Not even cameras attached to the police's shirt pockets and fixed to the inside of official vehicles, it appears, can impede the police from doing what they have been doing for years: executing suspects. Brazil also fell under the spotlight this year as it hosted the World Cup. Lost in the pageantry and spectacular performances of the players was the fact that soccer remains central to organized crime. From owners of local teams in the smallest villages to the largest club teams and their most celebrated players, criminal groups use soccer, and the social and political capital it generates, to make huge profits and continue their illicit operations in relative impunity. Efforts to defuse conflicts with large political-criminal organizations also faltered this year. The peace process in Colombia between the government and the country's insurgencies stumbled, after guerrillas from the country's largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), kidnapped an army general. The FARC, the region's oldest and arguably most criminalized insurgency, now seems to be splitting into pieces, some of which may adhere to their Secretariat's move towards peace and demilitarization, and some of which may break away and form their own criminal organizations. El Salvador's government-brokered truce with the two most powerful street gangs, the MS13 and the Barrio 18, also unraveled as a new administration took power and sidelined the efforts. For many who saw the truce as a farce and believe the gangs could develop into transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), the death of the truce was a relief. But for those seeking a reprieve from the resurging violence in that country -- including an increasing number of attacks on security forces and a surge in unaccompanied minors to the United States -- there are few answers. The one silver lining can be found in the slow move towards a new drug policy paradigm, one that so far decriminalizes drug use while continuing to criminalize those who create illegal, dangerous and destabilizing criminal structures. The region is not exactly poised to overturn a century of international legal precedent, but it is taking steps to measure just what levers it can pull and push in order to slow the criminal dynamics that have helped make the Americas the most violent place on the planet. Details: s.l.: InSight Crime, 2014. 197p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 31, 2015 at: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/game_changers_2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: South America URL: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/game_changers_2014.pdf Shelf Number: 134509 Keywords: Criminal Networks Drug Trafficking (South America) Gangs Organized Crime Street Gangs

Author: Foley, Conor Title: Pelo telefone: Rumors, truths and myths in the 'pacification' of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro Summary: The phenomenon of humanitarian engagement with situations of urban violence has attracted growing interest from academics, and practitioners in recent years. Yet the subject remains shrouded with myths and misconceptions. Much violence in the world today takes place outside formal conflict zones, in what are sometimes referred to as 'fragile settings'. The purpose of the paper is to provide a detailed, factual assessment of one such operation, the so-called 'pacification' of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, written from a humanitarian and human rights perspective. Since the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11th September 2001 and the subsequent US-led interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, some have argued that fragile states represent a threat to international peace and security. This has triggered a range of responses by both national governments and the UN Security Council, which are increasingly referred to under the common rubric of stabilization. The UN missions to Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo both feature 'stabilization' as a central goal and there is a growing literature describing the interrelationship between 'stabilization', counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, peacebuilding, state-building, early recovery and development. In some cases these operations have been led by international armed forces, often mandated by the Security Council under its Chapter VII powers, while in others they have been carried out by national governments themselves. In both cases there has sometimes been doubt about the legal framework governing such operations, particularly where they have involved soldiers as well as the police. Rhetoric about a global 'war on terror', which was preceded by the so-called 'war on drugs', has been used by some to argue that international human rights law could be suspended, or displaced by the more permissive laws of armed conflict, which, by turning criminals into combatants, gives the security forces a license to kill. At the same time, the supposed benefits of bringing to bear military planning, strategy and coordination has excited policy-makers frustrated by the failures of traditional policing in some settings. Operations such as the one described in this paper have attracted international attention because they appear to offer lessons both to those involved in formal counter-insurgency situations and to those struggling to uphold law and order in the face of extreme crime and violence. For humanitarians, accustomed to working in complex emergencies, this places the old dilemmas of host-state consent and civil-military cooperation in a new, and sometimes unsettling context when delivering social services or stimulating economic activity in territories that have been 'pacified' or otherwise brought under state control. This paper does not seek to deny or diminish the achievements of the 'pacification' process. By driving organized armed gangs out of a significant number of Rio de Janeiro's favelas, the police have brought a relative degree of stability to places for the first time in a generation. At the same time, it will be argued, that the 'pacification' has not been the 'silver bullet' that is sometimes portrayed. The real lesson is that there is no short-cut from long-term reform of policing and the criminal justice system as well as tackling the corruption, poverty, inequality and social exclusion that give rise to states of fragility to begin with. Humanitarian action can also only ever be a palliative and agencies would be advised to continue with a gradual and incremental approach towards such engagement. Details: Rio de Janeiro: Humanitarian Actions in Situations other than War, 2014. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Discussion Paper 8: Accessed February 26, 2015 at: http://www.hasow.org/uploads/trabalhos/117/doc/1760478317.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Brazil URL: http://www.hasow.org/uploads/trabalhos/117/doc/1760478317.pdf Shelf Number: 134709 Keywords: Criminal Violence Favelas (Brazil) Gang-Related Violence Gangs Urban Areas Violent Crime War on Drugs

Author: Peeters, Timo Title: Truce on a tightrope: risks and lessons from El Salvador's bid to end gang warfare Summary: On 14 March 2012, current affairs website Elfaro broke the story of a truce facilitated by the government between El Salvador's two most powerful gangs, leading to an instant reduction in the country's homicides. Over one and a half years later, the truce is still intact. However, the government's reluctance to take full responsibility for the pacification process, the lack of a comprehensive policy to address root causes of violence, and the fear that the process might strengthen gangs by giving them political power have placed numerous pitfalls in its path. Neither the El Salvadorean public nor the inter-national community is united in its support for negotiating with the maras. Even so, the truce serves as an important example of a more balanced approach to gang violence, and a source of insight into how local patterns of marginalisation and crime, fuelled by rapid urbanisation of the world's population, may on occasion be managed through dialogue. Details: The Hague: Clingendael Institute, 2013. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: CRU Policy Brief No. 27: Accessed April 2, 2015 at: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/CRU%20Policy%20Brief%2027.pdf Year: 2013 Country: El Salvador URL: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/CRU%20Policy%20Brief%2027.pdf Shelf Number: 135130 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Homicides Violence Violence Crime

Author: Great Britain. House of Commons. Home Affairs Committee Title: Gangs and youth crime. Thirteenth Report of Session 2014-15 Summary: - Prompted by the summer 2011 riots, the Government conducted a review assessing the scale and causes of gang and youth violence. The 'Ending Gang and Youth Violence' strategy, which aims to match a robust enforcement response with robust support to exit gang life and an intensive prevention strategy, has been running for three years. - The Home Office has spent over L10 million on its Ending Gang and Youth Violence programme, but has failed to effectively evaluate the project. The Home Office must undertake high-quality comparative evaluation in order to assess what works best in combating gang and youth crime and in identifying areas for improvement. - It is vital that a unified gang definition is used across the Home Office and police forces to ensure greater understanding of the scale of this issue both locally and nationally. - Every Chief Constable should appoint a lead officer responsible for combating gangs, including mentoring and training officers and addressing the needs of gang-associated individuals at risk of sexual exploitation. - The Home Office should produce a league table of gang injunctions on a six monthly basis. The lead officer on gangs in every police force should be responsible for a continuing programme of peer reviews to ensure the efficacy and increased uptake of gang injunctions. - The Committee welcomes the launch of the national voluntary scheme to reduce the number of no-suspicion stop and search powers. It is vital that forces undertake local consultation work to ensure that complaints processes are accessible to young people of all backgrounds, to help restore young people's confidence in the complaints system. - It is clear that young people feel that their experiences are not taken into account. The Home Office's annual evaluation of the gangs programme should also include statements from local lead police officers stating what work they have completed on gangs and stop and search alongside young people's responses. - We should accept that children as young as seven are at risk of gang involvement. The Committee believes that the primary school anti-gang education programme should be expanded. In every school where there is local knowledge of gangs, a senior teacher should be nominated to ensure mentoring to assist young people at risk of gang involvement. - The Committee recommends that the existing work of local organisations that are well supported and have grown from the resident communities, such as Gangsline and the SOS project, should be expanded. The Home Office should ensure that detailed evaluation is undertaken of projects deemed to be examples of best practice, in order to create models that can work for communities across the country. - Programmes with records of turning around the lives of young people in gangs and with entrenched behavioural difficulties need to be commissioned more consistently. The Government should expand support for mentoring programmes that focus on gang-affected young people. Details: London: The Stationery Office, 2015. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: HC 199: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmhaff/199/199.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmhaff/199/199.pdf Shelf Number: 135382 Keywords: Gangs Juvenile Offenders Youth Gangs (U.K.) Youth Violence

Author: Yuille, Lua K. Title: Blood In, Buyout: A Property & Economic Approach to Street Gangs Summary: This article offers a fresh analysis of and solution to problems modern, American street gangs present: Local governments should pay gang members to refrain from gang related activity. Common wisdom dictates that, since they commit crimes, gangs should be understood and combated criminologically, through criminal sanctions. Popular interventions, like gang injunctions, expand that punitive orientation into civil strategies. But, gang criminality is merely a manifestation of a broader property-based disease. Therefore, those strategies will be ineffective and inefficient, as evidenced by the continuing rise in gang membership across the United States. The consensus in gang research is that gangs are not crime syndicates; they are capitalist social institutions creating and operating in alternative markets. Violence and criminality are secondary or tertiary facets of gangs, resulting from the inaccessibility of mainstream markets. Integrating these findings into a unique synthesis of disparate threads of property theory - from Charles Reich's The New Property and Margaret Radin's Property and Personhood to Cheryl Harris's Whiteness as Property - it is clear that gangs' primary purpose is to pursue the forms of property central to human identity. That insight frees anti-gang strategies from the strictures imposed by criminal law, but reveals social justice considerations not normally associated with gangs. On that basis, the article presents a novel idea: Gangs are recreating a traditional market-based property system, so the approach to the problems associated with them should be market-inspired. In the market, actors are paid to induce desired behavior. Therefore, local governments should compensate gang members for non-participation in legal (but undesirable) gang activity. The article tests this proposal using Calabresi and Melamed's framework for allocating and protecting entitlements advanced in Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability Rules: One View of the Cathedral. That analysis shows that the so-called "paid injunction" is a more effective and efficient approach to curbing the non-criminal activities of gangs that simultaneously advances the social justice concerns revealed by the property law analysis. Details: Working paper, 2015. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 6, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2585476 Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2585476 Shelf Number: 135534 Keywords: Gangs Inequality Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime Socioeconomic Status

Author: Levy, Horace Title: Youth Violence and Organized Crime in Jamaica: Causes and Counter-Measures. An Examination of the Linkages and Disconnections Summary: This Project emanated from the need to establish research-based grounds of solid value for an alternative to the mano dura approach, elements of which the authorities planned to continue using, or even extending, to address Jamaica's high homicide rates. The objective, therefore, was to investigate the relationship between youth violence and organized crime, with special attention given to the role of women and best practices and with the aim of influencing policy. Enabled by the Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) qualitative methodology, the Institute of Criminal Justice and Security (ICJS) research team was able, through focus groups and interviews with key informants, to engage directly with gangs and crews in communities in Kingston, and to a lesser extent, those in Spanish Town. The team encountered "defence crews" that were aligned to communities. These crews did not exhibit behaviour similar to that of illegal, wealth-seeking criminal gangs and, indicated no movement in that direction. Instead, they were strongly supported by women and responded positively to the mediatory and developmental "best practices" of state and non-state agencies. A significant number of criminal gang members also showed interest in pursuing an alternative and legal lifestyle. Women, for their part, were not associated with personal weapon usage. They tried to discourage conflicts and played an important part in community bonding. However, by having sexual relationships with "the enemy", they were often the ones blamed for provoking conflicts. For inner-city people, the community is of prime importance and defence crews and sometimes gangs are embedded in it. The various crews provide a constant source of enjoyment for inner-city people who live in depressed conditions. The research team recommends a national security policy that, rather than focusing simply on attacking the gangs, proposes the combination of community policing with community development and firmly asserting the central authority of the state. In the series of public forums held with security officials, the researchers received support for this approach from high-ranking officers of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF). A number of specific recommendations include the provision of additional resources to "best practices", and women's empowerment, as well as ceasing to grant contracts to criminal gangs. Details: Ottawa: International Development Research Centre (IDRC), 2012. 74p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 22, 2015 at: https://idl-bnc.idrc.ca/dspace/bitstream/10625/51348/1/IDL-51348.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Jamaica URL: https://idl-bnc.idrc.ca/dspace/bitstream/10625/51348/1/IDL-51348.pdf Shelf Number: 135756 Keywords: Gangs Homicides Juvenile Offenders Organized Crime Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime Violence Violent Crime Youth Gangs

Author: Graves, Kelly N. Title: Guilford County Gang Assessment: OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Assessment Summary: Gang violence has been identified as a national priority among the federal justice system and communities alike. The nation's youth gang problem is tracked by the National Youth Gang Surveys (NYGS) across the United States (US). The NYGS has identified that all larger cities (population over 100,000) have experienced gang problems in some form or another. As the figure below published by the National Youth Gang Survey Analysis depicts, while gang problems decreased in the early part of the decade, we are beginning to see a resurgence of gangs toward the later part of the decade. However, a central question remains: What are the activities of those gangs in local areas? Understanding these activity dynamics at a local level is essential for strategic planning and local intervention to address the problem. To support the strategic development at a local level, the US Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provided funding for hundreds of local communities nationwide to conduct an in-depth assessment on the local youth gang dynamics within their respective communities. Specifically, OJJDP recommends the implementation of a five-step model that ultimately leads to the understanding of the nature, dynamic, and intervention points to address youth gangs and related crime at a local level. These five strategies include: 1. Community mobilization: Involvement of local citizens, including former gang youth, community groups and agencies, and the coordination of programs and staff functions within and across agencies. 2. Opportunities provision: The development of a variety of specific education, training, and employment programs targeted at gang-involved youth. 3. Social intervention: Youth-serving agencies, schools, grassroots groups, faith-based organizations, police agencies, and other criminal justice organizations reaching out and acting as links to gang-involved youth, their families, and the conventional world and needed services. 4. Suppression: Formal and informal social control procedures, including close supervision or monitoring of gang youth by agencies of the criminal justice system and by community-based agencies, schools, and grassroots groups. 5. Organizational change and development: Development and implementation of policies and procedures that result in the most effective use of available and potential resources, within and across agencies, to better address the gang problem. The OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model holds that "neither social disorganization, underclass, nor poverty theory alone explains the scope and nature of youth delinquency or criminal gang association and gang crime. Social disorganization or lack of integration of essential elements of a local community system provides the basic stimulus for the formation of youth gangs. Lack of legitimate opportunity and the presence of alternative criminal opportunities are more likely to explain the character and scope of gang behavior" (Spergel, 1995). While youth in this age group are most likely to be engaged in or at risk of committing serious or violent gang crimes, the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model focuses primarily on youth gang members under 22 years of age, based on OJJDP's authorizing legislation. Motorcycle gangs, prison gangs, ideological gangs, and hate groups comprising primarily adults are excluded from the definition. In Guilford County, North Carolina, the OJJDP Gang Assessment is part of a larger community wide initiative to reduce youth gang activity. Three central programmatic partners (Youth Focus, Inc., One Step Further, and Guilford County Court Alternatives) comprised a steering committee and selected the University of North Carolina at Greensboro�s (UNCG) Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships (CYFCP) to lead the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Assessment efforts. UNCG/CYFCP worked closely with the steering committee as well as with the local Juvenile Crime Prevention Council (JCPC) in developing the local strategy. Additional key partners included Guilford County law enforcement offices, Guilford County School students and staff, community leaders and members, parents and youth, current and ex-gang members, as well as an array of youth-serving community organizations and agencies currently addressing gang prevention. Assessment activities were based on the (OJJDP) Comprehensive Gang Model and Assessment Guide available at http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Comprehensive-Gang- Model/Assessment-Guide. A summary of each of the completed assessment activities is provided below: Understanding the Community Composition: UNCG staff collected county-wide demographic information based on race, gender, age, income, poverty rates, employment status, educational attainment, teen birth rates, child abuse and neglect reports, and other categories of interest as suggested by the OJJDP model. Understanding Law Enforcement Data Collection: UNCG partnered with local law enforcement jurisdictions to understand active gangs in their jurisdictions as well as gang-related crime across a one-year period. Crime data were compiled in an electronic database for analysis and gang-related incidents were be mapped using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) mapping software. School Data Collection: UNCG gathered publically available Guilford County School data and worked with school representatives to ensure its accuracy. Community Perceptions Data: UNCG developed a series of surveys using OJJDP templates, including 1) Youth Perception Survey; 2) Community Resident Survey; and 3) School Resource Officer Survey. Surveys were available in both English and Spanish. In addition, Gang Member Interviews were provided by one of our partner agencies (One Step Further). Community Resources Data Collection: UNCG created and distributed a Community Program Profile survey, based on the OJJDP template, which was disseminated by the Project Team to neighborhood associations, community-service organizations, faith-based organizations, and service providers who are youth-serving throughout Guilford County. UNCG compiled the surveys and will enter them into OJJDP Web-based Community Resource Inventory database (https://www.iir.com/nygc/tool/default.htm) on behalf of Guilford County. The results of each element of the Guilford County Comprehensive Gang Assessment are described throughout this report. The report is broken up into Chapters that can be used either separately as individual documents, or combined for use as a comprehensive report for Guilford County. Details: Greensboro, NC: Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2010. 327p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed May 23, 2015 at: http://cyfcp.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/OJJDPGuilfordCountyGangAssessment_Final_Version3_with_appendices.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://cyfcp.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/OJJDPGuilfordCountyGangAssessment_Final_Version3_with_appendices.pdf Shelf Number: 135760 Keywords: Community Participation Community-Based Programs Gang-Related Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Steele, Paul D. Title: The Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative in Albuquerque: Project Activities and Research Results Summary: The Strategic Alternatives to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) was established by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1998. Implemented in ten cities, SACSI was a coordinated effort to reduce and prevent firearm and firearm-related violent crime. The initiative was notable for its innovative organization and approach. First, SACSI relied upon the participation of a core group of decision makers in each SACSI service area. These decision makers included local, state and federal law enforcement, prosecutorial, and corrections personnel as well as service providers and representatives from the community. Together, they constituted a working group that was charged with the responsibility of implementing new and potentially effective approaches to dealing with crime in the area served by the initiative. Second, the working group was supported by the U.S. Attorney's Office, which was charged with the responsibility of facilitating and coordinating the working group's efforts. The U.S. Attorney's Office also had the opportunity to provide resources to local violence reduction strategies, and served as a member agency in the working group. Third, a research partner also supported the working group. The research partner's role included providing information concerning general crime patterns in the community, more focused analysis in support of strategic and tactical planning, knowledge concerning best practices for reducing gun violence, and assessment of local efforts to deal with violent crime. Ten cities were selected as SACSI sites; the first five (Indianapolis, Memphis, New Haven, Portland, and Winston-Salem) were funded in 1998, and the second five (Albuquerque, Atlanta, Detroit, Rochester, and St. Louis) were funded in 2000. From the perspective of the research partner, this report describes SACSI in the Albuquerque service area, which consists of Bernalillo County, New Mexico. Of particular note is the evolution of the local SACSI effort, including the development of the working group and various project initiatives in the community. Also highlighted are findings of research about criminal activities in the community, criminal justice responses to crime, and assessment of SACSI initiatives. To address these topics, the report is organized into four sections. The current section is comprised of three chapters. The current chapter concludes with a review of relevant literature concerning firearm, firearm-related, and other violent crime that was useful in orienting the project. Chapter II describes the development and implementation of the SACSI working group and initiatives in the Albuquerque service area, and Chapter III discusses research activities in the service area. The next section of the report describes crime offender, victim and crime episode patterns within the service area, highlighting trends and spatial distribution of serious violent crimes. It also covers the movement of homicide and aggravated assault cases in the service area reported to or detected by the police through the criminal justice system. Section three describes and assesses the various SACSI initiatives implemented in the community to respond to violent crime. The report concludes with a final section summarizing the findings and making recommendations for future activities. Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Criminal Justice Analysis Center, Institute for Social Research, University of New Mexico, 2005. 333p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 23, 2015 at: http://isr.unm.edu/reports/2005/sacsi.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: http://isr.unm.edu/reports/2005/sacsi.pdf Shelf Number: 135762 Keywords: Community Participation Firearms and Crime Gang-Related Violence Gangs Gun-Related Violence Guns Homicides Violent Crime

Author: University of Washington. Jackson School of International Studies Title: 2013 Task Force Report: Violent Crime Reduction in Rio de Janeiro Summary: Rio de Janeiro is infamous for violence. In many of the city's large, informal settlements known as favelas, violent drug gangs have ruled with impunity while corrupt police officers contribute to distrust of formal government. The introduction of new Pacifying Police Units (UPP) in 2008 has resulted in impressive progress, but much still remains to be done. The focus of this Task Force is to provide recommendations to ensure that the UPP program continues to be successful. Our recommendations are geared toward furthering UPP integration into communities in a way that 1) preserves the progress that has already been made and 2) ensures permanent change, both within Rio's troubled police force and in "pacified" communities. While much has been accomplished already, the task is far from complete. Each of the policy recommendations presented in the following chapters was prepared for the Public Security Secretary of Rio de Janeiro Jose Beltrame, and is tailored to his position and responsibilities. However, we recognize that a systemic problem cannot be solved by one actor, and real change must come from a combination of efforts on the part of government, NGOs, and community members themselves. The project is loosely divided into two broad sections. The first five chapters address ways internal police policies can be improved to strengthen the ability of UPPs to carry out their community policing mission. Topics include strengthening respect for community policing objectives within the police force, improving working conditions for officers, enhancing community control and involvement with local UPP units, coordinating with other governmental institutions to break the cycle of violence for convicted criminals, and including NGOs and community members in devising training curriculum for officers. The second half involves improving the means by which community upgrading projects and the provision of public services takes place after the UPPs are installed in communities. Topics include instituting a new system for coordinating public service works with ground-level community interests, improving access to healthcare within favelas by involving UPP officers in first-response systems, easing the process of land title formalization, and instituting programs to dissipate tensions between police and youth. Details: Seattle: Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, 2013. 270p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/22749/TF%20I%202013%20text.pdf?sequence=2 Year: 2013 Country: Brazil URL: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/22749/TF%20I%202013%20text.pdf?sequence=2 Shelf Number: 129789 Keywords: Community Policing Drug Trafficking Drug-Related Crime Favelas Gang-Related Violence Gangs Violence Violent Crime

Author: Eguizabal, Cristina Title: Crime and Violence in Central America's Northern Triangle: How U.S. Policy Responses are Helping, Hurting, and Can Be Improved Summary: Throughout the spring and summer of 2014, a wave of unaccompanied minors and families from Central America began arriving at the U.S.-Mexican border in record numbers. During June and July over 10,000 a month were arriving. The unexpected influx triggered a national debate about immigration and border policy, as well as an examination of the factors compelling thousands of children to undertake such a treacherous journey. Approximately two-thirds of these children are from Central America's Northern Triangle-El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. According to interviews with the children their motives for migrating ranged from fleeing some of the world's highest homicide rates, rampant extortion, communities controlled by youth gangs, domestic violence, impunity for most crimes, as well as economic despair and lack of opportunity. Many hoped to reunite with family members, especially parents, who are already in the United States. The wave of migrants has underscored chronic problems in the region that stem back decades. It is often assumed that international drug trafficking explains the surge in violence since 2009, but other important factors are also at play. Drug trafficking is certainly a factor, especially in areas where criminal control of territory and trafficking routes is contested, but drugs do not explain the entirety of the complex phenomenon. Other factors have also contributed. While there are important differences among the three countries, there are also common factors behind the violence. Strong gang presence in communities often results in competition for territorial and economic control through extortion, kidnapping and the retail sale of illegal drugs. Threats of violence and sexual assault are often tools of neighborhood control, and gang rivalries and revenge killings are commonplace. Elevated rates of domestic abuse, sexual violence, and weak family and household structures also contribute as children are forced to fend for themselves and often chose (or are coerced into) the relative "safety" of the gang or criminal group. Likewise, important external factors such a weak capacity among law enforcement institutions, elevated levels of corruption, and penetration of the state by criminal groups means impunity for crime is extraordinarily high (95 percent or more), and disincentives to criminal activity are almost non-existent. Public confidence in law enforcement is low and crime often goes unreported. U.S. policy and practice are also a major contributing factor to the violence. U.S. consumption of illegal drug remains among the highest in the world, and U.S. and Mexican efforts to interdict drug trafficking in the Caribbean and Mexico has contributed to the trade's relocation to Central America. Furthermore, the policy of deporting large numbers of young Central Americans in the 1990s and 2000s, many of them already gang members in the United States, helped transfer the problem of violent street gangs from the United States to Central America's northern triangle. El Salvador now has the largest number of gang members in Central America followed close behind by Honduras and Guatemala. Finally, the trafficking of firearms, especially from the United States, has also contributed to the lethality and morbidity of crime. Efforts to slow firearms trafficking from the United States have encountered many domestic and political barriers and continue largely unchecked. Over the past year, the Woodrow Wilson Center's Latin American Program has undertaken an extensive review of the principal United States security assistance program for the region-the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI). This review has focused on the major security challenges in the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and how CARSI seeks to address these. This publication includes country reports on each country including a review of the current in-country security context, as well as assessing CARSI's effectiveness for addressing these challenges. The report also includes a chapter providing an in-depth analysis of the geographic distribution of homicides and an examination of how such an analysis can help policy makers design more effective targeted strategies to lower violence. A final chapter outlining policy options for the future completes the report. Details: Washington, DC: Latin America Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2015. 155p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2015 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20PDF_CARSI%20REPORT_0.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Central America URL: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20PDF_CARSI%20REPORT_0.pdf Shelf Number: 135789 Keywords: Border Security Drug Trafficking Drug-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Illegal Immigration Immigration Kidnapping Organized Crime Trafficking in Firearms

Author: Southgate, Jessica Title: Seeing differently: Working with girls affected by gangs Summary: While concern has grown in recent years about the extent of gang activity in Britain, the ways in which girls and young women are affected tends to be overlooked, simplified or distorted. Where attention is given to girls' involvement they tend to be depicted either as violent, out of control perpetrators or as vulnerable victims; reflective of a wider tendency to cast girls who offend in a 'false dichotomy' between the extremes of 'autonomous actors' or 'passive subjects' (Batchelor, 2009a). Through experience of working in organisations delivering gender-specific services to young women, I know these representations to be simplistic and rarely reflective of the complexity or reality of girls' lives. One pertinent example of the representation of gang-associated girls is the case of Samantha Joseph, dubbed the "honeytrap killer" for her involvement in the murder of Shakilus Townsend in 2008. Media coverage of the trial fixated primarily on her involvement and responsibility for "luring" Townsend to the place of his death at the hands of seven gang-associated boys. As has been noted in other media representations of women involved in murder cases (Jones & Wardle, 2008), Joseph's picture was shown more regularly and prominently than those of her male co-defendants, suggesting her ultimate responsibility. Despite some coverage which reported Joseph's boyfriend Danny McLean (for whom she had agreed to 'get Shak set' (Clements, 2009)) to have been neglectful and abusive towards her (Bird, 2009), little critical analysis was given to her role, motivation or potentially constrained choices. Both the current and previous Governments have taken a range of actions in an attempt to reduce gang activity and serious youth violence, including the "Tackling Knives and Serious Youth Violence Action Programme" (TKAP), the introduction of gang injunctions, specific funding to tackle "knife, gun and gang" related violence, and a cross-sector Ending Gang Violence team. These measures tended to have been developed without consideration of girls' and women's experiences, however, resulting in a context where they 'fall straight through the gaps at best, and at worst have their situations exacerbated, or their risk increased, due to a lack of consideration for their experiences' (ROTA, 2010:17). The recently published "Ending Gang and Youth Violence" report (HM Government, 2011b) makes a number of references to girls, and when published the Home Secretary was keen to stress that the strategy would have a "new focus" on girls and young women "caught up in gang-related rape and abuse" (Hansard, 2011). The strategy committed money to specialist sexual abuse services for gang-affected young women, and referenced positive outcomes specific to girls and young women, including increased self-esteem, early referral to support services, and reduced sexual assault, exploitation and forced miscarriage. Alongside other indications that policy-makers are considering girls' needs more, this is a step to be welcomed, however, the degree to which this translates to a shift in public discourse or enhanced local service provision remains to be seen. In comparison to the priorities outlined by practitioners I spoke to for this research, gaps in delivering appropriate support to girls and young women remain unaddressed, including having sufficient staff support or expertise, an appropriate balance between prevention, intervention and support services, and addressing attitudes that enable a culture in which violence against girls and women is permissible. Details: London: The Griffins Society, 2011. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Paper 2011/02: Accessed May 27, 2015 at: http://www.thegriffinssociety.org/Research_Paper_2011_02_(updated_May_2012).pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.thegriffinssociety.org/Research_Paper_2011_02_(updated_May_2012).pdf Shelf Number: 129824 Keywords: Female Gang Members Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Gender-Specific Programs Youth Violence

Author: Levy, Horace Title: Inner city, killing streets, reviving community Summary: Jamaica stands out world-wide for its extremely high rate of homicides. Less known but no less significant is the steady and threatening rate of homicidal increase - and beyond the numbers the daily, endless weeping, the habituation to violence and its ingraining in the life of a people. Still less accessible to the world have been the predictions of knowledgeable observers on the ground for more than a decade that worse was to come. What did these observers see - who evidently did not find the source of the problem all that abstruse - that those did not who might have been able to check the increase, head off the consequences and prevent the pain? Or if they did, were slow or unwilling to act? And why so unseeing - and unwilling? Over 40 per cent of the homicides in Jamaica - it used to be 70 per cent until the epidemic spread - occur in the communities of Kingston's inner city and in a context of community violence. It is clearly necessary, if this current of homicidal violence is to be checked, to examine the community context, the possible sources there of the violence and any countering attempts that have been made, those in particular that have been effective. Hopefully any conclusions reached will have some impact on policy with those who make it. The task then is to trace, even if fairly briefly, the trajectory of violence since the formation of political parties in the late 1930s and early 1940s, while paying special attention to the underlying continuity factor, which is community. A theoretical framework highlighting the importance of the community in civil society as well as the contrary significance of violence will also be tentatively and summarily advanced. This study, then, adopts as a working hypothesis that, however insufficiently recognised by policy makers, community plays a critical role in local homicide. Historically on a national scale community has been paid enormous attention from the days of Jamaica Welfare, which was started in 1937 by Norman Manley, one of the "fathers of the nation". The specific quasi-community or anti-community formation playing a role in homicide is the "garrison". It came into existence between 1965 and 1975 - the major exemplars, that is, and since then most of lower-income Kingston has been garrisoned - but had its foundations laid much earlier. The organization and structure of governance of the garrison are carefully scrutinized in this paper, with examination of actual instances leading to the identification of a typology that explains much of garrison behaviour. Details: Kingston, Jamaica: Arawak, 2009. 93p. Source: Internet Resource: Arawak Monograph Series: Accessed May 29, 2015 at: http://sta.uwi.edu/conferences/12/icopa/documents/Horace%20Levy%20PAPER%20Inner%20city%20killing%20streets%20reviving%20the%20community.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Jamaica URL: http://sta.uwi.edu/conferences/12/icopa/documents/Horace%20Levy%20PAPER%20Inner%20city%20killing%20streets%20reviving%20the%20community.pdf Shelf Number: 135799 Keywords: Communities Gangs Homicides Urban Areas and Crime Violence Violent Crime

Author: Amiot, Michel Title: Jamaica Constabulary Force: Three Year Anti-Gang Strategic Plan Summary: In 2009, the Ministry of National Security (MNS) held a Symposium on Criminal Gangs in Jamaica. Among the key findings were: - Over the past two decades, Jamaica has experienced an increase in criminal gang activity, especially in the Kingston Metropolitan Area, where on average 80% of all murders occur annually; - The signing of a Peace Treaty between feuding gangs in St. Andrew Central, the control of bus terminals in Spanish Town by the major organized gangs and the rise of several gangs in St. James and Clarendon highlight the phenomena of gangs as an ongoing social crisis that critically and directly impacts on the state of crime and public safety in Jamaica; - Gangs are seen to be involved not only in traditional forms of criminal activity but also have expanded their range of activities to include sophisticated and technologically driven crimes; - The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) estimated that there were at least two hundred (200) established gangs operating in Jamaica, mainly comprising of young men between the ages of 16 �V 30 years old1. Intelligence estimates showed that one hundred and twenty (120) of these gangs were actively engaged in shootings, murders, and other serious crimes such as car-jacking and theft, robberies, extortions, contract killings, and drug and gun smuggling; and, - Despite the impact that gangs have on crime in Jamaica, there remain gaps in the understanding of the structure and organization of gangs, how gangs might be defined in the Jamaican context, and consequently how the issues might be effectively dealt with to ensure public safety and a reduction in crime and violence. The following three-year Anti-Gang Strategic Plan combines the following 12 strategic measures: - Establish a gang unit within Organized Crime Investigation Division (OCID); - Establish a dedicated uniformed gang enforcement unit in each of the 19 Geographic Divisions; - Develop and dedicate covert evidence gathering and covert tactical resources within the current Flying Squad; - Designate one company of the Mobile Reserve as a Gang Response Unit; - Conduct Gang Specific Training; - Strengthen the intelligence gathering and dissemination process; - Create operational Implementation Working Group; - Widen and strengthen Social Services umbrella group, under PIOJ's Community Renewal Program (CRP) as a basic coordination mechanism; - Ensure that S&JWG adapted, empowered and motivated to oversee implementation of anti-gang Strategic Plan; - Establish or strengthen a fully operational, independent and universal body, with the official mandate and competence to investigate and prosecute all Economic & Financial Crime offenders, wherever they may be in Jamaica; - Strengthen the Judiciary; and, - Employ an Anti-Gang programme manager. Details: Kingston: Jamaica Constabulary, 2011. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 29, 2015 at: http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/coad/documents/threeyearantigangstrategy.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Jamaica URL: http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/coad/documents/threeyearantigangstrategy.pdf Shelf Number: 135800 Keywords: Anti-Gang Prevention Crime Prevention Gang Violence Gangs Homicides Policing

Author: Charles, Christopher A.D. Title: The Entrepreneurial Experiences of a Jamaican Posse in the South Bronx Summary: This chapter extends the prior research on gang members as entrepreneurs and in particular seeks to understand the members of the Peyton Place Posse as entrepreneurs in the illegal narcotics market, as they pursued their quest to achieve the American Dream. Specifically, we explore the reasons for Posse members entering the illicit drug market and review their successes and failures in pursuit of capital accumulation. We begin with a synopsis of strain theory, and how gangs operate in the illegal drug market. The foregoing is followed by a brief discussion of the characteristics of the Bronx, NY. Next, we present a synopsis of the Peyton Place Posse. Finally, we use strain theory to explain the Posse's entrepreneurial experiences and outcomes in the illegal narcotics market. Details: Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies; Bronx, NY: Monroe College, 2013. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 30, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2372179 Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2372179 Shelf Number: 135807 Keywords: Drug Markets Drug Trafficking Gangs Jamaican Posses

Author: Braehler, Verena Barbara Title: Inequality of Security: Exploring Violent Pluralism and Territory in Six Neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Summary: Security is a universal human right and a highly valued societal good. It is crucial for the preservation of human life and is of inestimable value for our societies. However, in Latin America, the right to security is far from being universally established. The aim of this sequential, exploratory mixed methods study is to explore the logic of security provision in six neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro (Vidigal, Santissimo, Complexo do Alemao, Tabuleiro, Botafogo and Novo Leblon) and assess its implications for citizens' right to security. The findings from the research show that, on a city level, Rio de Janeiro's security network can best be understood as an oligopoly because different security providers (police, municipal guards, military, private security companies, militias and drug trafficking factions) are connected through cooperative, neutral or conflictual relationships and need to consider the actions and reactions of other groups when taking strategic decisions. On a neighbourhood level, the preferred option for security providers are monopolistic-type constellations, characterised by relative peace and stability. However, all actors are willing to engage in violence if the perceived political and/or economic benefits are great enough. The thesis shows that the relative power and influence of the security providers are primarily determined by the way they are perceived by the local communities and by their capacity to use violence effectively. Despite its appearance as chaotic, violence is therefore an instrument which is negotiated and managed quite carefully. The thesis concludes that insecurity and violence in Rio de Janeiro are primarily fuelled by the struggle for territorial control between conflicting security providers within the oligopoly. The oligopolistic constellation of security providers leads to an inequality of security, defined as a condition in which the right to security is not enjoyed by all residents to the same extent. Details: London: University College London, 2014. 292p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 30, 2015 at: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1457437/1/Verena_Barbara_Braehler_PhD_thesis.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Brazil URL: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1457437/1/Verena_Barbara_Braehler_PhD_thesis.pdf Shelf Number: 135808 Keywords: Gangs Neighborhoods and Crime Organized Crime Security Urban Areas Violence Violent Crime

Author: Simon, Thomas R. Title: Changing Course: Preventing Youth From Joining Gangs Summary: The consequences of gangs - and the burden they place on the law enforcement and public health systems in our communities - are significant. People who work in the fields of public health and public safety know that efforts to address the problem after kids have already joined gangs are not enough. To realize a significant and lasting reduction in youth gang activity, we must prevent young people from joining gangs in the first place. Here are some things we know from the research: -The large majority of kids who join a gang do so at a very early age - between 11 and 15 years old. -Joining a gang is part of a life course; therefore, it is important to understand the risk factors for children starting at birth. -Strong families are a major protective factor in preventing kids from joining gangs. -Very early prevention efforts - including programs focusing on low-income pregnant mothers and families with young children - show promising results. -Communities - not just classrooms - should be regarded as a valuable resource for reaching kids at risk of joining gangs. -Girls join gangs in large numbers; therefore, some prevention efforts should address gender-specific concerns. NIJ and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) formed a partnership to publish a book, Changing Course: Preventing Gang Membership. Written by some of the nation's top criminal justice and public health researchers, Changing Course offers evidence-based principles that can halt the cascading impact of gangs on youth, families, neighborhoods and society at large. The goal of the book (and a separate executive summary publication) is to help policymakers who make decisions about the best use of taxpayer dollars - and practitioners who work in the trenches, such as law enforcement officers, teachers and community services providers - understand what the research says about keeping kids out of gangs. Each chapter includes an In the Spotlight section, which highlights interviews with practitioners who describe their personal experiences. Each chapter also includes a discussion of policy implications. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice, 2013. 166p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 2, 2015 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/239234.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/239234.pdf Shelf Number: 130002 Keywords: Delinquency Prevention Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Engel, Robin S. Title: Evaluation of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV) Summary: From 1991 to 2000, Cincinnati averaged 41.3 homicides per year, a relatively low per capita rate compared to other large Ohio and regional cities. From 2001 to 2006, however, the city averaged 73.3 homicides per year, representing a 300% increase in homicides and culminating in a modern-day high of 89 homicides in 2006 (Engel et al., 2008). Through systematic research with front-line law enforcement officers, a vivid picture of a hyperactive offender population in Cincinnati was revealed: Approximately 0.3% of the city's population, with prior records averaging 35 charges apiece, were members of violent groups in 2007. Further analyses revealed that these violent groups were associated with three-quarters of the city's homicides during a one year period (Engel et al., 2009). Historically, there have been very few highly organized, intergenerational gangs with national affiliations in Cincinnati. Rather, the violent crime problem in Cincinnati is associated with loosely-knit social networks of individuals that hang together on the street and promote violence as a means of handling conflict (Engel et al., 2008; Engel and Dunham, 2009). These are the type of episodic groups and gangs that are typical in most mid-sized urban centers, and are quickly spreading to suburban and rural areas (Howell, 2007). This report provides a brief overview of the Cincinnati Initiative to Reduce Violence (CIRV), and an empirical evaluation of its impact on group/gang-related violence in Cincinnati. This evaluation provides an overall assessment, and relies on quantitative data provided by the Cincinnati Police Department (CPD), Community Police Partnering Center (CPPC), Cincinnati Human Relations Commission (CHRC), Talbert House, and Cincinnati Works. The research presented in this report provides an initial evaluation of the initiative as a whole. Previous reports (Engel et al. 2008, 2009) more thoroughly document the detailed processes of the initiative, while future reports will examine the individual contributions of various strategies in more depth. The initial findings documented within this report demonstrate a statistically significant 35% reduction in group/gang-related homicides, and a 21.3% decline in fatal and non-fatal shootings in Cincinnati that corresponds directly with the implementation of CIRV. Details: Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati, Policing Institute, 2010. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 3, 2015 at: http://nnscommunities.org/old-site-files/CIRV__Evaluation_Report_2010_FINAL.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://nnscommunities.org/old-site-files/CIRV__Evaluation_Report_2010_FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 135854 Keywords: Focused Deterrence (Cincinnati) Gangs Gun Violence Homicide Violence Prevention

Author: Keaton, Sandy Title: City of San Diego CALGRIP Project: Evaluation Report Summary: In 2007, California launched a statewide initiative to support a comprehensive approach to reduce gang violence. The California Gang Reduction Intervention and Prevention (CalGRIP) program pooled together state and federal dollars to fund prevention, intervention, and suppression activities through the state. In 2008, the San Diego Police Department in partnership with the San Diego Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention was successful in their submission of a CalGRIP grant application. The purpose of the project was to implement a continuum of services from prevention to suppression in communities with high rates of gang violence. As one of the partners in this endeavor, the Criminal Justice Research Division of SANDAG was tasked with documenting the outcomes of the project. Details: San Diego: SANDAG, 2011. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 3, 2015 at: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1577_12940.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1577_12940.pdf Shelf Number: 135861 Keywords: Gang Prevention Gang Reduction Gang-Related Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Macaluso, Agnese Title: Trapped in the City: Communities, Insecurity and Urban Life in Fragile States Summary: Hague Institute Researcher Agnese Macaluso and Clingendael's Senior Research Fellow Ivan Briscoe coauthored a policy brief on the challenges that fast-growing cities in fragile and developing states need to face in tackling insecurity and violence. The brief builds on the expert event Big Cities: Sources of and Solutions to New Insecurities hosted by the Secretariat of the Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law in November 2014 at The Hague Institute for Global Justice. The meeting was intended to provide an opportunity for knowledge sharing and policy thinking on the impact of cities in fragile and conflict-affected environments, as well as to discuss possible donor responses to problems associated with urban development. A number of sessions brought together experts from different countries in the Global South, in order to discuss violence and insecurity in their urban dimension on the basis of concrete experiences. Furthermore, the discussion also sought to assess the value and impact of possible responses. Discussions benefited from the presentation of case studies from cities located in diverse geographical and cultural contexts, including Caracas, Karachi, Lagos, Nairobi and San Salvador - different in many ways, yet sharing similar social traumas and security concerns. A vital lesson that emerged from the discussion and participants' experiences is that understanding the real nature of urban insecurity requires stepping beyond the traditional analytical framework based on concepts such as legal and illegal, formal or informal, legitimate or illegitimate, and instead digging into the nuances and social adaptations undertaken in contexts of urban survival. In many urban contexts, the concept of crime is vague and difficult to define, since public institutions can be the main perpetrators of violence and gangs are relied upon to provide stability and security. The same ambiguity characterizes the most recent innovations to social problems that rapid urbanization has generated: while traditional governance approaches are often inadequate, high-tech solutions for urban dilemmas - often dependent on private sector involvement - pose new ethical and social challenges, and demand careful consideration of possible risks for the public interest. This brief builds on the insights from the seminar, and points to some of the more critical and controversial aspects of urban insecurity, above all in fragile and conflict-affected states. It explores relationship between violence, power and society in urban contexts, and aims to provide policy-relevant insights for the design of new approaches to urban governance. Details: The Hague: The Hague Institute for Global Justice, 2015. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 4, 2015 at: http://thehagueinstituteforglobaljustice.org/cp/uploads/publications/trapped-in-the-city-communities-insecurity-and-urban-life-in-fragile-states%20(2).pdf Year: 2015 Country: International URL: http://thehagueinstituteforglobaljustice.org/cp/uploads/publications/trapped-in-the-city-communities-insecurity-and-urban-life-in-fragile-states%20(2).pdf Shelf Number: 135907 Keywords: Gangs Urban Crime Violence Violent Crime

Author: Leinfelt, Fredrik Title: The Stockholm Gang Model: PANTHER: Stockholm Gang Intervention & Prevention Project, 2009-2012 Summary: In 2009, the Stockholm County Police and the Section against Gang Crime (SGI) was awarded a substantial three-year EU grant (1,1 million Euro) to study and develop new methods in the fight against gangs and gang crime. This grant resulted in the creation of the Stockholm Gang Intervention and Prevention Project (SGIP), a project that would bridge science with pragmatism and advance the current knowledge on Swedish street gangs. Specifically, SGIP would develop and introduce a new philosophy, concept, or framework on how law enforcement and social agencies can work against gangs; a philosophy based on "holistic-oriented policing" - a concept that fully incorporate the fundamentals of problem-oriented policing and applied theory. Consequently, this book is the written product of the Stockholm Gang Intervention and Prevention Project - a collection of theory and practice. This book is intended primarily for researchers and scholars interested in gang research, although it may have some appeal to police administrators interested in implementing a holistic program of gang intervention and prevention. This book will introduce the foundation for a new philosophy, a model we named after the acronym PANTHER. However, we also wanted to offer the reader a contemporary and international view on gangs and gang enforcement. Details: Stockholm: Polismyndigheten i Stockholms l�n (Stockholm County Police), 2012. 350 p Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2015 at: http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:787602/FULLTEXT01.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Sweden URL: http://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:787602/FULLTEXT01.pdf Shelf Number: 135999 Keywords: Gang Enforcement Gang-Related Violence Gangs Interventions Youth Gangs

Author: Katz, Charles M. Title: Exploring the Gang Problem in Redlands, CA: An Evaluation of a Problem Solving Partnership Summary: In the late 1990s, violence, drugs, and gangs within schools became a major subject of interest among residents, public officials, and law enforcement officers. This was largely a consequence of the school shootings in Jonesboro, Arkansas, West Paducah, Kentucky, and Littleton, Colorado. However, concern about school safety was also fueled by increased recognition that school crime is not a rare event. For example, among 12-18 year old students in 1998 roughly 1.2 million students were the victims of a violent crime and 2.8 million students were the victims of a theft while at school. School crime was not limited to students. In 1998, about 133,700 violent crimes and 217,400 thefts were committed against teachers. Several consequences have resulted from the increased criminal activities taking place within the nation's schools. For example, roughly 7 percent of students nation-wide take a weapon to school at least once a month, many for protection, putting themselves and others at-risk. Similarly, these behavior problems have led to increased classroom disruptions (Small and Tetrick, 2001), increased school absences (Toby, 1995), and increased fear of crime while in school (Kenney and Watson, 1999). As a result, several policymakers have called for swift action to address school related crime and disorder. One increasingly popular response has been the implementation of school-based problem solving. In 1998, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) funded the School-Based Partnerships (SBP) program, which encouraged local police agencies to work with their local schools to engage in proactive problem-oriented policing to keep school aged youth safe from violence, crime, and disorder. In 1998 and 1999 over 355 local police agencies received about $32 million under this program (Uchida, 1999: 1). Agencies involved in the program were required to use problem solving strategies to identify and understand the causes of problems, apply data-driven responses, and evaluate the impact of their efforts. To ensure that projects were manageable agencies were asked to concentrate their efforts on one school in their jurisdiction and focus their response to one problem type (i.e., bullying, drugs, assault, theft etc.) (Varano and Bezdikian, 2001). Through a cooperative agreement with the COPS Office, 21st Century Solutions, Inc. conducted the national assessment of the School-Based Partnership (SBP) program. As part of this evaluation five police agencies were selected for intensive case study. This research report focuses on one of these sites - Redlands, California. In this report we describe the problem solving processes used by the Redlands Police Department to identify and respond to school-based problems, and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy. Details: Silver Spring, MD: 21st Century Solutions, 2002. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 16, 2015 at: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/school_based/Redlands_CA.pdf Year: 2002 Country: United States URL: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/school_based/Redlands_CA.pdf Shelf Number: 136080 Keywords: Gangs Problem-Oriented Policing School Crimes

Author: Van Vleet, Russell K. Title: Analysis of West Valley City Comprehensive Gang Model Survey Results Summary: The West Valley City Comprehensive Gang Model Steering Committee (WVC Steering Committee) is currently in the process of implementing the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's (OJJDP) Comprehensive Gang Model. The Criminal and Juvenile Justice Consortium (CJJC) at the College of Social Work at the University of Utah was asked by the Utah Board of Juvenile Justice (UBJJ) to assist the WVC Steering Committee in the analysis and summary of surveys obtained during the assessment phase. Through ongoing collaboration with UBJJ and the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ), CJJC conducts scientifically based research and evaluations on existing and potential criminal and juvenile justice policies and programs to move research and evaluation in Utah to a new level. Partnership with the WVC Steering Committee during the assessment phase of the Comprehensive Gang Model exemplifies CJJC's purpose and mission. OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model is based on research conducted by Dr. Irving Spergel at the University of Chicago in the early 1990's (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [OJJDP], 2002). Five core strategies have emerged from this empirically tested research. They are: 1) community mobilization, 2) social intervention, including street outreach, 3) provision of opportunities, 4) suppression, and 5) organizational change. The implementation of these strategies must be based on "a thorough assessment of the current gang problem in the community, its potential causes, and contributing factors." The initial step in a community's implementation of the Gang Model includes the formation of a steering committee that includes members from law enforcement, youth corrections and courts, schools, youth and family agencies, business leaders, the faith community, grass-roots representatives and residents. Next, the steering committee needs to conduct a thorough assessment to "identify the most serious and prevalent gang-related problems" and "target group(s) for prevention, intervention, and suppression efforts." The Gang Model includes the following tools for communities to utilize in their assessment phase: Student Surveys, School Staff Perceptions Interviews (can also be conducted as surveys), Community Leader Interviews (can also be conducted as surveys), and Community Resident Surveys (OJJDP, 2002). This report presents the results obtained from those four surveys conducted by the WVC Steering Committee. Details: Salt Lake City, UT: Criminal and Juvenile Justice Consortium, College of Social Work, University of Utah, 2005. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 20, 2015 at: http://ucjc.utah.edu/wp-content/uploads/591.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: http://ucjc.utah.edu/wp-content/uploads/591.pdf Shelf Number: 136116 Keywords: Delinquency Prevention Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Marczak, Jason Title: Security in Central America's Northern Triangle: Violence Reduction and the Role of the Private Sector in El Salvador Summary: In the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the increase in violence and organized crime highlights the need for new approaches to improve citizen security. In the case of El Salvador, a March 2012 gang truce has halved the daily homicide rate, opening an opportunity to build on existing efforts or to launch new approaches aimed at violence prevention. While public safety is the responsibility of the state, this Americas Society policy brief highlights the role of the private sector in violence prevention. It highlights innovative corporate efforts in violence prevention so that policymakers, businesses leaders, and others concerned about improvements in security can learn from these initiatives and obtain a more nuanced grasp of the possible space that can be filled by the private sector. Security in Central America's Northern Triangle: Violence Reduction and the Role of the Private Sector in El Salvador focuses on the role that multinational corporations can play in forging an integrated approach to crime reduction. This is a little known field in Central America. While the policy brief analyzes reinsertion efforts for former gang members and at-risk youth programs in the Salvadoran context, it also serves as a reference point for Honduras and Guatemala. Drawing examples from a larger sample of violence prevention efforts, the Americas Society policy brief highlights five corporate efforts that are creating safer communities and contributing to business bottom line. The local focus and the direct or indirect cooperation with the public sector are critical to program success. One of the companies, Grupo Calvo, employs 90 rehabilitated former gang members in its El Salvador plant-about 5 percent of its staff-and facilitates employment opportunities with suppliers for an additional 100 former gang members. These workers are some of the strongest and most productive employees at Grupo Calvo as well as at League Collegiate Wear, where 15 percent (40 employees) of its Salvadoran workforce joined the company through its reinsertion program. Additional companies featured in the policy brief include the AES Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, and Rio Grande Foods. Five recommendations are issued: 1.The private and public sectors each bring unique ideas, resources, and skills to violence prevention efforts and must find ways to coordinate these efforts, especially at the local level. 2.Corporate practices to improve security must be continuously catalogued and updated with a central repository and coordinating institution. 3.Private-sector violence prevention programs must be recognized both for their value in improving local communities as well the potential benefits they can bring to corporate bottom lines. 4.Reinsertion efforts and at-risk youth programs analyzed in the Salvadoran context should serve as examples-both the lessons learned and the overall strategies-for other Northern Triangle countries. 5.Regular dialogue between the public and private sectors is critical for identifying medium- to long-term violence prevention programs that will outlast the period in office of one particular official or political party. Details: New York: Americas Society, 2011. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Americas Society Policy Brief: Accessed July 23, 2015 at: http://www.as-coa.org/sites/default/files/Central%20American%20Security%202012.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Central America URL: http://www.as-coa.org/sites/default/files/Central%20American%20Security%202012.pdf Shelf Number: 136141 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Drug Trafficking Gangs Public Safety Violence Violence Prevention Violent Crime

Author: Grant, Lorna Title: A Study on the Profile of Children in Conflict with the Law in Jamaica Summary: The charge was to: a) review international and regional conventions and laws regarding responses to children in conflict with the law (CCL) and, b) to provide a profile of CCL in Jamaica and, to offer recommendations to prevent children from coming into conflict with the law. Many international instruments provide a normative framework for the administration of juvenile justice and the minimum standards for prisons and closed facilities for children in conflict with the law. The report offers a summary of nine of these documents relevant to children in conflict with the law. The international instruments are: The Convention of the Rights of the Child (1990) The United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty, 1990. (Havana Rules) United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice, 1985. (The Beijing Rules) United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, 1990 (The Riyadh Guidelines) Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, 1955 (Standard Minimum Rules) Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, 1988 (Detention Principles) Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, 1990 United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures, 1990 (The Tokyo Rules) Guidelines for Actions on Children in the Criminal Justice System, 1997 (Vienna Guidelines) For the current empirical mixed methods study, given that there are approximately 400 CCL at any point in time in Jamaica, at least a half of this number were purposively sampled for interviews. Between July 13 and July 30, 2010 data collection from the children occurred largely using the Office of the Children‟s Advocate (OCA) Profile of Children in Conflict with the Law developed instrument. There was a comparison group of 45 children - boys and girls who were not in conflict with the law. They included 24 students in corporate area high schools who were attending summer school and 21 wards of the Child Development Agency (CDA) who were not in conflict with the law. The sample of children in conflict with the law (n=209) were males (149) and females (60). Most were from the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) facilities (St Andrew Remand, Hill Top, Rio Cobre, Ft. Augusta and Horizon); others were from CDA facilities (Glenhope, Homestead, Strathmore, St. Augustine and Granville). Thirty-five practitioners working with children in conflict with the law in Jamaica were also interviewed. They included researchers; management and staff of the Department of Correctional Services and Child Development Agency; social workers; teachers; house mothers and guidance counselors. They were asked to describe the children in conflict with the law; the reasons they were in conflict; their recommendations for both preventing and responding to children breaking the law and their perceptions about the effectiveness of various service providers. Quantitative data were analyzed by running basic descriptive statistics such as frequencies and cross-tabulations; and regression analyses. Qualitative data were coded and examined for patterns and themes in the responses. SUMMARY PROFILE The child in conflict with the law is most often, 16 years old, male, with a charge of uncontrollable and, or unlawful wounding, who used a weapon, most likely a knife at the time of the current offence. The offence likely occurred between noon and 6:00p.m. on a weekend during the school year. He is likely to attribute this to idleness and the influence of "bad company" (peers). He is likely to be a poor reader from a low income family, who knows his father, but lives with his mother, who is head of the household, and about two to four siblings (although there are likely more siblings outside of the home). He would have heard often that he is loved, but might have missed school because his parent told him that bus fare and/or lunch money was not available. He would have moved at least once. He would know what it is like to be picked on in school and he would have been suspended and/or expelled at some point from a school in which fighting is relatively common. He is likely to have a relative as an adult confidant and to have a family member who has been in conflict with the law. He is likely to be from Kingston and St. Andrew or some other urban area with gangs in the community. He would have been affiliated with a gang at some point. His community is one in which marijuana is readily available for use and, he would have seen and, or heard someone being shot in the community. Fights are also not uncommon on those streets. He is likely to have used alcohol and possibly marijuana. He has experienced the loss of a family member, such as the death of a grandparent. He is likely to be a football player who admires the likes of Vybz Kartel and Asafa Powell. He perceives religion to be important and he has a part time job. If the child in conflict with the law is a girl, her profile is very similar except that she is likely to be a better reader than a male CCL and she has experienced some abuse. Details: Kingston, Jamaica: Office of the Children's Advocate, 2011. 130p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 29, 2015 at: http://www.welcome.oca.gov.jm/resources/ Year: 2011 Country: Jamaica URL: http://www.welcome.oca.gov.jm/resources/ Shelf Number: 136227 Keywords: Gangs Juvenile Justice Systems Juvenile Offenders

Author: Factor, Fiona Title: Gang-Involved Young People: Custody and Beyond Summary: While there is an extensive literature on the rehabilitation of young people in general and a smaller, but substantial, literature on the onset of, and involvement in, gangs, gang crime, and serious youth violence, there remains a paucity of material on desistance from gang crime, the rehabilitation of gang-involved young people and, in particular, how their period of incarceration and return from custody might best be managed. This report synthesises what is known and draws inferences from both the literature and key 'informants' working in these fields to fill out this picture and tease out the implications for resettlement policy and practice. Details: London: Beyond Youth Custody, 2015. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 3, 2015 at: http://www.beyondyouthcustody.net/wp-content/uploads/Gang-involved-young-people-custody-and-beyond-a-research-report.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.beyondyouthcustody.net/wp-content/uploads/Gang-involved-young-people-custody-and-beyond-a-research-report.pdf Shelf Number: 136299 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Descormiers, Karine Title: From getting in to getting out: The role of pre-gang context and group processes in analyzing turning points in gang trajectories Summary: Drawing from a mixed-methods approach, the current dissertation examines the sequential process of gang membership, from gang entry to gang disengagement. The dissertation is driven by three interrelated aims. First, the study aims to assess whether variations in opportunities for membership and the nature of gang entry are related to pre-membership factors. Second, it aims to investigate whether gangs' organizational structures and group processes are associated with the nature of their criminal opportunities. Third, it explores the relationship of both individual and group factors to the disengagement process. The study uses retrospective self-reported and official data gathered from a sample of 73 gang members involved in the Study on Incarcerated Serious and Violent Young Offender in Burnaby, British Columbia. Results suggest that being embedded in a criminal social environment facilitates early entry into gangs but not avoidance of an initiation in gangs that require them. A need for recognition and respect is associated with late entry and the occurrence of an initiation. A closer look into the initiation events described by participants revealed three general types: (1) the ego violent event, (2) the crime commission, and (3) the expressive violence towards others. An ego violent initiation was more frequent among younger prospective members and those who were coerced into joining. Individuals who were looking for respect were more likely to be required to perpetrate an act of violence toward someone in order to get in. No individual characteristics were associated with crime commission type. In terms of group characteristics, nature of initiation is not associated with any type of gang organizational structure: both organized and less organized gangs may initiate their members and do so in similar ways. Type of initiation, however, was found to reflect the nature of the criminal activities of the gangs. In terms of gang desistance, internal gang violence and pre-membership criminal social environment both facilitated the persistence of membership and delay in disengagement from gangs. The dissertation addresses the theoretical and policy implications of such findings. Details: Burnaby, BC: Simon Fraser University, 2013. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed August 5, 2015 at: http://summit.sfu.ca/item/13831 Year: 2013 Country: Canada URL: http://summit.sfu.ca/item/13831 Shelf Number: 136339 Keywords: Desistance Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Greater London Authority Title: Strategic Framework for Responding to Gang-Associated Women and Girls Summary: The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) has developed this strategic framework to support London boroughs and agencies in devising their strategic and operational responses to young women and girls involved in or associated to criminal gangs. It has been developed in response to calls from London partner agencies for greater clarity on how to confront this serious problem which until recently had received very little attention. To date, approaches to tackling gang violence have been centred on the experiences and needs of men and boys. The Mayor has made a commitment to improve the way agencies identify and respond to gang-associated women and girls. This framework suggests ways in which local areas can start to tackle these issues. This is not intended to be a prescriptive and definitive guide on how to respond to gang associated women and girls. Approaches to girls and gangs are still in the early stages of development and we need more evidence about what works in practice. This document is a first step in attempting to develop a strategic response to these complex issues. It will provide pointers, checklists and minimum standards for local areas embarking upon this area of work so that London responds more effectively and consistently to gang-associated young women and girls. Details: London: MOPAC, 2013. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 14, 2015 at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Gangs%20and%20girls_strategic%20framework.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Gangs%20and%20girls_strategic%20framework.pdf Shelf Number: 136419 Keywords: Female Gang Members Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Althaus, Dudley Title: Mexico's Security Dilemma: Michoacan's Militias. The Rise of Vigilantism in Mexico and Its Implications Going Forward Summary: Since 2006, violence and criminality in Mexico have reached new heights. Battles amongst criminal organizations and between them have led to an unprecedented spike in homicides and other crimes. Large criminal groups have fragmented and their remnants have diversified their criminal portfolios to include widespread and systematic extortion of the civilian population. The state has not provided a satisfactory answer to this issue. In fact, government actors and security forces have frequently sought to take part in the pillaging. Frustrated and desperate, many community leaders, farmers and business elites have armed themselves and created so-called "self-defense" groups. Self-defense groups have a long history in Mexico, but they have traditionally been used to deal with petty crime in mostly indigenous communities. These efforts are recognized by the constitution as legitimate and legal. But the new challenges to security by criminal organizations have led to the emergence of this new generation of militias. The strongest of these vigilante organizations are in Michoacan, an embattled western state where a criminal group called the Knights Templar had been victimizing locals for years and had co-opted local political power. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Mexico Institute, 2014. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 17, 2015 at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/MichSelfDefense_Althaus_Dudley.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico URL: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/MichSelfDefense_Althaus_Dudley.pdf Shelf Number: 136439 Keywords: Gangs Homicides Militias Organized Crime Vigilantism Violence

Author: Richardson, Chris Title: Communicating Crimes: Covering Gangs in Contemporary Canadian Journalism Summary: In this integrated-article dissertation, I examine representations of gangs in Canadian journalism, focusing primarily on contemporary newspaper reporting. While the term - gang - often refers to violent groups of young urban males, it can also signify outlaw bikers, organized crime, terrorist cells, non-criminal social groups, and a wide array of other collectives. I build on Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical framework to probe this ambiguity, seeking to provide context and critical assessments that will improve crime reporting and its reception. In the course of my work, I examine how popular films like West Side Story inform journalists' descriptions of gangs. Though reporters have been covering suburban gangs for decades, they continue to place gangs in the inner city, which fits better with imagery from the Manhattan musical. Meanwhile, politicians and political commentators frequently exploit the ambiguity of gangs, applying its rhetoric to opponents and evoking criminal connotations in mediated debates. Based on these findings, I argue that Bourdieu's concept of symbolic violence envelopes contemporary Canadian newspapers and I suggest that journalists must incorporate alternative images and discourses to challenge these problematic communication practices. Consequently, my last chapter explores art projects in Regent Park and Clichy-sous-Bois, where I find techniques that challenge the dominant tropes of gangs within the news media and provoke more nuanced conversations about such groups. I conclude by outlining the implications of my research for journalists, gang scholars, and concerned citizens. Details: London, Ontario: University of Western Ontario, 2012. 314p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 2, 2015 at: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1793&context=etd Year: 2012 Country: Canada URL: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1793&context=etd Shelf Number: 136648 Keywords: Gangs Journalists Media Newspapers Popular Culture Youth Gangs

Author: Nimmo, Melanie Title: The "Invisible" Gang Members: A Report on Female Gang Association in Winnipeg Summary: This study is based on twenty-four interviews conducted in 1998 with representatives of different agencies in Manitoba (including criminal justice, inner-city schools, social services and community groups) whose job involves intervening in the lives of gang women. In-depth interviews explored the respondents' experiences with, understanding of and responses to gang women. These second-hand accounts of female gang affiliation contribute to the task of making the social and material circumstances of female gang member more visible. Consistent with previous research on female gang members (and traditional criminological research on male gang members), respondents in this study suggest that female gang members typically come from poor socioeconomic backgrounds, survive "dysfunctional" childhoods, have suffered extensive abuse, live in the deteriorating inner-city areas, and are predominantly Aboriginal - that is to say, from a marginalized ethnic group. Gang life satisfies some of the unmet needs of these women. It provides a sense of family and acceptance, it supplies members with money, drugs and instant gratification, and it gives marginalized, alienated and disenfranchised women a sense of power. The comfort, excitement and clout that the gang provides may seem to be the best they can hop" for. The gang world is highly patriarchal - a "macho" environment characterized by male domination of power. As such, while gang affiliation provides a temporary relief from the pains of marginalization, gang women remain in situations that are dangerous and abusive. Female gang members have been largely overlooked in gang research and in prevention and intervention programming. They would benefit from flexible opportunities for educational and occupational training, positive, realistic role models to give them the encouragement and confidence to access those opportunities, and support for their own community involvement and responsibility. Currently most if not all of the gang strategies and programs in Manitoba are created with male gang members in mind, and may not necessarily meet the needs of female gang members. This neglect should be addressed and alternatives and opportunities developed specifically for gang women. Details: Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2001. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 5, 2015 at: http://www.apin.org/uploads/files/invisible-gang-members.pdf Year: 2001 Country: Canada URL: http://www.apin.org/uploads/files/invisible-gang-members.pdf Shelf Number: 136707 Keywords: Female Gang Members Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Aulakh, Harpreet Kaur Title: The social and legal context of female youth crime : a study of girls in gangs Summary: Given the relative lack of information about female gang membership in Canada and the hidden nature of this population, a qualitative approach for understanding the lives of female gang members, through a life course perspective guided by feminist standpoint epistemology is utilized in this dissertation. The data for this study are obtained from interviews with fifteen girls and young women who claimed youth gang membership in their lives, from the cities of Saskatoon and Edmonton. .The critical feminist perspective serves as the theoretical framework for this study. It directs us to an understanding in which girls are regarded as active agents in their own lives and who are striving to better their lives albeit with the limited options available to them in the face of locally available constructions of opportunity and possibility. The analyses reflect the lived experiences of the respondents and illuminate the ways in which the personal troubles and daily lives of respondents are explicitly overshadowed by larger public issues. Through critical analysis, this study draws attention to the ways in which girls' experiences of ageism, racism, classism, and sexism interact, resulting in social exclusion, isolation from social institutions, and a subsequent involvement with youth gangs. The study reveals a heterogeneity of respondents' experiences especially with respect to being treated as equals by their male counterparts. From the analysis, it is evident that gangs are highly gendered groups in which gender hierarchies force girls to find ways both to create personas of toughness and independence through participation in violent activities yet also to display appropriate feminine behaviours of sexually non-promiscuous females. Importantly, the decisions to leave the gang are triggered by the negative affects of gang life. Once out of the gang, the girls under study seemed to refocus their efforts toward educational opportunities and obtaining job-related skills. In the end, my research indicates that awareness about the dangers of gang life including the negative consequences of gang membership need to form a core of prevention programs, especially those designed for younger girls and children. Details: Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan, 2008. 241p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 24, 2015 at: http://ecommons.usask.ca/bitstream/handle/10388/etd-04072008-123725/Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2008 Country: Canada URL: http://ecommons.usask.ca/bitstream/handle/10388/etd-04072008-123725/Thesis.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 136864 Keywords: Female Gang Members Female Offenders Gangs

Author: Kelly, Ashlin Title: Girls in Gangs: Listening to and Making Sense of Females' Perspectives of Gang Life Summary: This thesis is an exploratory qualitative study that seeks to capture some of the experiences and challenges faced by females who have been gang-involved, either directly or peripherally. A total of eleven interviews were completed with seven women who were either former members of a gang (directly involved) or knew and associated with male and female gang members (peripherally involved) in Canada. The thesis examines my participants' views of why women enter, persist and desist from gangs. My participants reported that girls join and stay in a gang primarily because they have a significant other who is a male gang member. A sense of kinship, financial dependency, and a lack of alternatives were cited as reasons for girls to join and persist in gangs. The main motivators for desisting were pregnancy, physical separation, treatment and hitting "rock bottom". The principal findings indicate that there is a gendered hierarchy within mixed gangs that enables males to maintain power and control over females, impacting girl's expectations, roles and responsibilities in a mixed gang. The significant social, psychological, physical and financial barriers to desistance are outlined and should be considered when devising programming to facilitate gang desistance for females. Furthermore, my participants stressed the need for comprehensive intervention initiatives that account for gender in order to help women desist safely and successfully. The study highlights that desisting from a gang can be a lifelong process, requiring ongoing support structures. The findings speak to the need to make the 'invisible' female gang members visible. Details: Ottawa: University of Ottawa, 2015. 149p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed September 25, 2015 at: https://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/32202/1/Kelly_Ashlin_2015_thesis.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Canada URL: https://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/32202/1/Kelly_Ashlin_2015_thesis.pdf Shelf Number: 136879 Keywords: Female Gang Members Gangs

Author: National Crime Research Centre (Kenya) Title: A Study of Organized Criminal Gangs in Kenya Summary: The aim of the study was to identify the nature of organized criminal gangs that operate in Kenya, the types of crimes they commit, their modus operandi including the command structure and networks, and to provide a rapid assessment of the public perception of organized criminal gangs and the effect of their activities on Kenyans. The study further sought to establish the extent to which organized criminal gangs have infiltrated the public/security sector. The scope of the work included; a review of literature on theories of crime and organized criminal gangs in Kenya and based on the study findings purpose practical solutions on how to address the problem of organized crime in Kenya. UNODC (2002) adopted the Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) Convention, Article 2(a) definition which states an organized criminal group as a structured group of three or more persons existing for a period of time and acting in concert with the aim of committing one or more serious crimes or offences in order to obtain directly or indirectly a financial or other material benefit. The UNODC (2002) further provided a useful framework for understanding organized criminal groups as comprising of: structure, size, activities, identity, level of violence, use of corruption, political influence, penetration into the legitimate economy and so on. In the context of methodology, the study had three major components; a survey of community perceptions of organized criminal gangs, key informant interviews development of case studies and secondary statistics. A total of 1343 respondents proportionately sampled across the eight regions of the country were interviewed using a survey questionnaire. Focus Group Discussions involving members of the public and key informant interviews involving senior officers from the provincial administration, police, CID, prisons, judiciary, business and civil society were interviewed. Other respondents were active, inactive and convicted members of organized criminal gangs, their relatives, friends and victims. The following case studies of organized criminal gangs were selected for in-depth analysis; The 42 Brothers, Mombasa Republican Council, Angola-Musumbiji, Sungu Sungu, Mungiki and Al Shaabab. However, two challenges became apparent in the conduct of the study: the sensitivity of the topic made many members of the public decline interviews or otherwise provide information for fear of reprisals and the lack of cooperation by some government officers especially in Western, Eastern and Coast regions. Literature on crime and deviance presents a consensus that there does not exist one vision about them but many. Each theory has its own history and supported by a distinct body of knowledge. Wilson (1975) was most pessimistic of all theories that made no manifest contribution on how to control crime yet crime is distressing and disruptive to the social order, it inflicts pain, subverts trust and community. Durkheim (1965) in anomic theory argues that, the source of high crime rate in organic societies lay in normlessness, modernization and urbanization. Neo-classical explanations of crime emphasize the free-will and rationalistic hedonism and it emerged as a protest against spiritual explanation of crime as initially formulated by the theologist St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Social contract theorist's position constructed ideas that included a purposive approach, natural and rational basis for explaining crime and the state's response (Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire and Rousseau). Beccarias contributions to the study of criminology and punishment is largely summarised in the following prescriptions; seriousness of crime in terms of harm it inflicts on society; proportionate punishment in terms of crime committed, severity of punishment vis a vis the crime committed, promptness of punishment following commission of crime and the certainty of punishment. Biological theories of crime causation focus on the genetic make up of criminals (Goring, 1913). However Sharh and Roth (1974) favoured environmental factors in crime causation. Merton (1968) in strain theory showed that social conditions in which individuals find themselves force them to commit crime as it limits the appetites of those individuals to satisfy them using legitimate means. Crime then becomes a rational response to overcome the limitations. It is closely associated with anomic theory which explains urban, lower class and male gang delinquency behaviour. Learning theories imply that habits and knowledge develop as a result of the experiences of the individual learning (Bower and Hilgard, 1981). Learnt behaviour can be reinforced or not through punishment as in operant conditioning. Tarde (1943-1904) in the law of imitation showed that crime is a normal learnt behaviour (Vine, 1972). Sutherland (1924) in differential association theory posits that associative interaction generates criminality. In October 2010 the Prevention of Organized Crime Act was enacted and subsequently a Gazette Notice banning 33 organized criminal groups on October 18, 2010 issued. The selected case studies are part of the 33 criminal gangs banned by the Kenya government. The main findings of the study are: most Kenyans (55.2%) were aware of the existence of an organized criminal gang in the area where they live or elsewhere. Again 38.9% knew the organized criminal gangs by name. However 59.0% were too afraid to mention the organized criminal gang by name for fear of reprisals. Countrywide, a total 46 organized criminal gangs were identified by the public. In terms of government commitment to fight organized crime 58.0% were of the view that the government was not doing enough because many members of such gangs are known to the public but they are not arrested. There is also alleged collusion by some government officers with members of organized criminal gangs and that police frequently release them even when there is overwhelming evidence. There is a clear gender division of labour in organized criminal gangs between male and female members. While men undertake execution of tasks, women provide support services including sex, identification of clients/victims, food, spying and storing stolen property. Children play an active spying role as well as opening doors while the elderly specialize in oathing, recruitment, resolution of disputes, spying, and so on. In order to survive 39.7% respondents indicated that organized criminal gangs obtain support of its ethnic group and that ethnic support is crucial for their survival. The support of the ethnic group is either voluntary (23.3%) or involuntary (21.1%), according to the public. Ethnic members conceal the identity of the members. The intra-gang support exists in form of financial, advisory, protection and shelter, bailing out of court, payment of cash court fines, hiring of lawyers and so on. In terms of law enforcement, 49.1% of the respondents were not aware of any arrests of members of organized criminal gangs in the previous three years even when serious crimes had been committed by them. Corruption of the police, judiciary, political influence, lack of police cooperation, difficulties in identifying the members, delayed arrival of police, fear of reporting were identified as factors that energize organized criminal gangs. The use of violence by members of organized criminal gangs against their targets was confirmed by 68.3% of the respondents but intra-group violence does occur against its members too. A total of 30.7% reported that there is inter-group conflict usually over control or sharing of booty or lucrative business. Organized criminal gangs have infiltrated legitimate formal and informal business and scrap metal. Extortion from the public (34.3%) and theft (19.4%) and politicians especially public transport, car wash, motorcycle, rental houses, exhibition shops were the main sources of funds for their operations. Illicit drug trafficking, counterfeiting, armed robbery, vehicle theft, kidnap for ransom, extortion, livestock theft, firearms smuggling were identified as the other sources of funds for organized criminal gangs. According to 29.6% of the respondent's business people support and benefit from organized criminal gangs in terms of protection. A total of 25.8% strongly agreed, 21.7% agreed and 36.1% disagreed to the allegation that politicians channel funds to members of organized criminal gangs for support and campaign. In this regard 14.3% strongly agreed, 20.8% agreed and 48.3% disagreed to the claim that supporters of organized criminal gangs had been elected to parliament during the 2007 parliamentary elections. Organized criminal gangs in Kenya are more focused on crimes that do not require technological applications. In terms of effect of organized crime in society, (75.1%) respondents expressed more fear than before, (76.1%) do not feel secure, (66.9%) are more restless and 18.2% reported a close relative or another close person known to them had been murdered by members of organized criminal gangs and up to 16.8% indicated they had been forced to change residence and 36.0% now carry a weapon for self-defence at all times than before. There is also observed change in behaviour patterns for example, consumers of alcohol stop drinking much earlier than before, for business people they close much earlier. A total of 43.9% respondents were forced to change or review their travel patterns and 49.1% no longer go to certain places they frequented before. To business people the cost of doing business has increased and ordinary people have been forced to install security apparatus/services that were not necessary before. All the organized criminal gangs in this study had a clear organizational/command structure across the areas they operate including specialization of tasks. Idleness occasioned by lack of employment after school was a principal factor in the ease with which recruitment of new members is done. The study recommended the following: the policy makers in public and private sector need to devise ways that create employment to the youth to lower their vulnerability to join organized criminal gangs; the government at national and county levels need to channel enough resources to the police to be effective in crime prevention; since there is alleged or suspected collusion between some police and members of organized criminal gangs there is need for verification of such claims and those found punished; the media needs to play an active role by highlighting arrests and convictions of members of organized criminal gangs and the public needs to play a more active role by providing information to relevant government authorities for action. At community level there is need for institutions including educational and religious to educate the youth to live positively. In conclusion the increase in number of organized criminal gangs has serious implications for national security. Details: Nairobi, Kenya: National Crime Research Centre, 2012. 152p., ex. summary Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 1, 2015 at: http://ncia.or.ke/ncrc/phocadownload/ncrc%20-%20organized%20criminal%20gangs%20in%20kenya.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Kenya URL: http://ncia.or.ke/ncrc/phocadownload/ncrc%20-%20organized%20criminal%20gangs%20in%20kenya.pdf Shelf Number: 136931 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs Organized Crime Violent Crime

Author: Human Impact Partners Title: Dignified & Just Policing: Health Impact Assessment of the Townsend Street Gang Injunction in Santa Ana, California Summary: A gang injunction is a controversial policing practice that essentially acts as a group restraining order against alleged gang members within a safety zone, a specific geographic area thought to be "controlled" by a gang. Since the 1980's, over 60 gang injunctions have been imposed in California in an attempt to curtail a historic spike in violent crime in the state (and in the nation) during the late 1980's and early 1990's, a topic we tackled in a previous blog post. The injunction in Santa Ana, the city's second, would prevent alleged gang members from associating with each other or carrying out certain illegal and legal activities within the safety zone. The injunction has stirred up heated debate in Santa Ana since June 2014, when it was first implemented, and has been a flashpoint for controversy more recently amidst allegations of police brutality. Supporters of the injunction say it will lead to decreased crime and violence for all residents, while opponents say the injunction fails to address the root causes of crime and may lead to increased police mistreatment of local youth. The HIA, which worked locally with SABHC, Chicanos Unidos de Orange County, KidWorks, Santa Ana Boys & Men of Color, Latino Health Access, UC Irvine's Community Knowledge and Community & Labor projects, and the Urban Peace Institute, examined the impact the gang injunction would have on crime, safety, community-police relationships, education and employment, and collected data on community safety through surveys, interviews and focus groups. The HIA focused on populations that may be disproportionately affected by the gang injunction, including youth, undocumented immigrants, transgender or queer-identified people, the homeless, and those with physical and mental disabilities. Members of these groups fear that increased police presence in the neighborhood will exacerbate the potential for profiling and discrimination. The HIA concluded that the injunction is unlikely to bring about significant and lasting reduction of serious crime, based on the outcomes of other gang injunctions and input gathered from residents, city officials, community organizations and police. On the contrary, the injunction could have negative effects on public safety, public health and public trust. The HIA found that: The evidence is insufficient that a gang injunction will reduce violent crime, gang activity or gang membership, or that it will improve community-police relationships. An injunction could make some in the community, particularly parents, feel more safe, but members of marginalized groups may, in contrast, feel more threatened by increased police presence. An injunction could lead to significant disruptions to education and employment opportunities for those named in the gang injunction, with immediate harm to their health and well-being and long-term harm to their chances in life. Young black and Latino men who experience repeated, unsubstantiated searches and other forms of suppression-based policing may experience higher levels of anxiety and depression than their peers. An injunction could divert funding from community programs that address the economic and social problems that are the root causes of much crime and a detriment to public health and well-being. In contrast to the mixed evidence on the effects of policing strategies on crime, there is solid evidence that correlates reductions in crime with environmental, educational and economic factors. Our findings led us to make specific recommendations for the police and other law enforcement and criminal justice agencies, city officials and community organizations. Our partners plan to use the data from the HIA in their campaigns on healthy policing practices and in upcoming court proceedings to determine whether the gang injunction will be upheld or reversed. Details: Oakland, CA: Human Impact Partners, 2015. 105p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2015 at: HealthImpactAssessmentoftheTownsendStreetGangInjunctioninSantaAna,California+ Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: HealthImpactAssessmentoftheTownsendStreetGangInjunctioninSantaAna,California+ Shelf Number: 137017 Keywords: Gang Prevention Gang Violence Gangs Injunctions Street Gangs Violent Crime

Author: Fontes, Anthony Wayne, IV Title: Of Maras and Mortal Doubt: Violence, Order, and Uncertainty in Guatemala City Summary: Everyday brutality in Guatemala City shocks and numbs a society that has suffered generations of war and bloodshed. Much of this violence is blamed on maras, gangs bearing transnational signs and symbols, that operate in prisons an poor urban communities. I will explore how the maras' evolution in post-war Guatemala has made them what they are today: victim-perpetrators of massive and horrifying violence, useful targets of societal rage, pivotal figures in a politics of death reigning over post-war society. However, while maras and mareros play starring roles in this account of extreme peacetime violence, they are not the problem. They are a hyper-visible expression of a problem no one can name, a deafening scream, a smokescreen obscuring innumerable and diffuse sources of everyday brutality. The maras will be my entry-point into a world defined by mortal doubt, and my guides as I navigate the rumors, fantasies, fears, and trauma swirling about criminal violence in post-war Guatemala City. The specter of violence has become so utterly entwined with the making of lived and symbolic landscapes that it cannot be extricated from the very fibers of everyday life. I will illuminate the myriad of spaces this violence infiltrates and reorders to expose the existential uncertainty haunting efforts to confront, contain, and overcome violence. In the process, I provide an alternative, intimate understanding of the violence and suffering for which maras speak, or are made to speak, and the ways this violence and suffering affects individual consciousness and communal life, orders urban space, and circulates in public discourse. Thus, I have arranged my arguments and stories in such a way as to capture the destabilizing psychological, affective, and visceral impact the conditions of extreme violation at work in post-war Guatemala City have on knowledge- and meaning-making. The veins of uncertainty fracturing this account are meant to rupture the pretense of knowing, and so break through into the treacherous and largely unmapped territory that is life lived in the shadow of constant violence. Details: Berkeley, CA: University of California, Berkeley, 2015. 223p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed December, 2015 at: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/16c477pk Year: 2015 Country: Guatemala URL: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/16c477pk Shelf Number: 137426 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs Maras Violence Violent Crime

Author: Lohmuller, Michael Title: El Salvador's Gangs & Prevailing Gang Paradigms in a Post-Truce Context Summary: This paper examines the relevance of prevailing gang paradigms as it relates to the case of El Salvador. It is particularly concerned with the concept of 'Third Generation Gangs,' which holds that Salvadoran street gangs are becoming sophisticated political actors seeking to maintain an international reach, and are increasingly capable of confronting the state. El Salvador is in the midst of a violent upheaval. In 2012, El Salvador's two main street gangs signed a truce, which was tacitly endorsed and facilitated by the government. However, following the breakdown of the truce, violence in El Salvador has rapidly escalated, with the gangs increasingly targeting security forces. This paper discusses whether this rising violence is indicative of the gangs' collective maturation process into a 'Third Generation Gang,' or, alternatively, if autonomous spasms of violence by individual gang factions as a means of self-preservation are being misinterpreted as a collective maturation process. Details: Washington, DC: Security Studies Program, George Washington University(?), 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 13, 2016 at: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2015/LohmullerElSalGangs.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador URL: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2015/LohmullerElSalGangs.pdf Shelf Number: 137568 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Street Gangs Violent Crime

Author: Ueberall, Stephanie Title: Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews. Volume 1: Defining the Problem Summary: The success or failure of community strategies to address the youth gun violence crisis is often attributed in part to how well the problem is understood and diagnosed. With support from The New York Community Trust, the Crime Commission has undertaken an analysis of youth gun violence and crew activity - violent turf rivalries among less-organized, smaller and normally younger groups than traditional gangs - in select New York City communities. Our initial findings from available data, existing research, and interviews with stakeholders are presented in a series of papers titled, "Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews". This research and fieldwork demonstrated that crews - and not traditional, hierarchical gangs - are a major part of violent crime statistics and analysis. Crews actually account for a great deal of youth criminal activity, especially violent crime - and without proper interventions for this type of activity, we will not be able to adequately address what has been a persistent public safety and criminal justice issue for New York City. In order to develop more effective responses to crews it is essential for stakeholders to acknowledge the victimization of those involved, understand their underlying needs, and identify the neighborhood conditions that impact them. New York City has famously experienced unprecedented, sustained reductions in crime over the last 25 years. Areas once so dangerous that they resembled foreign war zones now are home to some of the most desirable real estate in the country. We proudly and rightfully point to our success, calling ourselves the "safest big city in America". But there are places and people that have been left behind. There are areas which have not seen violent crime rates drop to nearly zero - as others have - or anywhere close. Certain races and age groups are also still far more likely to become victims and be responsible for violent crime than others. The root causes of violent crime have not changed either - and the circumstances under which crime is committed sound eerily familiar to the high-crime New York of 25 years ago that we now refer to as the "bad old days". Therefore, in order to make real strides in improving the quality of life amongst these persistently hardest-hit groups, we must address the root causes of why youth become involved in gun violence and crews. The NYPD publically acknowledged that youth "gangs" are becoming more organized and more violent, finding that more than a third of all shootings in New York City now involve what the NYPD calls "crews". In order to truly identify how youth are involved in organized activity (gangs, crews, etc.) and gun violence, the Crime Commission researched legal and intelligence definitions and conducted fieldwork with community residents, service providers, and policymakers which revealed three broad categories of organization: traditional gangs, crews, and groups. This research and fieldwork demonstrated that crews - (Fluid groups formed based on where members live, such as a building or block, creating violent turf rivalries. Crews generally do not have clear hierarchy, structure, or rules, and are usually not profit-motivated)- and not traditional, hierarchical gangs - are a major part of violent crime statistics and analysis. Crews actually account for a great deal of youth criminal activity, especially violent crime - and without proper interventions for this type of activity, we will not be able to adequately address what has been a persistent public safety and criminal justice issue for New York City. Details: New York: Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, 2015. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 27, 2016 at: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/CCC-Crews-Vol1-DefiningTheProblem.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/CCC-Crews-Vol1-DefiningTheProblem.pdf Shelf Number: 137681 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Violent Crime Youth Violence

Author: Ueberall, Stephanie Title: Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews. Volume 2: CompStat for Violence Prevention Programs Summary: Although there have been significant recent investments by policymakers and funders - ranging from organizing task forces and work groups, to deploying new law enforcement strategies, to implementing programmatic interventions - New York City's ability to fully understand and diagnose its crew problem is hindered by a lack of data and coordination. While the NYPD collects data on crew members and related criminal activity, law enforcement data are typically insufficient to inform comprehensive responses because it is collected for the purpose of informing suppression and investigation strategies. At the same time, community-based organizations collect a range of data about the underlying needs of the individuals involved, but often lack the capacity to analyze and communicate these data to inform policy and programming decisions. Further, the City lacks a collaborative effort among stakeholders dedicated to addressing this problem. Preventing crew violence cannot be accomplished by a single agency or organization. Effective solutions require the combination of insight, hard work, and dedication from a wide variety of organizations and stakeholders. New York City should immediately mobilize stakeholders to take steps toward developing a comprehensive strategy to address the city's crew violence problem. Details: New York: Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, 2015. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 27, 2016 at: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/CCC-Crews-Vol2-Compstat.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/CCC-Crews-Vol2-Compstat.pdf Shelf Number: 137682 Keywords: Compstat Crime Analysis Gang Violence Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Violence Crime Violent Crime Youth Violence

Author: Ueberall, Stephanie Title: Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews. Volume 3: Responding to the Problem Summary: The success or failure of community strategies to address the youth gun violence crisis is often attributed in part to how well the problem is understood and diagnosed. With support from The New York Community Trust, the Crime Commission has undertaken an analysis of youth gun violence and crew activity - violent turf rivalries among less-organized, smaller and normally younger groups than traditional gangs - in select New York City communities. Our initial findings from available data, existing research, and interviews with stakeholders are presented in a series of papers titled, "Assessing New York City's Youth Gun Violence Crisis: Crews". This research and fieldwork demonstrated that crews - and not traditional, hierarchical gangs - are a major part of violent crime statistics and analysis. Crews actually account for a great deal of youth criminal activity, especially violent crime - and without proper interventions for this type of activity, we will not be able to adequately address what has been a persistent public safety and criminal justice issue for New York City. In order to develop more effective responses to crews it is essential for stakeholders to acknowledge the victimization of those involved, understand their underlying needs, and identify the neighborhood conditions that impact them. Executive Summary New York City has famously experienced unprecedented, sustained reductions in crime over the last 25 years. Areas once so dangerous that they resembled foreign war zones now are home to some of the most desirable real estate in the country. We proudly and rightfully point to our success, calling ourselves the "safest big city in America". But there are places and people that have been left behind. There are areas which have not seen violent crime rates drop to nearly zero - as others have - or anywhere close. Certain races and age groups are also still far more likely to become victims and be responsible for violent crime than others. The root causes of violent crime have not changed either - and the circumstances under which crime is committed sound eerily familiar to the high-crime New York of 25 years ago that we now refer to as the "bad old days". Therefore, in order to make real strides in improving the quality of life amongst these persistently hardest-hit groups, we must address the root causes of why youth become involved in gun violence and crews. The NYPD publically acknowledged that youth "gangs" are becoming more organized and more violent, finding that more than a third of all shootings in New York City now involve what the NYPD calls "crews". In order to truly identify how youth are involved in organized activity (gangs, crews, etc.) and gun violence, the Crime Commission researched legal and intelligence definitions and conducted fieldwork with community residents, service providers, and policymakers. Although there have been significant recent investments by policymakers and funders - ranging from organizing task forces and work groups, to deploying new law enforcement strategies, to implementing programmatic interventions - New York City's ability to fully understand and diagnose its crew problem is hindered by a lack of data and coordination. While the NYPD collects data on crew members and related criminal activity, law enforcement data are typically insufficient to inform comprehensive responses because it is collected for the purpose of informing suppression and investigation strategies. At the same time, community-based organizations collect a range of data about the underlying needs of the individuals involved, but often lack the capacity to analyze and communicate these data to inform policy and programming decisions. Further, the City lacks a collaborative effort among stakeholders dedicated to addressing this problem. Preventing crew violence cannot be accomplished by a single agency or organization. Effective solutions require the combination of insight, hard work, and dedication from a wide variety of organizations and stakeholders. New York City should immediately mobilize stakeholders to take steps toward developing a comprehensive strategy to address the city's crew violence problem. The Crime Commission's Assessment offers the following recommendation: 1. Implement a cooperative approach 2. Better collect and share data 3. Coordinate a continuum of interventions Details: New York: Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, 2015. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 27, 2016 at: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/CCC-Crews-Vol3-RespondingToTheProblem.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/CCC-Crews-Vol3-RespondingToTheProblem.pdf Shelf Number: 137683 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Neighborhoods and Crime Violent Crime Youth Violence

Author: Williams, Patrick Title: Dangerous associations: joint enterprise, gangs and racism. An analysis of the processes of criminalisation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals Summary: Following the publication of Baroness Young's review Improving outcomes for young black and/or Muslim men in the Criminal Justice System in 2014, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies commissioned the authors to write a research and policy project to explore the relationship between Joint Enterprise, gangs, and the police's gang database, and ethnicity. This study also forms part of the authors' response to a call by the House of Commons Justice Committee for a rigorous consideration of the possible relationship between the disproportionate application of collective punishments/sanctions and in particular, the Joint Enterprise (JE) upon BAME individuals and groups. The findings offer a critical analysis of contemporary responses to the 'gang', highlighting limitations in the evidence base that currently informs the pursuit of collective sanctions against alleged 'gang' members and their associates. This report reveals the dangerous associations of a series of negative constructs, signifying racialised stereotypes that endure and underpin contemporary policing and prosecution strategies in relation to serious youth violence in England and Wales. The net effect of criminal justice policies which are designed to 'disrupt' and 'end' the gang, is the disproportionate punishment of young people from minority ethnic (particularly black) groups while failing to adequately curtail levels of serious youth violence across England and Wales. Details: London: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, 2016. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 27, 2016 at: http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/Dangerous%20assocations%20Joint%20Enterprise%20gangs%20and%20racism.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/Dangerous%20assocations%20Joint%20Enterprise%20gangs%20and%20racism.pdf Shelf Number: 137686 Keywords: Bias Disproportionate Minority Contact Gangs Minority Groups Race/Ethnicity Racial Disparities

Author: InSight Crime Title: Gangs in Honduras Summary: In the last two decades, Honduras has seen a significant increase in gang membership, gang criminal activity, and gang-related violence. The uptick in violence has been particularly troubling. In 2014, Honduras was considered the most violent nation in the world that was not at war. Although high impunity rates and lack of reliable data make it difficult to assess how many of these murders are gang-related, it's clear that the gangs' use of violence -- against rivals, civilians, security forces and perceived transgressors within their own ranks -- has greatly contributed to these numbers. Among the areas hardest hit are the country's urban centers. Honduras' economic capital, San Pedro Sula, is, according to some, the world's most violent city, with a homicide rate of 142 for every 100,000 people. The political capital Tegucigalpa has a homicide rate of 81 per 100,000. The third largest city, La Ceiba, has a murder rate of 95 per 100,000. These are also the areas where the gangs, in particular the two most prominent, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and Barrio 18, have the greatest presence and influence. The emergence of hyper-violent street gangs happened relatively quickly in Honduras. In the late 1990s, following legislation in the United States that led to increased deportation of ex-convicts, numerous MS13 and Barrio 18 members arrived in the country. By the early 2000s, these two gangs, along with several local groups, had begun a bloody battle for territory -- and the extortion revenue and drug markets that goes with it -- that continues to this day. The government responded by passing so-called "iron fist" legislation and arresting thousands of suspected gang members. Instead of slowing the growth of gangs, however, the policy allowed them to consolidate their leadership within the prison system, expand their economic portfolios and make contact with other criminal organizations. This report covers the current state of gangs in Honduras. Specifically, it examines the history, geographic presence, structure and modus operandi of Barrio 18 and MS13 in the country. It also analyzes how the gangs may be developing into more sophisticated criminal organizations. It looks closely at examples that illustrate how some parts of these two gangs are winning the support of the local communities in which they operate. Finally, it gives an overview of some of the other street gangs operating in Honduras. Details: Washington, DC: United States Agency for International Development, 2015. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 1, 2016 at: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2015/HondurasGangs.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Honduras URL: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2015/HondurasGangs.pdf Shelf Number: 137713 Keywords: Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Street Gangs

Author: O'Connor, Robyn M. Title: What Works to Prevent Gang Involvement, Youth Violence and Crime: A Rapid Review of Interventions Delivered in the UK and Abroad Summary: This report was commissioned by the Home Office to further our understanding of what works to prevent gang involvement and youth violence. Since the Government's Ending Gang and Youth Violence programme began in 2011, it has had a strong emphasis on the importance of intervening at the earliest opportunity to prevent children and young people from getting involved in gangs and youth violence, and helping them to find ways out if they do become involved (HM Government, 2011). Our goal was to provide a brief overview of the international literature on effective and ineffective approaches aiming to prevent gang involvement and youth violence, and to identify specific preventative programmes with a good evidence base through a rapid assessment of previous programme evaluations conducted by other "what works" clearinghouses. From this, we sought to summarise some common features - or "key principles" - associated with what does and doesn't work. We leave to the next stage the task of assessing the specific costs and impacts of those programmes available in the UK, and assessing and recommending specific programmes. Overall, we identified 67 well-evidenced programmes, all implemented in the USA and nearly half in the UK, which aimed to prevent gang involvement, youth violence or associated problems such as youth offending, conduct disorder and delinquency. 54 of these programmes had been assessed as effective by the clearinghouses searched, whilst 13 were classified as ineffective. The features and activities associated with these programmes were largely consistent with the findings of the key systematic reviews and evidence assessments identified through our literature review. To maximise transparency, a list of the 67 programmes identified through our search is available in Appendix 3. At the time of publication, 18 programmes are also included in EIF's online Guidebook. Some of these are discussed in more detail in Section 3 as case studies, illustrating how the key principles we have identified are implemented in practice. A rating and detailed description are not provided for every programme, because we have not yet done our own assessment of their effectiveness and input costs. Whilst the clearinghouses searched provide very useful information about specific programmes, each presents different types of information that are not always strictly comparable, and not always fully up to date. Evidence and programmes change, so until we have tested the evidence in more detail we cannot provide an explicit assessment of all the programmes in this review. In the second phase of this work, the relevant programmes identified through this report will undergo detailed scrutiny and provider consultation to enable us to confirm an EIF rating and include information about these programmes in our online Guidebook. Details: London: Home Office, 2015. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 1, 2016 at: http://www.eif.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Final-R2-WW-Prevent-Gang-Youth-Violence-final.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.eif.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Final-R2-WW-Prevent-Gang-Youth-Violence-final.pdf Shelf Number: 137723 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Delinquency Prevention Gangs Interventions Youth Gangs Youth Violence

Author: Navarro, Jose Alfredo Title: Machos y Malinchistas: Chicano/Latino Gang Narratives, Masculinity, & Affect Summary: Machos y Malinchistas interrogates how Chicano nationalist cultural productions, after the Chicano movement (1960-2010), have posited a monolithic Chicano/Latino identity primarily based on a racist, heteropatriarchal nation-state model for nationalism that results in the formation of a "transcendental revolutionary Chicano [male] subject" (Fregoso). Furthermore, although this project examines how these literary, cinematic, and musical representations of Chicano/Latino men in late 20th century are strategically deployed by the mainstream media and also by Chicanos/Latinos to simultaneously reproduce and resist imperialist, racist, and heteropatriarchal logics of domination. It also highlights the process through which dominant cultural ideologies force Chicanas/os and Latinas/os to imagine themselves through the prism of a white racist, heteropatriarchal nation-state - one that ultimately regulates Chicano/Latino identity and sexuality. Such nationalist narratives, I argue, not only effect a symbolic erasure of Chicana and Latina women - especially with regard to representations of these women in the novels and films I analyze - but also fiercely regulate male Chicano/Latino sexuality. Therefore, many of these literary and cultural representations of Chicanas/os and Latinas/os- especially in gang narratives, and particularly with respect to representations of so-called "figures of resistance" like El Pachuco and El Cholo-reveal the effects of Spanish and U.S. colonial residues on the Chicano/Latino community while they underscore the history of racism and sexism in the U.S. In this respect, my preliminary conclusion is that the representations of Chicano/Latino men and their masculinities/sexualities in literature, film and music in the U.S. has largely been what I call a masking - or brown-facing - of the legacies of Spanish and U.S. imperialisms, heteropatriarchy, and racism in the country. Nevertheless, I maintain that such performances still form particularly cogent responses to state oppression and the underlying logics of domination. Furthermore, I argue that these literary, cinematic, and musical products create opportunities to disrupt these imperial logics. Finally, in my consideration of the ways that gender and sexuality mediate Chicano nationalist discourses, especially as these discourses relate to Chicano/Latino masculinity represented by Chicano/Latino gangs, I begin to rearticulate Chicano/a Latino/a identity as a part of a larger anti-racist, egalitarian, and anti-imperialist political identity that functions to "liberate (Chicano/a and other minority) constituencies from the subordinating forces of the state" (Rodriguez 2009). Consequently, Machos y Malinchistas utilizes the fields of American Studies, Postcolonial, and Cultural Studies-specifically, Chicana/o Cultural Studies-, literary criticism, and other subaltern historiographies as key frameworks for understanding Chicana/o Latina/o nationalist cultural productions. My project draws upon recent Chicana/o Latina/o scholarship like Richard T. Rodriguez's Next of Kin: The Family in Chicano/a Cultural Politics (2009) and Ellie Hernandez's Postnationalism in Chicana/o Literature and Culture (2009) and puts key elements of these respective texts into conversation with my analysis of Chicano/Latino nationalist texts-specifically, with regard to the way Chicano/Latino gang figures have been utilized as a conduit of Chicano nationalist resistance. More importantly, like Monica Brown's Gang Nation: Delinquent Citizens in Puerto Rican, Chicano, and Chicana Narratives (2002), my project levels a critique of Chicano nationalism through the prisms of gender and sexuality in gang narratives. However, unlike Brown's critique, which relies heavily on notions of citizenship that support a nation-state framework for constructions of the Chicana/o Latina/o identity, my critique offers a transnational and localized reimagining of the Chicana/o Latina/o "nation" that facilitates a disruption of nationalist positions and perspectives. My analysis, therefore, stages a transnational, stratified and feminist critique of Chicano/Latino masculinity and sexuality that is mediated through Chicano nationalism in these literary and cultural texts. Details: Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 2012. 176p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation, 2012: Accessed February 2, 2016 at: http://cdm15799.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll3/id/105072 Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://cdm15799.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll3/id/105072 Shelf Number: 137733 Keywords: Films Gangs Latinos Literature Masculinity Media Representations Popular Culture

Author: Relf, Aubrey Title: The nature of gang spawning communities: African American gangs in Compton, CA: 1960-2013 Summary: African American gangs have existed in Compton since the late 1960s, policy makers, scholars, and residents have sought to understand why certain communities remain vulnerable to gang persistence. This study investigated factors that have possibly contributed to this persistence in Compton, CA during 1960 to 2013. The study used a qualitative research design and facilitated semi-structured interviews with twelve people, age twenty to seventy, who lived in Compton for at least 20 years. The analysis revealed that gangs persisted because several youth adopted an identity that glorified the gangster culture, the influx of drugs which: fractured family structures, enflamed gang warfare, and provided illegal means of economic growth. Moreover, as gang wars evolved from fistfights to drive-by shootings, they enhanced community exposure to violence and elicited retaliation that has contributed to gang persistence. Overall, from a community structural vantage point, marginalization, poverty, crack cocaine, and a lack of jobs facilitated a place where gangs and crime may thrive. Details: Los Angeles: University of Southern California, 2014. 147p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 2, 2016 at: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll3/id/404817 Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15799coll3/id/404817 Shelf Number: 137734 Keywords: African Americans Drive-By Shootings Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Squires, Peter Title: Police Perceptions of Gang and Gun Related Offending: A Key Informant Survey Summary: This survey of Police officers (and civilian intelligence analyst staff) within one police force (GMP) offers an important and unusual insight into the problem of urban gun crime. Our findings reflect the perceptions of the problem of gun crime shared by a group of uniquely experienced police officers whose daily work involves dealing with, responding to and forward planning in respect of the problems of gun crime in one major British city with a particular reputation for gun crime. The particular survey itself comprises responses from 55 police personnel, ranking from detective constable to chief superintendent, (including a number of civilian intelligence analysts). Those GMP staff included in sample shared 835 years within policing, suggesting a mean duration of police service of some 15.8 years. Respondents were drawn from all of the force's separate geographical divisions. As suggested, the sample also included 20 GMP intelligence analysts, five of these working on attachment with the GMP Firearms Desk and operational gang response units. The intelligence analysts alone had a mean duration of service within GMP of between 8-9 years. Taken together, therefore, these lengths of service in the GMP suggest that our sample is appropriately drawn from an experienced and uniquely well qualified section of the police workforce, and a group we would expect to be able to speak knowledgeably, informatively and constructively about the gun crime and gang crime problems that they work with on a regular basis. There was a threefold purpose in reviewing 'key informant' perceptions of the gun crime problem within the project. First, in a wider sense it is part of our effort to get a clear perspective on how the problem is understood or constructed - this is, in a simple sense, what the 'experts' dealing with the problem think about it, the forms it takes and the means by which it might usefully be tackled. Second, in a more critical sense the survey is also very much about how these same 'experts' (or 'primary definers' (Hall et al, 1978)) help to construct the issue for the rest of us. A third issue relevant here concerns how the constructions of these 'experts' represent and yet may also 'misrepresent' aspects of the problems represented by 'gun' and 'gang' crime. For example, the particular professional preoccupations of police officers may tend to distort their perceptions of both the offence and of the offenders (or it may dwell upon some aspects of these matters at the expense of others). Or, to put it another way and recognising the "political" nature of problem definition in public policy-making, our respondents might perpetuate a perception of the gun crime problem which does not necessarily correspond with views shared by others, or they may hold views uncorroborated, for example, by research findings. All of this is, perhaps, only to be expected. Our group of respondents were selected precisely for their specialist knowledge and experience, and this knowledge and experience may lead them to see the matter in a different way. Details: Brighton, UK: University of Brighton, 2007. 87p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 8, 2016 at: http://about.brighton.ac.uk/staff/profiles/pas1-magnet.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://about.brighton.ac.uk/staff/profiles/pas1-magnet.pdf Shelf Number: 137807 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Guns Informants

Author: Farran, Gabrielle Title: "Opening Up": How is Positive Change Made Possible for Gang-Involved Adolescents in Contact with a Mental Health Charity? Summary: This research sought to explore if, and how, being involved with a mental health charity project is helpful to gang-associated young people. There are problematic gaps in access to adolescent mental health services in the UK, and the evidence base that supports them, particularly for young people labelled 'hard to reach'. In addition, engaging adolescents is acknowledged as challenging for mental health professionals, and drop-out rates are high. Furthermore, recommended interventions do not address poverty and social disadvantage, the most salient risk factors for both adolescent mental health problems and for offending, and a blight on the lived experience of the most marginalised and vulnerable young people in UK society. Taking a critical realist stance, the current research aims to address these problems by using the qualitative methodology of grounded theory to develop a model of the positive change occurring at an innovative mental health project working with gang-involved young people. The project has developed an integrated approach that draws on different therapeutic orientations, particularly community psychology, mentalisation and attachment theory. Six young people and six professionals working at the project were interviewed. A grounded theory analysis, comprising the core category of "Opening Up" was constructed from the researcher's understanding of participants' accounts. Positive change was conceptualised as an opening up of: future possibilities; contexts for action and interaction; access to material and social resources and opportunities; the self in relationship; and ideas about the self and others. Central to the findings was the use of trust as a resource for change, and a service structure enabling professionals and young people to take "the time that it takes" to establish a therapeutic relationship facilitating positive change. In keeping with the community psychology influences at the project, a Youth Research Consultant advised throughout the research. Limitations of the findings and their implications for future research and practice at the individual, service and commissioning levels are considered. Details: London: University of East London, 2014. 179p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 10, 2016 at: http://roar.uel.ac.uk/3978/ Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://roar.uel.ac.uk/3978/ Shelf Number: 137829 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Gangs Mental Health Services Youth Gangs

Author: Setty, Emily Title: Gangs in Prison: The nature and impact of gang involvement among prisoners Summary: Recent years have seen an increase in policy focus on the issue of gangs in prison, and emerging research exploring the issue. Research exploring gangs in prison in a UK context is, relatively, in its infancy. But there is evidence to suggest that the more extensive US literature1 - which describes the presence of highly-structured, hierarchical gangs exercising substantial control over the prison regime - is unlikely to apply in the UK. The existing UK evidence base instead points to looser 'collectives' of prisoners formed dynamically in response to the conditions encountered in the prison environment. The evidence relating to the impact of these collectives in UK prisons has thus far been inconclusive. Whilst policy and practice to tackle gang involvement among prisoners has begun to be developed in the UK, there is limited available evidence relating to effective techniques and approaches. It is suggested that rehabilitative approaches may prove effective and there has been recognition among UK policy makers of the need to take a multi-pronged approach to the issue, with emphasis on intelligence-gathering, information-sharing, enforcement and rehabilitation. Research aims The overarching aim of this research project is to build upon the existing evidence relating to gangs in custody to support the further development of policy and practice in this area. Specifically, the research aims to explore: - the nature and impact of gang involvement among - how custodial establishments can reduce gang involvement among prisoners and respond to the negative consequences arising from gang involvement in custody. Key findings The key findings in this study relate to the nature and strength of gang allegiances in prison; the impact of gangs in prison; and managing gangs in prison and encouraging gang exit. Details: London: Catch22, 2014. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 9, 2016 at: http://www.catch-22.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Dawes-Unit-Gangs-in-Prison-full-report.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.catch-22.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Dawes-Unit-Gangs-in-Prison-full-report.pdf Shelf Number: 138153 Keywords: Gangs Prison Gangs

Author: New Zealand. Ministry of Social Development Title: Adult gang members and their children's contact with Ministry of Social Development service lines Summary: The harm inflicted by gangs is a serious issue in New Zealand. We have a complex gang problem that spans social, economic and justice issues. Almost half of the serious offences committed by gang members are family violence-related. A high proportion of gang members' children experience multiple incidents of abuse or neglect. Adult gang members and their children's contact with Ministry of Social Development service lines seeks to quantify the scope and scale of the societal impact of adult gangs in New Zealand as it relates to contact with the Ministry. The report establishes baseline figures on how many known adult gang members, and how many of their children, come into contact with the Ministry of Social Development's service arms, and the types and estimated total costs of contacts that occur. This report, as a first step, gives a much more comprehensive picture of the social costs associated with gang members. There is further opportunity for government agencies to work more collaboratively to address the social harms noted throughout this report. Most notably, there would be an added benefit in incorporating further social sector data to enhance the profile we have of gang families. Key findings Profile of known adult gang members as at July 2014 - Most (86 per cent) of the 3,960 known adult gang members were patched, with the other 14 per cent being prospects. Patched members and prospects were all male. - The two largest adult gangs, the Mongrel Mob and Black Power, accounted for two-thirds of all known adult gang members in New Zealand as at July 2014. - Over three-quarters of adult gang members were Maori, 14 per cent were European and eight per cent were Pacific peoples. - Adult gang members' ages were spread with 20 per cent being in their twenties, 29 per cent in their thirties, 31 per cent in their forties and 17 per cent in their fifties. The average age of gang members was nearly 40 years. Welfare assistance received by gang members - Nine out of every ten gang members have received main benefits. - Ninety-two per cent (3,627) of the total 3,960 known gang members received main benefits from MSD at some stage between 1 January 1993 and 31 December 2014. - The 3,627 gang members spent on average 8.9 years on a main benefit (not necessarily continuously). Over half the time was receiving job seeker-related benefits and nearly a quarter of the time was receiving health or disability-related benefits. - Eighteen per cent of all gang members had received a main benefit for a total of over 15 years, whereas 13 per cent received main benefits for two years or less, and eight per cent had not received main benefits at all. - As at the end of 2014, the gang members had been paid an estimated total of $525 million in welfare assistance - The total cost of all main benefits paid to the gang members between 1 January 1993 and 31 December 2014 was estimated to be $382m. - Over the same period, an estimated $143m was paid to the gang members in supplementary benefits (e.g. Accommodation Supplement) and ad-hoc payments (e.g. hardship assistance). - In total, an estimated $525m in welfare assistance was paid to the gang members, an average of around $132,000 per person. - Over 7,000 dependent children were included at some point in time in benefit spells with the gang member cohort - Over half (59 per cent) of all gang members had benefit spells that included a total of 7,075 dependent children. These children spent an average of 2.8 years included in benefit - most commonly in either sole parent-related or job seeker-related benefits. - A total of 1,393 children spent more than five years included in benefit with a gang member, including 319 who spent more than 10 years included in benefit. - Nearly 40 per cent of the children of gang members were first included in benefit before their first birthday. - One per cent (32) of the 3,055 gang members who have received a main benefit in the last five years have been prosecuted for welfare fraud. Gang members as the perpetrators of abuse or neglect of children - Over a quarter of adult gang members were recorded by Child, Youth and Family as the alleged perpetrators of abuse or neglect of children - Of the total 3,960 known gang members, 27 per cent (1,056) were recorded by Child, Youth and Family as being the alleged perpetrators of substantiated abuse or neglect of children (noting limitations around the completeness of historical data). - Most commonly this was emotional abuse of children, recorded for 21 per cent of all gang members. Six per cent of gang members were recorded as being the alleged perpetrators of physical abuse of children, and two per cent for the sexual abuse of children. Seven per cent of gang members were recorded as having allegedly neglected children. - The 1,056 gang members were recorded as the alleged perpetrators in a total of 4,944 substantiated findings involving 2,953 distinct children. The relationship of the gang member to the victim in these 4,944 findings was recorded as the parent in 77 per cent of cases, and as the step-parent or mother's partner in 15 per cent of cases. In three per cent of findings, the gang member was recorded as some other relative to the victim, and in two per cent of cases had a non-familial type of relationship to the victim. Gang members' children known to Child, Youth and Family - Analysis was carried out on whether gang members' children had ever had contact with the Care and Protection or Youth Justice service arms of Child, Youth and Family. - Sixty per cent of the 5,890 children of gang members known to Child, Youth and Family have been abused or neglected. - A total of 3,516 children of gang members were recorded as being the victims of abuse or neglect that had been substantiated on investigation by Child, Youth and Family. This is 60 per cent of the total 5,890 known children of gang members. - Of the total 5,890 known children of gang members, 44 per cent were emotionally abused, 28 per cent were neglected, 13 per cent were physically abused and four per cent were sexually abused in terms of substantiated findings. - The alleged perpetrator of abuse or neglect of gang member's children was more often recorded as the child's mother than the gang member father. However, caution should be taken with this finding as the relationship was not recorded for 20 per cent of cases. - Nearly a quarter of the children of gang members aged 10 years or older had youth justice involvement with Child, Youth and Family. - Of the total 5,890 known children of gang members, 3,372 were aged 10 years or older at the time of this analysis. Of these 3,372 children, 23 per cent (762) had at least one referral to Child, Youth and Family for a Youth Justice Family Group Conference (FGC). Estimated costs to Child, Youth and Family associated with gang members - The estimated lifetime-to-date total cost to Child, Youth and Family from the adult gang members and their children was at least $189 million. - We estimate the direct and indirect costs of the 3,960 known gang members lifetime-to-date contact with the Child, Youth and Family service arms was in the vicinity of $58m. This is likely to be an under-estimate due to data limitations. Estimated costs cover both the care and protection and youth justice areas. - We estimate that the direct and indirect costs to Child, Youth and Family of the 5,890 known children of gang members was in the vicinity of $131m, making an overall estimated total of $189m. Details: Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Social Development, 2016. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 10, 2016 at: http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/research/research-on-gangs-and-their-cost/ Year: 2016 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/research/research-on-gangs-and-their-cost/ Shelf Number: 138168 Keywords: Child Abuse and Neglect Children Exposed to Violence Family Violence Gang Violence Gangs

Author: Souza Pinheiro, Alvaro de Title: Irregular Warfare: Brazil's Fight Against Criminal Urban Guerrillas Summary: This monograph by Major General Alvaro de Souza Pinheiro contributes to the discussion of urban guerrillas, their impact on society, and the role of the armed forces in countering criminal elements. The rise of urban guerrillas is a result of an evolution in command and control capabilities, weapons, and doctrine that has given them strong influence over the daily lives of citizens living in neighborhoods where government support and control is limited or absent. The favelas (ghettos, slums) of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo are ready examples that provide the setting for General Alvaro's monograph. The urban guerrilla, however, is emblematic of a wider-felt problem, not limited to Brazil. What makes General Alvaro's monograph compelling is that this Brazilian story has universal application in many locales that are under-governed and under-supported by constituted authorities. Urban guerrillas flow from a witch's brew of ersatz political doctrine, readily available and powerful weapons, and criminal gangs that typically are financed by the drug trade. Criminal groups like the Red Command (Comando Vermelho-CV) and Third Command have been able to thrive in the favelas because of ineffective policing and lack of government interest. These Brazilian gangs have filled the void with their own form of governance. As General Alvaro indicates herein, criminal urban guerrillas have latched on to revolutionary doctrine, such as the Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla and the First Capital Command Statute, so as to give political legitimacy to their lawlessness. In fact, these are gangs that terrorize the residents of the favelas, holding them hostage to criminal exploits, while keeping government legitimacy and security in check. As in the United States, when the general welfare of civil society is at risk, the President may call upon the armed forces to aid the police or take control. Under the Brazilian Constitution the President can "intervene -- to put an end to serious jeopardy to public order --" through his power to "decree and enforce federal intervention." This is akin to the U.S. President's authorities for civil disturbances and other emergencies, but a notable difference is the expansive role that Brazilian armed forces can take. Under the Brazilian Constitution the armed forces "are intended for the defense of the Country, for the guarantee of the constitutional powers [legislative, executive, judicial], and, on the initiative of any of these, of law and order." Thus during the crisis to restore public order in Rio de Janeiro in November 1994 through January 1995, the military was put in charge as the lead agency, with operational control over federal and state police. With Presidential authorization, the Brazilian Minister of the Army designated the Eastern Military Commander as the General Commander of Operations. Operation Rio commenced with the goals of reducing urban violence and reestablishing government authority. Operations consisted of isolating lawless areas, conducting squad patrols and large sweeps, and on several occasions, attacking the urban guerrilla directly. The operation suppressed urban guerrilla activity-for a time. There was a decrease in bank robberies, car thefts, gang shootouts, drug trafficking and weapons smuggling, plus some 300 automatic rifles and 500 hand guns were confiscated. Yet as General Alvaro illustrates in this monograph, the problem persists today with similar public order crises in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and other cities. It is for good reason that General Alvaro includes in this monograph a translation of Carlos Marighella's Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla, since the man and his manual continue to inspire miscreants and would-be revolutionary groups. Much as psychiatrist-philosopher Frantz Fanon provided a rationale for African anticolonialists to kill the white interlopers, Marighella is a symbol for ideological activists who would resist authority, as well as for criminals who profit when government presence and legitimacy are wanting. The military planner and strategist should be familiar with the Minimanual and similar writings since they contribute to the development of the strategic environment as we find it, and it is against this backdrop that we plan for countering insurgencies and terrorism. The military will continue to play an important part in countering the urban guerrilla, whose goal is to separate the population from the government (typically by making government forces overreact) then supplanting it. This suggests that the military will need to conduct a range of irregular warfare activities in coordination with civilian agencies. Whatever the combination of direct and indirect actions that are applied to counter the urban guerrilla, the military planner will be well served to consider General Alvaro's insights about Brazil's Fight Against Criminal Urban Guerrillas. Details: Hurlburt Field, FL: Joint Special Operations University, 2009. 98p. Source: Internet Resource: JSOU Report 09-8: Accessed March 12, 2016 at: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2009/0909_jsou-report-09-8.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Brazil URL: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/2009/0909_jsou-report-09-8.pdf Shelf Number: 138195 Keywords: Criminal Networks Drug Trafficking Favelas Gangs Organized Crime Urban Guerrillas Urban Violence Violent Crime Weapons Smuggling

Author: National Crime Prevention Centre (Canada) Title: The Achievers: Politive Alternatives to Youth Gangs (PAYG) Summary: Toronto's Jane-Finch community suffers from one of the highest violent crime rates in the province of Ontario and is widely acknowledged as one of the most socially and economically disadvantaged communities in Canada. It is believed that the Jane-Finch community has the highest concentration of youth gangs in Canada, with well-known gangs such as the Bloods and Crips. Researchers from the University of Toronto and officials from the City of Toronto have developed the Youth Crime Risk Index, a tool to identify neighbourhoods with a high risk of youth gang activity. The index demonstrates that Jane-Finch has the highest risk score in Toronto. This indicates that the community suffers from high crime rates, socio-economic disadvantage, and residents have limited access to community programs for youth. Given all of these risk factors, youth who grow up in this community are especially vulnerable to gang membership. In 1999, there were a few local programs that dealt with gang members and gang-related issues, but no programs were available for middle-school youth. Details: Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, 2014. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Evaluation Summaries ES-2014-40: Accessed march 14, 2016 at: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/payg/payg-eng.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Canada URL: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/payg/payg-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 138221 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Gangs High Crime Areas Neighborhoods and Crime Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime Urban Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Cahill, Meagan Title: Evaluation of the Los Angeles Gang Reduction and Youth Development Program: Year 4 Evaluation Report Summary: The Los Angeles Mayor's Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) program works to reduce gang violence by providing prevention and intervention services concentrated in 12 zones. The fourth year of the GRYD evaluation examined program dosage, client and family experiences, program impact on youth risk factors for joining a gang, and community-level impacts on gang crime and violence. GRYD engaged youth with serious risk factors in intensive programming, and risk factors for GRYD Prevention clients declined. There was mixed evidence regarding whether the GRYD Zones "outperformed" comparison areas in reducing gang violence and crime. Details: Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2015. 183p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 29, 2016 at: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/2000622-Evaluation-of-the-Los-Angeles-Gang-Reduction-and-Youth-Development-Program-Year-4-Evaluation-Report.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/2000622-Evaluation-of-the-Los-Angeles-Gang-Reduction-and-Youth-Development-Program-Year-4-Evaluation-Report.pdf Shelf Number: 138460 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Gang Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Cilluffo, Frank Title: Out of the Shadows: Getting Ahead of Prison Radicalization Summary: The potential for radicalization of prison inmates in the United States poses a threat of unknown magnitude to the national security of the U.S. Prisons have long been places where extremist ideology and calls to violence could find a willing ear, and conditions are often conducive to radicalization. With the world's largest prison population (over 2 million - ninety-three percent of whom are in state and local prisons and jails) and highest incarceration rate (701 out of every 100,000), America faces what could be an enormous challenge - every radicalized prisoner becomes a potential terrorist recruit. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recently stated that "[t]he threat of homegrown terrorist cells - radicalized online, in prisons and in other groups of socially isolated souls - may be as dangerous as groups like al Qaeda, if not more so. They certainly present new challenges to detection." The London transit bombings of 2005 and the Toronto terrorist plot of 2006, to name just two incidents, illustrate the threat posed by a state's own radicalized citizens. By acting upon international lessons learned, the U.S. may operate from a proactive position. Under the leadership of The George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) and The University of Virginia's Critical Incident Analysis Group (CIAG), a task force of diverse subject matter experts was convened to analyze what is currently known about radicalization and recruitment in U.S. prison systems at the federal, state and local levels. The goal of this diverse, multidisciplinary group was to give unbiased and well-informed recommendations for further action. The task force performed an extensive literature review and received briefings from professionals with expertise in this area. Federal, state and local officials provided background information on radicalization and ongoing efforts to decrease the threat of terrorist activity in prisons. The task force sought and received perspectives from religious service providers in prisons and jails, behavioral and social scientists, and members of the national security and intelligence communities. Researchers of radicalization in foreign prisons provided first hand accounts of radicalization and terrorist activities overseas. Due to the sensitive nature of many of these briefings and the desire of some briefers to remain anonymous, this report makes reference to information for which no source is cited. All information provided, where no source is provided, originates from task force briefings with subject matter experts and officials with personal experience in dealing with prisoner radicalization. This report focuses on the process of radicalization in prison. Radicalization "refers to the process by which inmates...adopt extreme views, including beliefs that violent measures need to be taken for political or religious purposes." By "extreme views," this report includes beliefs that are anti-social, politically rebellious, and anti-authoritarian. This report focuses, in particular, on religious radicalization in conjunction with the practice of Islam. Radical beliefs have been used to subvert the ideals of every major religion in the world. Just as young people may become radicalized by "cut-and-paste" versions of the Qur'an via the Internet, new inmates may gain the same distorted understanding of the faith from gang leaders or other influential inmates. The task force recognizes the potentially positive impact of religion on inmates, and it should be noted that inmates have a constitutional right to practice their religion, a right reinforced by further legislation. Details: Washington, DC: George Washington University, Homeland Security Policy Institute; Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia, Critical Incident Analysis Group, 2006. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 31, 2016 at: https://med.virginia.edu/ciag/wp-content/uploads/sites/313/2015/12/out_of_the_shadows.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: https://med.virginia.edu/ciag/wp-content/uploads/sites/313/2015/12/out_of_the_shadows.pdf Shelf Number: 102908 Keywords: Gangs Islam Muslims Prisoner Radicalization Prisoners Radicalization Religion Terrorists

Author: Hill, Christopher M. Title: Evaluation of the Oklahoma City Gang and Violent Crime Program Summary: In January 2008, the City of Oklahoma City received a grant award from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) for a project called the Oklahoma City Gang and Violent Crime Program. The project, funded under the BJA FY 07 Targeting Violent Crime Initiative, recognized the growing problem of gang violence in Oklahoma City. The project proposed specific activities to combat gang violence; it contained a plan to fund those activities; and it provided for an evaluation to determine the effectiveness of those activities at increasing prosecutions and reducing gang violence. The City of Oklahoma City authorized the Oklahoma City Police Department to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for the purpose of conducting the evaluation. The evaluation was supported by Grant No. 2007-DD-BX-0631 awarded by BJA. The evaluation period ranged from March 9, 2010 to June 11, 2010. Utilizing an evaluation management process, evaluators at the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation conducted multiple assessments that addressed the program's need, theory, process, and impact. Overall, the evaluators make the following five conclusions. 1. Oklahoma City reported a documented gang problem, and additional resources were necessary to implement suppression, intervention, and prevention activities at a level that would reduce and minimize the extent of the problem. The grant award for the Oklahoma City Gang and Violent Crime Program provided funding for those additional resources. 2. The program theory as described in the application for funding contained a satisfactory level of logic and plausibility. In general, the program's functions, activities, and components were well-defined, feasible, and appropriate for the overall goals and objectives. 3. The Oklahoma City Police Department demonstrated a high level of fidelity to the program theory. In general, the department implemented and administered the program's functions, activities, and components as they were designed. 4. Substantial activity took place during the program, which yielded several indicators of the program's ability to improve public safety. Seventy cases worked as part of the program were accepted for prosecution. It is reasonable to believe that many of these cases would have gone undetected without the resources the program made available. Effects of the program on long-term changes in gang-related crime and violence were more difficult to assess. The program will require more data, collected over a longer period, in order to determine its impact on gang-related crime in Oklahoma City. 5. The Oklahoma City Gang and Violent Crime Program contributed to both structural and cultural changes in the Oklahoma City Police Department. Structurally, the department now has systems and standardized processes in place to address the gang problem. Culturally, the program changed the mindset of officers, and intelligence-led policing (ILP) is now widely practiced. The Oklahoma City Police Department would like to build on the successes it achieved through the program. Therefore, the evaluation concludes with recommendations for sustaining the program. Recommendations pertain to training, intelligence-led policing, and information sharing. Details: Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, 2010. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2016 at: https://www.ok.gov/osbi/documents/Evaluation%20Report%20for%20OCPD%20June%202010.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: https://www.ok.gov/osbi/documents/Evaluation%20Report%20for%20OCPD%20June%202010.pdf Shelf Number: 138572 Keywords: Drive-by Shootings Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Youth Gangs

Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Unchecked Power: Police and Military Raids in Low-Income and Immigrant Communities in Venezuela Summary: Since July 2015, Venezuelan security forces have conducted more than 135 operations, including sweeps through low-income communities, as part of the "Operation to Liberate and Protect the People" (OLP), with the alleged purpose of combatting criminal gangs that contribute to the extremely high levels of violence in Venezuela. Participating security forces have included the Bolivarian National Guard, the Bolivarian National Police, the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigative Police, and state police forces. Unchecked Power: Police and Military Raids in Low-Income and Immigrant Communities in Venezuela describes considerable evidence that security forces conducting OLP raids have committed serious abuses. In interviews with the Venezuelan Human Rights Education-Action Program (PROVEA) and Human Rights Watch, victims, witnesses, and other interlocutors described violations including extrajudicial killings and other violent abuses, arbitrary detentions, forced evictions, the destruction of hundreds of homes, and the arbitrary deportation of Colombian nationals including refugees and asylum seekers, often accused without evidence of having links to "paramilitaries." A common denominator shared by these cases, and by government abuses we have documented in other contexts during the past decade, is the extent to which the victims-or their families-have been unable to challenge alleged abuses of state power, feeling they have nowhere to turn for protection of their fundamental rights. The government of Venezuela should ensure that all OLP operations are carried out in accordance with its international human rights obligations, including the requirement to refrain from using unlawful force during public security operations. Ultimately, a strong, independent judiciary is essential to ensure accountability and redress for the kinds of abuses alleged in this report-and to prevent such abuses in the future. PROVEA and Human Rights Watch call on President Nicolas Maduro, the National Assembly, and the Supreme Court to take urgent steps to restore the judiciary's role as an independent guarantor of fundamental rights, and on the international community to press Venezuela's government to stop undermining the impartiality and independence of the judicial branch. Details: New York: HRW, 2016. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 7, 2016 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/venezuela0416web.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Venezuela URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/venezuela0416web.pdf Shelf Number: 138591 Keywords: Gangs Human Rights Abuses Paramilitary Groups Police Brutality Police Use of Force Violence

Author: Preciado, Luis E. Title: State approaches toward reducing youth violence in Honduras and Nicaragua Summary: Nicaragua and Honduras are neighbor countries situated in one of the most violent regions of the world. As such, they share many similarities, including geopolitics, a history of political violence and insurgency, as well as a repressive authoritarian past. In spite of the two countries' similarities, their divergent policing and public security policies have led to equally divergent outcomes in crime and homicide rates. What factors explain this divergence? How effective are their respective policing and security policies in confronting the proliferation of violence among the youth of their nations? Analysis of these questions helps U.S. policy-makers gain greater understanding of the critical factors that are contributing to Central America's escalating youth violence. By way of a most-similar systems approach, this thesis analyzes the aspects that either enable or degrade state efforts to address their youth gang crisis. In sum, building strong and accountable criminal justice institutions as well as addressing the socioeconomic challenges that confront youth populations are necessary preconditions for reducing youth violence. To assist our regional partners in restoring security to their nations, U.S. policymakers need to promote programs that help strengthen institutional capacities and expand social programs that assist at-risk youth. Details: Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2015. 100p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed April 11, 2016 at: http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/47317/15Sep_Preciado_Luis.pdf?sequence=3 Year: 2015 Country: Central America URL: http://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/47317/15Sep_Preciado_Luis.pdf?sequence=3 Shelf Number: 138626 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Gang Violence Gangs Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime Violent Crime Youth Gangs Youth Violence

Author: Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Fusion Center, Intelligence & Counterterrorism Division Title: Texas Gang Threat Assessment Summary: The key analytic judgments of this assessment are: - Gangs continue to represent a significant public safety threat to Texas due to their propensity for violence and heightened level of criminal activity. Of the incarcerated gang members within Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons, over 60 percent are serving a sentence for violent crimes, including robbery (24 percent), homicide (16 percent), and assault/terroristic threat (15 percent). We assess there are likely more than 100,000 gang members in Texas. - The Tier 1 gangs in Texas for 2015 are Tango Blast and Tango cliques (estimated 15,000 members), Texas Syndicate (estimated 3,400 members), Texas Mexican Mafia (estimated 4,700 members), Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) (estimated 800 members), and Latin Kings (estimated 2,100 members). These groups pose the greatest gang threat to Texas due to their relationships with Mexican cartels, high levels of transnational criminal activity, level of violence, and overall statewide presence. - Gangs in Texas remain active in both human smuggling and human trafficking operations. Gang members associated with human smuggling have direct relationships with alien smuggling organizations (ASOs) and Mexican cartels. These organizations were involved in and profited from the recent influx of illegal aliens crossing the border in the Rio Grande Valley in 2014. Gang members involved in human trafficking, including commercial sex trafficking and compelling prostitution of adults and minors, exploit their victims through force, fraud or coercion, including recruiting and grooming them with false promises of affection, employment, or a better life. Gangs identified as being involved in human trafficking in Texas in 2014 include Tango Blast, Texas Syndicate, Bloods, Crips, Gangster Disciples, and MS-13. - Mexican cartels regularly use Texas gangs for the purposes of illicit cross-border smuggling. Members of Tier 1, Tier 2, and other gangs are sometimes recruited and tasked by cartels to carry out acts of violence in both Texas and Mexico. The relationships between certain gangs and cartels fluctuate based on cartel structures and cell alignments, gang alignment with specific cartels, threats or coercion, and familial ties. - Traditional rivalries between gangs continue to diminish as members take advantage of opportunities to collaborate and achieve common criminal objectives, typically for financial gain. Members of gangs such as the Bloods, Texas Syndicate, and Texas Mexican Mafia are working together to smuggle and sell drugs and weapons, among other crimes. In addition, law enforcement continues to observe gang members with hybrid memberships, where gang members claim multiple affiliations, which presents challenges in identifying and investigating gang activity. Details: Austin, TX: Texas Department of Public Safety, 2015. 58p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 13, 2016 at: https://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/media_and_communications/2015/txGangThreatAssessment.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/media_and_communications/2015/txGangThreatAssessment.pdf Shelf Number: 138647 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gang Violence Gangs Human Smuggling Human Trafficking Prostitution Sex Trafficking

Author: Van Kalwala, Zaffar Title: A review of gangs in Brent and the development of services for prevention, intervention and exiting Summary: This task group was set up following a report commissioned by Brent's Community Safety Partnership entitled Establishing the reality of gangs in Brent. This report identified that for young people involved in gangs and gang related activity, there was insufficient activity in Brent to divert them away from involvement. Subsequently, in the summer of 2011, riots engulfed London and other cities across the UK. This task group that was formed in order to gain a greater understanding of the extent of the problem in Brent and what could be done to intervene and help young people exit such a destructive and wasteful lifestyle. The task group undertook research from the world of academia as well as those in Government and practitioners. We also heard evidence from members of the Metropolitan Police Service, voluntary and community organisations working with gang members and statutory services within the Council, such as the Community Safety Team and Youth Offending Service. In the course of the task group's investigations, we discovered that whilst some good work on this issue is being done in Brent, it is largely being done in isolation. Through the discussions with Brent's partners and with those from other local authorities, the task group have concluded that the work around tackling gangs in Brent is both uncoordinated and fragmented. Given this position, and the fact that none of the problems are too great to overcome, the task group is pleased to present its findings. Details: London: Borough of Brent, 2013. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 13, 2016 at: https://www.brent.gov.uk/media/9338053/Gangs-in-Brent-TG-Report.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.brent.gov.uk/media/9338053/Gangs-in-Brent-TG-Report.pdf Shelf Number: 138649 Keywords: Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: London. Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime Title: Identifying the Strategic Ambitions for London: Gangs and Serious Youth Violence: findings from the literature review and consultation Summary: To inform the development of the Strategic Ambitions document, MOPAC facilitated the following consultation: - A literature review; - An online survey which was available between 13 February 2014 and the 28 March 2014; - A youth engagement session led by the Greater London Authority (GLA) Peer Outreach Workers and supported by young people from One Big Community, LEAP, the Black Police Associations Charitable Trust project Voyage and a number of other youth organisations; - A focused session on gang exit in partnership with the Safer London Foundation, St Giles Trust and the Department of Work and Pensions; - A dedicated session on the importance of early intervention and prevention in deterring gang involvement in partnership with the London Borough of Islington; LEAP and Edmonton County School; - A roundtable discussion led by Health practitioners to explore mental and public health concerns in regards to gangs; - Sessions with London Crime Reduction Board (LCRB) Gang Strategy Local Authority and Criminal Justice System subgroups, and the LCRB Gangs Panel - A specific session for Voluntary and Community Sector organisations; - A review session with Council Leaders and the MPS Commissioner; and finally, - A wrap up session led by the Deputy Mayor of Policing and Crime, which highlighted the key findings to date, and proposed priorities. This document summarises the findings of literature review and consultation undertaken to inform the development of the Strategic Ambitions for London: Gangs and Serious Youth Violence. Details: London: Mayor's Office, 2015. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 14, 2016 at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/gla_migrate_files_destination/Strategic%20Ambitions%20for%20Gangs%20and%20SYV%202014_Consultation%20findings.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/gla_migrate_files_destination/Strategic%20Ambitions%20for%20Gangs%20and%20SYV%202014_Consultation%20findings.pdf Shelf Number: 138666 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Youth Gangs Youth Violence

Author: Smithson, Hannah Title: Young People's Involvement in Gangs and Guns in Liverpool Summary: There has been growing concern among policy makers and the wider public regarding high profile murders involving firearms, along with a perception that these events are a result of youth gang violence. These incidents have been taking place in major cities across the UK, including Liverpool. This perception of escalating violence among young people, frequently involving weapons, has prompted the government to make confronting what it has termed 'gun, knife and gang crime' a priority. However, relatively little information exists on 'gang involvement and 'gun crime', who is committing it, for what reasons and what might be the best ways of reducing it. Other commentators have connected gun crime to criminal gangs and a growing 'gang culture.', nevertheless, important gaps remain in our knowledge about violent crime fuelled by gangs and weapons. This research study draws upon an extensive literature review of the national and international research examining gangs and gun crime, coupled with a series of in-depth interviews with senior practitioners, senior specialist police officers, front line youth workers, and gang and gun involved young people from across Liverpool. Research Questions The research aimed to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the extent and nature of young people's involvement with gangs and guns in Liverpool? 2. What are the likely causal processes generating and sustaining the problem? a. What factors contribute increased risk of gang and gun involvement? b. What motivates young people to become involved with gangs and guns? 3. Which interventions look promising? a. What factors influence implementation? Details: Huddersfield, UK: University of Huddersfield, Applied Criminology Centre, 2009. 122p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 16, 2016 at: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/24788/1/acc-guns-and-gangs-report.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/24788/1/acc-guns-and-gangs-report.pdf Shelf Number: 131483 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Homicides Youth Gangs

Author: Higginson, Angela Title: Preventive Interventions to Reduce Youth Involvement in Gangs and Gang Crime in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review Summary: Youth gang membership and the crime that it generates is a serious problem in low- and middle-income countries, involving many thousands of young people and resulting in billions of dollars of crime, loss of life, and social disruption. This review assessed the evidence on preventive interventions that focus on increasing social capacity to reduce gang membership or rehabilitate gang members outside of the criminal justice system. Approach We conducted an extensive search of the published and unpublished academic literature, as well as government and non-government organization reports to identify studies assessing the effects of preventive youth gang interventions in low- and middle-income countries. We also included studies assessing the reasons for success or failure of such interventions and conducted a thematic synthesis of overarching themes identified across the studies. Results We did not identify any studies assessing the effect of preventive gang interventions in LMICs using an experimental or quasi-experimental design. Four studies evaluating the reasons for implementation success or failure were included. The limited number of studies included in the review suggests that the findings identified here should provide a direction for future research, rather than any substantive or generalizable claim to best practice. Specifically, the synthesis of reasons for implementation success or failure identified five factors that may be important for intervention design and implementation. Preventive gang interventions may be more likely to be successfully implemented when they include: - a range of program components that appeal to youth, - active engagement of youth, where their agency is embraced and leadership is offered, - programs that offer continuity of social ties outside of the gang, and - a focus on demobilization and reconciliation. Implications The lack of evidence prevents us from making any conclusions about which interventions are most effective in reducing youth involvement in gangs. To identify programs that work and those that do not researchers, practitioners and commissioners should begin to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of preventive gang programs in the field. Details: Campbell Systematic Reviews, 2015: 18. 177p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 23, 2016 at: http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/lib/project/297/ Year: 2015 Country: International URL: http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/lib/project/297/ Shelf Number: 138794 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Cockayne, James Title: Strengthening mediation to deal with criminal agendas Summary: A growing proportion of armed conflicts nowadays do not only involve political and ideological agendas but criminal ones. While armed conflict mediators have extensive experience of dealing with armed groups in various contexts of political and ideological conflicts, there is often a lack of attention towards addressing criminal agendas, making it a blind spot of mediation. In Strengthening mediation to deal with criminal agendas, James Cockayne takes an in-depth look at ways in which mediators have addressed, or not, criminal agendas, in peace processes, and the potentially spoiling effect that ignoring them may have had on those processes. Through the review of several peace processes in which criminal agendas have been directly tackled including gang truces in El Salvador and community violence reduction cases in Haiti and Brazil, Cockayne highlights how the practice of mediation can adjust to take criminal agendas into account. While mediation is by no means the only way to address and deal with such agendas, it can be a useful and complementary tool to do so. Cockayne also puts forward examples of peace processes in which criminal agendas were not taken into account and how this has contributed to spoiling those processes, for example through a return to conflict, or the empowerment of criminal agendas through disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration processes. Cockayne also offers recommendations on ways to ensure that the fundamentals of mediation, such as preparedness, inclusive ownership, legal frameworks and impartiality, are respected despite the presence of criminal agendas. Details: Oslo: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, 2013. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Oslo Forum Papers: Accessed April 25, 2016 at: http://www.hdcentre.org/uploads/tx_news/Strengthening-mediation-to-deal-with-criminal-agendas.pdf Year: 2013 Country: International URL: http://www.hdcentre.org/uploads/tx_news/Strengthening-mediation-to-deal-with-criminal-agendas.pdf Shelf Number: 138803 Keywords: Armed Conflict Gangs Mediation Violence Violent Crime

Author: Snider, Carolyn Title: Community Assessment of a Gang Exit Strategy for Winnipeg, Manitoba Summary: In an effort to address the issue of gangs in Winnipeg, the Gang Action Interagency Network (GAIN) in collaboration with the University of Manitoba, with funding provided by the Department of Justice Canada (Youth Justice Fund - Guns, Gangs, and Drugs) conducted research for the purpose of informing future gang-exit initiatives in Winnipeg. The following report is the result of this research. With the goal of developing tangible and actionable steps towards addressing the gang issue in Winnipeg, GAIN's research was focused on learning from three specific areas: Stakeholder Consultation, Youth Consultation and Existing Evidence. Interviews with key community stakeholders included experts from youth service agencies, corrections, law enforcement, social workers, parole officers and former gang members. Youth consultations included youth who participate in violence prevention programs offered by various community agencies. Youth are often overlooked as keepers of knowledge, and these consultations were valuable in hearing key insights from the very youth who are affected by gangs on a daily basis. A review of existing gang strategies and programs from throughout North America was then conducted to identify successful components, which might be useful when adapted to a Winnipeg context, and to identify measurable indicators. The results of the research indicate a need to address young people's ability to fulfill their own basic needs whether physical or social. Within the research, 3 specific areas of focus were identified. The theme of Identity and Belonging was prevalent in the research as participants identified a need for mentorship, cultural reclamation, and community efficacy. Healing was another focal area which emerged within the research as participants shared about the need for greater access to addictions and mental health care. Participants also spoke about the need for restorative justice and greater support for families in crisis. Finally, participants spoke about the need for Expanded Programming. Although many great programs already exist in Winnipeg, many participants identified the long waiting lists to get into programs and lack of 24hr programming that could provide safe spaces when many young people are at their most vulnerable point and need it most. Participants also spoke about the need for more opportunities with regards to employment and skills/job training. Evidence of components of existing programs and strategies clearly mirrored the needs that were identified in our consultations. This report highlights the need for further action by our governments to work with the member agencies of GAIN to help our youth avoid gang involvement through the development of initiatives that will help fulfill our youths needs of Identity and Belonging, Healing and Expanded Programming. Details: Gang Action Interagency Network (Gain), 2014. 58p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 2, 2016 at: https://gainmb.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/gain-report1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Canada URL: https://gainmb.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/gain-report1.pdf Shelf Number: 138886 Keywords: Community Participation Delinquency Prevention Gangs Youth Gang

Author: Katz, Charles M. Title: The Gang Truce as a Form of Violence Intervention: Implications for Policy and Practice Summary: While there is much literature describing the assumptions, issues, and effectiveness of crime suppression (e.g., Decker, 2003; Decker and Reed, 2002; Katz and Webb, 2006; McCorkle and Miethe, 2002) and prevention strategies (Esbensen and Osgood, 1997), much less attention has been paid to gang intervention programming, particularly gang truces. Little is known about how often gang truces occur, what conditions give rise to them, the role of third parties in brokering them, their transformative effects, and their effectiveness. In this policy brief, sponsored by SolucionES1 and conducted by FUNDE, a member of the SolucionES Alliance with Arizona State University, we systematically evaluate gang truces; including reviewing prior research and presenting evidence on the effectiveness of gang truces that have been implemented in El Salvador, Honduras, and Jamaica for the purpose of identifying lessons learned should other governments or donors wish to support gang truces in these or other countries. Summary of Findings We found that the truce in El Salvador resulted in a reduction in homicides that was not the product of other trends or temporal factors; and that the truce there should be considered a short term success. By contrast, the truces in Jamaica and Honduras resulted in no impact on violence. The Jamaican and Honduran experiences therefore mirror the results of prior gang truces that have been studied to various extents, including those in Los Angeles and Trinidad and Tobago. Important differences in how the various truces were negotiated may explain the different results and one important difference - the ability of government and non-gang community stakeholders to promise and immediately produce measurable deliverables - appear to be especially significant. Details: San Salvador: Fundacion Nacional para el Desarrollo - FUNDE, 2015. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 2, 2016 at: http://www.globalinitiative.net/download/general/central-america-caribbean/Gang%20Truce%20Form%20of%20Violence.pdf Year: 2015 Country: South America URL: http://www.globalinitiative.net/download/general/central-america-caribbean/Gang%20Truce%20Form%20of%20Violence.pdf Shelf Number: 138889 Keywords: Gang Suppression Gang Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Fox, Andrew M. Title: Measuring the Impact of Kansas City's No Violence Alliance Summary: In 2013 and 2014, focused deterrence / lever pulling strategies were developed and deployed in Kansas City. Stakeholders involved in this strategy included the KCPD, Jackson County Prosecutor's Office, US Attorney's Office (WD-MO), Missouri Probation and Parole, Mayor's Office and federal law enforcement. Groups involved with violence were identified utilizing street-level intelligence and analysis, and stakeholders communicated directly and repeatedly to groups the consequences of future violence and opportunities to avoid violence by leveraging social services. Community members complemented this message by challenging the violent norms of the street code of retaliatory violence. Successive Interrupted Time Series analyses indicate that homicide and gun-related aggravated assaults were significantly reduced at 1, 2, 6-month intervals. However evidence also suggests that the deterrent value waned around the 12-month post-intervention period; while homicides continued to decline modestly there was indications that gun-related aggravated assaults began to regress to the mean, raising questions about the long-term effectiveness of focused deterrence. Details: Kansas City, MO: Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, University of Missouri - Kansas City, 2015. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 2, 2016 at: https://cas.umkc.edu/cjc/pdfs/NoVA-impact-report-Aug2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://cas.umkc.edu/cjc/pdfs/NoVA-impact-report-Aug2015.pdf Shelf Number: 138890 Keywords: Focused Deterrence Gang Violence Gangs Homicides Violence Prevention Youth Gangs

Author: U.S. Department of State. Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations Title: Belize Engagement: Evaluation Report Summary: CSO's evaluation of its engagement in Belize was the first formal evaluation conducted by CSO, and was conducted as an independent internal evaluation by CSO's Office of Learning and Training. The Belize engagement was a small innovative program to reduce gang activity and violence in Southside Belize City by developing mediation and community dialogue capacity. The evaluation found that mediation was very effective and showed promise for expansion, while community dialogue was resonating but making slower progress and institutional issues hampered sustainability. Recommendations of the evaluation inspired a second wave of programming to plug gaps in community dialogue training, train mediators more grounded in gang neighborhoods, and improve program management capacity of the local partner, as well as a grant from the U.S. Embassy to the local partner allowing it to hire dedicated staff. Community dialogues consequently grew eight-fold and mediators and trainers doubled. The Prime Minister praised the program for establishing "a sustainable, Belizean community-based approach to reduce violence." While other programs and factors likely contributed, the homicide rate in Belize City decreased by roughly 50% in 2013, though increasing in several other locations. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, 2012. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 3, 2016 at: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/223248.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Belize URL: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/223248.pdf Shelf Number: 138906 Keywords: Community Mediation Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicide Violence

Author: Decker, Scott H. Title: Street Outreach Workers: Best Practices and Lessons Learned. Innovative Practices from the Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative Series Summary: Street outreach workers are an important part of the Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative (CSI) comprehensive gang and youth violence reduction strategy in Massachusetts1. Street outreach involves the use of individuals to "work the streets," making contact with youth in neighborhoods with high levels of gang activity. These individuals are generally not employed by the criminal justice system agencies but rather are based in community service organizations or other non- governmental agencies. Street outreach workers provide an important bridge between the community, gang-involved youth, and the agencies (whether social service or law enforcement) that respond to the problems of delinquency and gangs. This guide offers information, guidance, and lessons learned from street outreach programs nationally and within the Massachusetts Shannon CSI communities to help guide existing street outreach programs and support communities considering developing new street outreach programs. The guide provides the following information: - History of street outreach worker programs in the United States - Functions and characteristics of street outreach worker programs - Street outreach programs in Massachusetts - Challenges of street outreach worker programs and recommendations for success Details: Boston: Northeastern University, Institute on Race and Justice, 2008. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 25, 2016 at: http://www.mass.gov/eopss/funding-and-training/justice-and-prev/grants/shannon-csi/shannon-pub-4.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://www.mass.gov/eopss/funding-and-training/justice-and-prev/grants/shannon-csi/shannon-pub-4.pdf Shelf Number: 139158 Keywords: Community-Based Programs Gang Violence Gangs Juvenile Offenders Street Outreach Programs Youth Violence Prevention

Author: Roguski, Michael Title: Youth Gangs in Counties Manukau Summary: Growing concern about escalating youth gang activity and an increase in violent assaults in Counties Manukau led government and community representatives to call for significant government intervention. As part of a co-ordinated, cross-sectoral response, the Ministry of Social Development's (MSD) Centre for Social Research and Evaluation (CSRE) was asked to research the issue of youth gangs. This report details the research finding which provides an evidence-base for policy development applicable to other regions throughout New Zealand. Aims and methodology The aims of the project were to: - understand the historical, social, economic and demographic features of Counties Manukau - understand the nature of youth gangs in Counties Manukau - assess possible factors contributing to the emergence of youth gangs - ascertain the extent and impact of youth gangs - identify the factors that support or hinder optimal service provision - identify elements and features of intervention models that could be developed in Counties Manukau with a specific focus on Mangere and Otara. This research was based around a multi-method ethnographic approach that included observation, participation, document analysis, data analysis, focus groups, community meetings and interviews. The research process involved extensive engagement with stakeholders from central and local governments, community-based agencies, families or wh�nau, and youth participants. The fieldwork began in early November 2005 and was completed at the end of March 2006. Details: Wellington, NZ: Ministry of Social Development, 2008. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2016 at: http://thehub.superu.govt.nz/publication/wannabes-youth-offenders-youth-gangs-counties-manukau-research-report Year: 2008 Country: New Zealand URL: http://thehub.superu.govt.nz/publication/wannabes-youth-offenders-youth-gangs-counties-manukau-research-report Shelf Number: 139228 Keywords: Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Nakhid, Camille Title: Pacific families now and in the future: Pasifika youth in South Auckland: family, gangs, community, culture, Summary: Pasifika1 youth make a significant impact on the demographic profile of South Auckland and are a major focus of the many projections regarding population, employment and education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The place of family and community is regarded as an important influence on the future of Pasifika youth yet how these youth view the place of Pasifika families in the future is not adequately covered in the research literature. As more Pasifika youth are thought to be joining gangs, there are also concerns as to whether the gangs have replaced the family for Pasifika youth and whether the street has become home to these youth. The aim of this study was to interview Pasifika youth from the suburbs of Mangere and Otara - including those who were involved in gangs and those who had never been involved in gangs or had transitioned out of gang life - in an effort to obtain information on: > how Pasifika youth understood family and how they perceived family in relation to the future > the perspectives of young Pasifika people on gangs, community, culture and leadership > why some Pasifika youth did not join gangs; why some Pasifika youth were joining gangs; and the support systems Pasifika youth had, and used, to remain out of gangs > the views and experiences of exiting gang life for Pasifika ex-gang members and the mechanisms that had assisted them to transition out of gang life > whether the family and the home were being replaced by the gang and the street for Pasifika youth involved in gangs. Details: Wellington, NZ: Families Commission, 2009. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 27, 2016 at: http://www.superu.govt.nz/sites/default/files/pasifika-youth.pdf Year: 2009 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.superu.govt.nz/sites/default/files/pasifika-youth.pdf Shelf Number: 139236 Keywords: Delinquency Prevention Families Gangs Juvenile Delinquents Youth Gangs

Author: Ford, Maria Carolina Title: A Violent Symbiosis: Gangs, the State, and the Rise in Crime in Sao Paulo Summary: This thesis is concerned with the unexpected rise in violence in Sao Paulo after a decade of consistent decline, from 2000-10. Using the Complex Adaptive System framework, this thesis argues that the Primeiro Comando da Capital "First Command of the Capital" (PCC), the most influential prison gang in Brazil, developed an accommodating relationship with the state, making them both equally responsible for the rise in crime. The thesis is chronological, based on the three major PCC rebellions/attacks since its creation, in 1993. Those moments represent the break of an unstable truce between the state and the PCC, and are critical to reveal how the state fails to curb organized crime. The constant crime rise after 2012, however, suggests that in the long-term, the state has strengthened the PCC. Details: Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary, 2015. 120p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 1, 2016 at: http://theses.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/11023/2095/2/ucalgary_2015_ford_maria.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Brazil URL: http://theses.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/11023/2095/2/ucalgary_2015_ford_maria.pdf Shelf Number: 139263 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Homicides Violence Violent Crime

Author: Carpenter, Ami Title: The Nature and Extent of Gang Involvement in Sex Trafficking in San Diego County: Executive Summary Summary: The overall purpose of this project was to investigate the nature and assess of the scope of gang involvement in sex trafficking in San Diego County. Human trafficking is a global phenomenon with a variety of local manifestations, including labor and sex trafficking. San Diego is ranked by the FBI as one of the nation's 13 highest areas of commercial sexual exploitation of children. Despite widespread attention on sex trafficking, there has been little empirical research on the nature and process of sex trafficking activities, and even less on the connection between sex trafficking and gangs. Prior to this study, much of what was known about sex trafficking in San Diego County was anecdotal and descriptive. The study's basic premise was that empirical investigation would prove useful for both policy and practice. This 3-year study reports on three major sets of findings: (1) the scope and nature of gang involvement in sex trafficking and commercial sexual activity, including detailed analysis of sex trafficking facilitation (2) the scope of nature of victimization in San Diego County, and (3) estimates of the regional commercial sex economy. It was designed to improve on seven shortcomings in human or sex trafficking research thus far: 1. Few credible estimates of the scale of sex trafficking in a particular region 2. The common conflation of commercial sexual exploitation and prostitution with sex trafficking 3. Lack of primary data on sex trafficking 4. Inability to identify networks of sex traffickers 5. Understudied extent of gang involvement in sex trafficking 6. Over-reliance on qualitative methods 7. Small sample sizes Details: San Diego: University of San Diego, 2015. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 8, 2016 at: http://www.abolishhumantrafficking.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Executive-Summary.Final-Technical-Report.NIJ2016-1.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.abolishhumantrafficking.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Executive-Summary.Final-Technical-Report.NIJ2016-1.pdf Shelf Number: 139314 Keywords: Gangs Human trafficking Prostitution Sex Trafficking Sex Workers Sexual Exploitation

Author: Boogert, Laura van den Title: The securitization of street gangs in El Salvador: An analysis of anti-gang policies and the gang truce of 2012 Summary: Twenty-three years have passed since the peace accords were signed in El Salvador in 1992. Ever since, its authoritarian rule and bloody civil war has ended. However, the country is far from being peaceful nowadays. On the contrary, El Salvador is among the most violent countries in the world today (SICA 2014, UNODC 2014). In the last decade, crime and homicide rates have been skyrocketing and amongst the highest in the world. Levels of violence in the region are as high as, or even higher than during the state terror, insurgency and war of the 1970's and 1980's (Oettler 2011: 262). Much of the crime in El Salvador and its neighboring countries has been ascribed to youth gangs, also known as Maras or Pandillas (Rodgers and Muggah 2009; Savenije and Van der Borgh 2009; Cruz 2010; Wolf 2011; Aguilar 2012). In the first decade of the 21st century these gangs have been portrayed as a major security threat by the media, the public, and their respective governments (Hume 2007; Savenije and Van der Borgh 2009; Bruneau 2011; Peetz 2011). Security grew into the number one priority issue in the region and became the rationale for all of the policies formulated by political leaders in Central America (Bruneau 2011: 3). The Salvadoran administration started a 'war on gangs' and carried out severe and repressive anti-gang policies, also known as Mano Dura. The idea was that security could only be safeguarded if gangs were to be repressed and more penalties and tougher sanctions would dissuade criminals and reduce criminality (Apel & Nagin 2011). However, it soon became apparent that these security policies failed shortly after they were introduced and seemed counterproductive, with gang related activity and violence rates higher than ever (Hume 2007; Savenije and Van der Borgh 2009; Rodgers 2009; Cruz 2011, Gutierrez Rivera 2011). Note that in the last few years several authors do see a trend towards a more integrated gang policy (Jutersjonke et al. 2009) and there have been several experiments with prevention and rehabilitation programs. Nonetheless, these softer approaches were never fully implemented and remained underfunded (ibid). Despite some initiatives and changes of different governmental regimes, Mano Dura continued to be the preferred choice in gang policy in the last decade. However, March 2012 heralded an important event: a unique gang truce took place in El Salvador. The two biggest and most powerful rival gangs; the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and the Barrio Dieciocho (M-18) signed a truce with each other, 'facilitated' by the government and brokered by the catholic church and a former guerrilla commander. Essentially, the truce entailed an agreement between the gangs, in which they pledged to stop killing each other and end attacks on police, military and prison staff (Cruz 2013). The Salvadoran Mara truce appeared to have a dramatic effect on violence levels. Especially in the months following the truce the murder rate dropped with a 50 percent; from an average of roughly 14 murders per day to 5.5 per day (Seelke 2014a: 11). The truce process however, is surrounded with ambiguity. Not only its level of success and its sustainability, but above all, the role the government played in it and its attitude towards it. Initially, authorities denied any involvement in the truce. Even when a Salvadoran newspaper broke the news that the truce was secretly facilitated by the Salvadoran government, the authorities kept on announcing different and contradictory stories of their role in the whole process. This generated strong criticism and enormous distrust among civil society, influential academic writers and political opponents, even within the government itself. The truce suggests that 'negotiated' solutions to counter a security problem are indeed possible (see also Farah 2013; Figueroa et al 2013; Peeters et al 2013; Seelke 2013; Van der Borgh et al 2015). The facilitation of the truce may be seen as a new 'dialogue centred' policy approach, and a step away from the government's repressive anti-gang strategies of the last decade. But the ambiguous attitude and contrasting stories of the Salvadoran government with regards to the cease-fire process, does not indicate an equivocal clear-cut and well-defined government plan, nor policy. The main aim of the thesis is to understand and explain the attitude of the Salvadoran government towards gangs and the recent gang truce. To achieve this, the thesis has a dual approach. Firstly, it seeks to investigate the development and framing of the anti-gang policies in the years preceding the gang truce (2003-2012), while uncovering the incentives and consequences behind the anti-gang policies. Secondly, this paper places a big emphasis on the gang truce of 2012 itself and the role and attitude of the government in this process. It analyzes the build-up to and implementation of the truce process, and tries to understand and explain the contradictory role of different governmental actors (proponents and opponents). In the years leading up to the truce the government had an equivocal anti-gang approach, advocated a Mano Dura gang policy and successfully 'securitized' the gang issue (Van der Borgh et al 2015). The truce could be seen as a different approach. Both government proponents and opponents of the truce framed the process and legitimized their actions in different ways. How and why did these 'securitizing actors' try to convince the public? The main question of the thesis is: "How and why did (different key actors within) the Salvadoran government frame gangs and relate to the gang truce of 2012?". To answer this question, one has to take a broader look at the government's anti-gang approach in the years preceding the truce in which the gangs were framed as a security threat. To explain and understand these policies, the research is built on the advancements of the securitization theory (Buzan, Waever 1998; Balzacq 2009). Details: Utrecht, NETH: Utrecht University, 2015. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 10. 2016 at: http://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/327446/Thesis_LvdBoogert_Gangs_v2.def.pdf?sequence=2 Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador URL: http://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/327446/Thesis_LvdBoogert_Gangs_v2.def.pdf?sequence=2 Shelf Number: 139365 Keywords: Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Street Gangs

Author: Garrett, Linda Title: The First Year: A Chronology of the Gang Truce and Peace Process in El Salvador: March 2012 - March 2013 Summary: Since March of 2012, El Salvador has experienced an unprecedented drop in violence due to a truce between the countrys two largest street gangs, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18. Exceeding many early expectations, the truce has lasted over a year, and evolved to encompass a broader peace process within Salvadoran society. The extent to which the Salvadoran government has been involved in the process, even the nature of its involvement, remains uncertain and is a source of contention. But, the ongoing truce and peace process presents real lessons and serious public policy implications and now, with many communities signing on to the "violence-free municipality" initiative and thousands of lives saved by an over 50% reduction in homicides, much is at stake. Even before news of the truce was broadly known, the Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA) had been monitoring the unfolding process in El Salvador, when a Salvadoran government official hinted to us in February 2012 that a dialogue between the gangs might be underway. In the pages below, we present our chronology of the process compiled over the last year, which details this historic series of events. The chronology provides a more complete picture of the process as it developed day-by-day during the first year: from the original confusing, contradictory versions of its creation, to the various commitments and good-will gestures offered by gang leaders. The truce�s advances and setbacks are chronicled, alongside the suspicions and distrust expressed by many Salvadorans. It also records the critical support provided by the Organization of American States (OAS). Finally, the chronology helps us understand the motivations of the facilitators and gang leaders. It gives us a glimpse into the lives and thoughts of young people who are struggling to find a way out of tumultuous lives of poverty, crime and often unspeakable violence. This chronology, focused on the gang truce and peace process, complements CDA's extensive coverage of developments in El Salvador. It is CDA's hope that the full telling of this story will encourage the debate and reflection, already underway in El Salvador, about the issues of exclusion and poverty, so closely connected to the causes of and solutions for the violence. The human dimensions highlighted here are crucial when considering policy choices; choices that heavily impact the lives of so many Salvadorans, not only in El Salvador but also in the diaspora. The Salvadoran government faces the challenges of developing a coherent public policy, that recognizes the possibility of human transformation from criminal to productive lives, and providing resources to implement that policy. If successful, the peace process could perhaps be the most significant legacy of the current government. It should be emphasized that the truce in itself is not the solution, but it has transformed the conversation from repression to prevention and rehabilitation. As President Funes said, the only options for youth have been to emigrate or join a gang for survival. To change that dynamic, the peace process must be institutionalized and funded as part of a long-term strategy to provide educational and job opportunities to all at-risk youth in the historically impoverished barrios and municipalities of the country. Advocacy of the peace process does not signify impunity for crimes committed. Nor does it reflect ignorance of the horrific violence inflicted on the Salvadoran people and their communities in recent decades: the murders of thousands of youths; the savagery of sexual violence; dismembered bodies; clandestine cemeteries; the uprooting of fearful families, and the scourge of extortion. Advocacy does mean a belief in the possibility of redemption. It reflects aspirations for an inclusive, nonviolent, democratic future for the country. "If it doesn't work," Bishop Colindres said, "we will have lost a little effort and illusions, but if it works the country will have found peace." Details: Washington, DC: Center for Democracy in the Americas, 2013. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://democracyinamericas.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/First-Year-Chronology-of-El-Salvadors-Gang-Truce.pdf Year: 2013 Country: El Salvador URL: http://democracyinamericas.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/First-Year-Chronology-of-El-Salvadors-Gang-Truce.pdf Shelf Number: 139373 Keywords: Barrio 18 Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Mara Salvatrucha Violence Prevention

Author: Carballo, Willian Title: The truce and everyday life in a violence-free municipality: The case of Santa Tecla in El Salvador Summary: Youth gangs are the main source of violence in El Salvador. After repressive measures to defeat the gangs failed, the government decided in 2012 to support a process called the "truce." Under its terms, El Salvador's two most important gangs pledged to reduce violence in exchange for an end to state repression against gang members and the establishment of reintegration programs. On the local level, the process led to the creation of violence-free municipalities - areas in which local authorities promote and support the truce through reintegration and violence prevention measures. Lately, in violence-free municipalities the gangs have boosted their role as agents of control through the "administration" of the crime rate. In this study I investigate the impact of the truce at the local level and in the everyday lives of the inhabitants of the municipality of Santa Tecla, and in particular the communities of San Rafael and San Jose El Pino. I look into the community members' perceptions of the truce, the actual impact of the truce at the local level, as well as the role that gangs now play in these municipalities. Details: Bielefeld, Universitat Bielefeld, 2015. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Violence Research and Development Project - Papers - No. 11: Accessed June 11, 2016 at: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/icvr/docs/carballo.pdf Year: 2015 Country: El Salvador URL: http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/icvr/docs/carballo.pdf Shelf Number: 139379 Keywords: Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Violence Prevention Youth Gangs

Author: Carpenter, Ami Title: The Nature and Extent of Gang Involvement in Sex Trafficking in San Diego County: Full Report Summary: INTRODUCTION In 2011, San Diego County created the multi-agency San Diego County Regional Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Advisory Council with the objective to reduce human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children in San Diego County and the Mexico border region through prevention, prosecution, protection and partnerships. As co-chairs of the Research and Data Sub-Committee of this advisory council, Drs. Carpenter and Gates were asked to pursue a research agenda that would help develop robust measures of the scope of human trafficking in San Diego County. Of particular interest to the County Advisory Council was empirical evidence of the suspected relationship between gangs and human trafficking. BACKGROUND AND STUDY OBJECTIVES The overall purpose of this project was to investigate the nature and assess of the scope of gang involvement in sex trafficking in San Diego County. Human trafficking is a global phenomenon with a variety of local manifestations, including labor and sex trafficking. San Diego is ranked by the FBI as one of the nation's 13 highest areas of commercial sexual exploitation of children. Despite widespread attention on sex trafficking, there has been little empirical research on the nature and process of sex trafficking activities, and even less on the connection between sex trafficking and gangs. Prior to this study, much of what was known about sex trafficking in San Diego County was anecdotal and descriptive. The study's basic premise was that empirical investigation would prove useful for both policy and practice. This 3-year study reports on three major sets of findings: (1) the scope and nature of gang involvement in sex trafficking and commercial sexual activity, including detailed analysis of sex trafficking facilitation (2) the scope of nature of victimization in San Diego County, and (3) estimates of the regional commercial sex economy. It was designed to improve on seven shortcomings in human or sex trafficking research thus far: 1. Few credible estimates of the scale of sex trafficking in a particular region 2. The common conflation of commercial sexual exploitation and prostitution with sex trafficking 3. Lack of primary data on sex trafficking 4. Inability to identify networks of sex traffickers 5. Understudied extent of gang involvement in sex trafficking 6. Over-reliance on qualitative methods 7. Small sample sizes Details: Final report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2016. 172p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 13, 2016 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/249857.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/249857.pdf Shelf Number: 139400 Keywords: Gangs Human Trafficking Prostitution Sex Trafficking Sex Workers Sexual Exploitation

Author: Zinecker, Heidrun Title: Violence in Peace: Forms and causes of postwar violence in Guatemala Summary: On 29 December, 1996 the conflict in Guatemala between the URNG, a leftist guerrilla organization, and the authoritarian state came to an end. With the implementation of the peace agreements and the completion of peace-building, Guatemala has without doubt taken an important step on the road to democracy. However, the country's regime does not guarantee a civilized life for its citizens. Even by Latin American standards, it permits an extremely high level of violence. This can be characterized as violence in peace. Although the rates of homicide conditioned by this violence are higher than those that prevailed during the civil war, there is no danger of a return to war. During the war political violence was the main cause of death, and violent crime has now taken its place. This report analyses three forms of postwar violence which are especially typical of Guatemala: political violence, the maras, and lynch law. It then goes on to examine their causes. In the course of this examination, a number of elements which are generally supposed to be causes of violence are excluded as causal factors: the perpetuation of a culture of violence or/and war-violence racism and ethnic exclusion, poverty, and inequality in the sense of a general distribution of income as measured by the Gini coefficient. In the next step, an alternative model of explanation is presented. This distinguishes between enabling structures which make violence possible and structures that might prevent it (with particular reference to the absence of preventive structures). The report identifies regime hybridity and a rent economy as structures that make violence possible, and investigates these structures in order to identify the concrete configurations which are immanent to the structures and cause violence. In the case of the rent economy, the specific structures identified are the especially pronounced bipolarity between the oligarchy and the lowest quintile of the population, new rents as outlets for oligarchical structures and catalysts of violence, low rates of investment, and a low level of empowerment of work. However, none of these structures is, on its own, a cause of the high intensity of violence; they form a complex system. The absence in Guatemala of a structure that could prevent violence can be identified in the poor performance of the security sector, i.e. the police and judiciary, and in the lack of democratic commitment on the part of civil society in this sector. This low level of performance is, in addition to political exclusion and the absence of the rule of law, a characteristic feature of regime hybridity. Although this report is a case study, it has an intrinsically comparative character. This is because the other Central American countries (El Salvador and Honduras with a higher, and Costa Rica and Nicaragua with a lower intensity of violence) form the matrix which renders visible the specificity of Guatemala. Nicaragua is of particular significance for this implicit comparison, because it is the only country in Central America that has experienced a civil war in the recent past but seen a low level of violence since the end of that war. The conclusion of the report identifies two ways in which violence, or the intensity of violence, can be limited in the long term. In the Costa Rican model, a low intensity of violence has been achieved directly, via a long historical path in which "Democracy - Performance + Democratic Content" is combined with "Social Market - Empowerment of Labour + Production of Investment Goods". In the Nicaraguan model, a low intensity of violence has been achieved indirectly but over a shorter period of time; here, there can be no doubt about the absence of democracy, and therefore the existence of regime hybridity, or the absence of a social market economy, and therefore the existence of a rent economy. The main finding of the report follows from the Nicaraguan model: the level of violence can be reduced even though ethnically based exclusion, poverty, and inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient) are present, and even though a rent economy and regime hybridity are present as well. If violence is to be successfully reduced, it is necessary for the police and judiciary to be supported conceptually and practically in their efforts to prevent violence and to rehabilitate violent offenders, and to bring about improvements in criminal investigation practices, the support provided to victims, and consistent criminal justice policies. Development aid can help in all these areas. Simultaneously, measures must be taken to bring about the empowerment of civil society - which, however, should not mean the empowerment of vigilantism. In addition, the situation of the lowest quintile of the population should be improved in such a way that there is at least a prospect of relative socioeconomic egalitarianism. This can be done if smaller enterprises are strengthened so that they can serve as a counterweight to the ruling oligarchy, in the context of an improvement in the rate of investment in the production of investment goods. In this way it would be possible to reduce both the official level of unemployment and the concealed unemployment that exists in the informal sector, leading to the empowerment of work. These autochthonous policies are necessary for Guatemala, and they should be combined with the exertion of international political pressure on the USA's problematic policies on immigration, integration, and deportation. This should include the provision of support to Guatemala (as well as El Salvador and Honduras) for the integration of young people deported from the USA. This report presents the first systematic analysis of postwar violence in Guatemala. It is based on approximately 50 interviews with Guatemalan academics, politicians, police and judicial officers, Maya priests, and NGO activists, and also with violent offenders, all of whom were interviewed during a month-long period of field research in Guatemala in March 2006. Details: Frankfurt, Germany: Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, 2006. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: PRIF Reports No. 76: Accessed June 13, 2016 at: mercury.ethz.ch Year: 2006 Country: Guatemala URL: mercury.ethz.ch Shelf Number: 139425 Keywords: Gangs Homicides Maras Poverty Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime Vigilantism Violence Violent Crime

Author: Tealde, Emiliano Title: Do Police Displace Crime? The Effect of the Favela Pacification Program in Rio de Janeiro Summary: An important however understudied challenge in the crime literature is to isolate the causal effect of police presence on crime displacement. Following the announcements of Brazil as the host of the 2014 FIFAWorld Cup and of the city of Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the Government of Rio de Janeiro launched the Favela Pacification Program. The program consists in the expulsion of criminals from some favelas (pacified favelas), territories usually controlled by gangs. Using data on homicide rates across Rio de Janeiro before and after the starting date of the Favela Pacification Program,I find that it displaces crime from pacified to non-pacified favelas. Details: Siena: University of Siena, Department of Economics, 2015. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 25, at: http://www.econ-pol.unisi.it/quaderni/717.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Brazil URL: http://www.econ-pol.unisi.it/quaderni/717.pdf Shelf Number: 139824 Keywords: Crime Displacement Favelas Gangs Organized Crime Police Deployment

Author: Simon, Thomas R. Title: Changing Course: Preventing Gang Membership Summary: Youth gang membership is a serious and persistent problem in the United States. One in three local law enforcement agencies report youth gang problems in their jurisdictions. One in four high school freshmen report gangs in their schools. Limited resources at the national, state, tribal and local levels make it more important than ever that we make full use of the best available evidence and clearly demonstrate the benefit of strategies to prevent gang-joining. In acknowledgment of these realities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) formed a partnership to publish this book. It is critical that those who make decisions about resources - as well as those who work directly with youth, like teachers and police officers, community services providers and emergency department physicians - understand what the research evidence shows about how to prevent kids from joining gangs. The NIJ-CDC partnership drew on each agency's distinctive strengths: NIJ's commitment to enhancing justice and increasing public safety is matched by CDC's dedication to health promotion and prevention of violence, injury and disability. By combining perspectives, lessons and evidence from public safety and public health, NIJ and CDC provide new insights into the complex problems of gangs and gang membership. Public health and public safety workers who respond to gang problems know that after-the-fact efforts are not enough. An emergency department doctor who treats gang-related gunshot wounds or a police officer who must tell a mother that her son has been killed in a drive-by shooting are likely to stress the need for prevention - and the complementary roles that public health and law enforcement must play - in stopping violence before it starts. Given our shared commitment to informing policy and practice with the best available evidence of what works, CDC and NIJ brought together some of the nation's top public health and criminal justice researchers to present core principles for gang-membership prevention. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, 2013. 166p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 30, 2016 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/239234.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/239234.pdf Shelf Number: 130002 Keywords: Delinquency Prevention Female Gang Members Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Medina, Juanjo Title: Children and young people in gangs: a longitudinal analysis. Summary and policy implications Summary: A team from the University of Manchester and NatCen Social Research used data from the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS), to explore the circumstances that lead to young people joining, remaining, and leaving gangs in England and Wales. They found that gang membership increases the chances of offending, antisocial behaviour, and drug use among young people. In light of this, the researchers conclude that the current policy approach of treating gang membership as a distinct part of crime and youth policy is the correct one. However, they also highlight the diversity within the different groups defined as 'gangs'. They warn of the dangers in adopting an overly-general conception of 'gangs', namely the risk of drawing young people unnecessarily into anti-gang policies ('net-widening'), and the widespread and counterproductive stigmatic labelling of youth. In light of this, they argue that preventative and restorative interventions should take care in differentiating between deviant youth group types. Blanket interventions may have desired consequences in some groups but create or exacerbate problems in others. Details: London: Nuffield Foundation, 2013. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 30, 2016 at: http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/Children_young_people_gangs.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/Children_young_people_gangs.pdf Shelf Number: 139899 Keywords: Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Cooper, Adam Title: Prevention, Disengagement and Suppression: A Systematic review of the literature on strategies for addressing young people's involvement in gangs Summary: Despite the fact that gang research has a long history , there is limited evidence that attempts to intervene or prevent young people from joining gang s have been successful. The limits in the evidence are partly due to the fact that few good quality evaluations have been carried out, and therefore it is difficult to draw definitive conclu sions based on sound science. In other words, because we don't have the sound science, programmes might be doing well, or they might be doing badly - we just don't know. The lack of evidence is also due to the nature of the gang problem: gangs are by-products of communities suffering from multiple social problems, such as poor education and unemployment. These are complex problems, and solutions to these problems are always going to need to be complex. Solv ing the problem of gangs is therefore not simple: multi-focus, complex programmes are needed. Because the causes and the solutions are complex, understanding them scientifically is also much more complex than it would be if they were simple. Nonetheless, there have been attempts to address gang s, in different cities around the world, and we do have some evidence from these attempts. Interv entions to alleviate the problem of young people's involvement in gangs are usually classified a s prevention, disengagement or suppression. Preventative measures aim to stop young pe ople from getting involved in gangs in the first place. Disengagement interventions help you ng people already involved in gangs, to withdraw from them. Suppression operations attempt t o use law enforcement strategies to deal with high-profile individual gangsters, and to keep gang activity to a minimum (Lafontaine, Ferguson, & Wormith, 2005; Klein & Maxson, 2006). Rec ent evidence suggests that effective programmes usually combine prevention, disengagement and suppression, and are uniquely tailored to specific communities and the specific age groups of young people involved (Spergel, 1995). Details: Cape Town: Child, Youth Family & Social Development, Human Sciences Research Council, 2008. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 5, 2016 at: http://comunidadesegura.org.br/files/active/0/HSRC_gang_prevention_strategies.pdf Year: 2008 Country: International URL: http://comunidadesegura.org.br/files/active/0/HSRC_gang_prevention_strategies.pdf Shelf Number: 130026 Keywords: Gang Suppression Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: McGarrell, Edmund F. Title: Detroit Project Safe Neighborhoods: Final Project Report Summary: Detroit Project S afe Neighborhoods (PSN), known as the Comprehensive Violence Reduction Partnership, involved a multi - agency collaboration of local, state, and federal criminal justice agencies, community partners, and a research partner following a data - driven strategic effor t to reduce gun and gang violence. The strategy combined focused enforcement with youth outreach and intervention. Detroit PSN focused on two high violent crime precincts on the westside of Detroit (6 th and 8 th precincts). Participants in the PSN/CVRP expressed consensus that the initiative resulted in enhanced communication and coordination among partnering agencies resulting in enhanced capacity to proactively address gun - and gang - related violence. There was clear evidence of significant activities as a result of PSN including long - term investigations and prosecution of violent street groups; prosecution of chronic violent offenders; probation and parole compliance checks; directed police patrols in gun hotspots; school - based prevention; and communit y engagement. Gun crime trends suggested declines in overall gun crime with the most apparent effect on armed robbery. The bottom line is that the level of gun crime victimization declined in the target area, particularly in 2014 after PSN was fully operational ( - 17%) . The difficulty is in interpreting the extent to which these declines in gun violence were attributable to PSN. The citywide data showed similar declines in gun violence that began earlier than the declines observed in the PSN target a rea. Thus, it is an open question of whether various initiatives such as COMPSTAT, Detroit One, MSP directed patrols, MDOC utilization of field agents and joint compliance checks, Ceasefire, improved economic conditions, or other factors were affecting ci tywide gun crime trends. It is impossible to clarify whether PSN contrib uted to the City's overall decline or whether the PSN target area benefitted from these broader forces. The most persuasive evidence of a PSN gun crime reduction impact came from a c omparison with "synthetic control areas". The synthetic controls were constructed by identifying police scout car areas most similar to the 6 th and 8 th precincts. This comparison indicated that in 2014 the PSN target area experienced a 9 percent decline in gun crime when compared to the most similar areas of Detroit. When coupled with the very positive reports from PSN/CVRP team members, this suggests that PSN had a positive impact on the capacity of the partnering agencies and on gun crime in the 6 th and 8 th precincts. Details: East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, Michigan Justice Statistics Center, 2015. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 26, 2016 at: http://cj.msu.edu/assets/Detroit_PSN-Final_Report.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://cj.msu.edu/assets/Detroit_PSN-Final_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 140044 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Project Safe Neighborhoods Violent Crime

Author: Lessing, Benjamin Title: How to Build a Criminal Empire from Behind Bars: Prison Gangs and Projection of Power* Summary: Providing law and order is a core state function; the very attempt, however, can be counterproductive. Punishment incapacitates and deters individuals, presumably reducing crime, but can also empower destructive collective forces. Prison gangs, their ranks swelled by mass incarceration, transform the core of the coercive apparatus into a headquarters for organizing and taxing streetlevel criminal activity, supplanting state authority in communities, and orchestrating mass violence and protest. Drawing on a formal model, fieldwork, and case studies from the US and Latin America, I show how gangs use control over prison life, plus the state-provided threat of incarceration, to project power. The model predicts that common state responses-crackdowns and harsher sentencing- can strengthen prison gangs' leverage over outside actors, consistent with the observed expansion of prison gangs during mass-incarceration initiatives. These gang-strengthening effects of incarceration can have increasing returns, implying a point beyond which additional punishment erodes state authority. Details: Bonn, Germany: IZA, 2014. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 29, 2016 at: http://www.iza.org/conference_files/riskonomics2014/lessing_b9947.pdf Year: 2014 Country: International URL: http://www.iza.org/conference_files/riskonomics2014/lessing_b9947.pdf Shelf Number: 140067 Keywords: Gangs Prisons Prisons Gangs

Author: De La Cruz, Jesse S. Title: Mexican American/Chicano Gang Members' Voice on Social Control in the Context of School and Community: A Critical Ethnographic Study in Stockton, California Summary: The purpose of the study was to examine what role social control, in the context of family, school, and community, played in the participants' decision to join gangs in their adolescent years. The study examined the lives of four male ex-gang members over the age of 18, with extensive criminal records and poor academic histories. Participants were chosen from a Stockton reentry facility where ex-offenders were in the process of improving their lives by breaking the chains of street gang involvement, criminality, and incarceration. The findings revealed that social control administered by family, school, law enforcement, and community all played a significant role in shaping each participant's decision to join his prospective gang in adolescence. The researcher found that while the family life of the participants was the prime mover in terms of a nudge toward gang life, school was also a place where they were constantly devalued, in large part because educators did not understand them, and the teachers arrived to their classrooms ill equipped for the realities of teaching in schools located in violence-ridden neighborhoods where the youth suffered morbid and multiple exposure to trauma. In fact, the teachers and law enforcement's inept ways of addressing the participant's maladaptive behaviors - with a propensity for handling all issues with punitive measures - ended up creating incentives for the participants to join a gang. Details: Stanislaus, CA: California State University, Stanislaus, 2014. 282p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 7, 2016 at: http://gradworks.umi.com/36/33/3633628.html Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://gradworks.umi.com/36/33/3633628.html Shelf Number: 140221 Keywords: Gangs Social Control Youth Gangs

Author: Burman, Michelle Lynn Title: Resocializing and repairing homies within the Texas Prison System : a case study on security threat group management, administrative segregation, prison gang renunciation and safety for all Summary: This research is a case study focused on the resocialization of prison gang members through the lens of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's (TDCJ) Gang Renouncement and Disassociation (GRAD) process, a nine-month, three-phase voluntary process whereby confirmed prison gang, or Security Threat Group (STG), members renounce their gang membership and disassociate from the gang while still incarcerated. The TDCJ implemented its gang renunciation process to relinquish its dependence on segregating confirmed prison gang members and to provide them a way to transition out of segregation. The GRAD process has been in place since 2000 with more than 2,600 offenders completing it, but little information, other than anecdotal evidence, is available to support or disprove its success or effectiveness at de-ganging and resocializing prison gang members for the long haul. Interviews were conducted with 16 individuals, including GRAD correctional officers and instructors, and law enforcement officers with known expertise and knowledge of prison gang investigations. A limited amount of extant aggregate-level data was provided by TDCJ to supplement the narratives in the qualitative analysis. Findings suggest that the identified goals of the process differ among GRAD staff and non-GRAD staff: GRAD staff focused on offender rehabilitation, and non-GRAD staff focused on gang renunciation. It was also found that resocialization and normative change can and do occur in the closed GRAD environment; however, no tracking mechanism exists to systematically and pro-actively monitor their behavior once they are released from GRAD to determine if they have internalized these new norms and values. Based on the interviews, it also appears that the length of time spent in segregation prior to renunciation renders the offender more grateful and appreciative, and, therefore, more likely to successfully complete the process. Finally, interviews with law enforcement reveal that, upon release to the broader community, these offenders may have renounced the gang - but not the crime. The dissertation ends with limitations to the study, recommendations for future research, and implications for social work. Details: Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, 2012. 552p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 8, 2016 at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/23352 Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/23352 Shelf Number: 140245 Keywords: Gangs Prison Gangs

Author: InSight Crime Title: Game Changers: Tracking the Evolution of Organized Crime in the Americas: 2015. Summary: Welcome to InSight Crime's Game Changers 2015, where we highlight the year's most important trends in organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. This year saw some potentially game changing developments related to government corruption, organized crime, and rising pressure to alter alliances between members of the state and criminal groups. It also saw important shifts in the criminal world, in particular related to street gangs and the realignment of large criminal enterprises. From Mexico to Brazil and numerous places in between, officials came under fire for establishing mafia-like schemes that defrauded their citizens and ensured impunity for government officials connected to criminal groups. The long-term results of the widespread outcry from multilateral bodies, non-governmental organizations, private sector, political organizations, and religious and civic groups designed to disrupt these criminal networks are not yet clear, but the short-term impact has been profound. In August, Guatemala's President Otto Perez Molina resigned. This came just three months after Guatemala's Vice President Roxana Baldetti resigned. The two were accused of running a massive customs fraud scheme, which has been a mainstay of a criminal network run by current and ex-military officials for decades. Perez and Baldetti's departures came after the United Nations-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Comision Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala - CICIG), working with the Attorney General's Office, began revealing a spate of corruption cases. These investigations touched the highest levels of congress, as well as government purveyors such as the social security institute and mayors' offices. All of these had set up criminal networks to embezzle money from the government coffers. The public outcry that followed hastened the officials' departures. In Mexico, the power and popularity of President Enrique Pena Nieto's government has eroded in large part due to its handling of several major security crises, some of which spilled over from 2014. These events include the disappearance and likely murder of 43 students at the hands of a criminal group with deep ties to the local government and police; the apparent massacre of at least 22 suspected criminals by the Mexican army; and the dramatic escape of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman from a high security prison in June. Outside investigators from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) pilloried Mexico's Attorney General's Office for the numerous gaps, inconsistencies, and improbable explanations about what happened to the student teachers. In October, the government's own Human Rights Commission confirmed that the army extra-judicially executed at least 15 of the 22 suspected criminals in the so-called Tlatlaya massacre. And in September, the government arrested 13 officials - including the former head of the prison system - for allegedly assisting Guzman's flight to freedom via a one kilometer tunnel that ran from underneath the shower in his jail cell to a small farmhouse. Details: s.l.: InSight Crime, 2015. 162p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 10, 2016 at: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2015/GameChangers2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: South America URL: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2015/GameChangers2015.pdf Shelf Number: 140254 Keywords: Corruption Criminal Networks Drug Trafficking (South America) Gangs Organized Crime Street Gangs Violence

Author: Biderman, Ciro Title: Pax Monopolista and Crime: The Case of the Emergence of the Primeiro Comando da Capital in Sao Paulo Summary: This paper documents a rare phenomenon: the consequence of the dominance of a single criminal gang in the city of Sao Paulo, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC). Using unique data to identify entry in geographically well-delimited areas - the Favelas - we explore the timing of the expansion of geographical dominance to estimate the causal impact of its dominance on property and violent crime. Pax Monopolista caused a reduction in violent crime but no impact on property crime. Details: Caracas, Venezuela: Development Bank of Latin America, 2014. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper No. 2014/03: Accessed September 20, 2016 at: http://scioteca.caf.com/bitstream/handle/123456789/712/paxmonopolista-crime-primeirocomandodacapital-saopaulo.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2014 Country: Brazil URL: http://scioteca.caf.com/bitstream/handle/123456789/712/paxmonopolista-crime-primeirocomandodacapital-saopaulo.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 140365 Keywords: Favelas Gang Violence Gangs Property Crime Violent Crime

Author: Phillips, Nicholas Title: CARSI In Guatemala: Progress, Failure, and Uncertainty Summary: To the extent that the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) is a coherent policy, Guatemala is its centerpiece. This land of sultry jungles, volcanic highlands and buzzing cities boasts a population of nearly 16 million-the largest on the isthmus, with roughly 39 percent self-identifying as indigenous. During the first five years of CARSI, no country in Central America received more of the initiative's funds, or was allocated more non-CARSI security aid. Thus it would appear that the U.S. Congress is aware of Guatemala's problems: its weak institutions, drug smuggling, violence, gangs, poverty, inequality, impunity, corruption, and malnutrition. We may now add to this list the recent swell of Guatemalan youth who abandoned their homeland and were caught crossing illegally and unaccompanied onto American soil. But is CARSI a catalyst for adequate solutions? In some ways, yes. In others, no. And in some areas, it is hard to say for lack of performance evaluations. CARSI funds have bolstered the criminal courts and the police's anti-gang unit, for example, but have failed to produce an exemplary police precinct or eradicate poppy farms. Furthermore, some crime prevention efforts bankrolled by CARSI have never been audited, so their effectiveness is not clear. This chapter will shed some light on CARSI's successes, challenges, and unknowns in Guatemala. Details: Washington, DC: Wilson Center, Latin American Program, 2014. 53p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 22, 2016 at: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/CARSI%20in%20Guatemala_1.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Guatemala URL: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/CARSI%20in%20Guatemala_1.pdf Shelf Number: 144860 Keywords: Criminal Courts Drug Trafficking Gangs Organized Crime Violence Violent Crime

Author: Mani, Kristina Title: Beyond the Pay: Current Illicit Activities of the Armed Forces in Central America Summary: The growth of criminal gangs and organized crime groups has created unprecedented challenges in Central America. Homicide rates are among the highest in the world, countries spend on average close to 10 percent of GDP to respond to the challenges of public insecurity, and the security forces are frequently overwhelmed and at times co-opted by the criminal groups they are increasingly tasked to counter. With some 90 percent of the 700 metric tons of cocaine trafficked from South America to the United States passing through Central America, the lure of aiding illegal traffickers through provision of arms, intelligence, or simply withholding or delaying the use of force is enormous. These conditions raise the question: to what extent are militaries in Central America compromised by illicit ties to criminal groups? The study focuses on three cases: Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras. It finds that: - Although illicit ties between the military and criminal groups have grown in the last decade, militaries in these countries are not yet "lost" to criminal groups. - Supplying criminal groups with light arms from military stocks is typical and on the rise, but still not common. - In general the less exposed services, the navies and air forces, are the most reliable and effective ones in their roles in interdiction. - Of the three countries in the study, the Honduran military is the most worrying because it is embedded in a context where civilian corruption is extremely common, state institutions are notoriously weak, and the political system remains polarized and lacks the popular legitimacy and political will needed to make necessary reforms. - Overall, the armed forces in the three countries remain less compromised than civilian peers, particularly the police. However, in the worsening crime and insecurity context, there is a limited window of opportunity in which to introduce measures targeted toward the military, and such efforts can only succeed if opportunities for corruption in other sectors of the state, in particular in law enforcement and the justice system, are also addressed. Measures targeted toward the military should include: - Enhanced material benefits and professional education opportunities that open doors for soldiers in promising legitimate careers once they leave military service. - A clear system of rewards and punishments specifically designed to deter collusion with criminal groups. - More effective securing of military arsenals. - Skills and external oversight leveraged through combined operations, to build cooperation among those sectors of the military that have successful and clean records in countering criminal groups, and to expose weaker forces to effective best practices. Details: Miami: Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center, Florida International University, 2011. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 6, 2016 at: https://new.oberlin.edu/dotAsset/4690459.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Central African Republic URL: https://new.oberlin.edu/dotAsset/4690459.pdf Shelf Number: 140538 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gangs Homicides Military Personnel Organized Crime Violence

Author: Cockayne, James Title: Hidden Power: The Strategic Logic of Organized Crime: Sicily, New York and the Caribbean, 1859- 1968, and Mexico and the Sahel. Summary: Criminologists have long recognized that some groups govern criminal markets. Strategists and political scientists, however, downplay the role organized crime plays in domestic and international politics - though the United Nations Security Council, World Bank and White House have warned that role may be growing. The assumption has been that states and insurgents exist in a political 'upperworld' while organized crime exists in a separate, profit-driven 'underworld'. We consequently lack a framework for understanding the strategic logic of organized crime: how it uses force, and other means, to compete, cooperate and collaborate with states and other political organizations for governmental power. This dissertation develops such a framework, drawing on strategic theory, criminology, and economic and management theory. It applies the framework to the emergence, development and movement of mafias in Sicily, New York, and the Caribbean between 1859 and 1968. Using unpublished judicial, intelligence and diplomatic material, mafia memoires, and published secondary sources, the dissertation reveals mafias becoming autonomous strategic actors in both domestic and international politics. They deliberately influenced elections, organized domestic insurgency and transnational armed attacks, attempted regime change, and formed governmental joint ventures with ruling groups. Mafias played important and unappreciated military and political roles during the Second World War, the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Based on this historical analysis, the dissertation identifies six ways criminal groups position themselves in the 'market for government'. These positioning strategies help explain the emergence and behaviours of mafias, warlords and gang rulers; political-criminal alliances; acts of terrorism by criminal groups; and criminal sponsorship of new political structures ('blue ocean' strategy). The final section applies these concepts to two contemporary cases - Mexico and the Sahel - and considers the overall implications for strategic theory, efforts to combat organized crime and the management of criminal spoilers in peace processes. Details: London: King's College London, 2015. 376p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed October 6, 2016 at: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/44634722/2015_Cockayne_James_1018212_ethesis.pdf Year: 2015 Country: International URL: https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/files/44634722/2015_Cockayne_James_1018212_ethesis.pdf Shelf Number: 140599 Keywords: Criminal Networks Gangs Mafia Organized Crime Warlords

Author: L'Aurora, Marika Title: "1992-2012: Laws' implementation on one side and changes on yakuza's organizations on the other." -What has been going on?- Summary: In the postwar period, developments and changes, among the others, occurred also within yakuza organizations. On both levels, local and international, different reasons lead to the decision of taking action against the organized crime. Due to local factors, mostly a deeper involvement of the citizens in gang related activities, implying more danger in the daily life; and due to international factors, mainly the union of the 'democratized countries' against the fight of organized crime, with particular reference to drug related offences, Japan moved for the first time in a serious way against yakuza. In 1992 The Botaiho, or 'Anti-b�ryokudan law', law No. 77 was implemented. Together with the anti- boryokudan law, through the years, other laws have been improved, or enacted, with the purpose of controlling, or confining yakuza activities out of the Japanese society. The most recent is the introduction of prefectural ordinances: these, carrying the same purpose of isolating boryokudan - in "boryokudan members" through the ban of their commercial relations with the societies' members. Looking at yakuza activities and developments during the twenty years between the first anti-boryokudan law enforcement (1992) and the recent enactment of the prefectural ordinances (2012), did the laws do what they were supposed to? Have the goals that the laws were aimed at been realized? Details: Leiden: Leiden University, Asian Studies, 2015. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed October 12, 2016 at: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/36069/MA%20Thesis_%20L%27Aurora%20Marika.pdf?sequence=2 Year: 2015 Country: Japan URL: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/36069/MA%20Thesis_%20L%27Aurora%20Marika.pdf?sequence=2 Shelf Number: 140664 Keywords: Gangs Organized Crime Yakuza

Author: Fisher, Herrick Title: Opportunities Provision for Preventing Youth Gang Involvement for Children and Young People (7-16) Summary: Research has shown that youth who join gangs are more likely to be involved in delinquency and crime, particularly serious and violent offences, compared to non-gang youth and non-gang delinquent youth. Opportunities provision is a commonly used gang prevention strategy based on anomie and strain theories and the belief that giving youth educational and employment opportunities, such as tutoring or job training and placement, will reduce gang involvement. This systematic review found no randomised controlled trials or quasi-randomised controlled trials of the effectiveness of opportunities provision for gang prevention. There is an urgent need for rigorous primary evaluations of gang prevention and intervention programmes to justify current programme funding and guide future interventions. Details: Oslo: Campbell Collaboration, 2008. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Campbell Systematic Reviews 2008:8: Accessed November 3, 2016 at: https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/library/opportunities-provision-for-preventing-youth-gang-involvement-for-children-and-young-people-7-16-a-systematic-review.html Year: 2008 Country: International URL: https://www.campbellcollaboration.org/library/opportunities-provision-for-preventing-youth-gang-involvement-for-children-and-young-people-7-16-a-systematic-review.html Shelf Number: 131724 Keywords: Gang Prevention Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Lancaster, Kenneth Shane Title: An Analysis of Secondary Educator and Administrator Abilities to Identify Young Gang Indicators and Risk Factors: A Phenomenological Study Summary: The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research study was to examine secondary educator and administrator perceptions of their abilities to recognize indicators and risk factors of gang participation in a northeast Georgia school district. The study employed an interpretive phenomenological approach to obtain an understanding of educator and administrator perceptions. The study sample utilized 28 participants consisting of 14 administrators, seven veteran educators, and seven non-veteran educators. Major themes included a lack of gang awareness training as components of teacher preparatory programs, a lack of staff development exercises pertaining to youth gang indicators and risk factors, and the development of indicator awareness through various experiences. Other major themes included the development of youth gang risk factor awareness through personal and professional experiences, the significance of peer groups and youth gang formation, and the presence of gang graffiti within the given school district. Recommendations for future research included replications of this study, the expansion of this study, and the exploration of gang tendencies in relation to cultural, socioeconomic, and academic discrepancies. Recommendations for leadership included the collection of gang data, school-based assessments of indicators and risk factors, and measures designed to develop and enhance relationships among schools, communities, and local agencies. Details: Lynchburg, VA: Liberty University, 2011. 298p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed November 3, 2016 at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.472.6726&rep=rep1&type=pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.472.6726&rep=rep1&type=pdf Shelf Number: 145398 Keywords: Gang Prevention Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Research Directorate Title: Gangs in El Salvador and the Situation of Witnesses of Crime and Corruption Summary: The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB) is involved in an ongoing capacity's building initiative carried out jointly by the United States, Mexico, Canada and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Under this initiative, which seeks to enhance asylum systems in the Americas, the IRB, in conjunction with its partners, conducted an information-gathering mission to El Salvador. During the mission, IRB officials held meetings with experts and representatives from relevant governmental, non-governmental, academic and research-focused organizations, as well as with journalists. The purpose of the mission to El Salvador was to gather information related to state efforts to combat crime; the structure of criminal gangs, their areas of operation, activities and recruitment practices; the situation of gender-based and domestic violence against women; the situation of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or intersex) people; and the efficacy of the police and judiciary to provide recourse to victims of crime, to investigate and to prosecute crimes. Details: Ottawa: The Board, 2016. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: El Salvador: Information Gathering Mission Report - Part 1: Accessed November 8, 2016 at: http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/Eng/ResRec/NdpCnd/Pages/Salvador-2016P1.aspx Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador URL: http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/Eng/ResRec/NdpCnd/Pages/Salvador-2016P1.aspx Shelf Number: 146285 Keywords: Corruption Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Youth Gangs

Author: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Research Directorate Title: The Situation of Women Victims of Violence and of Sexual Minorities in El Salvador Summary: In 2013, Canada and the United States began working together to identify opportunities to establish new modes of cooperation in the areas of asylum and immigration; this collaboration is known as the Asylum Cooperation Action Plan (ACAP). The ACAP, through the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), approached the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada to seek the IRB's interest in supporting the capacity building activities to be undertaken in the Americas with the objective of improving asylum systems in the region. In May 2015, the Deputy Chairperson of the IRB's Refugee Protection Division (RPD) participated in a meeting between Canada, Mexico and the United States, where it was agreed that the IRB would undertake a number of activities to support the development of quality refugee status determination by Mexico. One of these activities involved IRB participation in a joint information-gathering mission (henceforth referred to as the "mission") to El Salvador, in conjunction with representatives from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Mexican government's Commission for Refugee Aid (Comision Mexicana de Ayuda a Refugiados, COMAR), and the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (Secretar�ia de Relaciones Exteriores, SRE) of Mexico, under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Mexico and El Salvador. A representative of the Mexican Embassy in San Salvador also participated. The joint mission was carried out from 11 to 15 April 2016. Following the completion of the joint mission, the IRB conducted its own research for one further week in El Salvador. The purpose of this was to meet with additional expert sources not included in the joint mission agenda due to time constraints, to gather corroborating and contrasting information, and to enable the IRB's Research Directorate to develop new contacts, strengthen existing ones, and obtain information uniquely needed to support the IRB's decision-making on refugee status determination now or in the future. The purpose of the mission to El Salvador was to gather information related to state efforts to combat crime; the structure of criminal gangs, their areas of operation, activities, and recruitment practices; the situation of gender-based and domestic violence against women; the situation of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and/or intersex) people; and the efficacy of the police and judiciary to provide recourse to victims of crime, investigate and prosecute crimes. This report summarizes the information gathered by the representatives of the IRB during both the joint mission and during the IRB's additional week of research. Details: Ottawa: The Board, 2016. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: El Salvador: Information Gathering Mission Report - Part 2: Accessed November 8, 2016 at: http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/Eng/ResRec/NdpCnd/Pages/Salvador-2016P2.aspx Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador URL: http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/Eng/ResRec/NdpCnd/Pages/Salvador-2016P2.aspx Shelf Number: 146284 Keywords: Asylum Seekers Domestic Violence Gangs Gender-Related Violence Immigration Violence Against Women, Girls

Author: Chicago. Office of the Mayor Title: Tracing the Guns: The Impact of Illegal Guns on Violence in Chicago Summary: Gun violence is Chicago's most urgent problem. Since assuming office in 2011, Mayor Emanuel's top priority has been reducing crime so that all Chicagoans, in every neighborhood, feel safe in our City. The Mayor's comprehensive violence reduction strategy has attacked the problem from every angle, including increasing police resources, fostering economic opportunity, improving education outcomes, empowering youth through prevention programs, and creating opportunities for individuals returning from incarceration. The City's approach is showing signs of progress. Chicago closed 2013 with historic lows in crime and violence. Last year, Chicago had the fewest murders since 1965, the lowest murder rate since 1966, and the lowest overall crime rate since 1972. But violence in Chicago remains unacceptably high. Too many families, from generation to generation, have lived with the heartbreak and devastation of gun violence. And while the City continues to invest in smarter police strategies and high quality prevention programs, it also must tackle the problem at one of its root causes: the flow of illegal guns into the City. This report is composed of data and analysis compiled by the Chicago Mayor's Office and the Chicago Police Department examining the impact of illegal guns on violent crime in Chicago and the scope of the City's illegal gun market. This report updates an analysis previously released in 20123 and confirms: (1) Chicago's violence problem is directly linked to the number of illegal guns available in the City; (2) Sixty percent of guns recovered in crimes in Chicago were first sold in other states, many with weaker gun laws; and (3) A small handful of gun stores, three from Cook Country and one from Gary, Indiana, continue to be responsible for a disproportionate number of crime guns recovered on Chicago's streets. Recognizing that there must be a multifaceted approach to reducing gun violence, the Mayor's Office and the Chicago Police Department will take every step to hold accountable the straw purchasers, retail stores, and irresponsible gun owners who arm criminals and young people. Details: Chicago: Office of the Mayor, 2014. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 8, 2016 at: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/Assets/downloads/20151102-Tracing-Guns.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/Assets/downloads/20151102-Tracing-Guns.pdf Shelf Number: 146278 Keywords: Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Homicides Illegal Guns

Author: Aldred, Joe Title: ' Who is my neighbour?' A Church Response to Social Disorder linked to Gangs, Drugs, Guns and Knives Summary: This report is an expression of our churches' deep concern about negative gang-related social disorder and violent crimes; their effects upon society at large, particularly the young; and the perspectives of the churches on and contributions to finding solutions. The main tools of negative gang activity are drugs, guns, and knives; the use of which has resulted in the maiming and tragic loss of many young lives, long jail sentences for the convicted perpetrators and the destabilisation of urban communities. But this phenomenon does not occur in a vacuum, its causes are complex and are linked to wider social issues.Therefore, this report is interested in the social, economic, political and environmental issues that provide the context within which gang-related social disorder and violent crimes occur. Addressing such complex context requires a holistic approach that considers both causes and effects if we are to uncover a message of faith, hope, and love of neighbour. The report aims to quantify and value the contribution of the churches in addressing gang-related social disorder, reveal gaps in thinking and provision and provide churches with guidelines of good practice. It also aims to identify partnership opportunities to better address the issue. It was commissioned by the Enabling Group of Churches Together in England (CTE)3 and prepared by the Secretary of Minority Ethnic Christian Affairs.4 As a national ecumenical instrument, CTE has a role in helping the Church make an effective contribution to the search for solutions to gang-related social disorder. In commissioning this report CTE recognises that although this issue is sometimes presented as a 'Black problem', gang-related disorder is a challenge of national proportions impacting all communities, particularly urban communities. One contributor to our discussions pointed out that "this need for information and for strategic intervention represents a massive opportunity for CTE in the context of national programs." Churches and Christian-led initiatives are already playing crucial roles in addressing these difficult issues; however, to date, there has been no national scoping of what is currently being done. During the preparation of this report Premier Radio published 'Church Consultation on Violent Crime' in association with the Metropolitan Black Police Association. Gang-related crime is of growing national concern. Last year street violence claimed the lives of 26 teenagers in London. Recent research published by NCH, the children's charity, shows that as many as 29% of young people are affected by gun and knife crime and 36% are worried about gangs in their area. The paper calls for greater recognition of the extent to which young people are the victims of crime; improvements in their access to structured activities each week; young people to have a say in shaping their local communities; and the safeguarding of services that engage the most vulnerable young people and communities through ustainable funding.The publication of 'Who is my neighbour?' comes at a time of heightened awareness of the need to give young people a voice and greater prominence in planning and funding at both local and national levels. Details: London: Churches Together in England, 2008. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 11, 2016 at: http://www.cte.org.uk/Groups/236211/Home/Resources/Pentecostal_and_Multicultural/Who_is_my/Who_is_my.aspx Year: 2008 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.cte.org.uk/Groups/236211/Home/Resources/Pentecostal_and_Multicultural/Who_is_my/Who_is_my.aspx Shelf Number: 147319 Keywords: Churches Gang-Related Violence Gangs Gun-Related Violence Knife Crime Knives Violent Crime Youth Gangs

Author: Way, Julian Title: Charting Out the Digital Ecosystem of Gangs in the U.S. and Mexico Summary: People, drugs and weapons are routinely smuggled across the U.S.-Mexican border. Drug trafficking cartels and organized criminal gangs are suppliers, brokers, retailers and regulators of the trade. Conventional assessments of the political economy of the illicit trafficking along known corridors such as San Diego-Tijuana or El Paso-Ciudad Juarez rely on painstaking qualitative assessments, including key informant interviews with those in and outside the business. In some cases, quantitative approaches are deployed, including modeling flows on the basis of extant data on sex trafficking or drugs and arms seizures. Due in part to the rapid digital penetration of the Internet and social media over the past decade, there are novel ways of tracking cartel and gang activity. Many of these approaches are still experimental and in early stages of development. This article considers the digital ecosystem linking gangs in San Diego, Tijuana and more widely across Mexico and other parts of Latin America. The focus is not restricted to mapping the online presence of gangs in social media and related public digital platforms, but also the dynamic interaction between members, affiliates and the wider public. The article draws on research conducted in partnership with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and University of San Diego in 2015. The article considers the digital activities of gangs – especially Latin American groups – at two levels. At the micro-level, the focus was on mapping online gang involvement in sex trafficking in San Diego in the U.S. and Tijuana in Mexico. At the macro-level, we considered the activities and dynamics of online gang networks in southern California, Mexico and wider Latin America. We then applied a combination of social media analytics, social network analysis, and digital forensics to understand the distribution and dynamics of cartels and gangs in cyberspace. While experimental in nature, the assessment generated descriptive and methodological findings. Details: Small Wars Journal, April 11, 2016. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 14, 2016 at: http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/charting-out-the-digital-ecosystem-of-gangs-in-the-us-and-mexico Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/charting-out-the-digital-ecosystem-of-gangs-in-the-us-and-mexico Shelf Number: 146974 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gang-Related Violence Gangs Gun Trafficking Sex Trafficking Social Media

Author: InSight Crime Title: Game Changers: Tracking the Evolution of Organized Crime in the Americas: 2016. Summary: Welcome to InSight Crime's GameChangers 2016, where we highlight the most important trends in organized crime in the Americas. This year we put a spotlight on crime and corruption among the region's political elites, while reporting on government struggles to corral criminality fueled by street gangs, drug cartels and Marxist rebels alike. Top government officials spent much of the year fending off accusations of corruption and organized crime with varying degrees of success. At the center of the storm was Brazil, where government deals led to bribes and kickbacks that over time reached into the billions of dollars. The top casualty of the scandal was Dilma Rousseff who, ironically, was ousted from the presidency for misuse of funds, not corruption. In reality, it is her Worker's Party that more resembles a criminal organization than she does. Like a mafia, the party collected and distributed money to keep the wheels of political power moving and laundered that money through elaborate schemes involving construction companies and offshore accounts. Rousseff's mentor, the celebrated former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was charged with what appeared to be the type of routine payments all Brazilian politicians and ex-politicians get from the movement of state contracts. Indeed, those who ousted Rousseff are facing similar corruption allegations, illustrating just how institutionalized the problem appears to be. Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro is facing down a different type of crisis, one that includes an economic emergency, widespread corruption and rising crime rates at home, and an increasing number of current and ex-officials charged with drug trafficking abroad. The US government's case against the first lady's "Narco Nephews" got most of the headlines, but numerous other former military officials are revealing to US investigators just what the Venezuelan government looks like from the inside. It is a not a pretty picture, and Maduro's domestic and international issues appear to be pushing him into tighter alliances with the criminal elements in his government. Guatemala's Attorney General's Office and its United Nations-backed appendage, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala - CICIG), continued to arrest and charge more suspects from the mafia state established under former President Otto Pérez Molina, his Vice President Roxana Baldetti and their Patriotic Party (Partido Patriota - PP). The most startling and revealing case was one they termed the "cooptación del estado," or the "Cooptation of the State," a scheme involving numerous campaign contributors whose return on investment was guaranteed once the PP took power in 2012. Among those arrested for the Cooptation of the State case was former Interior Minister Mauricio López Bonilla. Once a staunch US counter-drug ally and hero from that country's civil war, López Bonilla is also being investigated for his multiple shady deals with drug traffickers such as Marllory Chacón Rossell, to whom he provided a government protection service even after she was accused of money laundering by the US Treasury Department; and with Byron Lima, a former army captain who was killed in jail amidst a public squabble with the former interior minister. Potential corruption and organized crime cases continue to shake the foundations of Guatemala, including one that connects a now extradited drug trafficker to the current vice president and a corruption scandal connected to the current president's son and his brother. Details: s.l.: Insight Crime, 2016. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 25, 2017 at: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2016/GAMECHANGERS_2016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: South America URL: http://www.insightcrime.org/images/PDFs/2016/GAMECHANGERS_2016.pdf Shelf Number: 140596 Keywords: Corruption Criminal Networks Drug Trafficking (South America) Gangs Organized Crime Street Gangs Violence

Author: Stjarnqvist, Anna Title: The Mysterious Mc-Clubs: A Content Analysis of the Structure, Symbols, Brotherhood, and Criminal Involvement Among Legal and Illegal Mc-Clubs Summary: Mc-clubs are marked as mysterious with dangerous motorcycles and deviant. Research has noticed both the illegal and legal clubs, but few have performed a comparison. The paper describes the similarities, differences, and the characteristics among legal and illegal mc-clubs. The comparison is done by looking at the structure, symbols, brotherhood, and criminal involvement. The depiction of the clubs is done by the help of Edwin M. Lemert's terms primary and secondary deviance and Lewis Yablonsky's definition of the social, delinquent, and violent gang. A content analysis based on 28 previous and current articles has been used to find the specific themes the clubs have in common and what characterizes and separates them. The clubs were shown to have similar structure, symbols and brotherhood, the difference lying in the intensity of the three components. The major difference is the criminal involvement. The illegal clubs reject the conventional society where the deviance is a form of identity, sharing it with like-minded in a violent setting. The legal clubs, however, conform and simultaneously deviate and have their own community with values and beliefs. Implications and future research is discussed. Details: Malmo, Sweden: Malmö högskola/Hälsa och samhälle, 2015. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Essary: Accessed February 4, 2017 at: https://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2043/19121/Anna%20Stj%C3%A4rnqvist%20The%20mysterious%20mc-clubs..pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y Year: 2015 Country: Sweden URL: https://dspace.mah.se/bitstream/handle/2043/19121/Anna%20Stj%C3%A4rnqvist%20The%20mysterious%20mc-clubs..pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 146249 Keywords: Gangs Motorcycle Gangs

Author: Gestel, B. van Title: Crossing borders on the trail of thieves: Research on facilitating itinerant crime groups based on fifteen criminal investigation studies in the Netherlands Summary: In recent years, the Minister of Security and Justice has repeatedly expressed his concerns about the broad range of offences against property committed by itinerant crime groups and the resulting damage suffered by citizens and businesses. Dutch policy emphatically focuses on preventing mobile banditry, in addition to intensifying investigation efforts. Collecting information about the different ‘steps’ in the criminal operation of an itinerant crime group will help clarify how such groups are facilitated and which legal actors and opportunities they exploit. The government can consequently use this knowledge to stop or disrupt criminal operations. The Minister of Security and Justice requested that research be carried out by the Dutch Research and Documentation Centre [WODC] for the purpose of fighting itinerant crime groups. The Research and Documentation Centre study primarily focuses on facilitating itinerant crime groups and has been carried out in two parts. The first part consists of a research synthesis and was carried out in 2014. The synthesis contains findings from current scientific studies on the facilitation of itinerant crime groups. The findings of this research synthesis can be summarised briefly in terms of the three dimensions that offer itinerant crime groups the opportunity to operate. These are legal occupational groups, social ties and convergence settings. These dimensions provide insight into the actors and the circumstances that play a facilitating role in the (continued) existence of itinerant crime groups. They are shown to be dynamic, recurrent dimensions that may play a facilitating role for itinerant crime groups in various phases of the criminal operation. This report contains the findings of the empirical follow-up research. The aim of this study is to collect current information on facilitating itinerant crime groups, specifically with regard to the situation in the Netherlands. In this study , the following questions are key:  How are itinerant crime groups composed and what crimes do they focus on?  How are itinerant crime groups facilitated? Which actors and circumstances can be identified?  How is information exchanged with investigation partners in other regions and other countries during and after a criminal investigation? Details: The Hague: WODC (Research and Documentation Centre, Minister of Security and Justice), 2016. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Cahiers 2016-08: Accessed February 4, 2017 at: https://english.wodc.nl/binaries/Cahier%202016-8_Summary_nw_tcm29-228345.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Netherlands URL: https://english.wodc.nl/binaries/Cahier%202016-8_Summary_nw_tcm29-228345.pdf Shelf Number: 145883 Keywords: Gangs Handling stolen goods Offender mobility Organized crime Stolen goods Theft

Author: Carlock, Arna L. Title: Live Fast, Die Young: Anticipated Early Death and Adolescent Violence and Gang Involvement Summary: Strategies employed by criminal justice agencies to reduce offending often focus on deterrence, with policies relying on the threat of punishment to discourage individuals from crime. However, such strategies will fail if individuals do not fear these consequences, or when potential rewards of offending outweigh the risks. According to life history theory, adolescents with a dangerous or unpredictable childhood environment discount the future and engage in risky behaviors because they have little to lose. Many adolescents embody this "live fast, die young" mentality, particularly those already at risk of delinquency due to other factors. The scientific literature refers to this mindset as fatalism, future discounting, or anticipated early death (AED). Despite the indication that AED is a crucial correlate of delinquent activity, only recently have criminologists begun to directly examine the relationship. To address this gap in the literature, this dissertation analyzes two longitudinal datasets. One dataset, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), offers a nationally representative sample, while the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS) provides a sample of at-risk youth in Rochester, New York. Structural equation modeling quantifies adolescent AED in each dataset. The use of two data sources strengthens the reliability and validity of the latent variable's measurement. I study the effects of the latent AED measures on adolescent violence and gang activity, finding that higher levels of AED correspond to a greater likelihood of violence and gang activity, with the relationships often mediated by low self-control. In an attempt to determine the causal ordering of AED and risk-taking behaviors, I exploit the longitudinal nature of the RYDS data by estimating autoregressive cross-lagged panel models. Findings lend support to life history theory's assumption that AED predicts risk-taking behavior; I find little evidence that violence or gang activity cause AED. Details: Albany, NY: University at Albany, 2016. 184p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed February 11, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250425.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/250425.pdf Shelf Number: 144824 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Youth Violence

Author: Yousuf, Sarah Title: CeaseFire: Breaking Through the Impenetrable Gang World to Eradicate Violence Summary: Gang violence is a pervasive issue that adversely affects urban populations such as Cape Town. Though such violence is rooted in poor inner-city slums, its effects are far-reaching, with violence spilling over into other realms of society. Gang violence tears apart families and leaves communities to live in constant fear and intimidation of gangs. Numerous violence prevention initiatives have been developed throughout the decades to combat gangsterism and gang violence, yet no long-lasting strategy has been achieved thus far. Various explanations have been put forth as to why these programs are ultimately unsustainable, yet the same types of programs continuously re-emerge, only to be shut down because they have no appreciable effect on gang violence. Over the decades, a pattern of violence and violence prevention has developed. Typically, a spate of killings related to gang warfare occurs, the community's outcry leads to a short-term solution and the problem is temporarily abated. Within months, however, violence erupts yet again. This failed pattern repeats itself because the response to gang violence revolves around two core principles -- the community must become more active and involved with curbing gang violence, and law enforcement must be tougher on policing and apprehending the offenders. Absent from these solutions is the very source of the problem itself, fully engaging gangsters in a long-term solution to end the violence. Short-term solutions involve gang members in a very limited way, and only after a particularly notorious incident of gang violence has already occurred. For example, gang members have been repeatedly called upon to enter into conflict mediation and peace pacts so as to end gang warfare. As a result of these pacts, violence temporarily desists for a few months. However, no other support systems are put into place to ensure that the peace continues, and ultimately, violence breaks out again. Gang members have also been approached to engage in other pursuits besides gang activity, such as becoming involved in local football teams. Again, such solutions are merely hasty and immediate answers that avoid the more deeply-rooted and complex issues that these young adults face on a day-to-day basis. Playing football for a few hours does not address the problem of broken homes, drug addiction, and the trauma that comes with living in a violent culture. Nonetheless, the community sees any sort of engagement with gangs as a last resort to stopping crime and no attempts are made to have gang members reintegrate into society. Rather, the problem is seen as a war between gangs and the community. The other traditional solution, besides community involvement, is tougher law enforcement. However, the lack of manpower and resources available to the police, compounded with the fact that the police are viewed with suspicion in the Cape Flats, makes more effective law enforcement also difficult to sustain. Frustrated with the inappropriate response to gang violence by the police, communities have resorted to taking the law into their own hands, with organisations such as PAGAD forming. However, having organisations carry out their own form of vigilante justice can be dangerous. These organisations have been known to respond to gang violence by attacking gang members themselves, and the consequence has been that violence continued unabated. Such previous tactics focus on the notion that gangsters are thugs or skollies, who are condemned to a life of delinquency and violence. The tendency has been to pit the community against gangsters, and if gangs were to be a part of any solution, it must be with their minimal involvement. However, gang members need much more support by the community if gang violence is to be reduced. What is needed is a holistic community approach that centres around and actively includes gang members. Rather than just dealing with gangsters in a minimal fashion, it is necessary to engage them and motivate them to change themselves. CeaseFire is one such program that looks at gangsters in this light and is ground-breaking in its work. This paper evaluates the CeaseFire model within the context of the South African community that it operates in, Hanover Park. The CeaseFire model can work, because any community approach to addressing gang violence must include reaching out to gang members themselves. However, as the model itself affirms, this approach can only work within the context of an integrated community response. Details: Cape Town, South Africa: University of Cape Town, 2013. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed February 13, 2017 at: https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/item/4321/thesis_law_2013_yusuf_sarah.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2013 Country: South Africa URL: https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/item/4321/thesis_law_2013_yusuf_sarah.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 145117 Keywords: Ceasefire Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Violence Prevention

Author: Mesa de Sociedad Civil contra el Desplazamiento Forzado por Violencia y Crimen Organizado en El Salvacor Title: Desplazamiento Interno Por Violencia: Y Crimen Organizado en El Salvador. Informe 2016 (International Displacement Due to Violence and Organized Gang Violence in El Salvador) Summary: The government of El Salvador has been unable to deter organized gang violence plaguing many of its municipalities and communities. Violence against children, extortion of businesses and land owners, femicide, physical assaults, and threats from local and rival gangs has contributed to forced displacement among El Salvador's citizens. Several international non-government organizations are working with the El Salvadoran government in search of solutions. The impact of gang violence has many citizens seeking asylum in the United States and other areas. Details: La mesa de Sociedad Civil contra el Desplazamiento Forzado por Violencia y Crimen Organizado de El, 2016. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: (In Spanish): Accessed February 15, 2017 at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5784803ebe6594ad5e34ea63/t/5880c66b2994ca6b1b94bb77/1484834488111/Desplazamiento+interno+por+violencia+-+Informe+2016.pdf Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador URL: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5784803ebe6594ad5e34ea63/t/5880c66b2994ca6b1b94bb77/1484834488111/Desplazamiento+interno+por+violencia+-+Informe+2016.pdf Shelf Number: 147327 Keywords: Extortion Femicide Gang Violence Gang-Relations Violence Gangs Violent Crime

Author: Daly, Sarah Zukerman Title: Wartime Networks and the Social Logic of Crime Summary: Failure of ex-combatants to reintegrate into legal, civilian life is a source of disorder around the world. Leading explanations for such failure focus on individualistic decisions based on economic or psychological factors. Yet, ex-combatants are embedded in networks that persist following demobilization. We contrast an individual to a social logic of ex-combatant criminality, combining administrative data from Colombia with original survey data that accounts for the challenges of studying sensitive subjects. The results show that conflict networks predominate in explaining criminality while individual factors do not. Further analysis suggests that commanders enter into crime first, recruiting rank-and-file from their networks. As criminal behavior pervades a network, peer relations drive individual crime while peer and commander relations drive gang-related crime through norms, status-seeking, and social pressure. These results provide some of the first evidence of how wartime networks evolve following demobilization, with important implications for understanding reintegration and social stability. Details: Unpublished paper, 2016. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 15, 2017 at: http://sarahzukermandaly.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/colombia_main_submit.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: http://sarahzukermandaly.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/colombia_main_submit.pdf Shelf Number: 145319 Keywords: Criminal Networks Ex-Military Gangs Military Wars and Crime

Author: Anders, Therese Title: Kicked-out to the Gangs? Crime Spillovers of Deportation Summary: This article studies whether immigration enforcement induces international crime spillovers on “home” countries (where individuals are returned when deported). For this purpose, we use individual and municipal panel data on victimization, safety perceptions, and average violent crime matched with annual deportation flows from the United States to Mexico. To identify causal effects, we exploit the exogenous changes in U.S. immigration laws caused by the terrorist attacks of 2001. These changes induced higher variations on exposure to deportation flows for Mexican municipalities closer to the 28 U.S.-Mexican repatriation points. We find that individuals more exposed to deportation have a higher likelihood of being victims of robberies and also have lower safety perceptions. Deportees, however, are mostly the victims and not the perpetrators of crime. Details: Unpublished paper, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 16, 2017 at: http://www.sandravrozo.com/uploads/2/9/3/0/29306259/arr-2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Latin America URL: http://www.sandravrozo.com/uploads/2/9/3/0/29306259/arr-2015.pdf Shelf Number: 146978 Keywords: Crime Spillovers Deportation Gangs Immigration Enforcement Migration

Author: Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) Title: CARICOM Crime and Security Strategy 2013: Securing the Region Summary: I. The ideals of the CARICOM integration movement and the pillars of its foundation can only be realised in a safe and secure Community. The CARICOM Crime and Security Strategy (CCSS) constitutes an historic and defining moment for the Community in clearly articulating its security interests within the wider context of the shifting balance of global geopolitical power, increasing market competitiveness, public debt financing and profound economic uncertainties, threats of climate change and scarcity of key resources.This current situation is further exacerbated by profound influence of new technology and social media, the increasingly asymmetric nature of conflict, and the growing power of non-state actors, including transnational organized crime. II. The multidimensional and multifaceted nature of the risks and threats faced by CARICOM Member States are increasingly interconnected, cross-cutting, network-centric and transnational. The repercussions of emerging threats now propagate rapidly around the world, so that events in any part of the world are now far more likely to have immediate consequences for the Caribbean region. This rapidly - evolving set of security scenarios - and the absence of a common analysis of the risks and threats that affect CARICOM Member States - make this Strategy vitally necessary. III. The Council of Ministers Responsible for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) at its 5th Meeting mandated the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) to develop a "Regional Crime and Security Strategy" (hereafter called the CARICOM Crime and Security Strategy). IV. The Strategy is guided by the principles and values of democratic choice, freedom, justice, prosperity, respect for territorial integrity, respect for and promotion of human rights and good governance all of which reflect the deepest convictions of the Community. V. The goal of the CARICOM Crime and Security Strategy is to significantly improve citizen security by creating a safe, just and free Community, while simultaneously improving the economic viability of the Region. VI. The Strategy identifies and prioritises the common security risks and threats which CARICOM is facing now, and likely to face in the future. It articulates an integrated and cohesive security framework to confront these challenges,and will therefore guide the coordinated internal and external crime and security policies adopted by CARICOM Member States, under their respective legal frameworks to the fullest extent. VII. The risks and threats identified in the CARICOM Crime and Security Strategy are prioritised into four (4) Tiers: • Tier 1 -Immediate Significant Threats. These are high-probability, high-impact events. They are the currentand present dangers. • Tier 2 - Substantial Threats. These are both likely and high-impact, but are not as severe as Tier 1 Threats. • Tier 3 - Significant Potential Risks. These are high-impact, but low-probability. • Tier 4 - Future Risks. These are threats where the probability and impact cannot be assessed at this stage. VIII. Tier 1 Threats consist of the mutually-reinforcing relationship between transnational organised criminal activities involving illicit drugs and illegal guns; gangs and organised crime; cyber-crime; financial crimes and corruption. Tier 1 Threats are the main drivers of current criminality levels, and has the potential to cripple the already fragile socio-economic developmental progress in CARICOM and the advancement of CSME. Tier 1 Threats are the Immediate Significant Threats to the Community and are primarily responsible for the Caribbean having one of the highest homicide rates in the world -30 people killed for every 100,000 inhabitants; (compared to a world average of 5). IX. The criminality perpetuated by the Tier 1 Threats is driven by the desire and pursuit of profit, power and prestige. The criminals are supported by the facilitatorswhich consist of unscrupulous and corrupt professionals within key sectors of the economy such as the financial, legal, justice, law enforcement and security, public officials and even government officialswho help them to secure and conceal their assets. X. Organised crime depends on the facilitators of criminality. It is the facilitators who operate both in the licit and illicit world who shield organised crime and allow it to flourish. There are also a range of social factors that enable and support this criminality, including large economic disparities, poverty, the rising cost of living, social exclusion and marginalisation, unemployment and multiple governance failures. XI. Tier 2 Threats are Substantial Threats to the Region. They include human trafficking and smuggling, natural disasters and public disorder crimes. XII. Tier 3 Risks consist of Significant Potential Risks and include attacks on critical infrastructure and terrorism. XIII. Tier 4 Risks consist of Future Risks, with unknown probabilities and consequences. They include climate change, pandemics and migratory pressure. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. State Department, 2013. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 17, 2017 at: https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210844.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Caribbean URL: https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210844.pdf Shelf Number: 146969 Keywords: Financial Crimes Gangs Human Trafficking Illegal Guns Illicit Drugs Organized Crime Public Disorder

Author: Savenije, Wim Title: Políticas de seguridad en El Salvador (Security Policies in El Salvador) Summary: English Summary: This article analyzes the policies implemented in El Salvador with the aim of reducing violence and crimes related to street gangs between 2003 and 2013. After analyzing the central features of these policies, it concludes that despite the profound differences, In all cases of short-term measures, which sought instant solutions to complicated and long-term security problems - whether in a hard-hitting style or in the form of dialogue with gangs and facilitating a truce - have failed to improve the situation of insecurity. Far from it, they have strengthened the gangs and have caused a severe restriction of the opportunities of the young people not included in this type of organization. Details: Buenos Aires: Department of Sociology, Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences. National University of La Plata, 2014. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Cuestiones de Sociología, nº 10; Accessed March 3, 2017 at: http://www.cuestionessociologia.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/article/view/CSn10a09/6073 Year: 2014 Country: El Salvador URL: http://www.cuestionessociologia.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/article/view/CSn10a09/6073 Shelf Number: 141310 Keywords: Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Street Gangs

Author: Palomo Contreras, Areli Title: Friendly Mistrust: Coping with the Rule of Gangs in a Salvadoran Community Summary: This study focuses on strategies or practices that members of a Salvadoran community have incorporated to their everyday life in order to cope with gangs. Through time, gangs in El Salvador have transformed into powerful social actors, and currently, their dynamics distort the quotidian life of those who live under their rule. I argue that gangs have imposed rules or constraints to people's behavior, and that community members have incorporated these rules and produced practices to co-exist with gangs or to survive their rule. Among these practices of co-existence, I describe precautionary strategies, negotiations and finally exile. This research is based on an ethnographic fieldwork that took place from July to September 2014 in a Salvadoran community of the state of La Libertad. I conducted 35 semi-structured interviews and participant observation during the above-mentioned period. I conclude that, through these strategies, it is possible to observe that gangs are parallel structures of power to the Salvadoran state and that in some cases strategies to cope with gangs also reproduce their power. Details: San Diego: University of California at San Diego, 2016. 85p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed March 3, 2017 at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/16p6z2d9 Year: 2016 Country: El Salvador URL: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/16p6z2d9 Shelf Number: 141314 Keywords: Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs

Author: Taheri-Keramati, Yashar Title: Drugs, Police Inefficiencies, and Gangsterism in Violently Impoverished Communities like Overcome Summary: This research establishes an understanding of the relationship between gangsterism, the drug commodity and inefficiencies in the state's policing institution, as well as the consequences of this relationship, in the context of Overcome squatter area in Cape Town. Overcome is representative of other violently impoverished Cape Town communities with its high rate of unemployment, low quality of education, domestic abuse, stagnant housing crisis, lack of access to intellectual and material resources or opportunities for personal growth, gangsterism, inefficient policing, substance-dependency, and violence. This research demonstrates that the current relationship between the gangs, drugs and the police fosters an unpredictable, violent environment, leaving residents in a constant state of vulnerability. The argument is developed around three key historical junctures in the development of organized crime in South Africa, starting with the growth of the mining industry in the Witwatersrand after 1886, followed by forced removals and prohibition like policies in Cape Town circa 1970, and finally the upheaval created around transition away from apartheid in 1994. Research for this paper was both quantitative and qualitative in nature, and included expert interviews on the subjects of police criminality, narcotic sales, and gangsterism. Newspapers articles, crime statistics, books, census figures, and a host of journals were also utilized. Upon reviewing a host of police inefficiencies and criminal collusions, the research concludes that public criminals related to the state, such as police, and private criminals, such as gangsters, work together in a multitude of ways in a bid to acquire wealth, most notably through an illicit drug market today dominated by 'tik'. It is shown that this violent narcotics market binds police and gangsters together at the expense of creating a state of insecurity for those living in poor drug markets. Details: Cape Town: University of Cape Town, 2013. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed March 6, 2017 at: https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/item/3536/thesis_hsf_2013_taheri-keramati_y.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2013 Country: South Africa URL: https://open.uct.ac.za/bitstream/item/3536/thesis_hsf_2013_taheri-keramati_y.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 141342 Keywords: Drug markets Drug-Related Violence Gangs Organized Crime Poverty Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime Violent Crime

Author: Associacion Civil Paz Activa Title: 2 - Informe del Observatorio de delito organizado en Venezuela (The increase in Organized Crime is a threat to democracy Summary: Venezuelans perceive that the state security forces, instead of fighting, favor the existence and operation of Organized Crime. Sixty-six percent of the interviewees considered that it was the police and the military who sold arms to Organized Crime. The three most common activities at the national level are: drug trafficking, product smuggling and theft and sale of vehicles and spare parts. On average, about one in 3 respondents who said that drug trafficking is "very present" in the country, one interviewee said that they are "not present". The Organized Crime Observatory and the Social Sciences Laboratory (LACSO) are pleased to present the II report of the Organized Crime Observatory, based on the "Results of the 2nd Organized Crime Survey in Venezuela", a study carried out in 7 regions Of the national territory in the period of July and August of this year 2015. Beyond the mere disclosure of the results of our research, we consider it extremely important to inform the citizen in some way about the nature of these crimes and how not to be part of them or victims of these in particular. As reflected in the pages of this publication, more than half of Venezuelans believe that the increase in Organized Crime is a threat to democracy, and even more so in this time where we perceive their presence in much of our daily lives. Here are some relevant results of this study: The three most common activities at the national level are: drug trafficking, product smuggling, theft and sale of vehicles and spare parts. Gangs, mafias and bands, along with pranes and armed groups, are the groups that are considered to be the cause of Organized Crime. For every 3 people who reported that the activity of gangs, mafias and gangs are responsible for Organized Crime, 1 person said otherwise. Sixty-six percent of the interviewees considered that it was the police and the military who sold arms to Organized Crime. More than half of the interviewees expressed fear of the complaint and cooperated with the police and the judicial system. Half of those surveyed nationwide in the past 12 months have been the victims of robbery or theft. Sixty-four percent of respondents felt that it was easy or very easy to get drugs in their community. This perception has increased little between 2013 and 2015 by 3 percentage points. The interviewees consider that personal insecurity has worsened in the country in the last twelve months. This is perceived by 76% of the respondents. The actors identified as responsible for Organized Crime were gangs, mafias and gangs, prisons in the prisons and groups. There was little attribution to the paramilitaries and guerrillas. An important majority of the population considered that the military had been corrupted by drug trafficking. The population considers that organized crime should be combated with the application of the law and not negotiate with criminals or zones of peace. The vast majority of the population, throughout the country and all social or political sectors, believes that the increase in Organized Crime is a threat to democracy. English Summary Details: Caracas: Asociacion Civil Paz Activa, Observatorio de delito organizado. 2015. 78p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2017 at: http://observatoriodot.org.ve/cms/images/documentos/ODO_2do_informe_web_v11_carta.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Venezuela URL: http://observatoriodot.org.ve/cms/images/documentos/ODO_2do_informe_web_v11_carta.pdf Shelf Number: 145156 Keywords: Automobile Theft Citizen Security Drug Trafficking Gangs Organized Crime Smuggling

Author: Perkins, Christina Title: Achieving Growth and Security in the Northern Triangle of Central America Summary: The Northern Triangle of Latin America, consisting of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, has experienced overwhelming challenges to economic growth and development. Gang violence is the root of many of these challenges, and the cost of hiring security forces for individuals and businesses creates a significant tax on the economy of these three countries. Beyond this drain on the region's finances, the Northern Triangle is considered one of the most dangerous places on the planet, excluding active war zones. The interrelated issues of violence, poverty, and slow economic growth have led to high rates of emigration from the region, such as during the summer of 2014 when thousands of unaccompanied minors entered the United States. This study examines these issues and goes on to explore connections to the successes of Plan Colombia. Specifically, it considers the opportunity for a "Plan Colombia for the Northern Triangle" to generate long-term economic growth, personal safety, and political stability and accountability in the region. Details: Washington, DC: Center for Strategic & International Studies; Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield; 2016. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 4, 2017 at: https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/161201_Perkins_NorthernTriangle_Web.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Central America URL: https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/publication/161201_Perkins_NorthernTriangle_Web.pdf Shelf Number: 145259 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Plan Colombia Security Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime Violence Violent Crime

Author: Sheikh, Sanah Title: Teaching methods that help to build resilience to extremism Rapid Evidence Assessment Summary: The Office for Public Management (OPM) was commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE) to conduct a review of the literature on good practice in preventing gangs and gun activity and extremist behaviour amongst young people. This review is part of a wider programme of work being undertaken by OPM, in partnership with the National Foundation for Educational Research (NfER), for DfE, the aim of which is develop an evidence base about the teaching methods and tools that work in building resilience to extremism. The specific objectives of this review were to provide an overview of the evidence relating to: - What works in building resilience against and prevention of the following risky behaviours amongst young people: - Guns and gangs crime/violence/activity - Extremist behaviour, including Al-Qaeda inspired extremism, far right extremism or racist extremism - The role of teachers and schools in the prevention of the above behaviour Representatives from the DfE and OPM team recognised from the outset that the broad nature of the subject of study had a number of implications for the literature review, including: - There is likely to be a greater amount of high quality material relevant to the prevention of gangs and guns activity compared with extremist behaviour, particularly Al-Qaeda inspired extremism - The inclusion of international literature means that there is likely to be a broad range of preventative initiatives identified in the literature, with varying degrees of relevance to the UK context - Methodologies used, particularly, in the case of evaluations of preventative initiatives, are likely to vary considerably, thus making it difficult to compare across studies and generate conclusions This review has thus been designed to 'map out the terrain' and to adopt a strategic approach to honing in on particular areas that have the greatest potential in yielding key insights and learning points to inform DfE's work. Details: Feethams, Darlington, UK; Department of Education, 2011. 73p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report DFE-RR120; Accessed May 9, 2017 at: http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/3597/1/3597_DFE-RR120.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/3597/1/3597_DFE-RR120.pdf Shelf Number: 145365 Keywords: Educational Programs Extremism Extremist Violence Gangs Gun-Related Violence Radicalization Resilience

Author: Martinez, Denis Roberto Title: Youth under the Gun: Violence, Fear, and Resistance in Urban Guatemala Summary: This study examines how violence affects youth in marginalized urban communities, focusing on the experiences of three groups of young people: gang members, activists, and the "jovenes encerrados", youth who live confined to their homes due to fear. Based on 14 months of ethnographic research in El Mezquital, an extensive marginalized urban area in Guatemala City, I explore the socio-economic conditions that trigger violence in these communities, the responses of young people and the community to violence, and the State's role in exacerbating violence in impoverished neighborhoods. In this dissertation I argue that gang members and activists are expressing a deep-seated social discontent against the exclusion, humiliation, and social stigmatization faced by young people in marginalized urban neighborhoods. However, the two groups express their discontent in significantly different ways. Initially, gangs used violence to express their discontent, but they gradually resorted to a perverse game of crime, in complicity with the police, and they distanced themselves from their own communities; in this work I analyze gangs' process of transformation and the circumstances that led to this change. Activists express their discontent through community art and public protest, but their demonstrations have limited social impact, since public attention continues to focus on gangs; here I examine activists' motivations, struggles, and obstacles. However, the vast majority of young people live in a state of fear, preferring to keep quiet and withdraw into their homes; here I show how violence, fear, and distrust affect the generation born into postwar Guatemala. This study illustrates the perverse role of the State in impoverished urban neighborhoods and its responsibility for the escalation of urban violence in Guatemala. On the one hand, the State shuns residents from these neighborhoods and systematically denies them basic services; it criminalizes and abuses young people, even forming social cleansing groups to eliminate gang members. On the other hand, the State fosters crime in these communities and acts as gangs' accomplice in extortions, drug trade, and robberies. As in many other Latin American countries, the Guatemalan State penalizes crime, but simultaneously encourages and benefits from it; the State is complicit in crime. Details: Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, 2014. 263p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 27, 2017 at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/28318/MARTINEZ-DISSERTATION-2014.pdf?sequence=1 Year: 2014 Country: Guatemala URL: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/28318/MARTINEZ-DISSERTATION-2014.pdf?sequence=1 Shelf Number: 145831 Keywords: Fear of Crime Gang-Related Violence Gangs Neighborhoods and Crime Poverty Socioeconomic conditions and Crime Urban Areas and Crime Violence Violent Crime

Author: Mariscal, Kathy Isabel Title: Gang Reppin': Revolutionizing Resistance - Critical Discourse Analysis of Colors, American Me and Straight Outta Compton Summary: This thesis aims to unpack the discourse of Black and Latinx gangs in popular film. The (mis)representation of Black and Latinxs in films has damaging implications for how they are perceived and understood in discourse, education, and in knowledge production. I build from Critical Race Feminism, which is an intersectional and race-gendered feminist lens that is needed in theorizing and unpacking traditional malestream gang discourse. Critical discourse analysis guides the methodology used to discuss the implications of the following three films: Colors (1988), American me (1992), and Straight Outta Compton (2015). By using popular film and critical media analysis as tools, there is a possibility to (re)define and understand gang resistance with hopes to decolonize existing discourses. Details: Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, 2016. 117p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 27, 2017 at: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/39289 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/39289 Shelf Number: 145832 Keywords: Films Gangs Media and Crime Popular Culture and Crime

Author: Jamaica. Ministry of National Security Title: National Crime & Victimization Survey 2015: Final Report Summary: The purpose-built Citizen Security Programme (CSP) is an initiative of the Ministry of National Security, co-funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Created in 2007, the CSP's mandate is to reduce violent crime and increase collective efficacy and perceptions of safety in high needs communities throughout Trinidad and Tobago. At onset, twentytwo (22) communities were chosen for participation in CSP programming based on the higher crime rates of crime experienced therein. In 2007, a Crime and Violence Perception Survey (CVS 2007) was conducted in nineteen (19) of these communities, i.e. all, save those in Tobago. This survey determined not only baseline values for crime victimization, but also community perceptions on a range of social attitudes, cultural norms and feelings and practices regarding safety. Subsequently, CSP has conducted programming in all 22 communities, based in part on the intelligence gleaned from the results of the CVS 2007. In 2015, a second round of the CVS survey was commissioned to establish if and by how much victimization rates and various perceptions about crime, safety and social behaviour in these communities had changed in comparison to the 2007 baseline. There were adjustments in methodology for the Crime and Victimization Survey in 2015 (CVS 2015), including expanded survey coverage and a revised instrument. In 2015, the sample included respondents from the: - 19 original Trinidad CSP communities - for comparative purposes - 3 Tobago CSP communities - to capture mid-stream data - 10 new East Port of Spain CSP communities - to determine a baseline - the nationwide distribution of non-CSP communities - to provide national context The expanded coverage allows analysis of the current survey to determine changes since 2007 and to present national statistics as an additional reference point. In addition, the CVS 2015 will also establish baseline values for the ten East Port of Spain communities earmarked for inclusion in CSP programming. While the CVS 2015 retains the core of the original survey instrument, it has been streamlined to make it more amenable to the public and also includes a new section on Gun and Gang Violence. Details: Port-of-Spain: Citizen Security Programme, Ministry of National Security, 2015. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 5, 2017 at: cso.gov.tt/ Year: 2015 Country: Jamaica URL: cso.gov.tt/ Shelf Number: 145928 Keywords: Crime Rates Crime Statistics Crime Survey Gangs Gun Violence Victimization Survey

Author: Redmond, Sean Title: Lifting the Lid on Greentown. Why we should be concerned about the influence criminal networks have on children's offending behaviour in Ireland Summary: A large body of research exists in relation to youth crime. However, comparatively little is known in relation to the contexts of children who engage in serious offending behaviour and participate in criminal networks. Using a case study design, this study first identified and then examined the behaviour of a criminal network operating in a Garda Sub-District in Ireland in 2010-2011. For the purposes of the study, the Garda Sub-District, which is located outside of Dublin, has been given the pseudonym Greentown. In order to facilitate this examination, Garda analysts constructed a network map for the study using incident data to position 31 individuals aged 11-36 years who had been involved in either burglary or drugs for sale and supply in Greentown in 2010- 2011. Importantly, the map indicated relationships where two or more individuals were involved in the same offence. The map was used as the key reference tool to interview Greentown Garda about the activities and contexts of the individuals identified. The Twinsight method A method called Twinsight was designed to facilitate access to actual case-related data. This involved the use of two near-identical versions of the network map during the interviews with Gardai. In the researcher's version, the name of each individual was replaced with a unique identifying code, e.g. A1, B2, and D1. In the version used by Garda interviewees, the names of the individuals appeared alongside their identifying code. This permitted the researcher and the Garda respondents to talk about the same individuals, with their identities known only to the Garda. Twinsight enabled the production of an authentic narrative around key events, while protecting the identities of the individuals at all times. Key findings It was found that the criminal network which existed in Greentown in 2010-2011 was hierarchical in nature and was governed by a family and kinship-based 'core'. The hierarchical structure was supported by a deeply embedded sympathetic culture in the area, as well as powerful ongoing processes - in particular, patronagebased relationships which shared the rewards of crime among associates, but also generated onerous debt obligations. It was also found that the power and influence of the network is most influenced by the intensity of the relationships between individual members of the network and the network patrons, but geographical proximity between them also plays a role. The overall key finding of the study was that criminal networks play a significant role in encouraging and compelling children to engage in criminal behaviour. The study identified potential applications for the methods used in the project to progress further research on serious youth crime, and outlined some implications for youth crime-related policy. Chapter 1 presents a review of the existing literature, outlining the strengths and limitations of existing mainstream scientific knowledge on youth crime, followed by a more specific review of the literature relating to networks and crime. Chapter 2 outlines the overall methodological strategy and describes how a case study method was operationalised. Chapter 3 presents the research findings. Chapter 4 assesses the study's contribution to the existing body of knowledge, and considers the study's implications for wider policy and practical application. Details: Dublin: Department of Children and Youth Affairs, 2016. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2017 at: http://ulsites.ul.ie/law/sites/default/files/3910_DCYA_Greentown_%20Full%20report%20final%20version.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Ireland URL: http://ulsites.ul.ie/law/sites/default/files/3910_DCYA_Greentown_%20Full%20report%20final%20version.pdf Shelf Number: 145945 Keywords: Co-offending Criminal Networks Gangs Juvenile Offenders Youth Gangs Youthful Offenders

Author: van Schalkwyk, Lin Title: (Re)Framing Gangsterism in the Western Cape: Facilitating a Dialogue between Local Government and Ex-Gang Members Summary: One of the earliest Roman deities was a god named Janus. Within ancient Roman religion, Janus was "the god of the beginnings and the ends" and was believed to preside "over every entrance and departure" (Wasson, 2015, para. 5). Every door and every passageway was thought to be guarded by Janus. He was, (as I like to believe) 'the god of the thresholds'. Insofar as each threshold holds the existence of two worlds, i.e. the world that exists before the threshold and the world that exists beyond it, Janus was also believed to have two faces - one for each of the two worlds he presided over. And so he later became known as "the god who looked both ways" (Wasson, 2015, para. 5). Today, we still refer to Janus and his two-faced nature, although no longer with sole reference to his deity. We now call upon Janus in our attempts to conceive of dissonance. We refer to things as Janus-faced when we assert that it has two (often contradicting sides); sides that each tell a different story and that each look out on a different truth. We call on Janus to describe polarity, to illustrate the existence of two different interpretative spaces, often standing in contrast or tension with one another. And it is here, precisely within the recognition of this modern-day Janus, that I first embarked on the writing of this dissertation. The current dissertation was motivated by a deep-felt acknowledgement of the Janus-faced realities facing my home province in Western Cape, South Africa. Often, as I had worked on this study, I could see in my mind's eye - Janus, standing there - presiding over the social landscapes of the Cape. There I imagined him, guarding the many thresholds that divide social prosperity from social decay; his two faces painted in the style of theatre masks - showing both a laughing and a weeping face. Looking one way, he sees a South African province with foreigners "lounging on palm-lined Camps Bay beach, gazing at the steep mountains framed by gossamer clouds" (Pinnock, 2016, p.2). Looking the other way, he observes countless drug wars, human trafficking, rival gang-shoot-outs and poverty, no more than a stone throw away from where the lounging foreigners sit (Pinnock, 2016). This dissertation is not about the Western Cape's elegance, grandeur or charm. It is about facing the world of tragedy and social decay that lies on the other side. Taken even further, it is about recognizing that there is in fact no 'other side'. There is no 'other world' to be denied or silenced by those in the Western Cape who are lucky enough to not suffer from it. There is only but one Western Cape, albeit one of relentless disparities. And so I argue that there is an urgent need for both these worlds to acknowledge each other; to engage and to be accountable to one another. For as far as the Western Cape belongs to all its citizens, there will be no victory in denial. Details: Tilburg, NETH: Tilburg University, 2016. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 16, 2017 at: http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=142103 Year: 2016 Country: South Africa URL: http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=142103 Shelf Number: 146203 Keywords: Gangs Violence Violent Crime

Author: Lansdowne Title: Ottawa Gang Strategy: Seeking Solutions to Street-Level Violence. Technical Evaluation Report: Our First Three Years Summary: From 2013-16, the Ottawa Gang Strategy (OGS) offered a roadmap to help Ottawa address gangs and street level violence. This vast partnership - made up of social service agencies, community organizations, police, schools and others - developed and implemented 12 initiatives that address the problem from multiple angles. Together, the partner organizations formed the Ottawa Gang Strategy Steering Committee, which was collectively informed by each group's expertise, knowledge of the issues, networks, resources and determination to work to collaboratively address the problem. This report details the individual project outputs, outcomes and collective results achieved in three years, as set forth in the logic model. As the work on gangs and street level violence continues, this independent evaluation is intended to assist the OGS Steering Committee in transitioning the Strategy to its next phase of implementation based on the shared understanding of the issues and the shifting realities in Ottawa. Details: Ottawa: Crime Prevention Ottawa, 2016. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 16, 2017 at: http://www.crimepreventionottawa.ca/Media/Content/files/Publications/Youth/OGS%20TechEvalReport%20FINAL.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Canada URL: http://www.crimepreventionottawa.ca/Media/Content/files/Publications/Youth/OGS%20TechEvalReport%20FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 146207 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs Street Crime Violence Violence Prevention

Author: Lumsden, Andrew Title: Black, Green, Gold and Too Much Red: Jamaica's Struggle with Gang Violence Summary: The heinous execution-style murder of 2-year-old Demario Whyte in downtown Kingston on August 23- along with unleashing a wave a fear, anger, and sorrow across the community- has highlighted the urgent need for a solution to Jamaica's epidemic of rampant gang violence. Authorities believe the child's murder was part of a gang feud possibly involving his father, who was also shot during the incident but survived. Eighty percent of all illicit activity in Jamaica is connected to criminal gangs, of which nearly 300 exist island-wide. Jamaica has struggled with gang violence for decades. Successive governments - including, so far, that of current Prime Minister Andrew Holness - have emphasized the use of punitive measures such as curfews and military deployment to stem the tide of violence. All have had only limited successes. While law enforcement is no doubt a necessary component in the fight against gang violence, Jamaican authorities must place significantly more focus than they have on social development programs in inner-city communities, and on building stronger relationships with the law-abiding majorities in these places who too often feel neglected and mistreated by the state. Details: Washington, DC: Council on Hemispheric Affairs, 2016. 9p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 17, 2017 at: http://www.coha.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jamainca-Lumsden.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Jamaica URL: http://www.coha.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Jamainca-Lumsden.pdf Shelf Number: 146220 Keywords: Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicides

Author: Jensen, Elise Title: Community Perceptions of Youth Gang Activity: Results from Four Tribal Sites Summary: his study sought to document the nature and extent of youth gang involvement in Indian Country. Through interviews at four tribal sites, we identified three primary themes: the prevalence and characteristics of youth gangs; the prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies developed by tribes to counter them; and more general problems faced by tribal youth - such as substance use and suicidality - that may be more pressing to address than concerns over gang activity. Indeed, the study's findings suggest that previous accounts of gang activity among tribal youth may have been overstated. The report concludes with a set of recommendations for funders and those looking to conduct research in tribal settings. Details: New York: Center for Court Innovation, 2017. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 20, 2017 at: http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/documents/Youth_Gang_Activity_Tribal_052517.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/documents/Youth_Gang_Activity_Tribal_052517.pdf Shelf Number: 146297 Keywords: American Indians Gangs Native Americans Young Gangs

Author: Garzon Vergara, Juan Carlos Title: What is the relationship between organized crime and homicide in Latin America? Summary: Criminal and gang violence is believed to generate as much as a third of all homicides in the Western hemisphere. In some countries where collective violence is acute, this may well be true. But it is only part of the story. Organized crime groups can also reduce the extent of lethal violence in a given setting: they often regulate murder and violent crime. The extent to which such entities exert control is often in direct proportion to the relative fragility of state institutions. Where public authorities are unable to exert a monopoly over the use of force, criminal actors step in. This Homicide Dispatch critically examines the relationships between organized crime and lethal violence. In the process, it shines a light on the challenges facing public authorities intent on fighting crime. Owing to the inherent weaknesses of many governments across Latin America, they have only limited ability to reduce homicidal violence. It is only by shoring up the state's ability to guarantee fundamental rights that meaningful improvements will be possible. Details: Rio de Janeiro: Igarape Institute, 2016. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Homicide Dispatch 3: Accessed August 7, 2017 at: https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homicide-Dispatch_3_EN_23-05.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Latin America URL: https://igarape.org.br/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Homicide-Dispatch_3_EN_23-05.pdf Shelf Number: 146754 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Murders Organized Crime

Author: Broadhurst, Kate Title: Gangs and Schools Summary: 1.1 Following a spate of teenage murders in the last two years, the extent of youth gang culture in the UK is a growing concern. Like many of their victims, gang members seem to be getting younger. Definite figures are hard to come by but some experts estimate the number of gang members aged under 16 years old has more than doubled in the last five years alone. 1.2 The increasing prominence of gang membership amongst under-16s has raised the issue of how gangs and gang culture impact upon schools. Against this backdrop, in April 2007 the NASUWT commissioned Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International (PRCI) Ltd (a leading research and consultancy company specialising in crime reduction, community safety and security) to investigate the potential impact of gangs and gang culture on schools in the UK. 1.3 The study had four key aims to: - review and summarise previous work on gangs, street culture and their potential impact on schools; - review four case studies where gangs and street culture may have had an impact; - assess if there is a significant issue that requires solutions; - identify a typology of school interventions aimed at managing any impact. 1.4 In order to undertake the study, the team at PRCI adopted a case study approach, supported by a literature review of recently published and unpublished material covering the areas of gangs, street culture, schools and school-related interventions in the UK. Four case study schools in England were selected that had concerns with gangs and gang culture. The case studies were designed to provide some pointers to the sorts of problems that schools, teachers and others in schools face as a result of gang-related activity - this provides the basis for a more detailed investigation of the issues, including the development of a toolkit to help schools address the problem of gang-related activity in schools. Details: Birmingham, UK: NASUWT, 2009. 116p. Source: Accessed August 22, 2017 at: http://rageuniversity.org/PRISONESCAPE/GANGS%20AND%20TATTOOS/nasawut-gangs-schools.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://rageuniversity.org/PRISONESCAPE/GANGS%20AND%20TATTOOS/nasawut-gangs-schools.pdf Shelf Number: 131714 Keywords: Gang-Related Violence Gangs School Crime Street Culture

Author: Sviatschi, Maria Micaela Title: Essays on Human Capital, Labor and Development Economics Summary: This dissertation contains four essays on human capital, labor and development economics. The first two chapters study how exposure to particular labor markets during childhood determines the formation of industry-specific human capital generating longterm consequences in terms of adult criminal behavior, labor outcomes and state legitimacy. The third chapter explores how criminal capital developed during childhood can be exported to other locations generating spillover effects on human capital accumulation. Finally, the last chapter studies how improving access to justice for women affects children's outcomes. Chapter 1, "Making a Narco: Childhood Exposure to Illegal Labor Markets and Criminal Life Paths", shows that exposing children to illegal labor markets makes them more likely to be criminals as adults. I exploit the timing of a large anti-drug policy in Colombia that shifted cocaine production to locations in Peru that were well-suited to growing coca. In these areas, children harvest coca leaves and transport processed cocaine. Using variation across locations, years, and cohorts, combined with administrative data on the universe of individuals in prison in Peru, affected children are 30% more likely to be incarcerated for violent and drug-related crimes as adults. The biggest impacts on adult criminality are seen among children who experienced high coca prices in their early teens, the age when child labor responds the most. No effect is found for individuals that grow up working in places where the coca produced goes primarily to the legal sector, implying that it is the accumulation of human capital specific to the illegal industry that fosters criminal careers. As children involved in the illegal industry learn how to navigate outside the rule of law, they also lose trust in government institutions. However, consistent with a model of parental incentives for human capital investments in children, the rollout of a conditional cash transfer program that encourages schooling mitigates the ef- fects of exposure to illegal industries. Finally, I show how the program can be targeted by taking into account the geographic distribution of coca suitability and spatial spillovers. Overall, this paper takes a first step towards understanding how criminals are formed by unpacking the way in which crime-specific human capital is developed at the expense of formal human capital in "bad locations." While my first chapter focuses on low-skilled labor and criminal capital, my second chapter studies the expansion of high-skilled labor markets. In Chapter 2, "Long-term Effects of Temporary Labor Demand: Free Trade Zones, Female Education and Marriage Market Outcomes in the Dominican Republic", I exploit the sudden and massive growth of female factory jobs in free trade zones (FTZs) in the Dominican Republic in the 1990s, and subsequent decline in the 2000s, to provide the first evidence that even relatively brief episodes of preferential trade treatments for export industries may have permanent effects on human capital levels and female empowerment. Focusing on a sample of provinces that established FTZs and exploiting variation in the opening of zones and age of women at the time of opening, I show that the FTZs' openings led to a large and very robust increase in girls' education. The effect persists after a decline in FTZs' jobs in the 2000s following the end of a trade agreement with the U.S. and an increase in competition from Asia. The reason appears to be that the increase in some girls' education changed marriage markets: girls whose education increased due to the FTZs' openings married later, had better matches with more stable marriages, gave birth later, and had children who were more likely to survive infancy. In sum, the evidence in this paper indicates that labor markets can improve female outcomes in developing countries through general equilibrium effects in the education and marriage markets. Another question I address in my dissertation is whether criminal capital developed during childhood can be exported to other locations. In the first chapter, I find that individuals take skills related to the illegal drug industry with them when they move to other districts, even when they move to districts without significant illegal industries. Chapter 3, "Exporting Criminal Capital: The Effect of U.S. Deportations on Gang Expansion and Human Capital in Central America", provides new evidence on how an increase in criminal capital due to deportations from the US affects human capital investments in El Salvador. In 1996, the U.S. Illegal Immigration Responsibility Act drastically increased the number of criminal deportations. In particular, the leaders of large gangs in Los Angeles were sent back to their countries. In addition to having a direct effect, the arrival of individuals bringing criminal skills and connections may have generated important spillover effects. We exploit this policy to look at the impact that deportation policies and the subsequent arrival of criminal capital to El Salvador had on several educational and economic outcomes. Using the 1996 policy and geographical variation in the exact location and delimitation of different gang groups, we find that criminal deportations led to large increase in crime and decrease in human capital accumulation for children living in these areas. Overall, this project helps to understand one of the reasons why El Salvador is among the world's most violent peacetime countries. Understanding these effects is crucial for public policy to successfully incorporate deported criminals back into society. While my work in the Dominican Republic and the previous literature has shown that increasing the returns to education for women incentivizes schooling, there is little evidence on how domestic violence affects human capital development and whether improving access to institutions for women can address these issues. During my field work in rural areas of Peru, I found that institutions do not usually address the problems facing women or ethnic and religious minorities. For example, the police do very little to stop domestic violence. Moreover, in many cases, women do not even trust these institutions enough to report these issues. Chapter 4, "Inter-Generational Impacts of Improving Access to Justice for Women: Evidence from Peru", exploits the introduction of women's justice centers (WJCs) in Peru to provide causal estimates on the effects of improving access to justice for women and children. Our empirical approach uses variation over time in the distance from schools and households to the nearest WJC together with province- by-year fixed effects. After the opening of WJC, we find that primary school enrollment increases at schools that are within a 1km radius of a WJC and the effect decreases with distance. In addition, we also find that primary school second graders have better test scores in reading and mathematics. Moreover, we find that children in primary school living in household's located near a WJC are more likely to attend school, to pass a grade and they are also less likely to drop out of school. We also provide some evidence that these improvements might be driven by an increase in the bargaining power of women inside the household and decrease in domestic violence. In sum, the evidence in this paper shows that providing access to justice for women can be a powerful tool to reduce domestic violence and increase education of children, suggesting a positive inter-generational benefit. Details: New York: Columbia University, 2017. 243p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 20, 2017 at: https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:nk98sf7m24 Year: 2017 Country: South America URL: https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:nk98sf7m24 Shelf Number: 147415 Keywords: Child Labor Cocaine Drug Policy Economics of Crime Gangs Illegal Drugs Illegal Immigrants Illegal Industries Labor Markets Violence Against Women

Author: Wolf, Angela M. Title: Girls and Gangs: improving Our Understanding and Ability to Respond: Executive Summary Summary: From 2012 to 2015, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) conducted research in California to examine the individual, family, and community factors involved in girls' experiences with and desistance from gangs and gang-related crime. The goals of NCCD's study included identifying girls' reasons for joining gangs, their experiences and activities related to gang involvement, and their motivations and strategies for transitioning away from gangs.This executive summary presents key findings from NCCD's interviews with 114 gang-involved girls. It also provides recommendations for practitioners, policymakers, and others who are interested in improving outcomes for gang-involved girls. Details: Oakland, CA: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 2017. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2017 at: http://www.nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/Girls%20and%20Gangs%20Executive%20Summary.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://www.nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/Girls%20and%20Gangs%20Executive%20Summary.pdf Shelf Number: 147484 Keywords: Female Gang Members Gangs Juvenile Gangs

Author: American Enterprise Institute Title: Kingpins and Corruption: Targeting Transnational Organized Crime in the Americas Summary: Key Points Transnational organized crime resides at the heart of nearly every major threat confronting the Americas today. These organizations systematically degrade democratic institutions and the rule of law, stunting economic growth and stifling legitimate commerce and investment. The threat of transnational organized crime in the Americas requires greater focus and investment from policymakers to effectively combat illicit trafficking networks, corrupt government officials, gang activity and violence, and the growing presence of hostile extra-regional actors such as Iran and its proxy, Hezbollah. The US government should engage with regional allies to restore the hemispheric coalition against transnational organized crime. The Trump administration can lead the way by applying asymmetrical policy tools such as targeted sanctions while also working to enhance enforcement capabilities, promote economic development, and develop counterterrorism legal frameworks in neighboring states. Details: Washington, DC: AEI, 2017. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 29, 2017 at: http://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/kingpins-and-corruption.pdf Year: 2017 Country: South America URL: http://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/kingpins-and-corruption.pdf Shelf Number: 147500 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gangs Organized Crime Political Corruption

Author: Hale, Gary J. Title: Vigilantism in Mexico: A New Phase in Mexico's Security Crisis Summary: The violent struggle between rival Mexican drug cartels and other criminal groups has left tens of thousands dead and towns across Mexico paralyzed with fear. With overwhelmed police forces relatively powerless to control drug-related murders and kidnappings, a growing number of vigilante organizations, or self-defense groups, aim to restore order-but now even they are fighting, and killing, among themselves. The rise of these vigilantes is yet another test for the Mexican government. Will people continue to take security matters into their own hands? How long will they operate as independent security units? In Michoacan, what started as a cooperative agreement between self-defense groups and the federal government has become a tug-of-war over which group will ultimately provide security in Western Mexico. In one incident, police in March 2014 found two charred bodies-believed to be members of a self-defense group-in the back of a pickup truck. Days later, Mexican federal police arrested Hipolito Mora, leader of a prominent, rival self-defense group.1 Internecine fighting among the vigilante groups only means trouble for their future- and the government that deputized them as armed, rural defense forces. Details: Baker Institute, Rice University, 2014. 4p. Source: Internet Resource: Issue Brief 04.18.14: Accessed November 16, 2017 at: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/Research/3e645892/BI-Brief-041814-Vigilantism.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Mexico URL: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/media/files/Research/3e645892/BI-Brief-041814-Vigilantism.pdf Shelf Number: 148201 Keywords: Gangs Homicides Militias Organized Crime Vigilantism Violence

Author: B.C. Task Force on Illegal Firearms Title: Illegal Firearms Task Force: Final Report Summary: British Columbia continues to experience troubling and highly dangerous incidents of firearms violence that have resulted in numerous deaths and injuries. Highly public and brazen acts, often linked to organized crime and gangs, place innocent members of the public at risk, create fear, hardship and tragedy for the individuals and communities affected, and impose substantial burdens on public resources. The Government of B.C., in an enhanced provincial strategy to combat guns and gangs, convened an Illegal Firearms Task Force to make recommendations for action to the B.C. Minister of Public Safety & Solicitor General. The Task Force, consisting of provincial experts with a wide range of experience in managing illegal firearms and organized crime, reviewed and analyzed the existing published research, interviewed numerous individuals and organizations, and conducted community consultations around B.C. It reviewed the information presented and developed recommendations addressing both specific issues that had been identified and broad strategic approaches. Four themes - The recommendations fall into four themes: Theme #1: Strategic Approaches Coordinating and focussing the efforts of the diverse agencies that work to reduce crime and enhance public safety will ensure the most effective use of resources and the greatest impact in limiting the availability and use of illegal firearms. Action categories include: - An illegal firearms-focussed approach - Alignment of existing and enhanced resources in order to improve outcomes relative to illegal firearms trafficking, their availability to criminals and the manner in which they are used by organized crime - Road safety and illegal firearms - Road safety initiatives to reduce the incidence of illegal firearms possession in motor vehicles and the concurrent use of illegal firearms and motor vehicles to carry out organized crime violence - Provincial Tactical Enforcement Priority - Leveraging the innovative and unique capabilities of the Provincial Tactical Enforcement Priority model to maximize intelligence, disruption and enforcement of illegal firearms traffickers and the targeting of those who use firearms to support violent organized crime activity - Firearms tracing hub and labs - The enhanced and timely analysis of all recovered firearms and the determination of their potential association with crime to provide investigative information and strategic intelligence - Alignment of law enforcement policy - The alignment and modernization of law enforcement policy with the education of law enforcement officers and Crown prosecutors to realize strategic objectives related to illegal firearms trafficking and the use of illegal firearms in violent crimes - "Bar Watch" programs - Expansion of a successful Vancouver program to deter and mitigate gang and firearms violence within licenced liquor establishments throughout the province Theme #2: Legislative Initiatives Firearms possession and the criminal use of firearms are primarily governed by federal legislation. The Task Force has made several recommendations related to the enhancement of federal legislation and the creation of provincial legislation in order to reduce the risks of illegal firearms use. Action categories include: - Quebec's mass shooting and firearms violence mitigation: A model for provincial actions - Legislation that enhances the ability of law enforcement and partner agencies to identify and prevent firearms violence through the timely sharing of information - Imitation firearms - Legislation to control the access and use of readily available imitation firearms; to limit their risk to communities, first responders and those who possess them; and to disrupt early patterns of illegal firearms use by youth - Straw purchasers and point-of-sale record-keeping - Legislation requiring sellers to keep records of firearms sales (not a central registry), enhancing the ability of judicially authorized law enforcement to trace crime guns, collect firearms trafficking intelligence and deter firearms traffickers - Manufacture of untraceable firearms - Legislation to prohibit access to unmarked firearms parts and parts that can be assembled into illegal firearms Theme #3: Education and Prevention Focussed efforts by a wide range of stakeholders and agencies working with the public, industry and communities will create awareness, build resilience and reduce the acquisition, availability and use of illegal firearms in B.C. communities. Action categories include: - Safe schools, student and parent education - Leveraging existing school-based programs to disrupt potentially violent antisocial behaviour, including the use of firearms, and to ensure the understanding of educators and parents on the factors and indicators related to violence prevention - Community-based programs - Rural and First Nations communities - Tailored community-based strategies designed to recognize the specific risks associated with communities in which firearms are readily available and which experience violence and organized crime involving firearms - Canadian Firearms Program compliance strategies - Enhancing compliance efforts pursuant to the firearms regulations designed to prevent and deter illegal firearms trafficking - Registration issues from the former Restricted Weapons Registration System - Initiatives to reduce the large number of restricted and prohibited firearms that are not in compliance with current registration requirements and no longer under the oversight of the Canadian Firearms Program Theme #4: Data Collection and Information Sharing The purposeful collection of intelligence from a variety of sources will inform prevention, enforcement and disruption efforts by all stakeholders against the trafficking, possession and use of illegal firearms. The Task Force has made recommendations in two action categories, including: - Intelligence and data quality - Assigning a lead intelligence agency and data warehouse to coordinate all intelligence collection, assure data quality and facilitate analysis related to the trafficking, possession and use of illegal firearms - PRIME-BC access by all key stakeholders - Providing necessary access to B.C.'s own Police Record Information Management System (PRIME-BC) to key agencies engaged in illegal firearms prevention, enforcement and disruption Details: Victoria, BC: Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General of British Columbia, 2017. 138p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 29, 2017 at: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/law-crime-and-justice/criminal-justice/police/publications/government/iftf_final_report_pdf.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Canada URL: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/law-crime-and-justice/criminal-justice/police/publications/government/iftf_final_report_pdf.pdf Shelf Number: 148534 Keywords: Gangs Gun Control Policy Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Homicides Illegal Firearms Murders Organized Crime Trafficking in Firearms

Author: London Assembly. Police and Crime Committee Title: Gun crime in London Summary: - Over the last three years there has been a significant rise in gun crime in London. - Gangs account for nearly half of all offences where a lethal gun is fired. - But gun use may be spreading outside of gang disputes. - The Mayor and the Met will need to adapt their approach with a greater focus on prevention. Over the last three years, there has been a significant rise in gun crime in the capital. The number of offences is small compared with other types of crime, but nonetheless it is a crime that can cause devastating effects for victims, families and communities. In October 2017, the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee looked at the levels of gun crime in London, the possible reasons for the recent increase in offences, and ways the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor are tackling it. We examined data from the Metropolitan Police (the Met) to assess the type of gun crime taking place in London. We spoke to the Met and other organisations that work with offenders and victims, to understand what is driving gun crime, how organisations are responding to it and how victims are being supported. This report summarises our findings and is accompanied by a letter to the Mayor that sets out recommendations for further work in this area. Details: London: The Assembly, 2018. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 2, 2018 at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/20180123_final_pcc_gun_crime_findings_report.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/20180123_final_pcc_gun_crime_findings_report.pdf Shelf Number: 149039 Keywords: Crime Statistics Gangs Gun Crime Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Guns

Author: Child Protection Centers and Services (CPCS) NGO Nepal Title: The Street Children of Kathmandu: Study, approaches and comments on the daily life of street-based children of the Nepalese capital Summary: They are called Raju, Dinesh, Sunita, Bikram, or Akash. In the company of many others they spend their childhood and adolescence living on the streets of Kathmandu. In turn, they warm their frozen hands on the hot coals of a furnace, in turn they sing alone in the dark deserted streets scavenging for any profitable waste, in turn they hassle a passer-by to beg a couple of rupees, in turn they are happy when they fill their empty stomachs with a hot meal, in turn they are sad for having lost a precious trinket, in turn they laugh at the new pleasures that city life has to offer them, in turn they cry remembering the villages they left behind, in turn protector, in turn raped, in turn a player, in turn beaten, in turn a good prince, in turn hunted, in turn living and in turn dead - but in each step, each dream, they remain children and free. Who are these children? Where do they come from? How can they live without parents at such a young age? Are they tempted by soft or hard drugs? What dangers will their lives encounter? In what type of social context do they grow up? Are they surrounded by an education system? These are seven questions that this book will try to illuminate. Other than answers, in this book you will find a new approach to these various questions, mixed with emotions and life experience, as there exists neither theory nor formula to try to understand the magical, tragic and worrying lives that defines the street and the micro-society which the children establish. The service and street workers of CPCS estimate that the number of children living on the street is between 800 to 1100, for Kathmandu alone and its valley. This information has been confirmed by most of the major organisations and other research. This study focuses on these children in particular, as we remain convinced that caution should be used with regards to the multiple "categories" that illustrate the link between the children and the street. The contextual and situational differences between "street children, children in the street, street-working children, street-living children, children with a street-relationship, urban children at risks, etc" appear in effect to be more pertinent in detailed expert analysis than actual reality. This book is based on a survey carried-out with 430 children, 430 lives. In particular, it is the result of an unfinished common working platform between more than 40 people and more than a dozen Nepalese and international experts. The hope is that this book will convey helpful new elements, clues and suggestions that will prove useful not only to NGOs and social workers but also to the general public, as our aim is to reach as many audiences as possible. We remain convinced that it is through a society as a whole, and not only just organisations or governments, that we can bring about an improvement to the condition of these lives and ultimately the social rehabilitation of these children. With this in mind, we have attempted to base ourselves less on the statistics and analysis of data, but rather concentrate our research on children's interviews, illustrations and photos, and in particular on the advice of recognised Nepalese social workers and international experts. At first sight, they may appear to be a certain confusion as the reader is taken on a journey through scientific analysis, essays, witness accounts, and documents. Nevertheless, this confusion permits us to understand the complexity of the situation and the diverse analyses possible. Details: Dillibazaar, Kathmandu: CPCS Nepal, 2007. 194p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 13, 2018 at: http://cpcs.international/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/the-street-children-of-kathmandu_en_2007.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Nepal URL: http://cpcs.international/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/the-street-children-of-kathmandu_en_2007.pdf Shelf Number: 149114 Keywords: Begging Child Sexual Abuse Drug Abuse and Addiction Gangs Street Children (Nepal) Street Workers

Author: InSight Crime Title: MS13 in the Americas: How the World's Most Notorious Gang Defies Logic, Resists Destruction Summary: The Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) is one of the world's largest and arguably most violent street gangs. After relatively humble beginnings in Los Angeles in the 1980s, it has spread to more than a half-dozen countries and become a central focus of law enforcement in two hemispheres. In spite of these efforts, the MS13 remains a persistent threat and shows signs of expanding its criminal portfolio. This report attempts to explain what makes the MS13 such a difficult problem for authorities to tackle. It focuses on assisting law enforcement's understanding of the gang's criminal activities, but it includes deep discussion on the social and political issues around the MS13. Below are our major findings. The MS13 is a largely urban phenomenon that has cells operating in two continents. The MS13 has between 50,000 and 70,000 members who are concentrated in mostly urban areas in Central America or locations outside the region where there is a large Central American diaspora. In Honduras and Guatemala, the gang is still largely urban. In El Salvador, however, the gang has steadily spread into more rural areas. Expansion beyond urban areas has also happened in places in the United States, most notably in Long Island and North Carolina, and increasingly California. The gang has appeared as well in Europe, specifically in urban areas of Spain and Italy. The size of the gang in these settings varies greatly and fluctuates, mostly in accordance with law enforcement efforts and migration patterns unrelated to the gang. The MS13 is a social organization first, and a criminal organization second. The MS13 is a complex phenomenon. The gang is not about generating revenue as much as it is about creating a collective identity that is constructed and reinforced by shared, often criminal experiences, especially acts of violence and expressions of social control. The MS13 draws on a mythic notion of community, a team concept, and an ideology based on its bloody fight with its chief rival, the Barrio 18 (18th Street) gang, to sustain a huge, loosely organized social and criminal organization. The MS13 is a diffuse organization of sub-parts, with no single leader or leadership structure that directs the entire gang. The MS13 has two poles of power: in Los Angeles, where it was founded, and in El Salvador, its spiritual birthplace where many of its historic leaders reside. But the gang has no single leader or leadership council. Instead it is a federation with layers of leaders who interact, obey and react to each other at different moments depending on circumstances. In general terms, most decisions are made by the individual cell, or what is known as the "clica," the Spanish term for clique. The highest-ranking members in some geographic areas make up a leadership council, but not all areas have a leadership council. In Los Angeles, the MS13 is subservient to the prison gang known as the Mexican Mafia. In El Salvador, the gang is also run from prison by its own leadership council. Along the East Coast of the United States, the gang has no council, although it is takes much of its directives from Salvadoran-based gang leaders. Because these leaders are mostly in jail, it is exceedingly difficult for them to impose total control over the rank-and-file. The MS13 has guidelines more than rules, which are subject to varying interpretations. The diffuse nature of the organization has widespread implications for how it operates. The gang has guidelines more than rules. These guidelines are subject to haphazard interpretations and application. In other words, this internal justice is not necessarily a strict system and often depends more on who the leader is and who is being judged, rather the actual transgression or the circumstances surrounding it. This inconsistent application of the rules leads to constant internal and external conflicts and is the cause of widespread violence wherever the gang operates. MS13 violence is brutal and purposeful. Violence is at the heart of the MS13 and is what has made it a target of law enforcement in the United States, Central America and beyond. It is central to the MS13's ethos, its modus operandi, and its evaluation and discipline of its own members. Violence also builds cohesion and comradery within the gang's cliques. This use of violence has enhanced the MS13's brand name, allowing it to expand in size and geographic reach, but it has undermined its ability to enter more sophisticated, money-making criminal economies. Potential partners see the gang as an unreliable, highly visible target, and the gang's violent spasms only reinforce this notion. The MS13's diffuse nature makes it hard for it to control its own expressions of violence. The MS13's diffuse nature has made it difficult to curtail its violence. The gang itself has attempted to implement rules to control the use of force. Most murders must be sanctioned from the highest levels, but as one of our case studies illustrates, this is often a perfunctory task, reflecting what seems to be a disregard for human life. In addition, the very system that is designed to control the violence often leads to more violence, since failure to carry out a sanctioned hit becomes cause for internal disciplinary action. The MS13 is a hand-to-mouth criminal organization that depends on control of territory to secure revenue. The gang's lack of a centralized leadership has kept it relatively impoverished. While it has established revenue streams, the MS13 has a hand-to-mouth criminal portfolio. Extortion is the single most important revenue stream for the gang in Central America, although a significant and rising portion of the MS13's criminal portfolio comes from local drug peddling, especially in US cities such as Los Angeles. The gang is also involved in prostitution, human smuggling, car theft and resale and other criminal activities, but the gang's revenue nearly always depends on its ability to control territory. The MS13 is a transnational gang, not a transnational criminal organization (TCO). While the gang has a presence in two continents and at least a half-dozen nations, the gang is a small, part-time role player in international criminal schemes. In cases of international drug trafficking, for instance, the MS13 is dependent on other criminal actors such as the Mexican Mafia. The gang plays a similar, part-time role in other international criminal activities such human smuggling as well. Its diffuse organizational structure and public displays of violence are two of the main reasons why the gang has not succeeded in transforming itself into a TCO. And while some criminal activity - most notably the MS13's involvement in petty drug dealing on a local level - is driving the gang's maturation process and leading it to new opportunities, this is a slow process that is causing significant conflict within the gang. El Salvador's MS13 leaders are trying to assert more control over the US East Coast. Some MS13 leaders, especially those operating from jails in El Salvador, are trying to create more top-down control, and expand its social and political influence. In El Salvador, the gang has negotiated delivering votes to some of the country's most powerful politicians. They have also instituted more formal and complex command structures inside and outside of jail, and they have emissaries in places as far away as Boston who are trying to corral the rudimentary and undisciplined gang cliques operating along the US East Coast. The MS13 is taking advantage of traditional migration patterns, not sending members to set up new cells. The MS13's efforts in El Salvador have alarmed law enforcement officials who say the gang's high-ranking leaders are also moving their rank-and-file around the region, including to the United States. But while the gang is repopulating cells and establishing new ones, the MS13 appears to be taking advantage of circumstances, rather than actively creating those circumstances. MS13 members migrate for the same reasons that other migrants do, and they go to the same places. They also face many of the same risks such as indigence, isolation, victimization, detention and deportation. This report is divided into five sections. We begin by chronicling the multi-national history of the MS13. The group is the byproduct of war, migration and policy, and it has a footprint in a half dozen nations. We then turn to the gang's philosophy, its guiding principles and ideology. The gang centers itself around the idea of community, which is reinforced mostly via violent rituals and expressions of rage towards outsiders and rivals. From there, we move to organizational structure. This includes explaining the largely misunderstood loose hierarchy of the gang and its clique system. Then we cover modus operandi, tackling the all-important questions of recruitment, criminal economy, use of violence, and political and social capital. Finally, we elaborate five case studies, which address the MS13's: 1) organizational structure; 2) use of violence; 3) criminal migration; 4) involvement in international drug trafficking; and 5) political and social capital. Details: s.l.: Insight Crime; Washington, DC: Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, 2018. 90p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 20, 2018 at: https://www.insightcrime.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/MS13-in-the-Americas-InSight-Crime-English.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Central America URL: https://www.insightcrime.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/MS13-in-the-Americas-InSight-Crime-English.pdf Shelf Number: 149182 Keywords: Criminal Organization Drug Trafficking Drug-Related Violence Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Mara Salvatrucha MS13 Prison Gangs

Author: Steinberg, Jonny Title: Nongoloza's Children: Western Cape prison gangs during and after apartheid Summary: Over the past two decades, news of the strange world behind the bars of South Africa's prisons has been spilling out in dribs and drabs. Among the things we have learned is that the so-called "Number gangs"-the 26s, 27s and 28s-are about 100 years old, that they originated in the jails, mine compounds and informal settlements of turn-of-thecentury Johannesburg, and that today they constitute a formidable force in every prison across the country. We know that the Number gangs take their inspiration from the real historical figure who founded them, Nongoloza Mathebula, an early Johannesburg bandit who built a quasi-military band of outlaws, welding his small army together with a simple but potent ideology of banditry-as-anti-colonial-resistance. We know, too, that the Number gangs have been the vehicle of an extraordinarily durable oral tradition; the imaginary uniforms, weapons and paraphernalia that Number gangsters carry today are all faithful representations of the uniforms, weapons and paraphernalia of the Boer and British armies of the late 19th-century Transvaal. The arcane and finely observed military and judicial hierarchies of the 28s and the 27s are precisely those invented by Nongoloza and described in the life testimony he dictated to a prison warder in 1912.1 We know, too, that the world of the Number gangs is one of staggering brutality. Its self-styled judiciaries sentence inmates to death, to gang rape, to beatings with prison mugs, padlocks and bars of soap; among the prerequisites of joining the "soldier lines" of the gangs is the taking of a warder's or a non-gangster's blood; leaving a prison gang, sharing a gang's secrets with a warder, or talking casually about the gang's workings to the non-initiated are all punishable crimes. Finally, we know that sexual relations between prison gangsters and their lovers are highly stylised, caricaturing the most pungently misogynist relationship imaginable between a man and a woman. The passive partner in an archetypal prison relationship is stripped of the jail equivalent of his juridical personhood: he is not allowed to conduct commerce or to leave the cell without his partner's permission; he cooks for his partner, makes his bed, washes his back and cuts his toenails. 2 Yet, despite the growing body of information available to us, our knowledge of South African prison gangs remains inadequate. What we have are slivers of narrative, ritual and myth, disconnected from the context that gives them meaning. What we do not have is an analysis of the relationship between prison gangs and the institution that animates them in the first place: the prison itself. This lacuna has been unavoidable. Until the early 1990s, South African prisons were entirely closed institutions. Reportage on the conditions in jails was effectively illegal until the mid-1980s. Until 1990, the courts kept prison administration at arm's length, giving the Commissioner of Prisons almost unlimited power, including the power to regulate information.3 And the gangs themselves were, of course, sworn to a vow of silence. Two research projects conducted in the 1980s did, however, make concerted and valuable attempts to understand prisons gangs in their institutional context. Fink Haysom's thesis-that the gangs' quasi-military structure is an extreme parody of the apartheid prison system itself-is, as we shall see, a powerful and lasting insight. 4 Lotter and Schurink's thesis-that gangs militate against the psychological and material pains of imprisonment-is also of lasting value. 5 However, given the closed conditions of the 1980s, these studies, which should have become a foundation for further research, were left standing as two islands in a sea of incomprehension. It is only in recent years, with the opening of the jails to researchers and observers, and the intrusion of the rule of law in the running of prisons, that it has become possible to study the substance of prison life with any seriousness. And it is only in understanding the substance of prison life that the strange narratives and rituals of South Africa's prison gangs can possibly make sense. Details: Johannesburg: Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 4, 2018 at: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/correctional/nongolozaschildren.pdf Year: 2004 Country: South Africa URL: http://www.csvr.org.za/docs/correctional/nongolozaschildren.pdf Shelf Number: 115815 Keywords: Gangs Prison Gangs Prison Violence Prisoners Prisons

Author: Steinberg, Jonny Title: The illicit abalone trade in South Africa Summary: In the first 20 years following the introduction of a quota on abalone harvesting in 1970, poaching existed but was contained. This changed dramatically in the early 1990s. Within a couple of years, the illicit perlemoen trade had become a highly organised, multimillion-dollar industry, controlled by street gangs on the shoreline and by transnational enterprises on the trade routes to East Asia. As a result of this binge of illegal harvesting, South Africa's stock of wild perlemoen today stands on the brink of extinction. This paper explores why the illicit abalone trade took off so dramatically in the 1990s and chronicles the attempts of various enforcement agencies to contain it. We evaluate which measures may have worked, which may still work, and which were doomed from the start. Details: Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2005. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: ISS Paper 105: Accessed April 4, 2018 at: https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/105.PDF Year: 2005 Country: South Africa URL: https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/105.PDF Shelf Number: 106991 Keywords: Abalone Animal Poaching Environmental Crimes Gangs Illicit Trade Wildlife Crime

Author: Haugaard, Lisa Title: Between a Wall and a Dangerous Place: The Intersection of Human Rights, Public Security, Corruption & Migration in Honduras and El Salvador Summary: In January 2018, the Trump Administration made the decision to terminate in 18 months the special immigration protections, Temporary Protected Status, which allowed some 200,000 Salvadoran men and women to work and live legally in the United States, following natural disasters affecting their country. In May 2018, the administration will determine the fate of some 57,000 Hondurans under the same program. Salvadorans and Hondurans in the United States are also dramatically affected by other new restrictions and uncertainties on immigration policies, including the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (the DACA program) for the young people known as the Dreamers-some 50,000 of whom are from these two countries. Hondurans and Salvadorans fleeing violence today and seeking refuge in the United States face increased difficulties in accessing protections at the border and applying for asylum. Back in their home countries, gang violence and organized crime grimly affect Hondurans' and Salvadorans' daily lives and force them to go into hiding or leave their homes. Their governments' failures to adequately protect their citizens, and indeed, state security forces pursuing hardline strategies that put people, especially young men, at risk, add to the harsh facts of life in El Salvador and Honduras. Women face additional risks from gangs and from domestic violence, and LGBTI persons face violence motivated by societal prejudice-including from police. To this dangerous mix is added another trauma in Honduras: following a disputed presidential election, state violence against protestors left over two dozen people dead and President Juan Orlando Hernandez's government is moving to close space for citizens to defend their rights. This report is a series of blog posts written from October 2017 through March 2018 about the dangers and challenges faced by Honduran and Salvadoran citizens in their home countries, even as the Trump Administration moves to deport more Honduran- and Salvadoran-born people in the United States back to home countries they may no longer know and restrict protections to those fleeing. The series, based on interviews with activists, government officials, journalists, humanitarian workers, diplomats, and academics, shows how the dangers that propel children, teenagers, women, and men from those countries to seek refuge in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere have not ended. Details: Washington, DC: Latin America Working Group Education Fund, 2018. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 10, 2018 at: http://lawg.org/storage/documents/Between_a_Wall_and_a_Dangerous_Place_LAWGEF_web.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Latin America URL: http://lawg.org/storage/documents/Between_a_Wall_and_a_Dangerous_Place_LAWGEF_web.pdf Shelf Number: 149747 Keywords: Corruption Gangs Human Rights Immigration Organized Crime Public Security Violent Crime

Author: New York City Department of Investigation Title: NYCHA Is Still Failing to Remove Dangerous Criminals from Public Housing Summary: The New York City Housing Authority ("NYCHA") continues to allow criminals - including gang members, drug traffickers, and violent offenders - to reside in public housing. Despite a mandate to protect its 400,000 lawful tenants, NYCHA has failed to take meaningful steps, or to exercise the legal remedies already available, to remove dangerous offenders from public housing apartments. In December 2015, the New York City Department of Investigation ("DOI") issued a Report that highlighted the failure of the New York City Police Department ("NYPD") to comply with an internal NYPD Patrol Guide procedure known as "Cases For Legal Action," and a similar 1996 Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with NYCHA, both of which require NYPD to report to NYCHA arrests of NYCHA residents for certain violent or other serious crimes. The purpose of these policies is to enable NYCHA, the largest landlord in New York City, to undertake its critical obligation to maintain safety and security at public housing developments by staying apprised of criminal activity, removing criminal offenders when needed to protect public safety, and addressing physical security vulnerabilities. Additionally, the Report demonstrated that even when made aware of resident arrests, NYCHA often failed to take steps to remove criminal offenders from public housing and protect the overwhelming majority of law-abiding residents. The 2015 Report highlighted failures in the following areas: - NYPD had not fully upheld its commitment to share information with NYCHA about resident arrests on NYCHA grounds, in violation of both the MOU, and NYPD's Cases For Legal Action policy promulgated as Patrol Guide #214-07. - NYCHA was failing to use available tools, including a procedure known as "Permanent Exclusion," to ensure that criminal offenders who threatened their neighbors' safety or peaceful tenancy were removed from public housing. Through Permanent Exclusion, NYCHA may exercise its discretion to remove an individual criminal offender from public housing, and thus avoid eviction of the entire household. DOI found that NYCHA's enforcement of Permanent Exclusion was essentially toothless, thus frequently allowing criminal offenders to remain in or return to NYCHA housing without consequences. - DOI identified key flaws in NYCHA's systems to monitor and enforce Permanent Exclusion, including severe understaffing of investigative and legal staff, and inadequate safety equipment and protocols for field investigators. In the 2015 Report, DOI made nine Policy and Procedure Recommendations for improvement, which both NYPD and NYCHA accepted and agreed to implement. DOI has now conducted a follow-up investigation to check whether meaningful progress has been made to address the vulnerabilities highlighted in the 2015 Report and to make additional recommendations to ensure the safety of NYCHA tenants. Details: New York: New York City Department of Investigation, 2017. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 26, 2018 at: http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doi/reports/pdf/2017/2017-03-28-NYCHAMOUreport.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doi/reports/pdf/2017/2017-03-28-NYCHAMOUreport.pdf Shelf Number: 149899 Keywords: Drug Traffickers Gangs Public Housing Public Safety Violent Offenders

Author: University of Washington. Jackson School of International Studies Title: The Cycle of Violence: Migration from the Northern Triangle Summary: This report documents the brutal and pervasive abuses suffered by Central American migrants in efforts to seek refuge from gang and state violence, government corruption, social exclusion, and endemic poverty. The cyclical nature of this violence - that is, the tendency of its victims to be caught in a cycle of forced migration, deportation, and remigration - reflects that the involved governments have collectively failed in both resolving its underlying causes and stemming its devastating effects. For instance, reintegration programs that might afford deportees the opportunity to rebuild their lives are thoroughly lacking in the NTCA; and simultaneously, U.S. and Mexican immigration officials are routinely neglecting their legal obligations to screen apprehended migrants for asylum claims before summarily deported them. Our aim is to explicate factors such as these, which reveal long-standing patterns of impunity for criminal organizations and corrupt officials, negligence, and a lack of political will which perpetuate what has become a deepening cycle of human rights abuses. By using data from the cases of Salvadoran, Guatemalan, Honduran, and Mexican clients who sought legal counsel at El Rescate - as well as scholarly works, government figures, and the findings of various nongovernmental organizations - our report sheds light on the policies and practices that have systematically marginalized those compelled to flee the Northern Triangle. Details: Seattle: The School, 2017. 74p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 27, 2018 at: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/38696/Cycle%20of%20Violence_Task%20Force%20Report%202017%20FINAL.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y Year: 2017 Country: Central America URL: https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/38696/Cycle%20of%20Violence_Task%20Force%20Report%202017%20FINAL.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 149925 Keywords: Deportation Gangs Immigrants Migration Violence

Author: Lemanska, Natalia Maria Title: The effect of becoming a parent on disengagement from gangs Summary: The purpose of this study was to shed more light on the process of desistance from crime in the context of disengagement from youth gangs and to do so in relation to a key lifeevent: parenthood. Gang membership was theorised in the light of a life-course framework and gang disengagement was defined as a renunciation of a gang status and gradually decreasing gang embeddedness. The likelihood of parenthood serving as a trigger of change in gang membership was investigated. The study utilised data from narrative interviews with 15 inner-London parents who all self-reported as former gang members. Interview transcripts were further analysed by means of a hybrid process of inductive and deductive thematic analysis. This examined (1) subjective experiences of parenthood, (2) the effect of parenthood on renegotiation of the gang member identity and (3) whether there were any substantial differences between how fathers and mothers embraced their parenthood experience. With regard to the course of behavioural and identity changes, there was no one, single pattern that would have reflected all parents' journeys out of gangs. There were considerable intra- and inter-gender differences with regard to when the transformation process started, how deep the changes were with respect to core-self and to what extent parents were engaging in reflective, meaning-making processes. Parents also demonstrated different levels of resilience in the face of challenges and varied in how much commitment, and pro-activity they were channeling into the future-oriented endeavours. The experience of being a gang member gradually became an aversive one for most parents and they generally appraised the meaning of conventional life. The volatility of new parenthood as a possible turning point in the life of a young gang member denotes it as a timely occasion when assistance could be provided. Based on parents' accounts, several recommendations were proposed that, if implemented on a wider scale, are likely to increase the chance of parents enacting their parental roles successfully. These included: a single case management approach that is long-term, affords flexibility if circumstances change and, due to the multifaceted character of young people's needs, demands effective partnership between different agencies. Though parenthood was not a universal remedy, becoming a parent served as an important catalyst for self-transformation and gang disengagement for the majority of the interviewed young parents. The overall success appeared to be strongly intertwined with one's level of agency, support from pro-social others and perception of availability of a legitimate identity. Details: Manchester, UK: University of Manchester, 2015. 202p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed April 27, 2018 at: https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/54576673/FULL_TEXT.PDF Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/54576673/FULL_TEXT.PDF Shelf Number: 149928 Keywords: Desistance from Crime Gang Membership Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Smith, Carter F. Title: Perceptions of Gang Investigators Regarding Presence of Military-Trained Gang Members Summary: Roughly 80% of all crimes in the United States are committed by members of criminal gangs (NGIC, 2009). FBI researchers surveyed state and local law enforcement agencies and estimated there were one million gang members in the U.S. (NGIC, 2009). Some gang members enlist in the military as an alternative to incarceration, and others join the military to recruit members into their gang, obtain access to weapons, and learn how to respond to hostile gunfire (NGIC). The increase in the number of military-trained gang members created a level of danger most law enforcement officials are not prepared to combat (NGIC). The threat increases because all MTGMs were or will be discharged from the military at some point, either due to inappropriate activity or because their commitment to military service was satisfied. The problem addressed in this quantitative study is an assessment of the presence of MTGMs in civilian communities. The number of crimes committed by these gang members has increased significantly since 2002. In 2006, investigators with Army CID found a 265% increase in reported gang-related incidents and investigations from 2005 to 2006 (CID, 2006). The 2009 Gang Threat Assessment yielded similar results, with a twofold increase since the 2006 report.There has been little research on the presence of MTGMs and fewer studies have examined factors that impact investigator's perceptions of the presence of MTGM populations. This study may fill some of the gaps. Details: Prescott Valley, AZ: Northcentral University, 2010. 192p. Source: Dissertation. Available from the Rutgers Criminal Justice Library. Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 150034 Keywords: Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Military personnel

Author: Waddell, Stephanie Title: Intervening Early to Prevent Gang and Youth Violence: The Role of Primary Schools Summary: This report explores the extent to which young children at risk of gang involvement or youth violence are supported through evidence-based early intervention, particularly within primary schools. It draws on qualitative interviews with schools, local government officials, police and voluntary sector organisations within the London boroughs of Lambeth and Wandsworth, and builds on earlier EIF research which indicates that risk factors for gang involvement and youth violence can be spotted as early as age seven. Our research paints a picture of primary school staff who know their children and local families well, and who go above and beyond to try to provide strong, positive role models and to support children's emotional wellbeing. However, there is also a strong sense that some school staff are intensely frustrated and feel unsupported in their efforts to work with vulnerable children. Some staff expressed anger and sadness as they told us that they feel unable to change children's outcomes in spite of their best efforts. The school staff and stakeholders we spoke to identified a range of concerns, including: the lack of a clear or shared understanding of the level of risk within a school a lack of clarity or confidence in identifying and accessing statutory and other services beyond the school walls a limited awareness of the range and quality of external support that is available to schools, and little evaluation of the external support that is commissioned the pressure on schools to focus on academic performance to the exclusion of children's wellbeing, a challenge which is often exacerbated in schools located in areas where the risk of gang and youth violence is likely to be higher. Our recommendations concentrate on four areas: improving the use of evidence in commissioning in-school support and programmes, including by providing improved information to schools and by calling on funders and commissioners at the national or regional level to make evidence-based decisions increasing the emphasis on and time available for developing children's social and emotional skills in primary schools, including by making PSHE compulsory in all schools and by requiring Ofsted to consider how well schools are supporting children's wellbeing alongside the academic performance improving the links between schools and the wider early help system in their area, so that school staff are clear about the options that are open to them and confident that referrals will result in support for children and families examining how the police can most effectively work within primary schools to help prevent gang and youth violence. This report is the first output of a three-year project that will explore and support the testing of evidence-informed approaches to early intervention to prevent gang involvement and youth violence. We will be working with the local authorities, police, participating schools and providers in Lambeth and Wandsworth over the next two years, with a view to co-designing, implementing and testing new approaches to preventing gang and youth violence through effective early intervention. Details: London: Early Intervention Foundation, 2018. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 3, 2018 at: http://www.eif.org.uk/publication/intervening-early-to-prevent-gang-and-youth-violence-the-role-of-primary-schools/ Year: 2018 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.eif.org.uk/publication/intervening-early-to-prevent-gang-and-youth-violence-the-role-of-primary-schools/ Shelf Number: 150036 Keywords: Delinquency Prevention Gangs Intervention Programs School-Based Programs Youth Violence

Author: Kolb, Abigail Faye Title: In or Out?: The Impact of Discursive and Behavioural Performance on Identity Construction among Chicanas in Gangs Summary: Despite the growing interest in female gang membership, there is a gap in the literature regarding the continual identity shifts that occur throughout Chicana female gang association, affiliation, and, especially during the disengagement process. This study seeks to understand the ways in which formerly gang-affiliated Chicanas negotiate their experiences and interactions and how these are implicated in their understanding of their own subjectivity. The research was conducted through twenty-four unstructured interviews with formerly gang-affiliated Chicanas involved with a prominent gang prevention/intervention organization in the Boyle Heights neighbourhood of East Los Angeles, and through observations conducted within the organization and within the neighbourhood. The results demonstrate that identity is in a constant state of flux. The homegirls in this study were able to describe the ways in which their subjectivities have been (co)constructed in ways that were temporally and spatially relevant and how their interactions with the social environment, their communities, families, and their homeboys and homegirls were also implicated. Homegirls explained how their identities changed through different periods in their lives. From "doing gang" in their hoods and among their homeboys and homegirls, to performing gender and sexuality in prison, and then (re)constructing their raced, classed, and gendered identities as they negotiated the process of disengaging from the gang, participants demonstrated how their experiences and interactions played a role in their worldviews, the ways in which they understood their own subjectivities, and how these perceptions inform(ed) their decisions, both past and present. Many of the findings support the extant literature describing the role of discursive and behavioral expression(s) in the (co)construction of identity, on an individual level and for "others." Specifically, marginalized girls/women are subject to engaging in social practices in order to avoid rejection within their social milieu. The findings reveal that while gang-affiliated Chicanas do experience multiple forms of marginalization like many gang-affiliated girls/women, they have the added dimension of socio-cultural positioning. In other words, these women must actively negotiate the traditions, values, and expectations of two cultures: Mexican and American-a process that leads to a Chola identity and subculture. Details: Burnaby, BC: Simon Fraser University, 2015. 228p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 8, 2018 at: http://summit.sfu.ca/item/15290 Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://summit.sfu.ca/item/15290 Shelf Number: 150097 Keywords: Female Gang Members Gangs Homegirls

Author: Amnesty International Title: Trapped in the Matrix: Secrecy, stigma, and bias in the Met's Gangs Database Summary: Over the past decade, the concept of 'gang association' has emerged as a measure for assessing potential harm to public safety from young people. It crops up not only in police strategies to tackle violent offending, but across a range of public sector services: from local authorities to the criminal justice system, from schools to the UK Visas and Immigration authority. Underpinning the increased use of the gang label by public agencies is a police intelligence system that purports to identify and share data about individuals who are considered to be linked to gangs. In London, this is most clearly institutionalised in the Metropolitan Police Service Gangs Violence Matrix - a database of suspected gang members in London which went into operation at the beginning of 2012. The highly charged context for the establishment of the Gangs Matrix was the England riots of Summer 2011. In the wake of the riots Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London, was quick to conflate those arrested during the riots with 'gangs', telling the press 'this is an opportunity to deal with gang crime'. In the days immediately after the riots, Prime Minister David Cameron promised a 'concerted, all-out war on gangs and gang culture' and within six months both the Home Office and the Mayor's Office had announced flagship new antigang strategies, including the launch of a reconfigured Trident Gang Command in London. Politically, the Gangs Matrix was set up to provide the government with some clarity on the extent of gang activity. At an operational level, it provided the Metropolitan Police with a risk-assessment tool to assess and rank London's suspected gang members according to their 'propensity for violence'. Individuals on the matrix are known as 'gang nominal' and each is marked in a traffic-light scoring system as red, amber or green. 'Red nominals' are those the police consider most likely to commit a violent offence; 'green nominals' pose the least risk. In October 2017, the Metropolitan Police reported that 3,806 people were on the Gangs Matrix. Less that 5 per cent were in the 'red' category, with 64 per cent marked as 'green'. In July 2016, a more detailed demographic breakdown of those on the matrix revealed that 87 per cent were from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds (78 per cent were black). Eighty per cent were between the ages of 12 and 24, and 15 per cent were minors (the youngest was 12 years old). Ninety nine per cent were male. Amnesty International has been conducting research on the Gangs Matrix for the past year and has met with more than 30 professionals who use, or are familiar with, the Gangs Matrix. They come from the police, the voluntary sector, and local authorities in several London boroughs - including staff from three borough Gangs Units. We have also asked community members and young people affected by the Gangs Matrix to tell us their experiences. Our research shows that the Gangs Matrix is based on a vague and ill-defined concept of 'the gang' that has little objective meaning and is applied inconsistently in different London boroughs. The Matrix itself and the process for adding individuals to it, assigning 'risk scores' and sharing data with partner agencies appears to be similarly ill-defined with few, if any, safeguards and little oversight. Not only does this data collection amount to an interference with young people's rights, but the consequences could be serious for those labelled as 'gang nominals', more than threequarters of whom are black boys and young men. Data sharing between the police and other government agencies means that this stigmatising 'red flag' can follow people in their interaction with service providers, from housing to education, to job centres. It is important to examine the impact this has on their rights. We believe further investigation by the appropriate authorities - the Information Commissioner's Office, the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, and the Metropolitan Police - is necessary to ensure the rights of these young people are respected. Amnesty International's research shows that: - While it purports to be a risk management tool focused on preventing serious violence, 40 per cent of people listed on the matrix have no record of involvement in any violent offence in the past two years and 35 per cent have never committed any 'serious offence'. - The concepts of the 'gang' and 'gang member' are vague and ill-defined, and the process for adding people to the matrix or removing them from it appears to lack clear parameters, thresholds and criteria; this leads to over-broad and arbitrary identification of people as gang members. - Many of the indicators used by the Metropolitan Police to identify 'gang members' simply reflect elements of urban youth culture and identity that have nothing to do with serious crime. This conflation of elements of urban youth culture with violent offending is heavily racialised. The result is that the matrix has taken on the form of digital profiling; 78 per cent of individuals on the Gangs Matrix are black, a number which is disproportionate both to the black population of London (13 per cent of the whole) and the percentage of black people among those identified by the police as responsible for serious youth violence in London (27 per cent). 'Youth violence' refers to violent offences against people below the age of 20. - There are no clear processes for reviewing the matrix, or for correcting or deleting outdated information. There is no formal process to notify individuals that they are on the matrix and no official system through which they can challenge their inclusion or have their named removed. - Data sharing between the police, housing associations, schools, job centres, the criminal justice system and the Home Office appears to lack safeguards; there is therefore a risk that these services will discriminate against already marginalised young people, with disproportionate impact on black boys and young men. Community activists, young people and family members all told Amnesty International that they felt the Gangs Matrix unfairly profiled and stigmatised black youth, further entrenching distrust in the police and isolating at-risk individuals. Although the police may be pursuing a legitimate aim when they collect data on gang members, the Gangs Matrix is an excessive interference with the right to privacy that affects the rights of black boys and young men disproportionately. The weak data governance and lack of safeguards that characterize the database show that it was designed and put to use without sufficient regard for the rights of those listed on it. Amnesty International believes that the Gangs Matrix is unfit for purpose: it puts rights at risk, and seems not only ineffective but also counter-productive. Systems for gathering and sharing intelligence on individuals suspected of violent crime must be fair, implemented in accordance with human rights law, and have robust oversight mechanisms. We expect the Mayor's Office and the Metropolitan Police to establish clear and transparent measures to ensure that this is the case. They must dismantle the matrix unless they can demonstrate that it has been brought into line with international human rights law, in particular the right to non-discrimination. Measures must also be taken to ensure that in future, systems that aim to gather and share intelligence on individuals suspected of violent crimes are fair and implemented in accordance with human rights law, with robust oversight mechanisms in place. Details: London: AI, 2018. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 14, 2018 at: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2018-05/Inside%20the%20matrix.pdf?x_Q7G4ar5uHbWLAklmQ9NSuLFMzrwSyq Year: 2018 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/2018-05/Inside%20the%20matrix.pdf?x_Q7G4ar5uHbWLAklmQ9NSuLFMzrwSyq Shelf Number: 150175 Keywords: At-Risk Youth Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Andell, Paul Title: Preventing the Violent and Sexual Victimisation of Vulnerable gang-involved and gang-affected children and young people in Ipswich Summary: A Suffolk Constabulary threat assessment initiated in 2014 observed that the supply of Class A Drugs to Ipswich and other Suffolk towns was dominated by street gangs from London. It notes that children and young people from London and Suffolk were involved in 'running' the drugs to end users and that their risk of coming to harm was high. The Police estimated at this point that a small number of young people, frequently recorded as 'missing' from Care or home by the police and Safeguarding authorities, were either known, or suspected, to be working for London-based drug dealing networks. Children and young people reported 'missing' in London had also been found at Suffolk addresses known to be used for drug dealing. The assessment recognised that in the preceding decade there had been an increase in the numbers of boys and young men travelling from London to Ipswich in order to supply Class A drugs and that members of London-based drug-dealing groups had been present in Ipswich throughout this period despite several successful police operations to disrupt the trafficking and distribution of Class A drugs. The assessment suggested that violence, threats and coercion were used routinely by these groups to exert control over vulnerable children and young people and local Class A drug users whose homes were being 'cuckooed'. This kind of violence was evident in other parts of Suffolk where the illicit drug market was saturated and competition between dealers was fierce. Intelligence also suggested that Organised Crime Groups (OCG's) involved in drug dealing were storing weapons at dealing locations and arming 'runners' with knives. In recognition of these problems, in November 2014, representatives of the government's Ending Gangs and Youth Violence (EGYV) programme were invited to undertake a peer review of the effectiveness of local responses and provide a framework for future action. The EGYV review noted that senior leaders in the County had recognized the serious threat posed by the gang problem and that a range of existing multi-agency initiatives had been put in place. It observed that the Ipswich Borough Police Commander had established a GOLD policing strategy and constructed a complementary multi-agency intervention (Operation Volcanic). However it appeared that lack of clarity vis-a-vis roles and responsibilities within the community safety and other partnerships meant there were no obvious mechanisms to effectively identify, address and communicate a way of dealing with gang offending by the partnership. It also noted that, to date, senior leaders did not have a formal or specific role and that responses were largely Police-led and enforcement-based. Details: Ipswich, UK: University of Suffolk, 2017. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: accessed May 15, 2018 at: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27822/1/Preventing_the_violent_and_sexual_victimisation_of_vulnerable_gang_involved.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27822/1/Preventing_the_violent_and_sexual_victimisation_of_vulnerable_gang_involved.pdf Shelf Number: 150190 Keywords: Drug Dealing Drug Violence Drug-Related Violence Gangs Sexual Assault Victimization

Author: Agnew, Emma R.E. Title: Discourse, Policy, Gangs: An Analysis of Gang Members' Talk and Policy Summary: European academics have historically been reluctant to conduct explicit gang research on the premise that it risks stereotyping communities. Subsequently, notions about gangs in the UK have been transposed from American literature, which is primarily based within a criminological perspective and focuses on personal characteristics of gang members, such as their violent tendencies (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990). Alternatively, underpinned by a community psychology perspective, this research explores how young people involved in gangs construct their identities and experiences, and to what extent these constructions reproduce or resist political discourse. Semi-structured interviews with six self-identified gang members, as well as the UK policy 'Ending Gang and Youth Violence' (Home Office, 2011) were analysed using a hybrid approach of discursive psychology and critical discourse analysis. The four main discursive sites identified in the policy were: i) The demonization of gangs, ii) the inevitability of gangs, iii) gangs: the product of 'troubled families', iv) the racialization of gangs. The four main discursive sites within the interviews were: i) experiences of racism, ii) the inevitability of gang membership, iii) problematized identities, iv) individual and family responsibility. The analysis indicated that, at times, the participants reproduced problematising ideological discourse, at other times they constructed reimagined personal narratives which resisted hegemonic discourses about gang members, and at other times they exposed the oppressive mechanisms of political discourse, by detailing how being labelled a 'gang member' and racial discrimination had shaped their subjectivities and lived experiences. The findings indicate the need for an overhaul of elitist policy production, for authentic participation of young people with experiences of living in deprived areas, and for a shift from the 'criminological' framework of gang policy towards 'welfare'. Furthermore, the findings highlight the need to direct political attention to addressing racial discrimination. Clinically, community psychology approaches are recommended, as well as working at macro levels to change cultural narratives around this group. Details: London: University of East Londong, 2016. 152p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed May 17, 2018 at: http://roar.uel.ac.uk/5384/1/Emma_Agnew._U1331745._Thesis._Discourse%2C_Policy_and_Gangs..pdf Year: 2016 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://roar.uel.ac.uk/5384/1/Emma_Agnew._U1331745._Thesis._Discourse%2C_Policy_and_Gangs..pdf Shelf Number: 150525 Keywords: Communication Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Racial Discrimination

Author: New York Immigration Coalition Title: Swept Up in the Sweep: The Impact of Gang Allegations on Immigrant New Yorkers Summary: T he United States is no stranger to the use of expansive profiling and discriminatory policing when facing real or perceived threats to national security. Whether it was the casting of Japanese Americans as traitors during World War II, civil rights leaders as radical threats to the country during the civil rights movement, Americans Muslims as national security threats after September 11th, or young black and brown men as criminals through stop-andfrisk policing-the use of fear and stereotypes to justify discriminatory tactics has repeatedly come at the expense of individuals' constitutional and civil rights. The end result? The dehumanizing of people of color, destabilizing of community structures, chilling of constitutionally protected speech and activity, and ultimately the mass incarceration and deportation of entire communities. The Trump administration has consistently sought to cast immigrants as threats to the economic and national security of the United States. And thus, MS-13, a gang born in the United States and grown in Central America, has become a favorite foil for President Donald Trump, as well as for Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. The Trump administration has taken a specific narrative course to elevate the status of MS-13 to a household name, responsible for invading armies of Central American migrants who are using supposed loopholes in immigration law to sow terror in the quiet American suburbs of Long Island. The problem is that the threat of MS-13 is purposely exaggerated to manipulate support for unfettered immigration enforcement in the name of gang-policing, without addressing the effectiveness of such policies or their devastating consequences-the large-scale detention and deportation of Latinx individuals. All empirical evidence shows that MS-13 on Long Island lacks basic organization and coordination. And while MS-13 is undoubtedly violent, the gang is not, by far, responsible for the majority of crimes committed on Long Island or, more broadly, in New York. The Trump administration has created and exploited public fear of MS-13 to further the Administration's own anti-immigrant agenda. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) "Operation Matador" (Matador) launched in 2017 as part of "Operation Community Shield" specifically seeks to "target violent gang members and their associates." The most troubling aspect of Matador is that it leads to increased local law enforcement collaboration with ICE. This collaboration exponentially increases the devastating impacts of discriminatory policing by compounding it with immigration enforcement. Allegations of MS-13 affiliation or membership are routinely made by immigration officers, often without credible evidence or the possibility for an individual to challenge the designation. Schools, local police departments, and federal law enforcement agencies all communicate in secrecy and trap Central American migrants in a growing and obscure web of enforcement. By broadly casting immigrant Latin youth as gang members to be targeted for incarceration and deportation, even the outward pretense of basic rights and due process is pushed to the side. Gang policing, like unconstitutional stop-and-frisk policies, has disproportionately impacted black and brown men. Notoriously flawed and unregulated, gang databases have minimal inclusion criteria. Simply living in a building or even a neighborhood where there are gang members, wearing certain colors or articles of clothing, or speaking to people law enforcement believe to be gang members can lead to inclusion in a gang database. Often individuals do not know they have been listed in such a database, and no mechanism exists to challenge inclusion. Similar vague criteria, such as the apparel an individual wears or a drawing made in a notebook, are used to label Latinx youth and young men as gang affiliated and then to subsequently justify their arrest, detention and deportation. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not need to make any showing of gang affiliation to initiate removal proceedings-being undocumented alone is a sufficient basis. Law enforcement agencies have every incentive to target suspected gang affiliates for deportation when they do not have evidence to make a criminal arrest. Further, since immigration proceedings are not subject to the same evidentiary standards as are required in the criminal context, immigration enforcement takes advantage of these lax standards and introduces allegations of gang involvement with little or no evidence. For those swept up by these overbroad allegations, the effect could be the denial of immigration benefits for which they are otherwise eligible, the denial of immigration bond, and ultimately deportation. To better understand how the Trump administration has used the pretext of gang enforcement to further its anti-immigrant policies, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) and the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law's Immigrant and Non-Citizen Rights Clinic (INRC) embarked on a survey (LE Interactions Survey) of legal service providers, community-based organizations, and community members in the New York City metro area, including Long Island, detailing how various immigration agencies have gone beyond the publicized gang sweeps and are in fact using gang allegations broadly in the immigration removal and adjudications process. Details: New York: The Coalition, 2018. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 23, 2018 at: http://www.thenyic.org/userfiles/file/SweptUp_Report_Final.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: http://www.thenyic.org/userfiles/file/SweptUp_Report_Final.pdf Shelf Number: 150337 Keywords: Gangs Illegal Immigrants Immigrant Deportation Immigrants Immigration Enforcement Undocumented Immigrants

Author: Whittaker, Andrew Title: From Postcodes to Profit: How gangs have changed in Waltham Forest Summary: Gang cultures in Waltham Forest are changing. When the classic Reluctant Gangs study was completed ten years ago, the focus was upon postcode territories that needed to be defended from outsiders. Gang members described an emotional relationship with their local area, leading one young respondent to say that he would 'defend anyone who lived in his postcode' (Pitts, 2008, p.114). These territories bore little if any relationship to drugs markets and the violence involved appeared to serve little practical purpose beyond providing an arena to demonstrate courage and physical prowess. Gang membership was exhibited through gang 'colours', where clothing and other insignia were used to demonstrate a visible presence within that territory. From postcodes to profits The current study has found that this has significantly changed. The first major development is the emergence of a more organised and ruthless operating model focused on the drugs market and driven by a desire for profits. This new operating model rejects visible signs of gang membership as 'bad for business' because they attract unwanted attention from law enforcement agencies. Our dialogue with professionals, young people involved with gangs and former gang members has been dominated by the rise of one gang, the Mali Boys. They have led the current changes as the most business driven, violent and ruthless of the gangs but also the most secretive, working hard to remain anonymous to the police and local agencies. Although the Mali Boys may appear to be a local phenomenon, there is growing evidence that they are part of a wider pan-London development as gangs become more organised. As gangs develop, they move from a 'recreation' stage where crime is rarely acquisitive to a 'crime' stage, where criminal activities are a means to support the gang (Densley, 2014). In the next stage, successful gangs move into an 'enterprise' stage where criminal activities become an end in itself and the original members form an 'inner circle', recruiting new members as subordinates to carry out street level activities. Some gangs move into a fourth 'extra legal governance' stage where they control the market to the point of gaining a monopoly (Densley, 2014). Understood within a gang evolution model, the dominance of the Mali Boys results from their moving into the advanced stages of the 'enterprise' stage. Whilst local gangs have moved from a postcode focus, the Mali Boys have been the most successful at responding to the demands of a more professional operating model, securing markets locally as the dominant partner in business alliances with other gangs. This more business-oriented ethos has changed the meaning of territory. Instead of an emotional sense of belonging to a postcode that needs to be defended, territory is valued as a marketplace to be protected. The local estate still has meaning for younger gang members as they are usually recruited from that locality but older gang members are less likely to live on the estate and identifying with the estate is often more symbolic than real. The focus of the new operating model is expanding territory to secure new drugs markets. In response to the saturation of the London drugs markets, gangs are moving outside to develop operations in other towns where there is little competition and they are unknown to local law enforcement agencies. The 'County Lines' business model where the gangs transport and sell drugs outside London has developed considerably in the last few years (NCA, 2015, 2016, 2017b). A recent National Crime Agency (NCA, 2017b) report found that 88% of areas nationally report established county lines activity in their area and a third (33%) reported the existence of Somalian gangs, the most common ethnicity recorded. Whilst it did not name specific Somalian gangs, the Mali Boys are known to be highly active in county lines operations. Details: London: London South Bank University, 2018. 101p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 12, 2018 at: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/128205/postcodes-to-profit-dr-andrew-whittaker.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/128205/postcodes-to-profit-dr-andrew-whittaker.pdf Shelf Number: 150521 Keywords: Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: Lessing, Benjamin Title: Inside Out: The Challenge of Prison-Based Criminal Organizations Summary: Contemporary prison gangs present new and confounding challenges for states. In Central America and Brazil-and even in the U.S.- prison gangs have evolved from small predatory groups to sophisticated criminal organizations with the capacity to organize street-level crime, radically alter patterns of criminal violence, and, in the extreme, hold governments hostage to debilitating, orchestrated violence and disruption. Unlike traditional armed groups though, prison gangs cannot be directly neutralized through repressive force, since most of their leadership is already incarcerated. Indeed, common hardline state responses like aggressive policing, anti-gang sweeps, and enhanced sentencing can inadvertently swell prison gangs' ranks and strengthen their ability to coordinate activity on the street. Breaking up prison-gang leadership has proved particularly counterproductive, often facilitating prison gangs' propagation throughout state-and national-level prison systems. Alternative approaches like gang truces that exploit prison gangs' capacity to organize and pacify criminal markets - and indeed whole peripheral regions - can be very effective at reducing violence. However, they are politically dicey (and hence unstable), and ultimately leave the state partially dependent on prison gangs for the provision of order, both within and beyond the prison walls. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet. Indeed, there are three distinct problems for policy-makers to grapple with. First, as the research discussed here shows, many typical responses have unintended and deeply counterproductive consequences. In particular, anti-gang crackdowns, which often raise incarceration rates, lengthen sentences, and worsen prison conditions, can actually help prison gangs establish authority outside prison, organize criminal markets, and orchestrate mass violence and protest. In many cases, prison gangs come to play a major role in providing order in peripheral communities, imposing codes of conduct that significantly reduce property crime and violence among residents. Second, while there is evidence that these mass-incarceration policies helped prison gangs establish their authority, both within prison and on the street, it is not clear that simply reducing incarceration rates or improving prison conditions would neutralize that authority. The social orders that prison gangs have built in Central America, Brazil, and even parts of the U.S., rest on real institutions of varying degrees of formality: from shared language and symbols to written constitutions, and even corporate and state-like administrative structures. Like all institutions, these are likely to be "sticky," i.e. resilient to turnover in members and leaders, and adaptable to changing local conditions. Finally, it is not clear that rolling back, undermining, or neutralizing gang authority - even if it were possible - would produce positive outcomes. States were not good at providing order in prisons or peripheral areas before sophisticated prison gangs arose, and there is little reason to believe that they can entirely supplant gang authority in the short or even medium term. Smashing the authority of prison gangs could lead to outbreaks of brutal infighting or a chaotic scramble for power. As such, this paper recommends a containment approach that strikes a balance between hardline repression and accommodation. Policymakers should aim to: increasingly acknowledge gang presence and power, rather than deny or obfuscate it; set rules of the game that take advantage of gang leaders' ability to pacify criminal markets while demarcating realms where the state can slowly supplant gangs; use repression more strategically to enforce these rules, creating incentives for gang leaders to avoid violence and anti-social behavior; and put greater state, civil-society, and international resources into recuperating state authority in non-criminal areas where gangs currently hold sway. The paper begins with background on contemporary prison gangs, which we might more accurately refer to as prison-based criminal organizations. I then present findings of research into the link between state law-enforcement and carceral policies and prison gangs' capacity to project their power onto the street in three leading cases: California; El Salvador; and Sao Paulo, Brazil. I follow with a discussion of the uses to which prison gangs use this capacity (organizing criminal activity, providing parallel power in peripheral communities, and orchestrating / curtailing violence) as a bargaining chip. I conclude with analysis and policy recommendations. Details: Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2016. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 19, 2018 at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/fp_20160927_prison_based_organizations.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/fp_20160927_prison_based_organizations.pdf Shelf Number: 150587 Keywords: Gangs Prison Gangs Prison Violence

Author: Blokland, Arjan Title: Profielen van Nederlandse outlawbikers en Nederlandse outlawbikerclubs Summary: The criminal careers of members of Dutch outlaw motorcycle clubs and their supportclubs: a study using conviction data Decisive action against criminal outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMG's) ranks high on the Dutch criminal justice agenda since 2012. Nevertheless, the number of OMG-chapters in the Netherlands, and presumably therefore the number of Dutch OMG-members, has rapidly increased over the last couple of years. This rise was accompanied by an increase in the number of official support clubs or puppet clubs as well. There are reasons to believe that these support clubs are not only used as incubators for new OMG-members, but also to lend a hand in criminal activities and to provide leverage in intergang conflict. The current study aims to describe the (officially registered) criminal behavior of OMG- and support club-members. This research builds on previous research into the criminal careers of Dutch OMG-members by using official data on the conviction histories of 1.617 police-identified OMG-members, and 473 members of support clubs. Results show that the vast majority of OMG- and support club-members is convicted at least once. Convictions often also pertain to serious crimes. Several criminal trajectories can be distinguished, of which some are characterized by a rather high level of convictions during the adult years. Profiles of Dutch outlaw bikers: a latent class analysis The Netherlands are confronted with a rapid growth of the outlaw biker subculture. On theoretical grounds it is expected that such a steep increase is accompanied by radicalization of the outlaw biker milieu, and an increasing number of OMG members involved in organized crime. Expansion also leads to increased rivalry between OMG's, further contributing to radicalization by making membership attainable to those motivated by other sentiments than a love for motorcycles. In a partial test of these explanations the current study examines the nature of the crimes committed by OMG- and support club-members, and whether, based on combinations of different types of offenses, meaningful criminal career types can be distinguished. Results show that in OMG's and support clubs different criminal career types can be distinguished, but that these criminal career types are not the same in OMG and support clubs. Over one third of Dutch OMG-members exhibits a criminal career type that is indicative of radical sentiments. Among support club-members a criminal career type is found that is characterized by violence. Crime amongst Dutch outlaw motorcycle gangs Crimes by outlaw motorcycle gangs are a source of concern for the Dutch police and local authorities. Since 2012, OMG's have therefore been subjected to a whole-of-government approach, targeting in principle every Dutch OMG. Spokesmen of OMG's have opposed to this approach on the grounds that it indiscriminately and unjustly puts all OMG's on the same level. Based on a sample of 1617 police-identified members of Dutch OMG's, the current study paints a quantitative picture of the extent to which Dutch OMG's are involved in various types of crime. By distinguishing between common club-members and club leaders, Dutch OMG's can be placed along the club/gang-continuum proposed by Barker (2007; 2015). Results show that Dutch OMG's differ in both the percentage of ever convicted members, as well as the average extent of these members' criminal records Details: Apeldoorn;: University of Leiden, Law School, 136p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 26, 2018 at: https://www.politieenwetenschap.nl/cache/files/5b324baabe80ePW101.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Netherlands URL: https://www.politieenwetenschap.nl/cache/files/5b324baabe80ePW101.pdf Shelf Number: 150701 Keywords: Bikers Criminal Careers Gangs Motorcycle Gangs Organized Crime Radicalization

Author: Demoscopia, S.A. Title: Maras y pandillas, comunidad y policia en Centroamerica Hallazgos de un estudio integral Summary: In the last decade, youth gangs have taken special relevance in Central America, becoming so much a problem of insecurity public as an object of concern for governments and fear among the population, on all in the countries of the northern triangle of the region -El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala - but with a development something similar also in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. While the existence of youth gangs dedicated to crime is nothing new in Central America, the systematization of the use of violence and brutality demonstrated by gangs current is something unprecedented; reflected in the new concept of "maras". In short, although it would not be correct to point out the maras as the main responsible for the high level of violence that for some time lives in Central America, without a doubt they represent a strong and real problem that deserves more attention, for the sake of providing security to citizens and improve future prospects for the population Young of the Region. Both history and social science teaches that juvenile delinquency is primarily a group phenomenon that reflects social situations and complex economics; deserving, therefore, updated, concrete and deep knowledge to achieve the design and implementation of policies and successful action programs. It is in this context that the Swedish International cooperation for development International (Sida) and the Central American Bank of Economic Integration (BCIE) have considered convenient to finance a regional study and multidisciplinary on the phenomenon of gangs and maras, with a contextual focus (maras-vecinoscommunity-police) and with a solid empirical base. The objective of this publication, which constitutes a condensed version of the study carried out by a group of researchers from the Demoscopy company S.A., is to facilitate a discussion broader and more purposeful public desire to contribute to efficient policies and actions, so much about the immediate need to face the current situation as in what refers to the prevention towards the future. (From Google Translate) Details: Guatemala, SIDA, 2007. 120p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 29, 2018 at: http://www.dhl.hegoa.ehu.es/ficheros/0000/0143/maras_y_pandillas_comunidad_y_policia_en_centroamerica.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Central America URL: http://www.dhl.hegoa.ehu.es/ficheros/0000/0143/maras_y_pandillas_comunidad_y_policia_en_centroamerica.pdf Shelf Number: 150733 Keywords: Gang Violence Gangs Mara Salvatrucha Youth Gangs

Author: InSight Crime Title: Game Changers 2017: What to Watch for in 2018 Summary: Organized crime thrives amid political corruption and uncertainty. There will be plenty of this in Latin America in 2018, helping organized crime deepen its roots across the region over the course of the year. This is the moment when we draw on our extensive research and experience to make our predictions for the coming year. And the panorama for 2018 is one of the bleakest that InSight Crime has faced in our nine years of studying criminal phenomena in Latin America and the Caribbean. Tackling organized crime requires stable governments with purpose, strategy, strong security forces, healthy democracy and transparency, along with international cooperation. These currently seem in short supply around the region. Political chaos, infighting and upheaval ensure that attention is occupied on survival and manipulation of democracy, not with tackling organized crime. State legitimacy has come into question in certain nations in the region, as political leaders are investigated for corruption or manipulation of power. Embattled political leaders will often cut backroom deals with criminal elements to ensure their survival. Moreover, several countries will see important elections in the coming year, contributing to political instability. Political Hangovers From 2017 As we wrote in our introduction to this GameChangers, 2017 saw corruption take hold at high levels in governments across the region. So we enter 2018 with several political hangovers, where we believe corruption will assume a still stronger grip: Venezuela, where the last fig leaf of democracy has fallen and a corrupt regime is entrenching itself in power. As oil revenue dries up, the government may further criminalize to survive. The disintegration of the Venezuelan state and its total corruption has far-reaching regional implications for criminal dynamics. These are most immediately impacting on neighbors like Colombia, Brazil and Caribbean nations (Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba and the Dominican Republic foremost among them), but the effects are spreading further afield. Honduras, where the re-election of President Juan Orlando Hernandez has been disputed amid claims of fraud and corruption. This has further undermined his already battered legitimacy. This Northern Triangle nation is of extraordinary importance for drugs moving from South America to the United States. Peru, which saw President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski narrowly avoid being removed from power amid accusations of corruption. He survived only by pardoning former President Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for human rights abuses. The Fujimori family control one of the most powerful factions in Congress. Kuczynski has been fatally weakened and discredited. We expect to see major underworld activities such as cocaine, timber and gold trafficking strengthened as a result. Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, has manipulated the constitution and looks set to perpetuate himself in office by standing for a fourth term. Most checks on his power now seem to have been stripped away, even as the country plays a central role in South America's drug trade. Ecuador has seen its vice president removed after a conviction for corruption, while President Lenin Moreno find himself locked in a political war with former President Rafael Correa. Organized crime is far down the president's list of priorities, despite that the fact that we believe the port of Guayaquil to be one of the major departure points for cocaine shipments across the globe. Presidential Elections in 2018 To further feed the political uncertainty, there are elections in six important nations, which mean that political attention will be utterly focused on these and not on the fight against organized crime. Brazil has a president with around five percent approval rating universally seen as corrupt. The favorite to win this election, Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva, was convicted in July of accepting bribes from an engineering firm in exchange for public works contracts. Colombia, the world's foremost producer of cocaine, is struggling to implement a peace agreement with Marxist rebels and prevent a recycling of criminal actors. The enemies of peace seem stronger than its friends as the candidates line up. Costa Rica, sat astride the Central America route for cocaine heading towards the United States, has seen transnational organized crime take root and feed national criminal structures. Mexico has seen violence reach new heights and its current president, Enrique Peea Nieto, has provided few new strategies to tackle homicides or the organized crime that feeds them. New leadership is desperately needed, but no matter who wins the July elections no real changes in strategy are expected until the end of the year, when a new president will take office. Paraguay, South America's most prolific producer of marijuana already has a president associated with criminal activity in the form of cigarette smuggling. With Brazilian criminal groups projecting themselves into this landlocked nation, clear leadership is needed to contain rampant criminal activity. Venezuela is due to have presidential elections, but with President Nicolas Maduro now operating a dictatorship, there are no guarantees these will be held, much less that any real change will occur. Economic collapse is more likely to produce change than political challenge. Even in Cuba, dominated by the Castro brothers since 1959, change is coming as Raul Castro has promised to step down in 2018. And Nicaragua's president Daniel Ortega, in power since 2007, is tightening his grip on the levers of power and undermining democracy. Not since the days of the Cold War have democracy and good governance been under such threat in Latin America. These conditions have in part been created by organized crime and the corruption it feeds. And organized crime will continue to profit from the chaos. Cooperation is also key to fighting transnational organized crime and for good or ill, the United States has often provided coherency and leadership in the war on drugs and organized crime. That leadership is gone along with much US credibility in the region. All this simply gives yet more room for criminals to maneuver. More 'Plata' Than 'Plomo' There is another aspect of organized crime worth mentioning when we look to 2018. While corruption has always been one of the primary tools for organized crime, its flip side has been intimidation and violence. Pablo Escobar used to famously offer his victims two choices: "plata" ("silver," a bribe) or "plomo" ("lead," a bullet). What is becoming clear to the most sophisticated criminals is that bribery now gets you a lot further, a lot quicker, than violence. The expanding corruption scandals are evidence of this. While Mexico, Venezuela and much of the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras register epidemic levels of homicides, Colombia is bucking the trend. Even as cocaine exports reach record levels, along with internal drug consumption, with other booming illegal economies such as gold mining and extortion, murders are falling. While this is in part due to the de-escalation of the civil conflict with the demobilization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - FARC), the other major factor is the development of a Pax Mafiosa. The first "mafia peace" was forged in Medellin, the capital of the cocaine trade, and expanded from there across the country. This means that our mission of exposing organized crime is getting harder here in our home base of Colombia. The criminal history of Latin America has been driven by criminal entrepreneurs, principally in the forms of the drug cartels. This is not the case in Africa, where criminal activity is often managed by elements within government. As Latin organized crime continues to fragment, and corruption becomes the preferred method of doing illicit business, Latin America may begin to look more like Africa. Criminality may not only be protected at the highest levels of government but perhaps run by these elements. This is a phenomena we have studied closely in our "Elites and Organized Crime" investigations. We will dedicate yet more resources to these kinds of investigations as we believe they point the way forward in terms of criminal evolution. SEE ALSO: InDepth Coverage of Elites and Organized Crime Transnational organized crime is the most agile business on the planet and adapts to changing conditions much faster than governments. When those governments become weakened, undermined and corrupted by transnational crime groups, the already uneven playing field become yet further skewed. This year is likely to be a year of further criminal entrenchment in the region, of further corruption of high levels of government or even state capture. Be ready, because we need to pay very close attention, if we are to see the hand of organized crime amid the political chaos Details: s.l.: InSight Crime, 2018. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 29, 2018 at: https://www.insightcrime.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/GAMECHANGERS-2017-InSight-Crime-FINAL.pdf Year: 2018 Country: South America URL: https://www.insightcrime.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/GAMECHANGERS-2017-InSight-Crime-FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 150738 Keywords: Corruption Criminal Networks Drug Trafficking (South America) Gangs Homicides Organized Crime Street Gangs Violence

Author: International Crisis Group Title: El Salvador's Politics of Perpetual Violence Summary: El Salvador, a small country in the isthmus of Central America, is wracked by an implacable strain of gang warfare. Exceptionally intense and persistent violence pits rival street gangs against one another and in opposition to the police and state. Formerly hailed for its smooth transition to democracy and for turning the two foes of its 1980s civil war into political forces competing vigorously yet peaceably for power, El Salvador once again is famed for its bloodletting. Its recent murder rates rank among the highest in the world and its jails are among the most overcrowded. For the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, its main gang, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), personifies the menace of undocumented immigration. Although the Salvadoran state has developed a series of strategies for violence prevention, its mainly repressive efforts over the past fifteen years have checked the influence of these alternative approaches. It should now implement plans to prevent crime, rehabilitate gang members and spur development in marginalised communities. Most urgently, El Salvador will require protection from the turbulence that U.S. mass deportations could provoke. The permanence of violence owes as much to the success as to the failings of the peace accords. The two former wartime foes have jostled for democratic supremacy, repeatedly using security policy for electoral purposes by seeking to satisfy public demand for mano dura (iron fist) against the gangs. Although government has changed hands, security methods have not altered: mass detentions and incarceration, as well as militarisation of policing, have become standard procedure whether under the rule of right-wing elites or former guerrillas. U.S. authorities have recently offered support to this approach, pledging to "dismantle" the MS-13. In private, however, high-level officials from across the country's political divide lament the harmful effects of this crackdown on over-stretched courts and front-line police. Blueprints geared to preventing the drift of young men from low-income neighbourhoods into gang life have been drafted: the government launched the most recent, the "Safe El Salvador" plan, as a holistic strategy to restore the state�s territorial control. But as violence soared after 2014 following the disintegration of a truce with the gangs, extreme measures of jail confinement and police raids have once again become the government's predominant methods to choke the gangs. Allegations of police brutality and extrajudicial executions have multiplied. Recent surveys suggest that veteran members of these gangs wish to cease the violence. However, the economic dead-end of El Salvador's urban outskirts � the country�s recent GDP growth rate of 1.9 per cent is among the lowest in Central America - continues to drive a supply of willing young recruits, and consolidate a rearguard of sympathisers dependent on income from the gangs' extortion schemes and other rackets. The reality and stigma of gang violence combine to block off alternative ways of life for those born into these communities, cutting years of schooling for young people in areas of high gang presence and alienating potential employers. Instead of succumbing to the state's offensive, gangs set up roadblocks in their neighbourhoods and impose their own law; their fight against security forces has claimed the lives of 45 police officers so far this year. The deadlock between a tarnished set of security policies and a gang phenomenon that thrives on the ostracism and contempt of mainstream Salvadoran society can only now be resolved by recasting the way the country treats its security dilemmas. Judicial and security institutions require careful reform to ensure resources are distributed to areas with the highest concentrations of violence, and used to boost intelligence-led policing that targets gang members committing the most serious crimes. Jail-based reinsertion schemes, and cooperation with diverse churches, NGOs and businesses that offer second chances to former gang members, must be strengthened to provide a legal framework for rehabilitation as well as material incentives for the gangs to eventually disband. Although the country�s main political parties and most of the public oppose any hint of negotiation with gangs, the reality in many poor areas is of constant daily encounters with these groups. Tolerance for these grassroots efforts, despite the existing legal restrictions on any contact with gangs, is essential to build the confidence that will be required for dialogue in the future. None of this will be easy, nor is it likely to be assisted by U.S. policy toward either gangs or Salvadoran immigrants. The potential cancellation of the rights to residency in the U.S. of 195,000 beneficiaries of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program threatens to overwhelm the Salvadoran state's capacity to accommodate returnees, not unlike the experience of the late 1990s when mass deportations of gang members from the U.S. to El Salvador exported the criminal capital that led to the lightning rise of the MS-13 and its main rival, the 18th Street gang. El Salvador is simply unprepared, economically and institutionally, to receive such an influx, or to handle their 192,700 U.S. children, many of them at the perfect age for recruitment or victimisation by gangs. At a time when levels of violence remain extraordinarily high, with exhaustion toward an unwinnable conflict voiced on both sides, the arrival of thousands of migrants back to their crime-affected homeland would impose huge strains. To escape its perpetual violence, El Salvador needs support, not the recurrence of past mistakes Details: Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2018. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Latin America Report No. 64: July 30, 2018 at: https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/064-el-salvador-s-politics-of-perpetual-violence.pdf Year: 2018 Country: El Salvador URL: https://d2071andvip0wj.cloudfront.net/064-el-salvador-s-politics-of-perpetual-violence.pdf Shelf Number: 150953 Keywords: Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Mara Salvatrucha MS-13 Violent Crime

Author: Hlass, Laila L. Title: Deportation By Any Means Necessary: How Immigration Officials are Labeling Immigrant Youth as Gang Members Summary: This report details findings from a national survey of legal practitioners concerning the increased use of gang allegations against young immigrants as a means of driving up deportation numbers, at the encouragement of the Trump administration. The report suggests emerging best practices for immigration attorneys to employ in both fighting against unfounded gang allegations and working to mitigate the impact of prior gang involvement. Details: San Francisco: Immigrant Legal Resource Center, 2018. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 8, 2018 at: https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/deport_by_any_means_nec-20180521.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/deport_by_any_means_nec-20180521.pdf Shelf Number: 151058 Keywords: Deportation Gangs Immigration Enforcement Undocumented Immigrants

Author: McGovern, Tara Alexandra Title: New Armed Groups in Colombia: The Emergence of the Bacrim in the 21st Century Summary: The 2003-2006 paramilitary demobilization in Colombia created major public policy challenges for the government, including the emergence of new illegal groups (Bacrim or bandas criminales). To date, there is no agreement between the government, academicians, and non-governmental organizations about the nature of these bacrim. The lack of shared understanding inhibits the establishment of a comprehensive plan to combat the bacrim and does a disservice to prior demobilization efforts. If these groups are legitimate participants in the on-going conflict, members will reap economic and legal benefits; otherwise, they will face criminal consequences. In this dissertation, I used an embedded case study of five major bacrim (Las Aguilas Negras, ERPAC, Los Paisas, Los Rastrojos, and Los Urabenos) to examine their origins and leadership, members and structure, ideology and activities, and territory. I developed a comparative framework to identify key characteristics of paramilitary groups, drug trafficking organizations, gangs, and new types of organized crime. I also developed a supporting quantitative analysis of crime statistics and public opinion surveys. The case study revealed heterogeneity across all five groups, calling into question the utility of the umbrella term bacrim. The quantitative research showed a substantial postdemobilization decline in homicides and other violent crimes but steady and/or increasing extortion and corruption. Identifying and ameliorating long-standing social and economic problems, in addition to developing strategies for individual groups, will do more to support peace in Colombia than focusing on short-term homogeneous approaches to the bacrim, such as kingpin removal. Details: Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, 2016. 357p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed August 17, 2018 at: http://ebot.gmu.edu/bitstream/handle/1920/10611/McGovern_gmu_0883E_11303.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Year: 2016 Country: Colombia URL: http://ebot.gmu.edu/bitstream/handle/1920/10611/McGovern_gmu_0883E_11303.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Shelf Number: 151161 Keywords: Drug Trafficking Gangs Homicides Organized Crime Paramilitary Groups Violent Crime

Author: Canada. Public Safety Canada Title: Overview of Direct Intervention Approaches to Address Youth Gangs and Youth Violence Summary: Gang-involved youth are considered to be some of the main perpetrators (and victims) of crime and violence, and impose a high burden on society in terms of criminal justice system and other societal costs. For example, the negative outcomes of gang involvement for individuals can include: dropping out of school; lack of employment opportunities or success; exposure to and involvement in drugs and alcohol use; and teenage parenthood. Moreover, participation in gangs and violence can reduce youths' connections to other prosocial activities, and they may cut ties with family, friends, schools and religious communities (Pyrooz, Sweeten, & Piquero, 2013). In order to avert these negative consequences, it is critical to try and prevent at-risk youth from joining gangs, and to intervene in the lives of current youth gang members. In general, youth gang membership cuts across many demographic, geographic and socioeconomic contexts. However, certain groups are disproportionately vulnerable to gang recruitment and involvement. Below is a brief overview of some of these populations. For a more detailed review of some of these groups, see Youth Gangs in Canada: A Review of Current Topics and Issues. Details: Ottawa: Public Safety Canada, 2018. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 30, 2018 at: http://youthactionnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Overview-of-Direct-Intervention-Approaches-to-Address-Youth-Gangs-and-Yo....pdf Year: 2018 Country: Canada URL: http://youthactionnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Overview-of-Direct-Intervention-Approaches-to-Address-Youth-Gangs-and-Yo....pdf Shelf Number: 151313 Keywords: Gang Prevention Gang Violence Gangs Youth Gangs Youth Violence

Author: Brantingham, P. Jeffrey Title: GRYD Intervention Incident Response and Gang Crime 2-17 Evaluation Report Summary: As part of GRYD's violence interruption efforts, GRYD Intervention Incident Response (IR) is designed to address gang violence both by responding to incidents when they occur and by engaging in ongoing proactive peacemaking efforts within the community (see Figure 3 for an overview of GRYD IR). GRYD's protocol involves coordination and communication between the GRYD Office, GRYD IR Providers, and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). These partners, referred to as the "Triangle Partners", work together in a relational triangle to reduce the potential for retaliation following an incident and to support victims and families impacted by violence. The Triangle Partners:  Gather and share information about incidents;  Deploy and provide community response (e.g., diffusion of rumors, crowd control);  Provide referrals to services (e.g., connection to GRYD services, victim assistance);  Negotiate peace treaties/ceasefire agreements; and,  Engage in proactive peacemaking activities and events (e.g., monitor hot-spots, conduct impact sessions). This protocol combines the oversight and community organizing principles of the GRYD Office (through GRYD Regional Program Coordinators-RPCs), the assessment and implementation of intervention strategies based on community knowledge (through Community Intervention Workers-CIWs), and the investigative and targeted suppression strategies of law enforcement. The interaction among these entities affirms the roles and boundaries of each, while adding flexibility to each entity's response to incidents as they collectively work to reduce gang violence. The GRYD Intervention Incident Response Protocol GRYD RPCs and CIWs are on call 24/7 to respond to violent incidents that occur in and around GRYD Zones. Each GRYD RPC has designated GRYD Zones which they oversee and where they have developed relationships with the GRYD Prevention and Intervention Providers and law enforcement officers in each Zone. GRYD RPCs act as a conduit among and between law enforcement and Intervention Providers to ensure that accurate information is gathered and disseminated to both partners. When a violent incident occurs, (typically these are homicides, shootings, or stabbings) and GRYD is notified, GRYD's initial response (within 24 hours of the incident) may vary based on the characteristics of the incident and the potential level of impact on the community. At initial response, GRYD may (1) respond to an incident via phone/or email, and/or (2) deploy to an incident location, such as an active crime scene, hospital, or place in the community. The level of response, or actions taken in response to an incident, depends on the assessment of the partners. The types of responses may include:  GRYD RPC Follows Up on the Incident (No CIW Action): GRYD RPC makes phone calls to follow up with LAPD about incidents, but limited information prevents further action from the GRYD RPC and CIW.  GRYD RPC Makes Phone Calls to Gather Information (No CIW Action): GRYD RPC makes phone calls and emails to gather information. CIW may be notified but no action will be taken (i.e., CIW actions are unable to mitigate post-incident dynamics).  GRYD RPC and CIW Takes Action: Both GRYD RPCs and CIWs take some type of action (e.g., GRYD RPC makes phone calls to gather information and deploys to the scene; CIW deploys to the scene and connects the victim to victim assistance services). Deployment to the scene or other places in the community may occur for one or more of the following reasons: for homicides, high profile incidents, information gathering, management requests, or areas where there is spike in crime or tension between particular gangs. While the initial response occurs within the first 24 hours of an incident, additional actions may also be taken in the days and weeks that follow as new information is gathered. These additional post-incident follow-up actions may be taken to direct community engagement efforts towards neighborhoods impacted by violence, to link victims and their families to services, and to provide mediation between gangs if possible. In addition to responding when incidents occur, CIWs also spend a significant amount of time in communities through proactive peacemaking efforts. These efforts aim to reduce violence in communities by conducting or participating in activities related to violence interruption. Details: Los Angeles: California State University, Los Angeles; et al., 2017. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 31, 2018 at: https://www.lagryd.org/sites/default/files/reports/GRYD%20IR%20and%20Gang%20Crime%20Report_2017_FINALv2_0.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.lagryd.org/sites/default/files/reports/GRYD%20IR%20and%20Gang%20Crime%20Report_2017_FINALv2_0.pdf Shelf Number: 151323 Keywords: Community Interventions Gang Violence Gang Violence Reduction Gangs Violence Prevention Youth Gangs

Author: Valasik, Matthew A. Title: Summary: While violence across the United States has declined dramatically over the past two decades, gang-related crimes remain at unacceptably high rates, especially within the city of Los Angeles, America's gang capital. Gang-related crimes generally involve groups of individuals and have a strong territorial component, lending themselves to geographically targeted interventions. A strategy that has charmed law enforcement agencies with its ability to take advantage of both the social and spatial features of a gang is the civil gang injunction (CGI). Essentially, a CGI is a tailored restraining order against a gang, prohibiting its members from engaging in specific nuisance behaviors within a demarcated geographical region, termed a "safety-zone." Evaluations suggest that CGIs are effective at reducing serious crime and residents' fears; yet, CGIs remain a time-consuming and costly strategy with an unstudied mechanism for why they work. Do CGIs influence how gang members associate and where they hangout? And, more importantly, how do CGIs contribute to changes in gang violence? Using the framework of routine activities theory, this dissertation focuses on the relationship between CGIs, gang members' patterns of association and lethal violence. To address these questions I utilize two unique datasets: homicide case files and field identification (FI) cards gathered from the Hollenbeck Community Policing Area of the Los Angeles Police Department. My first chapter utilizes social network and spatial analyses to investigate the patterns of association among enjoined gang members at the individual- and group-level. I examine both the characteristics of enjoined gangs' social networks, ascertaining their influence in disrupting social ties, as well as examining the geographic characteristics of FIs to discern if enjoined gangs have changed the spatial patterns of their associations. My second chapter looks at both the homicide trends over the last decade and the disparities between non-gang and gang homicides, both enjoined and non-enjoined, to consider how CGIs influence the characteristics of violence. Lastly, in my third chapter I construct a turf-based spatial typology of gang homicide to investigate the impact that CGIs have on the mobility patterns of participants involved in gang-related homicides. If CGIs influence gangs' spatial patterns of association by discouraging members from congregating in public, then a CGI in theory shifts members' activity and travel patterns, suggesting that gang homicides involving enjoined gang members would experience a different mobility pattern than gang homicides involving only non-enjoined gang members. Results from this dissertation indicate that CGIs are able to influence the patterns of association of individual gang members, particularly in the short-run. Conversely, at the group level, enjoined gangs do not always respond as predicted by the rational of a CGI, with a gang's social network either being disrupted, with members' social ties losing connectedness, or a gang's social network converges, with members' social ties increasing in connectedness. It also appears that while CGIs are able to dislodge enjoined members from their gang's hangouts, a CGI actually constrains the overall mobility of enjoined gang members, reducing the likelihood that enjoined gang members are venturing outside of their gang's claimed turf. In relation to influencing the overall patterns of gang violence, the findings suggest that CGIs could be shifting enjoined gang homicides away from the street and into less public spaces, along with involving fewer suspects and victims. Results also indicate that the presence of CGIs in Hollenbeck has impacted the mobility patterns of participants who are involved in a gang homicide. Specifically, an increase in internal gang homicides and a reduction in predatory gang homicides were observed in the data. These findings are consistent with earlier results indicating that the mobility of an enjoined gang member is restricted by the presence of a CGI. Overall, the goal of this dissertation is to provide both scholars and criminal justice professionals with a better understanding of CGIs, and ascertain if they are an appropriate strategy to disrupt a gang's patterns of association and diminish their opportunities to participate in violent acts. Details: Irvine, CA: University of California at Irvine, 2014. 286p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 31, 2018 at: https://escholarship.org/content/qt2065d17s/qt2065d17s.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://escholarship.org/content/qt2065d17s/qt2065d17s.pdf Shelf Number: 151329 Keywords: Civil Gang Injunctions Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Homicides Youth Gangs

Author: Kraus, Molly Title: CalGRIP 15-17: Final Evaluation Report Summary: The City of Los Angeles Mayor's Office of Gang Reduction and Youth Development (GRYD) oversees a multi-pronged Comprehensive Strategy that includes the gang prevention, gang intervention, and violence interruption activities which are the subject of this report. GRYD implemented a number of significant changes during the first year of the grant period including an updated mission statement which reflects the intention that individual, family, and community level change will over time impact gang membership and violence. In addition, service areas were expanded and shifted in order to provide more substantial coverage based on community needs. Evaluation efforts have also shifted to an integrated data and practice feedback loop in order to identify areas of success and opportunities for improvement in services. Overall, it appears that GRYD programming is meeting the specific goals and objective outlines for each components on a number of fronts. The key findings for each intervention for the January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017 reporting period are presented below. GRYD Gang Prevention GRYD Prevention Services are intended to serve youth (ages 10-15) at high risk of gang joining and their families. It is important to note that youth in this category are not yet gang involved though they may exhibit some gang-related behaviors. In order to be found eligible for services, the Youth Services Eligibility Tool (YSET) is administered; youth determined to be high risk must meet or exceed preestablished thresholds on four or more of the attitudinal and behavioral scales included. YSET Eligible youth who enroll in Secondary Prevention receive a structured cycle of services broken into phases and completed over approximately six months. As clients progress through the program, YSET retests are conducted and other reassessment data collection is completed every 6 months at the end of each service cycle. A total 395 clients and their families were served during the reporting period. The primary goal for GRYD Prevention Services is to increase protective factors against gang joining among youth at high risk for gang membership by reducing risk factors related to gang membership, modifying behaviors such as those related to school performance and behavior at school or those that lead to arrests. Key findings included:  GRYD Service Providers were successful in identifying and enrolling YSET eligible youth (82% of those found eligible from 2015 - 2017) into Secondary Prevention programming.  Clients and their families were provided a large number of activities (12,578) and spent a substantial number of hours with both client and family during Individual Meetings (1,631 hrs.), Family Meetings (2,755 hrs.), and Group Activities (7,186 hrs.).  At Cycle 1 reassessment, nearly all youth remained enrolled in school (98%); additionally, fewer youth had received disciplinary actions and fewer youth had been arrested while receiving services than in the months leading up to enrolling in GRYD programming.  After 6 months, 51% of clients saw their level of risk according reduce far enough that they were no longer YSET eligible.  Comparison of changes in YSET scale scores from YSET-I to YSET-R saw decreases (positive change) in nearly every measure and statistically significant reductions were observed in the areas of Antisocial Tendencies, Critical Life Events, Impulsive Risk Taking, Weak Parental Supervision, and Negative Peer Influence. In eight of the nine scales, clients who exited successfully from programming saw greater decreases than those who did not. Details: Los Angeles: California State University, Los Angeles, 2018. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 4, 2018 at: http://www.bscc.ca.gov/downloads/Los%20Angeles%20CalGRIP%20REDACTED.PDF Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: http://www.bscc.ca.gov/downloads/Los%20Angeles%20CalGRIP%20REDACTED.PDF Shelf Number: 151331 Keywords: Gang Prevention Gang Reduction Gang-Related Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: California. Board of State and Community Corrections Title: California Gang Reduction Intervention and Prevention Program. 2014 Report to the Fiscal Committees of the Legislature Summary: The California Gang Reduction Intervention and Prevention program began in 2007 when Governor Schwarzenegger created the Governor's Office of Youth Violence Policy (OGYVP). The CalGRIP program was initiated to help communities support strategies to reduce gang and youth violence. The program was first administered by the OGYVP and later transferred to the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA), which is now the California Office of Emergency Services. At its onset CalGRIP provided anti-gang funding to many state departments including: job training, education and intervention programs through the CalEMA, and the Employment Development Department; the Corrections Standards Authority (now the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC)) to spend $1.1 million on anti-gang programs; and $7 million for the California Highway Patrol to help local jurisdictions combat gang violence. In July 2012, as a result of AB 1464 (Chapter 21, Statutes of 2012), the BSCC acquired sole administrative responsibility for the program. The administrative responsibility of the $9.2 million annual grant program came to BSCC along with an increased level of accountability. Under the BSCC the CalGRIP allocation is based upon an applicant's ability to demonstrate that funding is used to implement proven evidence-based prevention, intervention and suppression programs. With the signing of Assembly Bill 109 (Chapter 15, Statutes of 2011), the Legislature and the Governor enacted Public Safety Realignment with an understanding that California must reinvest in its criminal justice resources to support community-based corrections programs that focus on evidence-based practices that will improve public safety. In conjunction with AB 109, the Governor signed Senate Bill 92 (Chapter 26, Statutes of 2011), which established the BSCC, effective July 1, 2012, to provide statewide leadership, coordination, and technical assistance to effectively manage California's adult and juvenile criminal justice populations. As part of the creation of the BSCC, several grant programs, including the CalGRIP, were consolidated, and administrative responsibility was transferred from other agencies to the BSCC. This responsibility also requires the BSCC to submit a report and evaluation of the CalGRIP program to the fiscal committees of the Legislature not later than April 1, 2014. The use of evidence-based strategies represents a significant shift throughout the criminal justice field that places an emphasis on achieving measurable outcomes while ensuring that the services that are provided and the resources that are used are effective. As a condition of funding recipients are now required to evaluate programs and report on outcomes. The new funding strategy, with its focus on proven programs, aligns this program with BSCC's mandate for implementing certain provisions of AB 526 (Chapter 850, Statutes of 2012 (Dickinson)). AB 526 requires the BSCC to: -- Move toward consolidating the grant application processes for delinquency, intervention and prevention funds for grant programs with similar program purpose, -- Incentivize comprehensive regional partnerships, and -- By January 1, 2014, develop funding allocation policies that ensure that within three years no less than 70 percent of funding for "gang and youth violence suppression, intervention, and prevention programs and strategies is used in programs that utilize promising and proven evidence-based principles and practices." In early 2013, the BSCC established a Gang Issues Standing Committee (Committee) and tasked the Committee with, among other things, providing policy recommendations to address the BSCC's requirements under AB 526. In November 2013 the 13-member BSCC Board (Board) adopted the Committee-recommended funding allocation policies that directed BSCC staff to clearly define what is meant by evidence-based programs, practices and strategies, and to identify the grant funding streams that will be included when determining the 70 percent threshold. The Board's approval of Committee-recommended policy also set the course for the BSCC to explore incentives that encourage regional collaborative partnerships. Regional collaborations were a significant component of previous CalGRIP awards and the BSCC will continue to emphasize these partnerships moving forward. BSCC field representatives are in the process of becoming certified by the University of Cincinnati to assess evidence-based strategies. Ultimately, trained BSCC staff will be able to help locals direct funding to programs and practices that will best reduce gang activity while ensuring that state funds are used effectively. According to a July 2013 BSCC survey of stakeholders, gang issues continue to be a public safety priority across California. Consequently, demand for CalGRIP funding remains strong. In the most recent grant cycle, 49 cities submitted proposals in request for nearly $20 million to implement antigang programs. On January 1, 2014 the BSCC began to distribute the current round of funding to the 20 cities whose proposals were deemed most likely to produce positive results. Pursuant to Budget Bill Item 5227-101-0214 (SB 92, Chapter 36, Statutes of 2011), the CalGRIP Program appropriates $9.2 million each year from the State Restitution fund with the following six provisions: 1. (a) $1 million grant annually to the City of Los Angeles;(b) $8.2 million competitive grants to all other cities 2. All grantees must provide a dollar for dollar match 3. The BSCC must submit a report and evaluation to the Legislature no later than April 2014 4. The grants shall be competitive to cities; no grant shall exceed $500,000; at least two grants shall be awarded to cities with populations of less than 200,000; preference shall be given to regional approaches 5. Grants require collaboration with local Juvenile Justice Coordinating Councils, and each grantee must establish an Advisory Council with specified representation to help prioritize the use of the funds 6. A minimum of 20 percent of the funds received by grantees shall be distributed to community-based organizations. Currently there are two active cycles of CalGRIP funding, each a two-year cycle, ending on December 31, 2014 and December 31, 2015 respectively. The BSCC is administering a total of $18.5 million in grant funds to 34 cities. Each city is required to provide a local match, which means as of January 1, 2014 more than $37 million in CalGRIP-initiated anti-gang programs are underway in California. The clerical burden of administering funding, both on the BSCC and applicants, is formidable. In March 2014 the BSCC Board approved changing CalGRIP to a 3-year grant cycle in order to ease the administrative burden, provide for greater project sustainability and, more importantly, because longer grant cycles are the cornerstone of effective evidence-based program implementation. It becomes effective for grant awards that run from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2017 Details: Sacramento: Board of State and Community Corrections, 2014. 81p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 12, 2018 at: http://www.bscc.ca.gov/downloads/CalGRIP_Rpt_FINAL_-_4.17.14.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.bscc.ca.gov/downloads/CalGRIP_Rpt_FINAL_-_4.17.14.pdf Shelf Number: 151499 Keywords: Evidence-Based Programs Gang Intervention Programs Gang Prevention Gang Reduction Gang Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: The Sentry Title: Fear, Inc. War War Profiteering in the Central African Republic and the Bloody Rise of Abdoulaye Hissene Summary: Since 2013, the conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) has repeatedly made international headlines, with alarms being raised over the escalating violence and even precursors to genocide in the country. Ethnic purges and other mass atrocities continue to take place on a near-daily basis against entire communities. A great, but unknown, number of civilians have died in the conflict and the instability has led to a major humanitarian crisis. In May 2018, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that an unprecedented 1.27 million people have been internally displaced or forced to flee the country. Over the past 20 years, there have been a growing number of initiatives aimed at ending the CAR conflict, but these have had little impact. The country has seen a series of peace, disarmament and amnesty agreements; long-term UN peacekeeping missions and humanitarian assistance; foreign military operations; and elections. Billions of dollars have been spent in an attempt to restore stability and compensate for the lack of state control. Since 2014, the UN mission in CAR, also known as MINUSCA, has cost more than $3.2 billion. The European Union, a long-term and major development partner in CAR, has also disbursed nearly $200 million during the same period. Despite these efforts, the various mediation initiatives have failed to obtain a political compromise sufficient to manage the simple respect of a ceasefire. Today, there are multiple armed gangs, self-defense and politico military groups that control or exercise influence across the entire national territory. Worse yet, the perpetrators of atrocities are recognized by regional and international actors as legitimate political interlocutors with whom dialogue is necessary and peace must be negotiated. In August 2018 the African Union announced the end of a series of meetings with representatives of 14 armed groups to record their claims, even though some of the leaders have been placed under sanctions by the United Nations (UN) and the United-States (US). The African Union presented a list of more than 100 demands made by armed groups, including power sharing and amnesty. At the same time, a parallel dialogue was initiated by the Russian government, which invited to Khartoum the military leaders of the most violent armed groups active in the CAR conflict for almost a decade. Today, these so-called dialogues aimed at ending the deadly war have been captured by the agenda of perpetrators of mass atrocities who have shown no intention of making peace. Between 2016 and 2018, The Sentry investigated one such armed group representative, Abdoulaye Hissene, a notorious warlord involved in CAR's conflict for almost a decade. Formerly a diamond and gold trader, and since 2009 the leader of various politico-military groups, Hissene has been recognized as being responsible for an attempted coup in late 2015 and for targeted violence against UN and humanitarian staff. Since 2017, the United States, then followed by the full UN Security Council, have decided to impose sanctions through an asset freeze and travel ban. Chad announced it had implemented these sanctions, and the CAR government issued an international arrest warrant for him in 2016. Despite these measures and several attempts to arrest him, he remains a free man. The Sentry's investigation also reveals that Hissene has been successful building a profitable business and even since he has been under sanctions. He has amassed a fortune out of devastating sectarian violence. By inciting hatred and sowing divisions between ethnic and religious communities, he has gradually become a central player in the country's conflict. Hissene's rise has been possible thanks to strong ties he has developed over time with national and regional heads of state, their close allies, and with foreign business partners. In 2014, amid the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population in CAR, Hissene enjoyed diplomatic status and traveled abroad, notably to Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, Chad, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and France. During these travels, he expanded his list of partners and created lucrative business opportunities. At the end of 2014, after being fired from office and formally joining the armed opposition movement, he declared to the Chadian and Congolese heads of state that "what we want is to destroy everything to rebuild the country." He also convinced a Swiss oil company that he would be able to secure an oil contract with the Chadian national oil petroleum company. Acting as a "minister" and a leader of armed groups, and advertising his control of rich mining sites, Hissene has also developed an illicit trade in diamond and gold, particularly in Cameroon and in Kenya. Hissene's rise illustrates a violent system endemic in CAR, and similar to other countries in east and central Africa, that incentivizes conflict over peace. War profiteers and their allies hamper political and peace efforts, since conflict and state collapse are seen as lucrative business and smart politics. Sectarian violence is used as a political negotiation tool and actors who chose to pursue peace are largely kept out of negotiations. In this system, the greater the perpetrators of atrocities and their accomplices represent a threat to the central power, the more they will become essential political interlocutors and increase their financial gain. In 2015, the UN Security Council took a strong step when It decided to impose sanctions on a diamond company, Badica/Kardiam, accused of financing armed groups at the peak of the 2014 crisis. Despite this positive step, no other entities or businessmen faced any consequences for their role in the financing of the deadly conflict. By focusing on Hissene to illustrate war profiteering, this report calls for an in-depth reassessment of the strategy to support the emergence of CAR from its crisis. As long as violence is profitable for those behind the atrocities and their business networks both inside and outside the country, long-term peace in CAR and the rest of the Central African region will remain an illusion. It is time to send a strong signal to war profiteers so that their crimes will be less lucrative and bear increasingly costly consequences. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentry, 2018. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 13, 2018 at: https://cdn.thesentry.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/FearInc_TheSentry_Nov2018-web.pdf Year: 2018 Country: Central African Republic URL: https://cdn.thesentry.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/FearInc_TheSentry_Nov2018-web.pdf Shelf Number: 153409 Keywords: Gangs Genocide Illicit Trade Profiteering Violence Violent Conflict Warlords

Author: U.S. Department of Justice. Drug Enforcement Administration Title: 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary: The 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA)1 is a comprehensive strategic assessment of the threat posed to the United States by domestic and international drug trafficking and the abuse of illicit drugs. The report combines federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement reporting; public health data; open source reporting; and intelligence from other government agencies to determine which substances and criminal organizations represent the greatest threat to the United States. Illicit drugs, as well as the transnational and domestic criminal organizations who traffic them, continue to represent significant threats to public health, law enforcement, and national security in the United States. Drug poisoning deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States; they are currently at their highest ever recorded level and, every year since 2011, have outnumbered deaths by firearms, motor vehicle crashes, suicide, and homicide. In 2016, approximately 174 people died every day from drug poisoning (see Figure 1). The opioid threat (controlled prescription drugs, synthetic opioids, and heroin) has reached epidemic levels and currently shows no signs of abating, affecting large portions of the United States. Meanwhile, as the ongoing opioid crisis justly receives national attention, the methamphetamine threat remains prevalent; the cocaine threat has rebounded; new psychoactive substances (NPS) are still challenging; and the domestic marijuana situation continues to evolve. Controlled Prescription Drugs (CPDs): CPDs are still responsible for the most drug-involved overdose deaths and are the second most commonly abused substance in the United States. As CPD abuse has increased significantly, traffickers are now disguising other opioids as CPDs in attempts to gain access to new users. Most individuals who report misuse of prescription pain relievers cite physical pain as the most common reason for abuse; these misused pain relievers are most frequently obtained from a friend or relative. Heroin: Heroin use and availability continue to increase in the United States. The occurrence of heroin mixed with fentanyl is also increasing. Mexico remains the primary source of heroin available in the United States according to all available sources of intelligence, including law enforcement investigations and scientific data. Further, significant increases in opium poppy cultivation and heroin production in Mexico allow Mexican TCOs to supply high-purity, low-cost heroin, even as U.S. demand has continued to increase. Fentanyl and Other Synthetic Opioids: Illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids - primarily sourced from China and Mexico - are now the most lethal category of opioids used in the United States. Traffickers- wittingly or unwittingly- are increasingly selling fentanyl to users without mixing it with any other controlled substances and are also increasingly selling fentanyl in the form of counterfeit prescription pills. Fentanyl suppliers will continue to experiment with new fentanyl-related substances and adjust supplies in attempts to circumvent new regulations imposed by the United States, China, and Mexico. Cocaine: Cocaine availability and use in the United States have rebounded, in large part due to the significant increases in coca cultivation and cocaine production in Colombia. As a result, past-year cocaine initiates and cocaine-involved overdose deaths are exceeding 2007 benchmark levels. Simultaneously, the increasing presence of fentanyl in the cocaine supply, likely related to the ongoing opioid crisis, is exacerbating the re-merging cocaine threat. Methamphetamine: Methamphetamine remains prevalent and widely available, with most of the methamphetamine available in the United States being produced in Mexico and smuggled across the Southwest Border (SWB). Domestic production occurs at much lower levels than in Mexico, and seizures of domestic methamphetamine laboratories have declined steadily for many years. Marijuana: Marijuana remains the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. The overall landscape continues to evolve; although still illegal under Federal law, more states have passed legislation regarding the possession, use, and cultivation of marijuana and its associated products. Although seizure amounts coming across the SWB have decreased in recent years, Mexico remains the most significant foreign source for marijuana available in the United States. Domestic marijuana production continues to increase, as does the availability and production of marijuana-related products. New Psychoactive Substances (NPS): The number of new NPS continues to increase worldwide, but remains a limited threat in the United States compared to other widely available illicit drugs. China remains the primary source for the synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones that are trafficked into the United States. The availability and popularity of specific NPS in the United States continues to change every year, as traffickers experiment with new and unregulated substances. Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs): Mexican TCOs remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States; no other group is currently positioned to challenge them. The Sinaloa Cartel maintains the most expansive footprint in the United States, while Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion's (CJNG) domestic presence has significantly expanded in the past few years. Although 2017 drug-related murders in Mexico surpassed previous levels of violence, U.S.-based Mexican TCO members generally refrain from extending inter-cartel conflicts domestically. Colombian TCOs: Colombian TCOs' majority control over the production and supply of cocaine to Mexican TCOs allows Colombian TCOs to maintain an indirect influence on U.S. drug markets. Smaller Colombian TCOs still directly supply wholesale quantities of cocaine and heroin to Northeast and East Coast drug markets. Dominican TCOs: Dominican TCOs dominate the mid-level distribution of cocaine and white powder heroin in major drug markets throughout the Northeast, and predominate at the highest levels of the heroin and fentanyl trade in certain areas of the region. They also engage in some street-level sales. Dominican TCOs work in collaboration with foreign suppliers to have cocaine and heroin shipped directly to the continental United States and its territories from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. Family members and friends of Dominican nationality or American citizens of Dominican descent comprise the majority of Dominican TCOs, insulating them from outside threats. Asian TCOs: Asian TCOs specialize in international money laundering by transferring funds to and from China and Hong Kong through the use of front companies and other money laundering methods. Asian TCOs continue to operate indoor marijuana grow houses in states with legal personal-use marijuana laws and also remain the 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy) source of supply in U.S. markets by trafficking MDMA from clandestine laboratories in Canada into the United States. Gangs: National and neighborhood-based street gangs and prison gangs continue to dominate the market for the street-sales and distribution of illicit drugs in their respective territories throughout the country. Struggle for control of these lucrative drug trafficking territories continues to be the largest factor fueling the street-gang violence facing local communities. Meanwhile, some street gangs are working in conjunction with rival gangs in order to increase their drug revenues, while individual members of assorted street gangs have profited by forming relationships with friends and family associated with Mexican cartels. Illicit Finance: TCOs' primary methods for laundering illicit proceeds have largely remained the same over the past several years. However, the amount of bulk cash seized has been steadily decreasing. This is a possible indication of TCOs' increasing reliance on innovative money laundering methods. Virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin, are becoming increasingly mainstream and offer traffickers a relatively secure method for moving illicit proceeds around the world with much less risk compared to traditional methods. Details: Washington, DC: DEA, 2018. 164p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 14, 2018 at: https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/DIR-032-18%202018%20NDTA%20final%20low%20resolution.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2018-11/DIR-032-18%202018%20NDTA%20final%20low%20resolution.pdf Shelf Number: 153464 Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Drug Cartels Drug Enforcement Drug Trafficking Gangs Illicit Drugs Opioid Crisis Organized Crime

Author: Perera, Jessica Title: The London Clearances: Race, Housing and Policing Summary: After the 2011 'riots' in England and Wales, prime minister David Cameron, London mayor Boris Johnson and Department, Works and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith laid the blame squarely on 'gangs', described as a 'major criminal disease that has infected streets and estates' and an obstacle to 'neighbourhood rejuvenation, community action and business development'. An existing discussion about what was to be done about London's so-called 'sink estates' was transformed overnight into a 'race' debate, underpinned as it was by a highly racialised alarmist language about 'gangs' and 'gang nominals' (today's equivalent of yesterday's muggers). A stigma began to be attached to black and multicultural neighbourhoods and council estates, linked now to dangerous black youth subcultures like Grime and Drill. All this happened at around the same time that the Home Office was introducing its Ending Gang and Youth Violence (EGYV) strategy, which provides local authorities financial incentives to gather data on young people in gangs or at risk of gang involvement. The Conservative government's existing Estate Regeneration Programme was also accelerated; involving the selling off of local authority-owned housing estates to private partnerships and the decanting of social housing tenants outside the capital in a process that has been described by Simon Elmer and Geraldine Dening as the 'London Clearances'. Politicians could have looked to the real causes of the riots, such as social pressures due to austerity-induced welfare benefit cuts, the closing of youth clubs, aggressive police operations and ill-thought out policies like the ending of the Educational Maintenance Allowance. Housing experts had long warned that the gradual social cleansing of London was eroding community bonds, leading to young people being dispossessed of family, community and social identity. Community workers like Stafford Scott and criminologists like Patrick Williams and Becky Clarke were charting the links between the criminalisation of young working-class BAME people in London and Manchester due to the joint enterprise doctrine, the Gangs Matrices and the moral panic around 'gangs'. Urbanisation scholars and housing activists were linking the social cleansing of the capital with the benefits accruing to another cohort of young people, this time middle-class gentrifiers. In The London Clearances: race, housing and policing the IRR seeks to build on the existing research in ways that foreground more emphatically the connections between urban policy, housing and policing. Our aim is to link knowledge which focuses on institutional racism in policing policy with that which focuses on housing dispossession, regeneration, inequality and exclusion. The purpose is not only to explore the connective tissue between housing and policing, but to develop a much-needed race and class perspective on these issues. After all, London has the largest BAME population in the country with that population predominantly concentrated in social housing. If we are to provide a wider evidence base for NGOs and community campaigns combating institutional racism in policing and/or resisting housing injustice and the race/ class social cleansing of the capital, it is ital that we examine issues of race and class simultaneously. Details: London: Institute of Race Relations, 2019. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 21, 2019 at: http://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wpmedia.outlandish.com/irr/2019/02/19145750/London-Clearances.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wpmedia.outlandish.com/irr/2019/02/19145750/London-Clearances.pdf Shelf Number: 154683 Keywords: Gangs Neighborhoods and Crime Race Relations Racial Bias Racial Discrimination Racial Profiling in Law Enforcement Riots Urban Areas and Crime

Author: Circo, Giovanni Title: Detroit Ceasefire: Final Evaluation Report Summary: Detroit Ceasefire has been a cornerstone of Detroit's violence reduction strategies. Ceasefire involves a focused deterrence model aimed at gang- and group- related violence. It involves direct communication of a deterrence message to high-risk individuals and groups, targeted enforcement and response to violent incidents, outreach and services, community partnerships and youth prevention. Detroit Ceasefire was initially developed and implemented in two East side precincts (5th and 9th). As the Ceasefire team developed expertise in the model, associated project management capacity, shared understanding and training in the model, and initial signs of success, Ceasefire expanded to West side precincts (6th, 8th, 12th) and more recently to the 4th and 7th precincts. This report describes the planning, development, initial implementation, and full implementation of Ceasefire and places the initiative in the context of national trends. This is followed by evaluation results at both the community and individual levels. Key findings include: - Detroit has experienced a significant decline in fatal and non-fatal shootings since the implementation of Ceasefire in 2013 and particularly since 2015 when Ceasefire received the support of a project management team and associated capacity building that strengthened implementation of the Ceasefire focused deterrence model. - These trends are particularly impressive when contrasted with national trends in violent crime and with trends in other large Midwestern cities. - The evaluation employed a state-of-the-art "synthetic control" design that compares trends in the Ceasefire precincts with comparable parts of the city that have not participated in Ceasefire. For the original east side Ceasefire precincts, we estimate an overall 13-14 percent decline in fatal and non-fatal shootings. For the specific age group of 15-24, the primary target for Ceasefire, the decline was 22 percent. - The trends in the West side precincts are more difficult to interpret. Simply observing the trends suggest declines following the implementation of Ceasefire. Yet, when using the synthetic controls we do not find evidence of declines. We suggest continued monitoring of the West side precincts to provide a longer implementation and observation period (as well as assessment of trends in the more recent 4th and 7th Ceasefire precincts). - Although Ceasefire clients had a very similar time until re-arrest as a matched comparison group of probationers and parolees, the Ceasefire clients had 23 percent fewer overall arrests and 23 percent fewer arrests for a violent offense. Ceasefire clients did have more arrests for weapons offenses but this may reflect increased scrutiny and surveillance of Ceasefire clients, particularly when they or their associates are involved in violence. Details: East Lansing: Michigan Justice Statistics Center, Michigan State University, 2018. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 21, 2019 at: https://cj.msu.edu/assets/MJSC-Detroit_Ceasefire_-Final_Report.pdf Year: 2018 Country: United States URL: https://cj.msu.edu/assets/MJSC-Detroit_Ceasefire_-Final_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 154684 Keywords: CeaseFire Crime Prevention Gangs Gun Violence Gun-Related Violence Neighborhoods and Crime Operation Ceasefire Violence Prevention Violent Crime Youth Violence

Author: Leong, Kaiwen Title: Effect of Enforcement Shock on Pushers' Activities: Evidence from an Asian Drug-Selling Gang Summary: We study a Singaporean drug-selling gang's dataset and empirically find that the gang's pushers purchased larger quantities of drugs during periods of enforcement shocks caused by enforcement activities targeting the gang's drug supply chain. This counter-intuitive finding can be explained by the pushers' profit targeting behavior. Given that enforcement shocks increased the pushers' cost of drugs, pushers must compensate by purchasing more drugs to sell in order to reach their profit targets. Details: Bonn, Germany: Institute of Labor Economics, 2019. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 30, 2019 at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp12083.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Asia URL: https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/12083/effect-of-enforcement-shock-on-pushers-activities-evidence-from-an-asian-drug-selling-gang Shelf Number: 155244 Keywords: Asia Drug Dealing Drug Markets Drug Prices Drug Sellers Drug Supply Gangs

Author: Chicago. Office of Inspector General Title: Review of the Chicago Police Department's "Gang Database" Summary: The Public Safety Section of the City of Chicago's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has concluded a review of the Chicago Police Department's gang-related data, commonly referred to by the public as the "gang database." OIG's review found that while the Chicago Police Department (CPD or the "Department") deploys a host of strategies, tactics, and technology in relation to gangs, it does not have a unified, stand-alone "gang database" as publicly perceived. Instead, the Department collects and stores information on individual and geographic gang involvement through a multitude of internal databases, forms, visualization tools, and repositories. CPD also receives gang-related data generated by external agencies. Therefore, any effort to address public concern over the purpose and practices associated with the Department's collection and use of gang information must begin with an accurate understanding of the various components and current technological limitations. OIG's review found that: 1) CPD lacks sufficient controls for generating, maintaining, and sharing gang-related data; 2) CPD's gang information practices lack procedural fairness protections; 3) CPD's gang designations raise significant data quality concerns; and 4) CPD's practices and lack of transparency regarding its gang designations strain police-community relations. OIG offers 30 recommendations on the utility, collection, maintenance, sharing, impacts, and data quality of CPD's gang designations. In response, CPD agreed with OIG's findings and largely concurred with many of OIG's recommendations and partially concurred or disagreed with others. Details: Chicago: Author, 2019. 164p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 12, 2019 at: https://igchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/OIG-CPD-Gang-Database-Review.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://igchicago.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/OIG-CPD-Gang-Database-Review.pdf Shelf Number: 155367 Keywords: Criminal Justice Data Gang Violence Gangs Information Database Police-Community Relations Racial Bias Youth Gangs

Author: Children's Commissioner for England Title: Keeping kids safe: Improving safeguarding responses to gang violence and criminal exploitation Summary: This report draws on the following work undertaken by the Children's Commissioner and her team over the past 12 months: - An extensive programme of engagement with children, their families and the professionals working with them in a range of settings including schools and alternative provision, gang diversion programmes, youth custody and family support programmes. - A bespoke data collection from every Youth Offending Team (YOT) in England asking about the children they are working with and their characteristics. This information provides the biggest sample of known gang members in England currently available. - A statutory data request made to the Chair of Local Safeguarding Boards in 25 areas with high levels of suspected gang activity, asking about the information they hold in relation to children and gangs in their local areas. - A bespoke analysis of the ONS British Crime Survey enabling us to examine the characteristics of self-identifying gang members and those in close proximity to them. - Examination of data collected in relation to children's services, schools and education, policing and children's services relating to known or suspected gang activity. - Learning from the Serious Case Reviews conducted when a child has died as a result of gang violence. - Learning from existing research conducted into gangs and child exploitation including joint research from Ofsted, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP); as well as reports from the Early Intervention Foundation and the Local Government Association, cross-referenced with data collected as part of the Children's Commissioner's Vulnerability Framework to enable us to develop a detailed portrait of the children at risk of gangs in England. Details: London: Author, 2019. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 2, 2019 at: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CCO-Gangs.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CCO-Gangs.pdf Shelf Number: 155601 Keywords: Child Exploitation Gang Violence Gang-Related Violence Gangs Youth Gangs

Author: National Gang Center Title: Responding to Gangs in Schools: A Collaborative Approach to School Safety Summary: Gang affiliation is not something that students leave behind when they come to school. Gang members do not leave their behaviors, attitudes, and conflicts outside the school environment. Gangs, unchecked and unidentified in a school setting, often engage in threat and intimidation; physical and cyber bullying; fighting; recruiting; and criminal activities such as the introduction and use of weapons, assault, sex trafficking, vandalism, and illegal drug sales. The absence of a well-developed, strategic, collaborative, and effective school safety plan can lead to violence and other unsafe and disruptive activities within a school setting. It is not solely the responsibility of schools to create and maintain a safe learning environment, free from the disruption gangs can cause, for students, faculty, and staff. To develop a comprehensive plan that identifies effective, evidence-based strategies to address gang issues in the school environment requires the involvement of law enforcement, school administrators and staff, and other key sectors of the community. The OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model highlights such a holistic approach by coordinating the roles of all agencies and organizations within a community that are responsible for addressing gang-related crime and violence. Schools are part of the larger community. Details: Tallahassee, Florida: National Gang Center, 2019. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 25, 2019 at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED594661.pdf Year: 2019 Country: United States URL: https://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Gangs-in-Schools Shelf Number: 156924 Keywords: Cyberbullying Gangs School Safety School Violence