MENU TITLE: JUDGES Technical
Assistance Manual Series: OJJDP
Published: Draft 1/92
89 pages
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JUDGES

Technical Assistance Manual

Ron Chance

National Youth Gang Suppression and
Intervention
 Program
School of Social Service
Administration University of Chicago

Distributed by:

Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse
Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849-6000
1-800-638-8736

National Youth Gang Suppression and
Intervention Project Staff

Irving A. Spergel, D.S.W., Principal
Investigator Ron Chance, M.A., Project
Director
Candice M. Kane, Ph.D., J.D., Senior
Research
 Associate
Thomas A. Regulus, Ph.D., Senior
Research Associate Robert Laseter,
M.S.W., Senior Research Associate Sara
Fagan, Project Secretary
Cynthia Johnson, Project Secretary
Felicia Weinstein, Project
Secretary

Irving A. Spergel, Editor, and Ron
Chance, CoEditor, Technical
Assistance Manuals

School of Social Service
Administration University of
Chicago
969 E. 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637
(312) 702-5879

------------------------------

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The development of this judges manual
would not have been possible without
the participation of experienced
administrators and practitioners in the
field. Their willingness to take time
away from their busy schedules to
provide insight and assistance is most
appreciated.

The author would especially like to
thank the following people for their
significant contributions to the
development of this manual:

Honorable Roosevelt Dorn, Los Angeles
County
 Superior Court
Honorable Randolph Moore, Los Angeles
County
 Superior Court
Honorable Stephen Schiller, Cook County
Circuit
 Court
Honorable Richard Turrone, Santa Clara
County
 Superior Court

The author would also like to thank the
following people for their advice and
comments:

Honorable Raymond Bolden, Will County
Circuit Court Honorable John L.
Braxton, Common Pleas Court,
 Philadelphia, PA
Susan Burrell, Youth Law Center, San
Francisco, CA Mike Duran, Los Angeles
County Probation
Honorable Arthur Fine, Municipal Court,
Denver, CO Michael Genelin, Los Angeles
County District
 Attorney's Office
Honorable Loretta Huffine, Aurora
Municipal Court Honorable Michael
Martinez, Juvenile Justice
 Center, Albuquerque, NM
Honorable David Ramirez, District
Court, Denver, CO Bill Sierra, District
Court, Denver, CO
Anne Studzinski, Department of Child
and Family
 Services, State of Illinois
Marcia Wasinger, Sedgewick County Court
Ken Watson, Allen County Superior
Court
Tom Wright, Orange County Probation

Responsibility for the final version
of the manual remains with the author.

------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Program Mission and Background
Purpose of the Manuals
Problem Statement
Discussion of
Terms and Issues
Approach to the
Problem Summary

CHAPTER 2: THE
JUDICIARY
The Youth Gang Problem : A View
from the Bench Assessing the Youth
Gang Problem
Summary

CHAPTER 3: SETTING GOALS AND
STRATEGIES Suppression
Social Intervention
Opportunities Provision
Community Mobilization
Organizational Development
Implementing Organizational
Development Summary

CHAPTER 4: COURT FUNCTIONS AND
ISSUES
Court Proceedings
Certification of Youth to Adult
Court Detention and Release
Court Hearings
Evidence
Sentencing
Placement on Probation
Placement Within a Correctional
Institution Summary

CHAPTER 5: COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
Interagency Coordination
Managing Partnership Relations
Interagency Coalitions & Community
Mobilization Summary

CHAPTER 6: JUDICIAL SELECTION,
TRAINING, AND EDUCATION
Screening and Selection
Orientation and Training
Summary

CHAPTER 7: RESEARCH AND EVALUATION
Process Indicators
Outcome Indicators
Summary

BIBLIOGRAPHY

APPENDIX A: LIST OF PROGRAM REPORTS

APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY AND DISCUSSION OF

TERMS ------------------------------

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In response to an increasingly serious
youth gang problem, the Office of
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice,
entered into a cooperative agreement
with the School of Social Service
Administration, University of Chicago,
to conduct the National Youth Gang
Suppression and Intervention Program.
One of the objectives of this program
was to develop technical assistance
manuals for policymakers and
administrators to assist them in their
efforts to reduce gang violence.

This manual presents a comprehensive
design for a court response to youth
gang activity in both emerging and
chronic gang problem contexts. The
manual covers a range of topics
including: 1) assessing the youth gang
problem; 2) setting goals and
strategies; 3) implementing
organizational development; 4)
processing gang youth; 5) facilitating
interagency coordination and community
mobilization; 6) selecting and training
staff; and 7) designing program
research and evaluation. Promising
policies and procedures are recommended
on each of these topics with reference
to agency programming and the youth
gang probationer.

A first step in developing a promising
court response is problem assessment,
preferably at three levels. At the
first level, the court should direct or
request probation to assess the
involvement of youth probationers in
gang activity and the probation
department's response to the problem,
if present. At the second level, the
court (or the judge individually)
should evaluate its processing of gang
youth, specifically with regard to
dispositional outcomes, types of
services delivered, and the knowledge
base that judges have about the
problem. At the third level, probation
or an independent consultant can be
directed to conduct a communitywide
survey to ascertain whether a youth
gang problem is present within the
jurisdiction and, if so, how the court
and other organizations are working
together to address it. The results of
this assessment can then serve as a
basis for planning or adjusting the
court's response to a youth gang
problem, if necessary.

A strategic design is presented for a
court response to youth gang crime,
particularly with regard to setting
appropriate goals, strategies, and
organizational development objectives.
Pertinent goals should consist of: 1)
ensuring that the youth gang member
receives a fair hearing; 2) protecting
the community and the youth from
violent and serious gang crime in the
event that a juvenile court petition is
sustained; and 3) using court orders to
create conditions to rehabilitate the
gang youth.

A promising court response to youth
gang activity will incorporate a
multiple-strategy approach. Strategies
of suppression, social intervention,
opportunities provision, community
mobilization, and organizational
development should be implemented by
the court to craft a "balanced
response" to an identified youth gang
problem. More specifically, the
response should balance social control
and supervision activities for youth
gang probationers with the provision of
viable social opportunities. To achieve
this, certain organizational
development objectives and activities
to carry them out will have to be
developed and implemented. Within the
court, objectives may entail reducing
judicial caseloads, improving court
data systems, ensuring sentencing
consistency, and establishing gang
training programs for judges. Outside
of the court, these objectives may be
concerned with: 1) providing close
supervision to youth gang probationers;
2) increasing social support to youth
gang probationers, their families, and
referral agencies; 3) providing more
pertinent social opportunities to youth
gang probationers; and 4) developing
interagency partnerships and coalitions
to improve the agency and community
response to the problem.

Certain court functions and issues will
have to be addressed in the development
of a promising approach to youth gang
activity. Judges should be aware of and
consider the gang-related aspects of
cases, but not allow gang membership or
the designation of the incident as gang-
oriented to serve as the primary basis
for making certification or detention
and release decisions. Judges should
also be alert to the presence of gang
members in the court and of the
necessity to develop special courtroom
procedures to prevent witness
intimidation.

Evidence that identifies the youth as a
gang member and the incident as gang-
oriented should be carefully examined
since this may be prejudicial to the
defendant and result in enhanced
penalties in certain States. The judge
should not be influenced by testimony
that designates the youth as a gang
member when it has no bearing on the
case. Moreover, the credentials of
expert witnesses should be meticulously
examined. The judge should also take
special care to examine the methods and
criteria utilized by agencies to
validate gang evidence. Finally, the
background and motivation of witnesses
should be scrutinized, particularly if
they are gang members, to determine the
accuracy of their testimony.

A well-developed presentence
investigation (PSI) can serve as a
useful tool for a judge to make an
informed sentencing decision regarding
youth gang members. Beyond the regular
information contained in a PSI, the
report should contain information on
the youth's gang activity, the youth's
position and level of involvement in
the gang, and the gang's current state
of criminal activity. Questions
concerning the impact that probation,
incarceration, or other dispositional
alternatives will have on the youth's
commitment to the gang lifestyle should
also be addressed.

Certain court orders should be a part
of standard operating procedure when a
youth gang member is placed on
probation. These include: 1) mandating
special conditions of probation
including nonassociation with specific
gang members and prohibition of gang
dress and other insignia; 2) requiring
participation of the youth in specific
educational, employment, and community
service programs; and 3) recommending
gang awareness and parental
effectiveness training for the youth's
parents when appropriate.

Diagnostic, counseling, and treatment
services should be provided to the
youth to determine whether there are
any particular problems present that
are hampering the youth's development.
Social skills training and support
should be provided to prevent the
youth's future involvement in gang
activity. Participation in educational,
vocational training, employment, and
recreational opportunities should be
stipulated to allow the youth to
develop viable skills and positive
social networks. Provision of
assistance to family members or
significant others should be considered
to improve the youth's home setting. In
developing a caseplan, the judge, in
conjunction with the probation officer,
should attempt to minimize the time the
youth has available to become involved
in gang activity.

To adequately supervise the youth gang
probationer, the court may have to
utilize several strategies. These can
include, the use of special gang-
related probation conditions, curfew
restrictions, and mandatory drug
testing. In special cases, the
probation officer may require search
and seizure authority, home detention,
and electronic surveillance. The use of
intensive probation, regular court
review, deferred or alternative
sentencing provisions, and guardian ad
litems may also prove effective. The
court may have to assume jurisdiction
of the child in particular instances.

Judges should readily enforce their
court orders. In handling probation
violations, consequences should be
imposed as soon as possible and set at
a level directly proportional to the
seriousness of the violation.
Probationers who are a clear threat to
the safety of the community as
evidenced by their behavior, should
have their probation revoked
immediately. If the judge decides to
place a gangaffiliated youth in a
correctional institution, he or she
should ensure that the facility is safe
and secure, and provides a viable
program for rehabilitation.

To improve interagency coordination and
cooperation with respect to the gang
issue, the court and other agencies
must identify reciprocal activities
appropriate to the mission of the court
and other criminal justice
organizations such as the police,
prosecutor, public defender, probation,
detention, corrections, and parole.
These include the sharing of gang-
related information, jointly developing
case plan and dispositional
recommendations, and providing gang-
related training. The court should also
promote a number of mutually beneficial
activities with other organizations
such as schools, community-based youth
agencies, grassroots organizations,
churches, and business and industry.
These can include joint monitoring of
probationers, training on gang-related
topics, the provision of pertinent
services and opportunities for gang
youth, and advocacy for additional
resources. Judges may also want to
consider the use of court orders to
facilitate interagency cooperation
particularly in regard to information-
sharing and services delivered to gang
youth.

Judges should also participate in
interagency coalitions formed to
develop a community mobilization
agenda. Potential collaborative
activities could involve: 1) advocating
for recognition of the gang problem if
denial is present; 2) developing a
definitional and policy consensus with
respect to the gang issue; 3)
conducting community education
campaigns; 4) supporting resource
development and advocacy initiatives;
and 5) assessing proposed gang-related
policies and legislation. Judges will
have to be careful to avoid situations
that can be interpreted as a conflict
of interest and must continue to
maintain objectivity in judging cases.

Research and evaluation are necessary
to measure the implementation and
results of the recommended court
approach to gang activity. Process
indicators should be developed to
assess the quality of: 1) gang-related
evidence accepted in court; 2)
certifications of youth gang members to
adult court; 3) detention and release
decisions; 4) court safety procedures;
5) probation and correctional
placements; 6) community mobilization
efforts by judges; and 7) other
information such as judicial turnover
rates and staff training activities.
Outcome measures should be developed to
measure the results of the program.
These indicators should include court
screening and transfer decisions as
well as the results of probation
supervision for gang youth. Particular
emphasis should be placed on whether
court actions are reducing recidivism;
youth assigned to different
dispositional tracks have different
recidivism rates; and gang crime rates
have declined in targeted communities.

------------------------------

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

o Program Mission and Background
o Purpose of the Manuals
o Problem Statement
o Discussion of Terms and Issues
o Approach to the Problem
o Summary

Program Mission and Background

Criminal youth gang activity represents
a serious threat to the safety and
security of local citizens and impedes
positive youth development. In recent
years, higher levels of youth gang
violence and gang member-related drug
trafficking have been reported in an
increasing number of neighborhoods,
high schools, public housing projects,
correctional institutions, and other
social contexts throughout the country.
Police in small towns have begun to
identify "gangs" and are requesting
assistance in how to deal with them.

In response, the Office of Juvenile
Justice Delinquency Prevention, U.S.
Justice Department, entered into a
cooperative agreement with the School
of Social Service Administration,
University of Chicago, in October 1987
to conduct the National Youth Gang
Suppression and Intervention Program.
This program was initiated as a four-
stage Research and Development process:
Assessment, Prototype/Model
Development, Technical Assistance, and
Testing.

Three of the four stages have been
completed. Stage 1 included a
comprehensive review of the research
and program literature on youth gangs,
a survey of programs in 45 cities,
selected site visits, conferences, and
special studies. During Stage 2, gang
suppression and intervention models
were produced for police, prosecutors,
judges, probation, corrections, parole,
schools, employment, community-based
youth agencies, and grassroots
organizations. Additionally, separate
manuals for comprehensive planning and
for community mobilization were
developed.

Stage 3 involved the creation of 12
technical assistance manuals that
provide guidelines to implement the
policies and procedures presented in
the models. The ten agency manuals
specify both organizational and
community perspectives for dealing with
the youth gang problem. The other two
manuals outline specific procedures and
processes of planning a comprehensive
community approach to youth gang
suppression and intervention. (See
Appendix A for a list of documents.)

The program models and technical
assistance manuals were based on the
findings of the initial project
assessment stage as well as extensive
consultations with policymakers,
administrators, and practitioners at
local and national levels. Law
enforcement, particularly frontline
gang specialists, were important from
the start of the program in identifying
the problem. Two regional conferences
were held with policymakers,
administrators, and practitioners from
16 cities who contributed to the
development of the final version of the
manuals.

Purpose of the Manuals

The purpose of the technical assistance
manuals is to present detailed steps
for the control and reduction of youth
gang crime, especially gangmotivated
violence. The manuals seek to provide
governmental authorities, criminal
justice organizations, social agencies,
and community groups with strategies
that encourage gang-prone and gang-
involved youth to terminate criminal
activity and participate in legitimate
social, academic, and employment
pursuits.

Broad preventive policies that deal
with larger social issues such as
poverty and racism, housing, education,
jobs, and health care are addressed
only on a limited basis in the manuals.
Key issues of family breakdown,
violence in the media, and the
proliferation of sophisticated weapons
need to be directly addressed as they
contribute to the youth gang problem.
They are presented here mainly as
contextual conditions that special
organizational policies and procedures
and community mobilization must deal
with and change, if not directly then
indirectly.

Local administrators and policymakers
are the primary audience, but the
manuals should also be useful to other
officials and personnel concerned with
the problem, including agency
supervisors, frontline workers, and
community volunteers.

The manuals are not intended to serve
in the place of more general models and
manuals dealing with delinquent or
troublesome youth in the criminal
justice and human service fields; they
are intended as a supplement to them.
Even so, the manuals should be of value
in addressing youth crime more
generally. This is because the youth
gang problem can be viewed as part of a
larger set of crime and delinquency and
youth socialization problems.

Problem Statement

During the 1980's and early 1990's,
more criminally oriented and better
organized gangs or cliques have become
prevalent in many urban and smaller
communities. More young people from
diverse backgrounds and settings are
joining gangs to meet social and
economic needs not satisfied through
existing institutions, e.g., family,
school, and employment. The youth gang
has become an alternative, mainly
antisocial, institution for an
increasing number of youth.

Why youth gangs have developed and
become more criminal and complex
organizations is not clear. The type
and severity of youth gang problems may
be largely a response to two
conditions, poverty or limited access
to social opportunities; and social
disorganization, i.e., the lack of
integration and stability of social
institutions including family, school,
and employment in a local community.

Certain factors exacerbate these two
social conditions to produce varying
gang subcultures and systems. They
include:

o large and rapid population movement
of low-income minorities into a
community;

o intergenerational gang traditions;

o defects of social policy and
coordination of service delivery at
local and national levels;

o institutional racism;

o insecurities of certain working and

middle class populations "threatened"

by newcomers;

o the growth of criminal opportunities;

and

o possibly, influence of the media.

Examples are the following:

Violent youth gang subcultures often
develop when gang-affiliated African-
American and Hispanic youth move from
central cities to smaller cities and
suburban areas without adequate social,
family, economic, and educational
supports. Violent gang subcultures may
also develop when new waves of poor
immigrants from Mexico, Central
America, the Pacific Islands, Vietnam,
Hong Kong, Korea, the Philippines, and
other Asian countries arrive in urban
communities. The newcomer groups are
often met with hatred and resentment,
sometimes manifested in physical
attacks. Gangs may form and become
rapidly entrenched, first as defensive,
and then as offensive groups.

Furthermore, in ghetto and inner-city
AfricanAmerican and Hispanic
communities, a limited criminal
opportunity system often develops.
Gangs in these communities may change
from statusoriented, conflict groups to
highly predatory, criminal-gain groups.
Over time, sophisticated instrumental
rather than traditional or status
oriented youth gangs may develop, with
special interest in drug trafficking
and other economic criminal activity.

In some communities across the country,
particularly in the western States but
increasingly elsewhere, the influx of
low-income and workingclass Pacific-
Islander and Asian groups -- e.g.,
Tongan, Filipino, Hong Kong, Korean,
Vietnamese, Laotian, or Cambodian --
has resulted in other varieties of
youth gang problems. Second-generation
youths, those who were born in this
country or who arrived as preteens, may
seek protection, prestige, and income
through gang membership. Some of these
gangs adopt African-American or
Hispanic gang patterns; others become
closely connected to traditional ethnic-
based, adult criminal organizations.
Criminal activities can include home
invasions, business extortion, robbery,
rape, intimidation, and a range of
racket activities.
These newcomer youth gangs, and the
Asian communities upon which they prey,
are difficult for local law
enforcement, schools, and community
organizations to penetrate or influence
because of cultural, communication, and
trust problems.

Some blue-collar or middle class
communities are characterized by
growing economic, social, and cultural
pressures as well as by increasing
family or personal disorganization.
Some of these formerly stable,
predominately white communities have
become centers for youth groups with a
"nothing to lose attitude." Youth gangs
or their equivalent such as Satanic,
Stoner, punk rocker, hate, Neo-Nazi, or
racist Skinhead groups may participate
in a wide range of loosely organized
criminal acts, characterized by
perverse and negative behavior,
including vandalism, drug use,
homosexual assaults, and even
homicides.

Additionally, in certain stable, lower
middle class communities, whether
African-American, Latino, Pacific
Islander, Asian, white, or Native
American, the gang problem may assume a
more organized and usually less violent
character. Youth may become relatively
more involved in extortion, car theft,
burglary, robbery, sophisticated drug
trafficking, and various lucrative
quasi-racket activities which are not
necessarily conducted in the "home
communities." Legitimate business and
criminal interests may be relatively
well integrated.

Furthermore, specialization of criminal
youth gang patterns by race and
ethnicity seemingly exists. Economic,
social, and cultural factors may, in
fact, be the cause. Thus, some African-
American youth gang or clique members
may be heavily engaged in street-level
crack-cocaine trafficking; Mexican
American youth gang members may be
relatively more involved in violent
turf-based activity, and Asian gang
members may be more mobile and closely
related to adult crime organizations
involved in crimes such as extortion,
robbery, and international drug
trafficking.

However, these youth gang subcultures
also exist side-by-side, interact,
integrate with, or succeed each other
over time. In some communities youth
gangs are interracial and interethnic.

In spite of the many and changing
varieties of gang subcultures that can
be found, a common denominator among
them is that most of these groups are
comprised of youth who share somewhat
similar values and a keen sense of
personal failure and low self-esteem.
For many gang youth, violence has
become an acceptable way of life,
partially sanctioned by the larger
society. Violence is seen on nightly
newscasts, in the movies, on evening
television and Saturday morning
cartoons, and encouraged by certain
"rap" stars. Violence is projected as a
means of resolving authority, low self-
esteem, and racial/ethnic problems.
Discussion of Terms and Issues (See
also Appendix B Glossary)

It is important to accurately identify
key components of the youth gang
problem in order not to exaggerate,
deny, or mythologize them. This is
necessary in order to develop
appropriate policies and procedures to
deal with the different or varying
street gang problems and subcultures
encountered. These components are: 1)
the criminal youth gang, 2) the youth
gang member, and 3) the gang incident.

The central focus of the manuals is
control and reduction of gang-motivated
violence. We are not primarily
interested in ephemeral delinquent
groups or in highly organized drug
trafficking by groups concerned only
with profit, although there are often
important connections between these
associations and the youth or street
gang. However, we are concerned with
predatory youth cliques or drug
trafficking groups to the extent they
participate in, depend on, and
influence the development of violent
gang activities.

Youth gang members engage increasingly
in both violent status-related and
entrepreneurial or predatory criminal
activities. If a youth group engages
primarily in criminal entrepreneurial
activity and participates periodically
in serious violence, it falls within
the scope of our concern.

Our concern is also with differences
between emerging and chronic gang
problem communities and the need for
prevention and especially early
intervention services.

1. Criminal Youth Gang

This is a group often comprising both
juveniles and young adults in regular
interaction with each other who engage
in a range of social and antisocial
behaviors. Cliques or members engage
repetitively or at times spontaneously
in violent, predatory, and criminal-
gain behaviors. The criminal youth gang
may be located within a neighborhood or
across neighborhoods and even cities.
It may be loosely or well organized
with established rules of conduct. The
youth gang may have a name, turf,
colors, signs, symbols, and distinctive
dress. The youth gang often promotes
mutual support among members and
conflict with competing gangs or
established authority.

Many of these groups are traditional
turf-based gangs. Traditionally, the
primary function of the youth gang has
been to establish or protect the
group's reputation and status within a
framework of shared or communal values.
This continues to be true for many
youth gangs today. Some youth gangs,
however, do not display colors and are
not primarily concerned with social
status, but are more gain-oriented and
more rationally organized.

2. The Youth Gang Member

While the criminal youth gang includes
some youth who conform primarily to
conventional norm, many engage in a
range of criminal behaviors.

Most gang participants are in the age
range of 12 to 24 years, although some
preadolescents as well as persons into
their 50's have been reportedly engaged
in gang activities. However, the most
serious and violent gang activity tends
to be committed by older adolescents
and young adults. Some gang members may
join for a period as short as a day, a
week, or a month; others are members
for years. Some members move from low
to high gang status, from less serious
to more serious criminal gang
behaviors, and vice versa, sometimes in
different gangs.

Far fewer females than males join youth
gangs, although with the increase in
number of gangs throughout the country
more female members are probably
involved in serious youth gang
activities than in an earlier era.
Available evidence indicates, however,
that females usually join gangs later
and leave earlier, and are usually
involved in less violent or serious
criminal behavior than males. About
nine times as many males as females are
arrested for gang crimes according to
several studies. Less than one percent
of gang homicide offenders are female.

Female members typically are in groups
affiliated with male gangs. Sometimes
females are integrated directly as
members into the gang proper, and are
less frequently involved in independent
all-female criminal youth gangs. In a
few cities, there is some recent
evidence that females have assumed
leadership roles in certain gang or
criminal group activities, such as drug
trafficking. Special attention needs to
be directed at high-risk female gang
members who are likely to be physically
and sexually victimized, or who induce
or facilitate male gang member assaults
against other gangs.

Traditional gangs may have different
type of members: identifiable leaders,
core, regular, associate, soldier,
peripheral, wannabe, floater, veteran,
or old-head. The presence and
definition of these categories of gang
members, however, may be quite variable
or defined differently in communities
across the country. Of special
interest, for purposes of control and
prevention are two categories of gang
youth: 1) the more serious, hardcore,
often older gang youths; and 2) the
younger, high-risk, often less
committed gang youths.

Agencies need to carefully identify
gangs and gang members. This process
should depend on use of multiple
criteria such as gang member self
admission, statements by reliable
witnesses, verification by a second
independent agency source, prior police
records, and the youth's regular
association with a known gang member.
Participation by the youth in certain
serious gang-motivated criminal
incidents such as drive-by shootings
must ordinarily precipitate a gang
member identification process for gang
suppression and intervention purposes.

3. The Gang Incident

A gang incident is the unit for
classifying and reporting an event as a
gang crime, especially for law
enforcement purposes. Reported gang
incidents become the basis for
determining whether a gang problem
exists and assessing its scope, and
thereby the nature and extent of the
community response to it.

The gang homicide is usually the key
and most reliable measure of the
seriousness of gang crime. However,
identification of gang incidents, e.g.,
homicide, assault, or robbery, is
neither a simple nor a standard
procedure. Two different procedures or
variations of them, are currently
employed to determine whether a gang
incident has occurred and should be
recorded for law enforcement, and,
consequently, public policy purposes.

o Gang-Motivated

In this procedure, according to the
Chicago Police Department, a criminal
act is defined as a gang incident if it
grows out of gang motivation, interest,
or specific circumstances that enhance
the status or function of the gang.
These acts include: intergang violence,
gang retaliation, turf protection,
intimidation, robbery, recruitment, or
other criminal activity that affects
the gang's reputation or interests as a
whole. One or more members of the gang
may be involved as a suspect, witness,
offender, or victim in these
circumstances. In classifying the
incident, focus is on the nature of the
specific situation in which the illegal
act occurs, such as a drive-by shooting
or the yelling of a gang slogan in the
course of the crime.

Crimes such as burglary, car theft,
prostitution, and drug trafficking by a
gang member are problematic because it
is hard to determine whether the act is
gang-motivated. Many criminal acts
serve individual member needs unrelated
to gang interests. On the other hand,
seemingly individual or self-serving
crimes by gang or aspiring gang youth
may be gang-motivated. For example, a
youth may be required or feel compelled
to commit a particular property or
person crime because of pressures by
the gang.

o Gang-Related

This procedure, according to the Los
Angeles County Sheriff's Department, is
based on the characterization of a
crime or delinquent act as a gang
incident when the suspect, offender, or
victim is a gang member, regardless of
gang motivation or circumstances.
Usually any serious criminal act,
especially of a violent, predatory, or
drug trafficking nature, in which a
gang member is involved, can be
classified as a gang incident. For
example, the crime of a gang member who
steals from a store -- even though that
act has nothing directly to do with his
gang membership -- would be classified
as a gang-related incident. (See
Appendix B for a discussion of mixed
situations and erroneous classification
of group delinquency as gang crime.)

o Which Definition to Use

The argument in favor of using the gang-
motivated definition is that it focuses
sharply on the circumstances of the
incident rather than the identification
of the individual as a gang member. It
may be more precise and valid than the
gangrelated definition. It withstands
court challenges better. It also avoids
excessive labelling or exaggeration of
the gang problem.

The counter-argument is that the gang-
motivated definition minimizes the
actual scope of the gang crime problem.
It may encourage organizational or
community denial of the problem. A key
assumption of the proponents of the
gang-related definition is that a gang
member is likely to engage in a wide
range of serious crimes because gang
membership predisposes him or her to do
so. Evidence for this argument is not
substantial, however.

Police and prosecutors generally
believe that it is desirable to
identify gang members and their
activities as completely as possible.
Police are particularly concerned that
the full range of criminal activities
of the gang member be available for
efficient tracking and investigation
purposes.

We recommend a procedure that avoids
excessive labelling of youth but
ensures protection of the community. A
gang-incident procedure should be
devised that records and distinguishes
between gang-motivated and nongang-
motivated crime committed by the gang
member. All serious criminal incidents
by repeat gang offenders should be
clearly "flagged" on criminal justice
computer systems. An effective
computerized information system permits
use of either or both procedures to
track gang-motivated incidents and gang
member crime.

4. Gang Problem Contexts, Chronic and
Emerging

With the growth and spread of the youth
gang problem, a twofold categorization
of the problem context has come into
use: Chronic and Emerging. Our manuals
stress the differences in these
contexts as a basis for the development
of distinctive strategies, policies,
and procedures for gang suppression and
intervention. Simply put,
a more preventive or early intervention
approach may be required in the
emerging gang problem context, while a
more elaborate and formalized
suppression, intervention, and
prevention approach may be necessary in
the chronic context.

o Chronic Gang Problem Context

This organizational or community
context is characterized by persistent
or periodic crises of major gang member
violence and sometimes related drug
trafficking extending over a five- to
ten-year or more period, or even
decades. Youth gangs are usually better
organized in such communities which are
often located in larger or older
cities. These contexts are likely to be
found in impoverished, ghetto, or
transitional areas or ports-of-entry of
inner cities, although they are
increasingly found in smaller cities
and suburban communities.

o Emerging Gang Problem Context

This organizational or community
context is characterized by less well
organized and persistent but at times
serious forms of gang violence and gang
member drug trafficking. The gang
problem has usually been present and/or
recognized for five years or less. To
some extent, the development and spread
of the problem may be traced to the
influence of new settlers or gang crime
entrepreneurs -- for example, drug
traffickers -from chronic problem
cities or contexts. Youth gangs in
emerging problem areas tend to be fewer
in number and most often evolve out of
local delinquent, sometimes social
groups under deteriorating economic or
social situations for minority,
newcomer, or socially isolated
populations.

The distinction between the concepts of
chronic and emerging gang problem
communities, however, are not sharp.
Indicators related to the onset of the
problem, its duration, degree of gang
organization, severity of gang violence
and related gang member drug
trafficking, as well as the appropriate
response to the problem(s) are not
neatly categorized by the terms
"chronic" and "emerging."

Emerging gang problem communities may
develop into chronic; and chronic gang
problem communities may go through
periods of sharply diminished gang
activity before the problem reemerges.
Different parts of a community or
jurisdiction may be characterized by
different stages or degrees of severity
of the problem at a given time.

5. Variability of Violent Gang, Drug
Trafficking, and Crime Problems

It is important to understand that,
despite media and law enforcement
claims, youth gangs involved in gang
violence are not necessarily involved
in drug trafficking. A direct and
causal relationship between youth gangs
and drug trafficking has not yet been
demonstrated. Some communities that
have high levels of youth gang violence
may have relatively low levels of drug
trafficking; other communities with
high levels of drug trafficking may
have low levels of youth gang activity.
We observe that over the last several
years, Los Angeles and Chicago, with
the highest levels of gang homicide in
the country and very high levels of
drug trafficking, report that less than
five percent (5%) of gang homicides are
associated with drug trafficking. Drug
trafficking appears to be related to
serious violent street gang behavior
only in a limited sense. Drug
trafficking, nevertheless, may succeed
and may under certain conditions serve
either to diminish or increase patterns
of youth gang violence.

Finally, high levels of general
criminality in a community do not
necessarily indicate high levels of
gang activity. Some cities with the
highest levels of youth homicide and
drug trafficking may have relatively
limited youth gang activity.

6. Prevention

The focus of this and the other
technical assistance manuals in our
Research and Development program is on
issues of intervention and suppression
in contexts where the gang problem is
clearly present. Here, prevention
refers mainly to secondary forms of
prevention, or early intervention,
which reduces the likelihood that the
highly gang-prone or the younger gang
member will commit or continue to
commit gang crimes. This is to be
accomplished through effective
controls, direct treatment or services,
and provision of legitimate
opportunities. In our conception,
prevention requires change and
development both by the individual
youth as well as his or her social
environment.

Most youth from low-income and social
problemridden communities are not
involved in delinquent gang activities.
Finally, we note that a simple
prevention model that emphasizes
exclusive concern with younger youth
may be unsuccessful. Such a model does
not take into consideration system
effects, including the extensive
socialization effects of older youth on
"wannabe" or younger youth. All key
components of the problem need to be
systematically addressed.

Approach to the Problem

The manuals specify five major lines of
action or strategies: community
mobilization, opportunities provision,
suppression, social intervention, and
organizational change and development.
These strategies must be combined in
different ways depending on the problem
context, the specific mission of the
organization, and the kind of youth
targeted for special attention.

1. Community Mobilization

Community mobilization is a necessary
and primary strategy in socially
disorganized communities.
Social disorganization, which
contributes to the development of
criminal youth gangs, may be
characterized by the inability of
legitimate institutions such as home,
school, and employment, to adequately
socialize youth. It may also be
characterized by limited networking
among agencies or the fragmentation of
criminal justice or community service
delivery systems, within and across
communities.

Both local and Federal interests must
be mobilized for the development of
collaborative community and interagency
activities directed at the control and
reduction of the youth gang problem. In
times of limited local community
resources, agency consortia efforts are
essential. These should include the
full and productive use of combined
local, State, and Federal resources;
application of moral and political
pressures; and participation by the
local citizenry. (See also General
Community Design and Community
Mobilization manuals.)

2. Opportunities Provision

The provision of additional social
opportunities, i.e., the development of
a variety of targeted educational,
training, and employment programs, is
the second most important component
over the long term for the reduction
and prevention of the youth gang
problem, particularly in chronic
contexts. The schools need to provide
remedial and enriched educational
programs for gang-prone and hardcore
gang youths.

Education, training, and jobs are
especially critical for older youth
still in gangs who are not in school
but who are at "positive risk" at a
certain point in their social
maturation for leaving the gangs, or
for decreased participation in criminal
gang activity. A key objective of these
programs should be developing socially
competent youth, whether in or out of
school. (See School and Employment
manuals.)

3. Social Intervention

Youth-serving agencies and grassroots
community groups must "reach out" and
act as a link between gang youth and
the conventional world. Staff or adult
volunteers of these organizations must
develop meaningful relationships with
these youth. Community-based youth
agencies should facilitate access to
pertinent opportunity systems and
exercise social controls that
contribute to the socialization of gang
youth. Special efforts are also
required to coordinate services for
these youth. (See Community-Based Youth
Agency manual.)

4. Suppression

Social control procedures, particularly
those of criminal justice, but also of
community-based agencies, are essential
for community protection and the
prevention and reduction of the
problem. Youth gang suppression
involves not only law enforcement but a
variety of other agencies and
community groups in the targeting,
monitoring, supervision, and if
necessary, restraint of gang offenders.
It also requires the anticipation,
prevention, and limitation of the
effects of gang crime in particular
situations to protect both youth
participants and the community.

Arrest, prosecution, imprisonment, and
close supervision of gang youth are
insufficient, however, unless joined
with other communityoriented strategies
to achieve long-term impact on the
problem. This means that community-
based agencies and local groups must
accept and collaborate with criminal
justice agencies in patrol,
surveillance, and certain information
sharing under conditions that protect
both youth and the community. Police,
prosecution, and other criminal justice
agencies must develop a variety of
social intervention, opportunities,
prevention, and community involvement
programs to supplement their primary
goal of suppressing gang crime. (See
especially Police, Prosecution, and
Probation manuals.)

Furthermore, policymakers,
administrators, and practitioners in
the criminal justice system have a
special responsibility to withstand
pressures from the public and other
units of the justice system to carry
out an exclusive strategy of
suppression to deal with the youth gang
problem.

5. Organizational Change and
Development

Finally, the above strategies need to
be appropriately organized based on the
nature and scope of the problem in the
community and the mission of the
particular organization. Organizational
development and change require better
use and reallocation of available
resources within agencies and
neighborhoods. Common definitions,
improved communication, resident
involvement, and coordination within as
well as across agencies and communities
are also required.

Both community mobilization and
organizational development strategies,
whether in emerging or chronic gang
problem contexts, should be closely
interrelated to create efficient and
cohesive system arrangements for
dealing with the gang problem.

Targeting

To conserve resources and most
effectively deal with the youth gang
problem, it is important to target
certain communities, organizational
contexts, gangs, and gang members or
gang-prone youth. Special emphasis on
community mobilization is required in
both emerging and chronic gang
communities. Opportunity provision must
also be emphasized for chronic problem
communities and contexts.

Neighborhoods and organizations,
particularly schools, experiencing
serious gang problems, should be
priority targets for suppression and
intervention efforts. The most serious
gang problem youths in the most violent
gangs in the highest gang crime rate
areas should be targeted first.

Certain youth gangs or gang-like groups
clearly committed to violent and
serious criminal activity should
receive priority attention. This is to
avoid unnecessary labelling and
widening the net of gang delinquency
and crime through inappropriate
criminal justice and community-based
agency attention. It is important to
concentrate resources on the heart of
the present problem.

Also, individual youth should be
targeted in the following order of
priority purposes:

o First, leadership and core gang
youths -- to disrupt gang networks,
protect the community, and facilitate
the reintegration of these youths
through community-based or
institutional programming into
legitimate pursuits;

o Second, high-risk gang-prone youth
who are often younger or aspiring gang
members who give clear indication of
beginning participation in criminal
gang activities -- to prevent further
criminal gang involvement through early
intervention, preferably community-
based services; and

o Third, regular and peripheral gang
members -- to generally address their
needs for control and intervention
services.

Finally, a caution! The policies,
procedures, and steps recommended in
the manuals should be viewed as
promising but as yet not systematically
researched through field testing.

Summary

The Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Justice
Department, entered into a cooperative
agreement with the School of Social
Service Administration, University of
Chicago, to conduct the National Youth
Gang Suppression and Intervention
Program. The scope and seriousness of
the problem was analyzed from both an
organizational and community
perspective. Models or prototypes were
developed. Technical Assistance manuals
were created that focussed on the
implementation of policies and
procedures in emerging and chronic gang
problem communities and contexts.

The manuals address the gang problem in
terms of critical characteristics of
the youth gang, its members and the way
the problem is defined. Focus is on
controlling, reducing, and preventing
gangmotivated violent and serious
criminal youth gang activity. The
mission of suppression and intervention
is specified as requiring five key
strategies: community mobilization,
opportunities provision, social
intervention, suppression, and
organizational change and development.
Key targets of a program should be gang
leaders and core members as well as
high-risk gang-prone youth. This
particular manual focuses on organizing
local citizens and groups in a
cooperative effort at the point of
problem impact.

I.S.

There has been an increase in the youth
gang problem and the need for
information and guidance.

This technical assistance manual is
part of a fourstage research and
development process.

Twelve manuals have been produced.

Certain processes were used to develop
the manual.

The purpose is to present a set of
guidelines to reduce youth gang crime.

Administrators and policymakers are the
primary audience.

The gang problem has changed and grown
more serious in most regions of the
country.

Poverty and social disorganization are
key conditions contributing to the
problem.

Under different community conditions,
different types of gang problems appear
to develop.

There are variations in the gang
problem by race/ethnicity, class, and
newcomer status.

Growing economic, social, and cultural
pressures can contribute to the
development of youth gangs.

Violence projected by the media may
exacerbate the problem.

Key components of the problem are the
youth gang, youth gang member, and the
gang incident.

Gang-motivated violence is the key but
not exclusive concern of the manual.

The traditional youth gang is turf-
based and status-oriented, but other
kinds of gangs have also developed.

The focus of concern is the youth gang
member, 12 to 24 years of age.

Fewer females than males are gang
members.

Attention needs to be directed at high-
risk female gang members.

Different types of gang members should
be carefully identified.

Different definitions of the gang
incident exist.

The gang-motivated definition focuses
on the nature of the criminal act.

The gang-related definition focuses on
identification of the criminal suspect
as a gang member.

The narrow gang-motivated definition
avoids excessive labelling.

The gang-related definition may be more
useful to criminal justice officials.

Emerging and chronic gang problem
contexts may require different
suppression and intervention
approaches.

The gang problem has had a longer
history and is usually better organized
and more severe in the chronic context.

The gang problem is recent, less well
organized, but sometimes very serious
in the emerging context.

High levels of general crime and gang
crime are not necessarily closely
associated.

Secondary prevention is included in the
manuals' perspective.

Different strategies of suppression and
intervention have been identified.

Community mobilization is critically
important.

The opportunities provision strategy
focuses on the importance of education,
training, and jobs for high-risk gang-
prone and gang member youth.

Social intervention is based on an
"outreach" and linkage approach of gang
youth to the conventional society.

The strategy of suppression is defined
in broad social control terms and
requires more than the involvement of
criminal justice agencies.

Criminal justice strategies must also
include community mobilization, social
intervention, and opportunities
provision.

Organizational development and change
focuses on better use of internal
agency resources to deal with the youth
gang problem.

Targeting of certain communities, gang,
and gang members is necessary to make
the best use of limited resources for
dealing with the problem.

High gang crime neighborhoods, certain
types of gangs, and gang members should
receive priority attention.

Key targets of community agency and
grassroots attention should be
leadership and core gang as well as
high-risk gang-prone youths.

------------------------------

CHAPTER 2: THE JUDICIARY

o The Youth Gang Problem: A View from
the Bench
o Purpose and Content of this Manual
o Assessing the Youth Gang Problem
o Summary

The Youth Gang Problem : A View from
the Bench

A growing and increasingly serious
youth gang problem is placing a heavy
burden on judicial decisionmaking in
many jurisdictions across the country.
Several factors contribute to this
including long court processing delays,
heavy probation and parole caseloads, a
scarcity of community sentencing
options for gang-affiliated youth, and
overcrowding in both juvenile and adult
correctional facilities.

Professional and legal considerations
may also hamper the ability of the
juvenile court to effectively address
the problem. High turnover among bench
officers seeking elevation to the adult
court often deprives the juvenile court
of the specialized legal expertise and
knowledge of local resources necessary
to competently deal with gang youth. In
some States, the judicial discretion of
juvenile court judges has been limited
by legislation that stipulates enhanced
sentences for gang members engaged in
violent and drug-related offenses.
Juveniles involved in these types of
crime are now more often certified to
adult court. Ironically, some of these
certified youth are returned to their
communities with less supervision,
sanctions, and services than they would
have received under the jurisdiction of
the juvenile court.

In both emerging and chronic gang
problem contexts, court attention to
the youth gang problem is often
inadequate since many judges have
limited knowledge about the issue. As a
consequence, the court's primary
response usually emphasizes
incarceration or close supervision of
gang youth in the community instead of
a more comprehensive approach that
attempts to integrate social control
with intensive intervention and
opportunities provision approaches.

Purpose and Content of this Manual

This manual will provide an overview of
how to implement a promising court
approach to the youth gang problem. Its
intended audience is the presiding and
other judges within the juvenile court.
Topics specifically applicable to the
adult court are also addressed. Its
primary target group is youth and young
adult gang members who come before the
court with a history of involvement in
youth gang crime. (See the Introduction
and Appendix B for a glossary and a
discussion of terms.)

The court model put forth in this
manual provides guidelines for
administering gang cases and suggests
how judges can spearhead or participate
in community initiatives designed to
address the gang problem. The model
presented favors a community-oriented
approach by the court. It is predicated
on the assumption that a multistrategy
approach by the court is necessary to
fulfill its dual mission of protecting
the community and resocializing
delinquent gang youth.

The model proposes that judges --
because of their stature in the
community and their ability to leverage
resources -- should assume
responsibilities beyond their
traditional role of processing and
sentencing gang youth. Judges may need
to assume a public leadership role
since community problems, particularly
in the form of defective schooling and
a lack of jobs, contribute
significantly to many of the gang cases
that come before the court. Thus, it
encourages judges to participate in
community mobilization activities
designed to suppress youth gang crime,
and to use court authority to mandate
educational and employment
opportunities to gang youth and their
families.

As a model, this proposes a
comprehensive court approach that will
have to be adjusted to the political
realities and resource constraints of
the given jurisdiction. However, judges
must have proper authority and adequate
resources to successfully fulfill the
court's mission with respect to a gang
problem. The support of an enlightened
citizenry and other public officials is
essential for the implementation of
this court program.

This manual is divided into seven
sections that cover guidelines and
activities the presiding judge may have
to implement to conduct a program of
this nature. These sections are listed
below.

I. Assessing the Youth Gang Problem
II. Setting Goals and Strategies
III. Implementing Organizational
Development
IV. Court Functions and Issues
 Court Proceedings
 Certification of Youth to Adult Court
 Detention and Release
 Court Hearings
 Evidence
 Sentencing
 Placement on Probation
 Placement within a Correctional
Institution
V. Community Mobilization
VI. Judicial Selection, Training, and
Education VII. Research and Evaluation

Assessing the Youth Gang Problem

Essential to any response to youth gang
activity is awareness that an actual
problem exists. The court may be
alerted to a youth gang problem in
several ways. Police may report that
youth are congregating on street
corners and engaging in group assaults.
A prosecutor may depict a
conspiratorial pattern of crime
involving a particular set or clique of
youths. Probation may indicate in court
reports that youth are coalescing into
groups -- with names, colors, and
symbols -- to defend certain turf
areas. A school official may describe
an incident of intimidation whereby a
youth's starter jacket is taken from
him or her at gun point by several
youths flashing gang signs and yelling
gang slogans. Community-based youth
agency personnel may comment about the
appearance of graffiti in their
neighborhoods and outbreaks of violence
between factions of youth at their
respective agencies.

When incidents such as these come to
the attention of the court, it is
incumbent upon the presiding judge to
take action. The first step may be to
request that the Chief Probation
Officer convene personnel within the
court -- judges, probation officers,
and other court personnel -- to check
perceptions about the presence of youth
gang activity. If a problem is
perceived, this may necessitate a
larger meeting involving police,
prosecutors, school, detention, and
community-based youth agency personnel.

Many agencies may be reluctant to admit
that a youth gang problem exists and
that something should be done to
confront it. Some agencies may be truly
unaware of the problem or lack the
expertise or resources necessary to
properly identify and assess it. Other
agencies may consciously avoid
recognizing the problem because of
particular organizational or community
interests. Despite these obstacles, a
formal problem assessment should be
conducted in most instances of
suspected youth gang activity since the
likelihood of effectively confronting a
youth gang problem is much greater when
it is addressed in its earlier stages.

Conducting the Assessment

Before a response to a perceived youth
gang problem is initiated, the nature
and scope of the problem should be
determined, preferably at the
probationer, court, and community
levels. The information obtained in
this assessment will serve as a basis
for the development of a court response
to youth gang activity, if necessary.
At the probationer level, the
assessment should determine the extent
of gang involvement by probationers. At
the court level, the assessment should
construe the nature of the
organization's response to the issue.
Finally, at the community level, the
assessment should appraise the extent
of the youth gang problem within the
jurisdiction and how community
organizations are working together to
address it, particularly with respect
to youth processed by the court.

It is recommended that the presiding
judge of the court direct or request
the chief probation officer to carry
out the assessment at the probationer
and community levels since probation is
most familiar with its client
population and usually has strong links
to both the criminal justice and
community social service systems.

Within the court, the presiding judge
or judges individually should be
concerned with obtaining answers to the
following questions:

o What experience have judges had in
handling cases of gang youth?

o Are judges properly educated about
the gang problem? Do judges receive
special training on the youth gang
issue and on how to process gang youth?

o Do judges have a particular
philosophy or approach to gang youth?
Specifically, do judges handle cases of
gang youth differently than nongang
youth? If so, in what way?

o Are more gang youth than nongang
youth being certified to the adult
court? If so, why?

o What type of services do gang-prone
or gangaffiliated youth who are
diverted from the court receive? Are
appropriate prevention and early
intervention programs in place? How
many of these youth end up coming back
to the court?

o Do judges regularly mandate remedial
and basic education, vocational
training, job placement, and community
restitution for gang-affiliated youth?
....and gang awareness and parental
effectiveness training for their
parents and significant others? Are
these resources available and
adequately sufficient in the community
and within detention and correctional
facilities?

o Do judges order sanctions
specifically targeted toward gang-
affiliated youth (e.g., special court
orders)?

o Are sentencing outcomes consistent
within the court (i.e., across judges)
in relation to the crime(s) committed
and the level of the youth's commitment
to criminal gang activity?

o Does probation systematically provide
judges with information on gang-
specific topics such as special
sentencing and restitution options and
specific gang orders and sanctions for
gang-affiliated youth?

o Are judges involved in community
activities that directly or indirectly
address the youth gang problem?

o What are the perceptions of police,
prosecutors, and probation officers
about the court's processing of
previous gang cases?

In most cases, an outside consultant or
qualified court personnel should be
given the responsibility to collect
this information. Information, for the
most part, will be collected through an
analysis of court records and
interviews with judges, criminal
justice, and community agency
personnel. The assessment should cover
court processing trends during the past
year. Data collection will be
problematic when court personnel are
unable to identify gang youth processed
by the court through court records. In
these instances, anecdotal data may be
the best information that can be
obtained.

When the probation and court
assessments are completed, this
information should be utilized by the
court and other community agencies to
determine the extent and seriousness of
the gang problem, the availability of
resources, and the kinds of
organizational initiatives needed.

Summary

Courts across the country are
increasingly confronted with youth gang
members who have been involved in
serious, including violent, criminal
activity. Many juvenile courts do not
have the capacity to effectively
respond to a youth gang problem because
of resource constraints and limited
knowledge about the issue. As a
consequence, some juvenile court judges
sentence youth to incarceration or
certify them to adult court instead of
mandating their participation in
closely supervised, competency-building
activities situated in the community.

A first step in developing a promising
court response is problem assessment,
preferably at three levels. At the
first level, the court should direct or
request probation to determine the
involvement of youth probationers in
gang activity and the probation
department's response to the problem,
if present. At the second level, the
court (or judges individually) should
assess its processing of gang youth,
specifically as regards dispositional
outcomes, types of services delivered,
and the knowledge base that judges have
about the problem. At the third level,
probation or an independent consultant
can be directed to conduct a
communitywide survey to ascertain
whether a youth gang problem is present
within the jurisdiction and, if so, how
the court and other organizations are
working together to address it. The
results of this assessment can then
serve as a basis for planning or
adjusting the court's response, if
necessary.

Some court systems are increasingly
burdened by a youth gang problem.

Several factors may seriously hamper

the court's approach to the problem.

A model for a court response is put

forth.

A multistrategy approach is necessary.

Essential guidelines and activities are
covered. The court may become aware of
the problem in several different ways.

The presiding court judge should
convene key people to check perceptions
about the problem.

A formal assessment should be conducted
in most instances of suspected youth
gang activity.

Assessment at several levels is
required.

Probation should be directed to carry

out the assessment at the probationer

and community levels. Certain types of

court data needs to be collected. Data

collection may be problematic. --------

----------------------

CHAPTER 3: SETTING GOALS AND STRATEGIES

o Suppression
o Social Intervention
o Opportunities Provision
o Community Mobilization
o Organizational Development
o Implementing Organizational
Development
o Summary

The goals that should guide the court
in both emerging and chronic gang
problems contexts consist of:

o ensuring that the youth gang member
receives a fair hearing;

o protecting the community and the
youth from violent and serious gang
crime in the event that a juvenile
court petition is sustained; and

o using court orders to create
conditions to rehabilitate the gang
youth.

The court should consider implementing
the following strategies to achieve
these goals:

Suppression

A suppression strategy by the court
attempts to deter and control acts of
crime by gang youth. The primary
purpose of this strategy is to protect
the community by imposing controls on
gang youth as necessary. A secondary
purpose is to deter gangprone and gang-
affiliated youth from repeating gang
offenses or pursuing criminal careers
by applying quick and deliberate
consequences. This strategy utilizes
primarily probation and, if necessary,
incarceration as well as techniques of
alcohol and drug use testing,
detention, intensive supervision, and
regular court review.

Social Intervention

A social intervention strategy attempts
to bring about positive behavioral
change and social development within
the gang youth and his or her family.
The primary purpose of this strategy is
to provide gang youth and their
families with supportive and
developmental assistance leading to
satisfactory social adjustment.
Examples of social intervention
activities that the court can mandate
include physical and psychiatric
examinations, mental health and drug
use treatment, individual and group
counseling, recreational services,
parental effectiveness, and gang-
awareness training.

Opportunities Provision

An opportunities provision strategy
consists of the court directing
probation to refer or provide gang
youth with basic competency-building
opportunities. The chief purpose of
this strategy is to provide
conventional alternatives to the gang
lifestyle by educating the youth to a
point where upon emancipation he or she
will be able to successfully
matriculate or obtain gainful
employment. Examples of such
opportunities include remedial
education, tutoring, job readiness
workshops, vocational training, and age-
appropriate employment.

Community Mobilization

A community mobilization strategy
entails court efforts directed at
enhancing community and
interorganizational relationships to
address the youth gang problem at the
individual and program levels. The
principal purpose of this strategy is
to change the social environment in
which gang youth develop. Specifically,
judges can participate in educational,
employment, and social development
initiatives in the community to fill
opportunity and service gaps that
contribute to the problems of gang
youth.

Organizational Development

An organizational development strategy
involves changes within the court to
facilitate implementation of the
strategies listed above. The chief aim
of this strategy is to develop
organizational structures and
mechanisms to effectively deal with the
gang problem. Examples can include
developing standard guidelines for the
sentencing of gang youth, advocating
for improved probation services through
the provision of increased supervision
and more intensive services to gang
probationers, and facilitating the
interagency exchange of gang-related
information by using court orders to
clarify issues of juvenile
confidentiality.

The prioritization and use of these
strategies will depend on several
factors including:

o the nature and severity of the gang
problem;

o the goals of the court and the
community in relation to the issue; and

o the amount of resources available
through the court and in the community
for gang-related programming.

Implementing Organizational Development

After the assessment has been completed
certain organizational changes will
probably be necessary.

These changes may entail:

1. Restructuring the Court to Implement
a More Effective Approach

The court may find itself poorly
situated to deal with an emerging or
chronic youth gang problem. To lay the
groundwork for a promising approach,
the presiding court judge may have to
address the following issues.

Judicial caseloads. Judges,
particularly in chronic gang problem
areas, may be so overburdened with
cases that they have little time to:

o focus adequately on individual cases
that come before the court;

o provide adequate case followup
including regular court review; and

o participate in community-oriented
activities designed to address the
problem.

If this is the case, the presiding
court judge should consider a number of
options including:

o procuring more judicial positions for
the court to reduce judicial caseloads;

o delegating court review functions to
other court personnel (e.g.,
magistrates, referees) and bringing
only cases involving noncompliance with
court orders before judges;

o designating one judge to represent
the court in community mobilization
activities targeted on the problem.

Court data systems. The court may find
that its capacity to access and utilize
court-related information is minimal.
This is particularly important in
larger jurisdictions where gang youth
are highly mobile and there is a
greater number of judges before whom
they can be brought. In these contexts,
the court should develop a data informa
tion system that has the capability to:

o provide judges with information
related to the criminal history of the
defendant after adjudication or at
sentencing;

o provide the police with court orders,
especially the probation conditions of
gang leaders and core members, in a
timely manner; and

o furnish judges with recidivism data
on cases processed by the court.

Sentencing consistency. Sentencing
outcomes with regard to gang-affiliated
youth with similar criminal histories
and social circumstances may differ
according to the judge who hears the
case. If the court's sentencing of gang
youth is not reasonably consistent, it
may cause the court to lose credibility
in the eyes of the general public
and gang youth themselves. Moreover,
the possibility of implementing a
comprehensive, integrated approach to
the problem on a communitywide level
will be seriously hindered.

In conjunction with his or her
colleagues and other key actors, the
presiding court judge should consider
standard sentencing guidelines for gang
youth if major sentencing
inconsistencies are present. While
emphasizing that sentencing should be
based on the individual circumstances
of each case, these guidelines should
encourage judges to mandate appropriate
consequences for criminal gang activity
and pertinent services for the
reformation of gang youth. (See
Sentencing section)

Gang training programs. Judges may lack
adequate knowledge about youth gang
phenomena and special judicial
strategies to address the problem. In
these circumstances, the court should
develop a standard gang training
program. (See Judicial Selection,
Training, and Education section.)

In conclusion, the presiding court
judge in emerging gang problem contexts
should be primarily concerned with
developing a gang training curriculum
for judges and establishing a standard
sentencing protocol for gang youth who
come before the court. Besides these
initiatives, the presiding court judge
in chronic gang problem contexts should
ensure that the court has an adequate
data system in place to process court
information and encourage associate
judges to become involved in community
oriented activities related to the
issue.

2. Providing More Effective Supervision
to Youth Gang Members

Since gang members known to the
criminal justice system are often
chronic and serious offenders, the
court should encourage probation to
identify youth gang members on its
caseload, target them for increased
supervision, and provide them with
special assistance to promote proper
social adjustment. Identifying more
sentencing options in the community
should be a part of this process since
it is vital to providing judges with an
alternative to incarcerating or
certifying youth to adult court. If
supervision of youth gang members in
the community is inadequate, the court
may have to pressure probation to adopt
new supervisory arrangements.

3. Increasing Social Support to Youth
Gang Probationers and Gang-Prone Youth,
Their Families, and Referral Agencies

The court must ensure that probation
and other agencies provide the social
support necessary for youth gang
probationers and gang-prone youth to
avoid criminal gang activity. To
accomplish this, the court should
encourage probation and referral
organizations to:

o establish counseling support for this
target
group focused on school performance,
job procurement, gang situation
avoidance, and other personal problems;

o provide parents of gang members and
gang-prone youth with access to gang
awareness and parental effectiveness
training; and

o develop a capacity to intervene in
probationer and gang crisis situations,
particularly in chronic gang contexts.

Emphasis should be placed on building
strong links between probation,
families, school officials, and
community-based youth agency personnel
to develop an integrated caseplan.

4. Providing Better Social
Opportunities to Youth Gang
Probationers

Gang youth often have social,
educational, and employment deficits
that cause them to meet their personal
belonging and esteem needs through the
gang. To provide these youth with
meaningful alternatives to the gang
lifestyle, the court should direct
probation to:

o implement case plans that emphasize
community service, remedial and basic
education, vocational training, and age-
appropriate employment; and

o engage in advocacy and community
development activities with other
agencies and local organizations when
these opportunities are not available.

Note: The approach to the youth gang
problem in most chronic problem cities
will probably not be successful in the
long term without this component.

5. Developing Interagency Partnerships
and Coalitions to Improve the Court and
Community Response to the Problem

No one agency can address the youth
gang problem successfully. Agencies
must cooperate to develop a
comprehensive and integrated response
to the problem. The presiding judge or
his or her designee, as a
representative of the court, should be
involved in this community mobilization
process. The community's mobilization
efforts should focus on the following
objectives:

o Encourage key community agencies to
acknowledge the problem when denial is
present.

o Develop a definitional consensus on
key concepts of the problem (e.g.,
gang, gang member, gang incident) for
operational purposes, particularly
among criminal justice agencies.

o Promote mutually beneficial
interagency partnerships and community-
based coalitions related to:

o improving the supervision and social
              support of
 gang youth in high gang crime areas;

 o providing pertinent educational and
social development opportunities to
gang youth including probationers; and

 o procuring job training and
employment opportunities for gang youth
including probationers.

o Educate the public about the youth
gang problem.

Summary

In this section, a strategic design is
presented for a court response to youth
gang crime, particularly with regard to
setting appropriate goals, strategies,
and organizational development
objectives. Pertinent goals should
consist of: 1) ensuring that the youth
gang member receives a fair hearing; 2)
protecting the community and the youth
from violent and serious gang crime in
the event that a juvenile court
petition is sustained; and 3) using
court orders to create conditions to
rehabilitate the gang youth.

A promising court response to youth
gang activity will incorporate a
multiple-strategy approach. Strategies
of suppression, social intervention,
opportunities provision, community
mobilization, and organizational
development should be implemented by
the court to craft a "balanced
response" to an identified youth gang
problem. More specifically, the
response should balance social control
for youth gang probationers with the
provision of viable social
opportunities. To achieve this, certain
organizational development objectives
and activities to carry them out will
have to be developed and implemented.
Within the court, objectives may entail
reducing judicial caseloads, improving
court data systems, ensuring sentencing
consistency, and establishing gang
training programs for judges. Outside
of the court, these objectives may be
concerned with: 1) providing more
effective supervision of youth gang
probationers; 2) increasing social
support to youth gang probationers,
their families, and referral agencies;
3) providing more pertinent social
opportunities to youth gang
probationers; and 4) developing
interagency partnerships and coalitions
to improve the agency and community
response to the problem.

Three primary goals are identified.

Intensive supervision or removal of
gang youth from the community may be
necessary.

Gang youth and their families need
social supports.

Opportunities to achieve at school or
through employment should be provided.

A community approach to the youth gang
problem must be promoted.

Special mechanisms must be developed to
implement a multistrategy approach.

Organizational restructuring may be
necessary within the court.

The emphasis of the presiding court
judge should vary according to the
problem context.

Adequate supervision of gang members in
the community is essential.

Personal and family support consisting
of basic skills training and crisis
intervention is crucial.

Positive school, employment, and
community roles for gang youth must be
provided.

The court must promote a collaborative
community approach to the youth gang
problem.

------------------------------

CHAPTER 4: COURT FUNCTIONS AND ISSUES

o Court Proceedings
o Certification of Youth to Adult Court
o Detention and Release
o Court Hearings
o Evidence
o Sentencing
o Placement on Probation
o Placement within a Correctional
Institution
o Summary

This section identifies certain court
functions and issues that will require
special judicial attention before a
promising court response to the youth
gang problem can be implemented.
General principles and procedures are
suggested, many indicative of standard
judicial practice, that should be
tailored to the specific
characteristics of the gang problem in
each jurisdiction. Each function or
issue must be considered in light of
the court's strategic objectives, the
specific circumstances of each case,
and the particular needs of the gang
youth.

Court Proceedings

The court should be alert to and take
into account the gang-related aspects
of cases while maintaining an unbiased,
independent stance with respect to the
parties involved.

Research indicates that gang members
known to the justice system commit a
disproportionate percentage of serious
and violent offenses in comparison to
their nongang peers. Research also
indicates that a significant number of
"committed" or "core" gang youth are at
risk of becoming career criminals.
Thus, while the judge should focus
primarily on the individual
characteristics of the case and the
validity of the evidence introduced, he
or she should also be observant of the
gang-related aspects of the case before
the court. Specifically, the judge
should be attentive to:

o whether the adjudicated youth is a
gang member;

o whether the incident was "gang
motivated"; and

o what the role and position of the
gang member was in the incident.

This information is crucial since gang
youth, by the nature of their actions
and position in the gang, will
generally require closer supervision
and more intensive services than other
types of delinquent youth.

At the same time, the judge needs to be
mindful of the particular roles and
interests of the criminal justice
actors (i.e., police, prosecutor,
probation, and public defender)
represented in the courtroom. The judge
must stay independent and unbiased to
facilitate the effective operation of
the court. Toward this end, the judge
should see to it that accurate,
meaningful evidence and testimony are
presented in court.

In instances where the validity of gang-
related information brought before the
court is challenged, the judge should
ascertain whether the police and
probation have developed appropriate
guidelines, procedures, and safeguards
for the entry of this information into
gang files. For example, mechanisms for
updating and purging this information
as appropriate should be present;
sources of information should be
recorded and training provided to
personnel entering the information.

Certification of Youth to Adult Court

Juvenile court judges should utilize
constitutionally based principles as a
guide in making transfer decisions of
gang cases. Gang membership or the
designation of the incident as gang-
oriented should not ordinarily be a
sufficient basis for certification.

In some instances, an early and primary
consideration for the juvenile court
judge is whether or not a case should
be transferred to the adult court. In a
number of jurisdictions, juvenile court
judges are required to or will readily
certify gang cases involving serious
violence to the adult court. The
certification or transfer hearing has
an extremely important impact on
juvenile court proceedings. It can
signify for the youth a "loss of status
of a class specially protected and
deemed amenable to juvenile
rehabilitation" (See Guernsey, 1986.)

The U.S. Supreme Court in Kent set out
rigid standards for the transfer of a
juvenile case to adult criminal court.
It requires that:

o a hearing be held on the transfer
motion;

o a full investigation be made;

o a child be afforded counsel;

o counsel have access to all records to
be considered in reaching decisions;
and

o the court issue a statement of
reasons for the transfer.

A sixth requirement has been added
since Kent -that the court must find
probable cause to believe the child has
committed the offense charged against
him or her. Furthermore, in the
development of grounds for transfer or
certification that usually grows out of
the investigative report, the following
factors should be considered:

o amenability of the child to treatment
in terms of age, prior record, and
present offense;

o the degree of sophistication of the
child;

o the likelihood of successful
rehabilitation through the juvenile
justice system;

o the fact that the juvenile loses the
right to juvenile detention and
confidentiality of proceedings by such
transfer; and

o the general consequences that a
transfer outcome usually has for the
prospects of rehabilitating the youth
and protecting the safety of the
community within the judge's particular
jurisdiction.

In situations where the decision is
discretionary, the judge should exhaust
all efforts to provide for the
rehabilitation of the youth under the
auspices of the juvenile court.

Detention and Release

Gang membership in and of itself should
not be the primary consideration for
whether a gang youth should be detained
or released.

In making decisions to detain or
release youth gang offenders, the
concerns of judges in juvenile and
adult court should be similar. Unless
stipulated differently by statute, the
youth should be placed in detention
pending their hearing when:

o their safety or that of victims and
witnesses are in jeopardy (e.g., threat
of retaliation);

o they are a threat to the community;
or

o there is a risk that the youth may
flee the jurisdiction.

Judges in both courts should make their
decisions with reference to:

o the seriousness of the particular
offense;

o the general propensity for violence
of the suspect or adjudicated gang
member and his or her criminal
sophistication; and

o the need to ensure the safety of the
suspect, victim(s), witnesses, and the
community as a whole.

To come to a proper decision, the judge
should solicit reliable information
from probation, police, prosecution,
defense counsel, school staff,
community-based youth agency personnel,
and the youth in question.

Overcrowding in the detention facility
may affect the court's ability to meet
the objectives listed above. In these
instances, the court may have to
develop detailed detention criteria to
deal with this constraint. Home
detention coupled with electronic
supervision may be a viable
alternative, particularly for
juveniles.

Finally, it should be noted that in
certain States, the judge has the
authority to set bail for or detain
recalcitrant witnesses if they are
unlikely to appear in court. This may
be advisable in certain instances.

Court Hearings

The judge needs to be alert to the
presence of other gang members during
the hearing, particularly in the adult
court.

The judge has to protect the integrity
of trial proceedings both inside and
outside of the courtroom. This is
particularly important in adult
criminal court where proceedings are
public, in contrast to the juvenile
court where proceedings are generally
private.

The presence of gang members and their
actions may be distracting,
particularly when gang members use hand
signals or wear gang colors and
symbols. Gang intimidation should not
be permitted in the courtroom, the
hallway outside, or the community. It
may be advisable to implement special
procedures in cases involving the
threat of retaliatory gang activity. In
juvenile court, closed hearings can be
conducted with only those witnesses
testifying allowed in the court room,
and then, only at the time of their
testimony; in adult court, people can
be searched before they enter the court
room. Law enforcement and prosecution
should also be encouraged to bring
appropriate charges against disruptive
or intimidating gang members, including
arrest for violation of probation or
parole, if they are under supervision.

Evidence

The judge should be especially
concerned about the quality of the
evidence brought before the court,
particularly evidence that identifies
the youth as a gang member and the
incident as gang-oriented.

Ensuring that the evidence introduced
in court is accurate and pertinent
should be of paramount concern to the
judge. Determining the validity of the
evidence should be one of his or her
principal
objectives. With regard to gang cases,
the judge should be particularly
attentive to the following topics.

Gang membership. Accurately
establishing whether the youth before
the court is gang-affiliated has
important ramifications for the case.
For example, identifying or proving
that the defendant is gangaffiliated
may:

o be prejudicial since the general
public holds the view that gang members
are potentially violent and their
actions are harmful to the community;
and

o result in enhanced sentences for
certain offenses, particularly in a
State such as California.

Thus, the court should take special
care not to be influenced by testimony
concerning the gang affiliation of the
youth appearing before the court when
such membership has no bearing on the
case. The key issue confronting the
judge is to determine whether the gang
membership of the youth is "relevant
and admissible on the issue of motive,
identity, and intent" (See Burrell,
1990, pp. 759764.)

Hearsay evidence. Care should be taken
not to accept "hearsay" evidence. The
reliability of evidence pertaining to
gang affiliation, for instance police
files and probation reports, should be
carefully scrutinized. Before this type
of information is entered into the
court record, the judge should ensure
that a proper foundation has been laid
to establish its validity. For example,
the judge should become familiar with
the methods and criteria for
designating youth as gang members and
incidents as gang-oriented by witnesses
(e.g., police, probation). Use of this
type of evidence must meet an
appropriate standard. (See Burrell, pp.
767-769.)

Gang motivation and conspiratorial
actions. In jury trials where the
defendant is charged with a "gang
offense", the judge should ensure that
the jury understands that the offense
must directly and clearly grow out of
gang motivation as evidenced by
circumstances related specifically to
the nature of the incident before the
court.

Conspiratorial actions of the defendant
will have to be assessed as a part of
this process. The defendant may or may
not have been directly involved in the
particular crime, for example, a drive-
by shooting. However, if the defendant
gave orders for the shooting, he or she
may be charged and possibly held
responsible for the assault or killing
that has occurred. Evidence to support
a theory of conspiracy will have to be
established.

Accuracy of testimony. The accuracy of
testimony by witnesses who may be
members of opposing gangs needs to be
meticulously examined. Gang members may
manipulate testimony either to falsely
incriminate a suspect or withhold
evidence that could lead to a
dismissal of charges. In some
instances, the aggrieved gang member or
witness may prefer to have his or her
gang "settle" the score later on the
street. Consequently, the court should
carefully assess the background and
motivation of witnesses.

Expert testimony. The credentials of
"expert witnesses" should be carefully
scrutinized by the judge hearing the
case. "Expert" testimony by criminal
justice personnel, academics, mental
health specialists, and other witnesses
should not be routinely accepted. An
expert witness should "possess special
knowledge, skill, experience, training,
or education in the subject to which
his or her testimony relates."
Additionally, the expert witness should
be able to cite a body of theoretical
and empirical work to back the validity
of his or her claims. (See Burrell, pp.
769-773.)

The burden of directly establishing the
facts of the case may fall more heavily
on the juvenile than the adult criminal
court judge since, in most States, a
jury trial is not allowed in juvenile
court. The juvenile court judge
therefore must be particularly well-
informed "to apply the appropriate
burden of proof to the facts at hand
for proper adjudication."

Sentencing

The judge should require that the
presentence investigation report
contain specific gang-related as well
as other pertinent information with
respect to the adjudicated youth.

To make an informed sentencing
decision, the juvenile and adult court
judge should require that the probation
officer provide relevant, well
documented, gang- and nongang-related
information in the presentence
investigation (PSI) report. This should
include:

o physical, psychological, and health
information including drug and alcohol
use;

o a careful appraisal of the youth's
academic, vocational, and work history;

o an assessment of the youth's social
maturity and competence;

o an overview of family circumstances,
especially the family's ability to
supervise and assist the youth to
improve his or her behavior;

o a history of the youth's delinquent
and criminal activity, particularly
gang-motivated including a review of
the seriousness of the incident(s) for
which he or she is presently in court;

o the youth's position in and level of
commitment to the gang; and

o the probation officer's assessment of
the youth's future potential for
criminal, especially violent activity.

The source and reliability of the
probation officer's information should
be assessed by the judge. PSIs that do
not meet an appropriate standard should
be rejected by the court and returned
to the probation officer for further
development. Probation officers who are
not fully knowledgeable of resources
available in the community and
correctional facilities for the youth's
rehabilitation should be formally
reprimanded and reported to the chief
probation officer.

In coming to a sentencing decision, a
number of factors including the current
offense, the youth's previous criminal
history (including gangmotivated), and
the best interests of the youth and
community should be considered.

In reaching a sentencing decision, the
judge should consider all of the
pertinent information brought before
the court including:

o the current offense and the youth's
previous criminal history;

o the recommendations of the
prosecutor, the probation officer,
public defender, or defense attorney;
and

o whether the youth is sincerely ready
to give up the gang lifestyle.

Before an informed dispositional
decision concerning a gang youth can be
made, the judge will have to answer
several key questions:

o What is the effect of the gang
offender's act on the victim?

o What can be done to get the youth out
of the gang? How quickly and by what
means?

o What are the risks posed to the
safety of the youth and the community,
if he or she returns to the gang and
the neighborhood? More specifically,
what is the current and future
likelihood that the youth will become
engaged in criminal, especially violent
activity?

o Will incarceration harden the youth's
commitment to the gang?

o Where does the youth have the best
chance of receiving the supervision and
services necessary for him or her to
adopt a law-abiding lifestyle?

In making a decision, the judge must
understand that gang membership and
gang offenses tend to be time-limited.
Most gang youth are committed members
only for a short time period, usually
between the ages of 14 and 19 years.
Some youth may benefit from detention
while others may be ready to leave the
gang, if permitted to remain in the
community with appropriate supervision
and support. To make an appropriate
decision, the judge needs to solicit
the opinion of people in the court and
the community who are knowledgeable
about the above factors. The judge
should also be familiar with the
conditions of incarceration and the
quality of supervision and services
that can be provided to the youth in
the community.

Additionally, it is important that the
response of the court to youth gang
activity be consistent and well-
balanced. Toward this end, a sentencing
protocol should be developed by the
presiding judge, in conjunction with
his or her colleagues, that specifies
general guidelines for the court
processing and sentencing of certain
gangaffiliated youth when certain types
of offenses are committed. This could
consist of encouraging judges to:

o incarcerate youth gang offenders,
particularly gang leaders and hardcore
members, who engage in serious criminal
activity of a particularly violent or
harmful nature (e.g., drive-by
shootings, drug trafficking);

o mandate intensive probation for youth
gang offenders (with regular court
review), particularly youth gang
members, who engage in serious gang
related crime (e.g., property crime,
intimidation, recruitment);

o stipulate a short sentence such as
detention (e.g., ranging from four to
no more than ten days detention) or
home confinement, limited supervision
in the community, and a community
service requirement for youth gang
offenders, particularly peripheral or
fringe youth gang members, who are
adjudicated for minor gang-related
crimes (e.g., graffiti, vandalism);

o ensure that appropriate social
services and opportunities are provided
to gang youth and their families
regardless of the disposition of the
case; and

o protect the civil rights of gang
youth, particularly against acts of
harassment, intimidation, and physical
abuse by the authorities.

This protocol should not constrain
judicial discretion in individual
cases, but provide a general blueprint
for a court sentencing approach to
youth gang activity. Punishment should
be exclusively limited to the offense
committed and the individual
circumstances of each case. However,
the nature of gang affiliation should
be taken into account in sentencing and
diversion decisions.

Placement on Probation

It is vitally important that the judge
cultivate a productive relationship
with probation officers who work in his
or her courtroom. The judge should make
a sincere effort to personally meet
with these officers and solicit their
perspective on the problem. The judge
should carefully review all
information submitted by the probation
officer pertaining to the case and
allow them access to the bench to
discuss the feasibility of particular
court orders. Moreover, the judge
should be prepared to enforce his or
her own court orders when the youth is
brought before the court on a
particular probation violation.

When a judge places a gang-affiliated
youth on probation, special
arrangements must be stipulated that
guarantee an appropriate level of
supervision and the delivery of
suitable services to the youth and his
or her parents.

Issuing Court Orders

If the judge decides to allow a gang-
affiliated youth who has committed a
serious offense to remain in the
community, certain court orders should
be issued as a part of standard
operating procedure. These include:

1. Mandating special conditions of

probation such as:

o nonassociation with specific gang

members;

o prohibition of gang dress and other

insignia;

o nonpossession of drugs or weapons;

o strict curfew;

o alcohol and drug-use testing; and

o probation officer search and seizure
authority, if necessary

Guidelines for these special conditions
are as follows:

Special gang terms. These terms,
consisting of prohibitions on dress
that signify gang affiliation, and
association with specified gang
members, should serve as a deterrent to
future gang activity.

Prohibitions on gang dress can be
rationalized on the grounds that it
intimidates the citizenry and makes the
youth a target of rival gang members.
Constraints on association with
particular individuals can be justified
on the grounds that they will reduce
opportunities for future crime.

Restrictions on association with
members of the youth's gang should be
somewhat flexible and subject to the
discretion of the probation officer.
The youth in question should be allowed
to associate with other gang members at
school provided the youth does not
engage in criminal activity. The key
consideration should be that the youth
not be allowed to "hang out" with gang
peers in unsupervised situations,
particularly those with whom he or she
had been arrested earlier. Police and
probation gang rosters will need to be
kept current and purged on a regular
basis to effectively enforce this
condition.

These special "gang terms" should be
read into the court record by the
prosecutor and the youth should sign
the sheet listing the probation
conditions. These special gang terms
may be challenged by the public
defender. In these instances, the court
should conduct special finding
investigations (e.g., hearings where
evidence is presented) to determine the
validity of applying these special
court orders in particular cases.

Curfew. This restriction can also be
used to deter probationer involvement
in criminal activity. The probationer
should be required to remain at home
between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. since peak
hours of gang violence tend to be in
the late evening and early morning
hours.

Mandatory drug testing. This should be
authorized when the youth gang
probationer is a serious offender or
has a verified history of drug use or
trafficking.

Search and seizure power. This power
should be provided to the probation
officer in instances where the youth
gang probationer has a history of
weapons or contraband possession. The
court should ensure that the youth and
his or her family are informed that the
probation officer has the authority to
search for and seize illicit items on
the youth's person, at his or her home,
and in other specified areas. Probation
officers should receive training in the
use of this procedure. Guidelines and
complaint mechanisms should be
developed to safeguard against abuse of
this authority.

2. Requiring participation by the youth
in specific treatment, educational,
employment, and community service
programs such as:

o diagnostic, counseling, and treatment
services;

o social skills and support;

o remedial, basic, or alternative
education, including literacy training;

o vocational training, job readiness,
and placement programs;

o full- and part-time employment; and

o community service and recreational
activities.

The primary goal of the court in
stipulating a caseplan should be to
improve the interpersonal, educational,
and employment skills of the youth gang
probationer. To achieve this goal the
judge needs to ensure that the
probation officer's caseplan for the
youth incorporates the following
components:

Diagnostic, counseling, and treatment
services. Youth gang probationers
should receive a complete
physical and mental health diagnostic
assessment when the judge or
probation officer suspects or
identifies any problems that might
hamper the youth's social
development, especially his or her
interpersonal capacities and learning
skills. Examples of such problems
include stuttering, physical
deformities, hearing and eyesight
problems, learning disabilities, and
substance abuse. Referral options
should be developed for these
purposes.

Social skills and support. To avoid

future gang activity and violence the

youth gang probationer should have

access to counseling and training on

the following topics when

appropriate:

o gang avoidance techniques,

o conflict resolution,

o anger management, and

o other practical problem-solving
skills. Counseling and training on
these topics can be provided by the
probation officer, school, and social
service staff. The probation officer
should also inform the youth on how he
or she can be contacted if a personal
crisis arises.

Education. The court must make a viable
education a top priority for the youth
gang probationer. The judge should
direct probation officers to meet with
the teachers and counselors of youth
gang probationers to assist in
developing a pertinent academic
program. Tutoring and remedial
education opportunities need to be
identified. Placement in an alternative
school with planned transition back
into a regular school setting may be
the best option for youth gang
probationers who are particularly
disruptive or far behind in their
studies. Some judges have extended the
probation terms of youth to ensure that
they graduate from school.

Vocational training and assistance. The
world of work can serve as a viable
alternative to the gang lifestyle. The
judge should direct the probation
officer to identify job readiness,
vocational training, and employment
resources for referral purposes. These
resources are particularly essential in
developing a case plan for younger
youth who have limited academic ability
and interests as well as for older
youth who are ready for full-time
employment. Cooperative and
apprenticeship programs should be
sought out for youth still in school.
Government-sponsored (e.g., JPTA and
military service) and local private
sector programs may be a good starting
point for older youth.

The court should encourage probation to
closely collaborate with other
agencies, the workplace, and the
family, especially with regard to the
youth's regularly attending school and
work, appropriately handling conflicts
with his or her teachers and job
supervisor, and avoiding intimidation
of fellow students and employees.
Probation officers should also consider
placing older youth gang probationers
in second- and third-shift jobs to keep
them off the streets during periods of
peak gang activity. They should also be
sensitive to rival gang turfs in their
placement decisions.

Family assistance. Research suggests
that the gang serves as an alternative
social institution to a weak family
structure, especially when the youth is
also failing in school. If appropriate
and possible, the judge should direct
the probation officer to broker
services to the parent(s) or other
significant family members to improve
the youth's chances for successful
social readjustment. The probation
officer needs to be especially
sensitive to the parent's or
significant other's personal problems
as they affect the youth. He should
assist them with referrals to relevant
social services including public aid,
housing, legal services, mental health
and drug treatment, and training and
employment.

The need for and intensity of these
services will vary according to each
gang probationer. In general, the
greater the level of commitment by the
youth to the criminally oriented
activities of the gang, the greater the
need for more intensive supervision and
services. A careful risk/needs
assessment should be made by the
probation officer to determine the
applicability of the caseplan
components listed in this section.

Community service and recreational
activities. Community service can be
used to hold youth accountable for
their illegal behavior by providing
restitutive options. Activities that
can provide the youth with
opportunities to develop relationships
with mentors and acquire skills (e.g.,
graffiti removal, volunteer work with
the handicapped, public housing
renovation, and community cleanup
programs) are particularly useful.
Supervised recreational activities can
also provide gang probationers with
alternatives to hanging out with the
gang.

Note: Caseplans that mandate
participation in wellstructured
activities coupled with a curfew at
night can be particularly effective.
The intent of the caseplan,
particularly with hardcore gang
members, should be to minimize the time
the youth has available to become
involved in criminal and gang-oriented
activity.

3. "Ordering" Gang Awareness and Parent
Effectiveness Training for the Youth's
Parents

In courts that have this authority,
training should be mandated in cases
where there is a clear evidence that
the parent is in need of information
about gangs and how to deal with their
child's behavior. For example, when
parents express that they are totally
unaware of the child's involvement in
youth gang activity and need to learn
more about its nature; or when the
youth is totally out of control and the
parent(s) does not know what to do.
This training should be culturally
specific to the family and
neighborhood, if possible. Parents
should be required to provide a copy of
their graduation certificate to the
court. However, it is unclear at this
time whether use of contempt of court
powers to enforce these types of orders
is constitutional.

When the juvenile's family situation is
totally destabilized, alternative
arrangements need to be made to place
the youth in an environment that will
allow him or her to adopt conventional
norms and behavior. Assignment to a
setting that provides special
supervisory arrangements (e.g.,
residential treatment facility) may be
necessary if the youth is deemed
uncontrollable.

Arrangements should be developed
whereby clear expectations are
communicated to the youth gang
probationer and his or her family, and
swift, consistent enforcement of
consequences is carried out when the
youth violates a court order.

Use of Supervisory Mechanisms

The court should impress upon the youth
gang probationer and his or her family
that the court has the means to detect
and the will to enforce violations of
court orders. Effective followup
includes adequate supervision and
provision of resources, delineation of
clear, viable rules for the youth to
comply with, and the administration of
swift, fair justice when they are
violated. To ensure that these
conditions are met, the judge may find
the following options useful:

Intensive probation. This usually
involves vertical case management
whereby each case is assigned
exclusively to a probation officer who
assumes responsibility for the case
from intake to termination. Frequent
contacts with the hardcore youth gang
probationer (at least 1-3 times per
day) and collaterals are mandated at
home, school, and work. Because of
resource constraints, this option
should be utilized for only a small
percentage of cases, possibly in
conjunction with electronic
supervision. This type of supervision,
in lieu of placement in the
institution, may prove to be both
promising and cost effective.

Regular court review. This consists of
having youth gang members appear before
the same judge, usually monthly or
bimonthly, to review whether they are
in compliance with their court orders.
Special checks of adherence to court
orders pertaining to school, work, the
home and other matters are made by
court and probation personnel. Items to
be reviewed can include attendance,
conduct, grades, curfew,
nonassociation, and compliance with
drug testing.

Bringing gang probationers before the
court as a group, all at the same time,
can serve as a good deterrent against
probation violations. When other gang
probationers actually see a judge
enforce consequences on a probation
violation, word will spread that the
court is serious about what it is
mandating.

Periodically, the youth's parents,
teachers, and significant others should
appear before the judge to comment on
whether the youth is making progress
and avoiding delinquent gang activity.
Additionally, the court review process
can be utilized to assess the level and
quality of services and social support
being delivered to the youth and his or
her family, and to put pressure on
particular agencies if they are deemed
to be inadequate.

Deferred sentencing and alternative
sentencing provisions. Deferred
sentencing entails delaying the
disposition of the case pending a
review of the youth's progress in
making a satisfactory social
adjustment. This procedure, subject to
certain procedural safeguards, may
provide a powerful incentive for the
youth to reform his or her ways. It may
allow the court to avoid incarcerating
younger youth who believe they can
develop a "rep" or enhance their
standing in the eyes of their gang
peers by going to jail. The judge may
want to present an opportunity for the
probation officer to establish rapport
with the youth by stating his or her
preference for a harsher sentence, but
acceding to the probation officer's
recommendation that the court provide
the youth with the opportunity to
demonstrate sincerity in changing his
or her behavior.

When gang youth are incarcerated the
judge can also provide incentives for
good behavior by informing the youth
that his or her term will be reduced by
a certain amount of time (e.g., waiving
the last 30 days) if he or she makes a
good faith effort to reform.

Appointing guardians ad litem. Judges
should consider appointing guardians ad
litem to oversee the progress of gang
youth when these functions cannot be
carried out by the parent(s) for
various reasons. Guardians ad litem can
ensure that the youth is adhering to
his or her caseplan and receiving
pertinent services from educational
institutions and community-based
service agencies. These guardians
should be trained on how to deal with
inner-city kids and have some knowledge
about the communities in which these
youth reside. Minority attorneys should
be encouraged to take these roles.

Assuming jurisdiction of the child. In
certain instances where the gang youth
is deemed uncontrollable and
delinquent, parents or guardians may
petition the court to assume
jurisdiction. This procedure will allow
the court to more readily enforce
consequences when the youth violates an
order of the court. The court should
advise the parents that once the child
is made a ward of the court, the court
is essentially the child's parent until
it decides otherwise. This strategy
should only be utilized in instances
when all other attempts by the family
to deal with the child's behavior have
failed. Court jurisdiction can be
terminated after the youth's situation
stabilizes.

The Judge/Probationer Relationship

Judges should demonstrate to gang youth
that he or she is sincerely interested
in their welfare and is familiar with
the specifics of their background. The
judge can demonstrate his or her
interest by directing probation to
provide appropriate services to the
youth and his or her parent (e.g.,
psychiatric, physical, dental
examinations, tatoo removal, provision
of eye glasses, etc.). The judge should
make a special effort to get to know
the first name and the particular
interests of each youth.

The judges should take notes during his
or her court meetings with the youth
and review them before subsequent
contacts. Youth should be praised at
every opportunity by the judge when
they have shown progress. The judge
should occasionally make the rounds at
juvenile hall to compliment youth on
their achievements and reprimand them
for negative behavior when appropriate.
Court review can be conducted at these
facilities. Special attention should be
paid to gang leaders by way of regular
reports from probation.

Judges should show respect for and
display sensitivity toward gang youth.
Moreover, they should always follow
through on what they say they are going
to do.

Handling Probation Violations

Judges should be ready to enforce their
court orders. Consequences for
violations of probation should be
imposed immediately. In reviewing
violations of probation, the court
needs to be sensitive to the fact that
families are sometimes overwhelmed with
the difficulties of setting up
appointments, transportation, and child-
care arrangements to comply with court-
ordered services. Thus, the court
should ensure that noncompliance by the
probationer is not a function of
poverty or an inability to navigate the
bureaucracy.

The issue of what penalties to impose
is often problematic. Generally, in
cases of minor repeat violations,
sanctions of increasing severity should
be applied. Particular care should be
taken not to revoke the probation of a
youth because of a minor technical
violation, especially if it results in
his or her placement in a correctional
facility where his or her gang
lifestyle may become further
entrenched. Probationers who clearly
demonstrate that they are a threat to
the community and themselves as
evidenced by continued criminal,
especially violent, behavior should
have their probation revoked and be
removed immediately.

Placement Within a Correctional
Institution

When sentencing a gang-affiliated youth
to a correctional institution, the
judge must exercise
care to ensure that the youth is placed
in a protected and secure environment
that reduces gangrelated opportunities
and provides viable competency-building
activities.

Judges need to be knowledgeable about
the "environment" of specific
correctional institutions where gang-
affiliated youth are being considered
for placement. Certain youth could be
placed in danger because of their
physical demeanor or gang affiliation.
Probation, parole officers, and
correctional staff may be good sources
of information on this topic. Arranged
and unannounced visits by judges to
these correctional institutions should
also be a part of the information-
gathering process.

Judges in jurisdictions where the gang
problem is just "emerging" should take
special care not to place gang youth in
"chronic" gang problem settings where
gang identity and lifestyles will
become further entrenched and
sophisticated. Judges should also
realize that youth who do not receive
appropriate remedial education,
vocational training, social skill
development, and drug treatment
services in the institution are likely
to maintain their gang affiliation and
gang-motivated criminal behavior when
they return to the community.

Summary

Judges should be aware of and consider
the gangrelated aspects of cases, but
not allow gang membership or the
designation of the incident as gang-
oriented to serve as the primary basis
for making certification or detention
and release decisions. Evidence that
identifies the youth as a gang member
and the incident as gang-oriented
should be carefully screened. Judges
should also take special care to
examine the methods and criteria used
to ensure the validity of gang evidence
derived from data information systems.

A well-developed presentence
investigation (PSI) can serve as a
useful tool for judges to make an
informed sentencing decision regarding
youth gang members. Beyond the regular
information contained in a PSI, the
report should contain information on
the youth's gang activity, the youth's
position and level of involvement in
the gang, and the gang's current state
of criminal activity. Certain court
orders should be made as a part of
standard operating procedure when a
youth gang member is placed on
probation. These include: 1) mandating
special conditions of probation; 2)
requiring participation of the youth in
specific educational, employment, and
community service programs; and 3)
recommending gang awareness and
parental effectiveness training for the
youth's parents.

Several components should be
incorporated into the case-plans of
youth gang probationers: diagnostic,
counseling, and treatment services;
social skills training and support;
youth participation in educational,
vocational training, employment, and
recreational opportunities; and
provision of assistance to family
members or significant others.

To adequately supervise the youth gang
probationer, the court may have to
utilize several strategies. These can
include the use of special gang-related
probation conditions, curfew
restrictions, and mandatory drug
testing. In special cases, the
probation officer may require search
and seizure authority and placement of
the youth on home detention and
electronic surveillance. Additionally,
the use of intensive probation, regular
court review, deferred or alternative
sentencing provisions, and guardians ad
litem may also be effective. In special
instances, the court may have to assume
jurisdiction of the child.

The court's approach must be sensitive
to specific gang-related issues and the
particular characteristics of each
jurisdiction.

Issues related to gang membership and
gang motivation may have to be explored
by the judge.

Evidence and testimony should be
screened by the judge for pertinence
and accuracy.

The court should determine whether gang-
related information is collected
systematically to ensure that evidence
brought before the court is valid.

Certification of the gang youth to
adult court results in a loss of
juvenile status and access to viable
opportunities for rehabilitation.

Available information should be
solicited.

Home detention or arrest may be a
viable option.

Interference by gang members in the
processing of court cases must be
detected and suppressed.

Assessing the validity and
applicability of gang evidence should
be a top priority for the judge.

The judge should be familiar with the
methods of collecting and classifying
gang information.

The motivational and conspiratorial
characteristics of the incident must be
carefully scrutinized by the judge.

Gang members may attempt to manipulate
testimony for their own ends.

Expert witnesses should possess
appropriate credentials.

The probation officer should be
expected to provide certain types of
gang-related information to the court.

The judge should set high standards for
probation staff.

The judges should take the special
circumstances of each case into account
when making a sentencing decision.
A sentencing protocol may need to be
developed to ensure a consistent court
response.

Judges should strive to develop a close
working relationship with probation
officers.

Certain court orders should be mandated
for youth as a part of standard
operating procedure.

Specific services and programs should
be mandated for the youth.

Diagnostic assessments and special
treatment of certain problems are
important.

Social skills training to avoid gang
involvement should be provided.

Developing a viable educational program
for youth should be a top priority.

Employment can serve as an alternative
to the gang.

Providing assistance to the youth's
family should be a part of the case
plan.

Community service activities that hold
youth accountable can be particularly
effective.

Parent participation in gang awareness
and parental effectiveness training
should be mandated in particular
instances.

Certain mechanisms will have to be
implemented to adequately supervise
gang youth.

The judges should exhibit a sincere
interest in the youth's welfare.

The positive achievements of gang youth
should be recognized at every
opportunity.

Sanctions for probation violations
should be swiftly implemented.

Judges should take special care in

making decisions related to

correctional placement.

A strategy of differential placement

may be useful. ------------------------

------

CHAPTER 5: COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION

o Interagency Coordination
o Managing Partnership Relations
o Interagency Coalitions with
Community Mobilizations
o Summary

Because of their legal and civic
stature, it is imperative that judges
participate in activities designed to
mobilize the community to address the
youth gang problem.

Interagency Coordination

Close interagency coordination is at
the heart of an effective approach to
the youth gang problem. Because the
judges are highly respected and
influential community leaders they can
be important participants in community
and interagency initiatives to address
the youth gang problem. The presiding
court judge or his or her designated
colleague should play a proactive role
with other agency or task force members
to establish cooperative interagency
relationships and a consistent
community approach. Special care should
be taken to avoid conflicts of interest
and maintain the objective role of the
court in this process.

In emerging problem contexts,
interagency coordination should be
relatively informal with the court
concentrating on encouraging agencies
to identify and target gang youth for
closer supervision and improved
outreach services. In chronic contexts,
structures of coordination should be
more elaborate and formal (e.g., task
forces, joint programming, memoranda of
understanding) with greater emphasis on
advocacy and resource development.

A viable plan of cooperation details
activities that the participant
agencies can carry out in relation to
each other which help them to better
fulfill their organizational missions.
Persistence, sensitivity to each
other's organizational perspective, and
a great deal of patience may be
necessary to establish and maintain
mutually beneficial relationships.

Managing Partnership Relations

Listed below are the actors whom the
court will have to cultivate to develop
an effective community network to
address the gang problem. Potential
interagency issues and activities are
identified:

Police

o Protect the civil rights of gang-
affiliated youth.

o Ensure that probation conditions of
gang youth are provided to the police
in a timely fashion.

o Provide accurate gang-related
information to the court.

o Refer gang-prone and gang-affiliated
youth to prevention and early
intervention programs.

The judge needs to be particularly
attuned to how police are treating gang
youth on the street. The judge should
make certain that court orders are
immediately communicated to police and
encourage police officers to report
violations of them to the court through
probation. Police should provide
accurate gang-related information to
the court which is systematically
collected and meets the standard
necessary to qualify as valid evidence.
Police should be requested to refer
gang-affiliated and gang-prone youth to
pertinent social service programs,
especially as a part of the station
adjustment process. The court, in
conjunction with the police and other
key actors, should establish criteria
for youth referral, select appropriate
programs, and set up a tracking
mechanism to ensure that police make
referrals and the designated agencies
provide services to these youth. Judges
should also occasionally ride along
with the police to solicit their
perspective on the problem and to see
how they are dealing with it.

Prosecutor

o Provide all pertinent evidence
bearing on the case to the court.

o Establish effective witness
protection arrangements.

o Develop a quick prosecution track for
probation violators.

o Consult regarding dispositional
recommendations and orders.

Prosecutors must take special care not
to bring frivolous cases before the
court. Evidence that may exonerate the
youth should be brought immediately to
the judge's attention. The prosecutor
needs to develop viable witness
protection arrangements and a quick
prosecution track for probation
violators to enhance the functioning of
the court in gangrelated cases (See
Genelin, 1988.) The judge should allow
the prosecutor free access to the bench
to discuss dispositional
recommendations and orders, but only
when defense counsel is present. The
judge should also encourage prosecutors
to become familiar with services
available in the community and
correctional institutions for gang
youth, so prosecutors can make informed
recommendations in the best interests
of the youth and society.

Public Defender/Defense Attorney

o Assure a fair trial by admissible
evidence.

o Consult regarding dispositional
orders and caseplans.

Public defenders should do everything
in their power to effectively defend
their client. Defense counsel should
ensure that any reference to gang
affiliation is based upon reliable,
admissible evidence. Counsel should
challenge the admission of unreliable,
irrelevant, or unduly prejudicial
evidence. If their client is convicted,
they should then work actively with the
court, the prosecutor, and probation to
develop an appropriate dispositional
caseplan. Toward this end, public
defenders should be encouraged to visit
community agencies and correctional
institutions to educate themselves
on the rehabilitative options available
to gang youth.

Probation

o Provide accurate gang-related
information to the court.

o Consult regarding dispositional
orders.

o Apply and appropriately enforce
specific conditions of probation for
youth gang members.

o Provide the supportive services
needed to maximize the youth's chances
of success on probation.

o Swiftly process probation violations.

High standards should be set for the
working relationship between judges and
probation officers. This relationship
should be interactive and mutually
supportive in developing dispositional
orders for gang youth. Judges should
readily respond to requests by the
probation officer for hearings and
issue court orders that will allow him
or her to effectively suppress youth
gang activity and provide pertinent
services to gang youth and their
parents. Probation should provide
reliable gang information on
adjudicated youth to the court based
upon sound data collection procedures.
The court should establish mechanisms
to conduct regular review of gang
probationer cases to assist probation
with its supervisory function and
enforce consequences when orders are
violated.

Detention & Corrections

o Advocate for the delivery of
pertinent services to gang youth when
they are confined to secure facilities.

Clean, safe facilities should be
provided by detention and correctional
facilities when a gang youth is placed
in confinement. Youth should be
sufficiently fed and receive
appropriate services and a proper
education. Intensive remedial education
programs, training in the skilled
trades, and substance abuse treatment
should be a part of the service mix.
When arrangements are such that youth
are being warehoused and not receiving
services that will provide for their
successful reintegration into the
community, it is imperative that the
court become involved in policy
initiatives designed to change the
situation.

Schools

o Support the school in their efforts
to create special programs targeted on
gang-affiliated and gang-prone youth.

o Advocate that school officials
reinstate difficult gang youth
including probationers in school and
provide them with an appropriate
educational program.

o Consult or issue court orders to
clarify issues of juvenile
confidentiality to improve and
safeguard the interagency sharing of
gang-related information.

o Serve on advisory committees.

o Share gang-related and other
probationer information under
appropriate conditions.

Judges should make education for gang
youth its number one priority by
supporting the development of tutoring,
truancy, prevention, and alternative
education programs. School graduation
by the youth should be considered the
primary indicator of success. Schools
should be urged to establish prevention
programs targeted at high-risk youth
between the ages of 11-14 who meet
criteria for gang-prone behavior.
Outreach truancy programs can also have
a significant impact on reducing the
rates of daytime crime. Special support
should be given to programs that
recognize gang and other problem youth
for their positive achievements.

The court should encourage the school
system to conduct due process hearings
in all of these cases to protect
against youth from being "pushed out."
The school system should notify court
or probation personnel of youth who are
suspended or expelled from school to
provide for proper followup. All
students who are suspended or expelled
should be provided with alternative
educational arrangements and
mainstreamed back into regular classes
as soon as possible. Additionally, when
gang probationers are transferred to
other schools, the court should be
notified so they can be effectively
monitored.

Judges should take an active role in
facilitating the exchange of gang-
related information between the schools
and other agencies by clarifying legal
issues concerning juvenile
confidentiality. Judges should also
serve on advisory committees to support
school efforts to mitigate gang-related
problems. Finally, they should
regularly invite student groups into
the courtroom to educate them about the
negative consequences of gang
involvement and criminal activity in
general.

Community-based Youth Agencies (CBYA's)

o Request the provision of appropriate
services to gang-affiliated youth
including probationers and their
families.

o Mandate the participation of gang
youth and their parents in CBYA
services.

o Assist CBYA's in their efforts to
create special programs targeted on
gang-affiliated and gang-prone youth.

o Serve on CBYA boards.

o Share selective information about
gang probationers.

Many youth agencies shy away from
delivering services to gang youth
because they are deemed a "difficult
population." Judges should identify
community programs that are willing and
able to provide gang youth and their
parents with pertinent social services.
It is important that the court
establish arrangements where gang youth
and their parents are referred to
appropriate services the first time
they come into contact with the system.
(See Police above.) Gang awareness,
parental effectiveness, and community
restitution programs (e.g., graffiti
clean-up) should be a part of this
service mix. Judges should agree to
serve on CBYA boards and become
involved in initiatives to develop
programming for problem youth.
Additionally, judges should participate
with CBYA's in establishing guidelines
that allow CBYA staff to share valuable
information (e.g., social history) with
the court and other criminal justice
authorities while protecting client
confidentiality.

Grassroots Organizations (GO's) &
Churches

o Encourage the formation of parent
support group.

o Persuade grassroots organizations and
churches to provide gang-affiliated
youth including probationers with
pertinent services and activities.

No approach to youth gang activity will
be successful without the grassroots
participation of citizens and
organizations situated in the affected
community. Judges should encourage
parents of gangaffiliated and gang-
prone youth to form mutual support
groups and cooperate with the
authorities in gang crime prevention
activities. As a part of this process,
judges should encourage grassroots
organizations and churches to provide
supervision and services to problem
youth within their communities.

Local Business & Industry

o Advocate that local businesses
provide training and employment to gang
youth including probationers.

The provision of employment training
and jobs to gang youth is integral to a
successful approach to gang activity.
It not only provides the youth with an
excuse to leave the gang, but also can
serve as an effective crime prevention
strategy by keeping gang youth occupied
during times of peak gang activity
(i.e., second and third shift). Judges
should actively solicit local business
and industry to hire gang youth and
support publicly funded initiatives
such as the Conservation and Job Corps.

Interagency Coalitions & Community
Mobilization

On a broader scale, the presiding court
judge can support the establishment of
interagency coalitions and encourage
his or her colleagues to participate
in community education campaigns
designed to promote a balanced
community response to the problem. In
this public role, judges should be
persistent and attend meetings
regularly. Key activities should
include:

Advocating for problem recognition. In
emerging problem contexts, the
presiding court judge may have to take
an active role in helping the community
to recognize and focus resources on the
youth gang problem. In situations where
denial of the problem exists, the judge
should encourage authorities (e.g.,
police, schools) to recognize the
problem. Special care should be taken
to not exaggerate the problem in the
process.

Developing a definitional and policy
consensus. One of the first items on
the coalition's agenda should be to
establish a definitional consensus on
key gang terms -- gang, gang member,
and gang incident -- to ensure that
resources are well-targeted on the
problem and used efficiently. As
mentioned earlier, this is also
important to ensure that evidence
brought before the court adheres to
certain standards. Disagreements as to
definitions will invariably arise.
Attempts should be made to move the
group toward some type of consensus in
a way that does not alienate coalition
members. General policy consensus by
criminal justice and community actors
is vital to properly coordinate
programs and ensure that the approach
is consistent across agencies.

Conducting community education
campaigns. The court, in conjunction
with coalition members, should
participate in gang education campaigns
to mobilize the community. The primary
objective of these efforts should be to
educate parents, religious leaders,
school personnel, parent/teacher
organizations, landlords, merchants,
and business and civic leaders in gang-
awareness techniques and strategies to
combat gang activities. Judges should
identify opportunities to speak to
community and citizen groups about the
problem. Finally, judges should
actively attempt to inform school and
youth groups about the issue by
inviting them into the courtroom and
allowing them to witness the
functioning of the court in relation to
it.

Supporting resource development and
advocacy initiatives. By participating
on the boards of public and nonprofit
agencies and foundations, judges can
lend their expertise and influence to
initiatives concerned with youth and
gang-related problems. A primary
concern should be support for resource
development efforts that can fill
existing service gaps for this target
group.

Of special importance are advocacy
initiatives to fund social support and
opportunity provision programs for gang
youth. Further, coalitional advocacy
efforts should be undertaken at the
local level with chambers of commerce,
businessmen's groups, JTPA councils,
and politicians to create employment
programs and jobs for older gang youth.
Creative use of the media can also help
build
community support for these
initiatives.

Through their professional associations
judges can also advocate the adoption
of legislation that provide effective
suppression as well as meaningful
rehabilitation measures targeted toward
gang members and gang-prone youth.

Developing and assessing proposed gang-
related policies and legislation.
Judges should offer their expertise and
influence on policy and legislative
measures proposed by criminal justice
and community-based agencies that bear
on the gang issue. Specifically, they
can assess the potential constitutional
viability of the proposed measures and
determine whether they are "too vague"
to be adequately enforced. Gang-related
concepts should be clearly defined so
they can be operationalized. Issues
related to due process, "constitutional
overbreadth" and guarantees on the
constitutionally protected freedoms of
expression and association also need to
be considered. (For a detailed
discussion of this issue, see Burrell,
pp. 774778.) Judges should be
particularly careful to avoid conflicts
of interest when engaging in these
activities.

Using court orders to effect
organizational change. Judges can
facilitate interagency cooperation on
the issue by using court orders to
improve the exchange of information
between agencies and services delivered
to gang youth. Court orders can be
written that clarify issues related to
juvenile confidentiality and the
interagency exchange of information.
Judges can also use court orders to
mandate the provision of adequate care
and services to gang youth by publicly
funded institutions (e.g., probation,
juvenile detention, corrections) when
they are found to be deficient.

Summary

To improve interagency coordination and
cooperation with respect to the gang
issue, the court and other agencies
must identify mutually beneficial
activities that fulfill organizational
mission objectives. Several reciprocal
activities beneficial to the court and
other criminal justice organizations
including the police, prosecutor,
public defender, probation, detention,
corrections, and parole can be
specified. These include the sharing of
gang-related information, jointly
developing caseplan and dispositional
recommendations, and providing gang-
related training. The court can also
carry out a number of interagency
activities with other organizations
such as schools, community- based youth
agencies, grassroots organizations,
churches, business, and industry. These
include joint monitoring of probationer
behavior, training on gang-related
topics, the provision of pertinent
services and opportunities for gang
youth, and advocacy for additional
resources.

Judges should also participate in
interagency coalitions formed to
develop a community
mobilization agenda. Potential
collaborative activities could involve:
1) advocating for recognition of the
gang problem if denial is present; 2)
developing a definitional and policy
consensus with respect to the issue; 3)
conducting community education
campaigns; 4) supporting resource
development and advocacy initiatives;
and 5) assessing proposed gang-related
policies and legislation to the extent
such activity does not pose a conflict
of interest.

Interagency coordination allows
agencies to combine resources and
develop an integrated approach.

The court must proactively promote
partner relationships.

Work with the police to develop a
balanced response to the problem.

Develop beneficial patterns of
interaction with prosecutors.

Encourage defense counsel to cooperate
with the court on dispositional
matters.

Establish a mutually beneficial working
relationship with probation.

Require detention and corrections to
provide gang youth with viable
rehabilitative opportunities.

Establish a close relationship with the
schools to support their efforts to
address school-related gang problems.

Promote the provision of pertinent
services to gang youth by community-
based youth agencies.

Request GO's and churches to actively
confront the youth gang problem.

Advocate for employment training and
jobs.

Develop an integrated approach that
mobilizes the community.

Advocate for problem recognition and
efficient targeting of resources.

Establish a consensus on what
constitutes a gang, gang member, and
gang incident.

Cultivate efforts to educate the
community about the youth gang problem.

Advocate for program funding at the
legislative and local levels.

Provide legal guidance on gang-related
legislative and policy measures.

Use court orders to improve the
exchange of gangrelated information and
to hold agencies accountable for
delivering appropriate services.

------------------------------

CHAPTER 6: JUDICIAL SELECTION,
TRAINING, AND EDUCATION

o Screening and Selection
o Orientation and Training
o Summary

Judges should proactively seek out
training and educational opportunities
related to the youth gang issue.

Jurisdictions vary across the country
with regard to how their juvenile court
judges are selected. In some
jurisdictions, judges are elected,
while in others they are appointed by
the presiding judge. In jurisdictions
where judges are appointed, selecting
appropriate staff and providing them
with pertinent training are vital to an
effective court approach to youth gang
activity. Tasks include:

Screening and Selection

Promising candidates for the juvenile
court bench in jurisdictions
experiencing serious gang activity
should possess some of the following
characteristics:

o a long-term concern for the social
development of youth including a
commitment to the rehabilitation of
minors;

o some understanding of the dynamics of
gang activity;

o a familiarity with gang-affected
neighborhoods and social service
networks within the jurisdiction;

o a good sense of the importance of
balancing strategies of suppression and
close supervision with the provision of
educational and employment
opportunities to gang youth processed
by the court; and

o a commitment to a community-oriented
approach by the court as evidenced by a
willingness to give public talks, visit
community and correctional facilities,
participate on task forces, and serve
on nonprofit and foundation boards.

The candidate should view the juvenile
court as a place "where someone can
make a difference" and be willing to
"go above and beyond the call of duty"
to assist problem youth. If turnover of
judges is a problem within the juvenile
court, the presiding court judge may
want to advocate for the adoption of
minimum term appointments (e.g., five-
year terms). Judges who want to stay in
the juvenile court and in the same
jurisdiction should be allowed to do
so.

Orientation and Training

Given the limited knowledge that most
judges and
court personnel have about the nature
and scope of gang activity, it is
imperative that training and education
on this topic be offered to them.

Basic topics to be covered in a
preliminary orientation plan include:

o a description of the court's approach
to youth gang activity particularly
regarding its mission, goals,
strategies, and courtroom policies and
procedures;

o an overview of the court's
information systems and recordkeeping
requirements with respect to
adjudicated youth gang members; and

o a review of the court's relationship
with other agencies regarding gang
youth (e.g., schools, probation)
concerning information-sharing,
supervision, and delivery of services.

Ideally, there should be a standard
gang curriculum available to newly
appointed judges in both emerging and
chronic gang problem jurisdictions.
Specific gang-related training topics
that should be covered include:

o pertinent gang-related legislation;

o characteristics of local street and
prison gangs including their sociology,
history, and patterns of organization
and behavior;

o patterns of local gang criminality
including intergang violence, drug use,
drug trafficking, and property crime
including its impact on the community;

o an overview of gang member profiles

(e.g., peripheral, regular, hardcore);

o courtroom security;

o procedures for dealing with witness

intimidation; o use of special gang-

related court orders;

o techniques for distinguishing between
gang and nongang crime;

o types of community resources
available for gang youth and their
families; and

o use of court orders to develop social
and skill competencies within gang
youth and their families;

o use of courtroom tactics to foster
greater involvement of parents with
their gang-affiliated children; and

o community resource development and
mobilization techniques.

The presiding judge, particularly in
emerging gang problem contexts, may
have to recruit expert facilitators to
conduct these training sessions.
This may entail bringing in experts of
different backgrounds -- police,
prosecutors, probation officers, and
academics -- from other jurisdictions.
A good starting point may be to call a
police or probation gang unit in a
nearby metropolitan city with
substantial experience in dealing with
gangs. Contacting the National Center
for State and Local Law Enforcement
Training of the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center located in Glynco,
Georgia or the National Judicial
College located in Reno, Nevada may
also yield results.

Certain judges in the juvenile or adult
court who have experience in gang cases
should also be utilized. They can make
newly appointed judges aware of
techniques and procedures that they
have effectively utilized in court, and
of local community programs that have
been effective in both rehabilitating
problem youth and protecting the
community.

Finally, new judicial appointees should
be encouraged to tour gang communities
and agencies that deal with gang youth
to become more familiar with the
problem and services available.

Summary

In jurisdictions where judges are
appointed, candidates designated to
serve in areas experiencing serious
gang activity should have a
demonstrated commitment to the
rehabilitation of minors, an awareness
of the dynamics of gang behavior,
knowledge of the affected
neighborhood(s) and social services
available, and a willingness to become
involved in community activities. Once
appointed, the judge should be oriented
to the operations of the court's
approach to youth gang activity; its
policies, procedures, and recordkeeping
requirements with respect to
adjudicated youth gang members; and the
court's interorganizational
relationships. Training topics should
include pertinent gang-related
legislation, patterns and
characteristics of gang crime and local
gangs, courtroom security, use of court
orders with respect to gang youth, and
resources available in the community.

Specific criteria should be used to
screen candidates.

Orientation and training should
adequately prepare judges and court
personnel for their duties.

Training on specific gang-related
topics should be provided.

------------------------------

CHAPTER 7: RESEARCH AND EVALUATION

o Process Indicators
o Outcome Indicators o Summary

Research and evaluation will be

necessary to develop a promising court

approach to the youth gang problem.

Both process and outcome evaluation

should be conducted. Process

indicators provide information

primarily related to implementation of

court functions. Outcome indicators

provide information related to the

results of the court activities on

youth gang members who are processed

by the court.

Process Indicators

Process indicators should focus on: 1.

Assessment of court proceedings:

o pertinence and quality of gang-
related evidence accepted from police,
prosecution, probation, the public
defender, and others by the court.

2. Review of juvenile court pattern of
youth gang member certifications to
adult court:

o adherence of judges to pertinent case
law (e.g., Kent) and legislation,

o analysis of individual cases and
development of a summary profile of
certified cases, and

o assessment of whether certification
decisions are based on rehabilitative
potential or desire to punish.

3. Assessment of detention and release
decisions:

o review of youth gang member
detentions (e.g., charges) and
development of a summary profile, and

o analysis of youth gang member
involvement in criminal violations or
incidents (as a perpetrator or victim)
when released on bail or to the custody
of their parents.

4. Review of court hearing safeguards
and procedures:

o assessment of courtroom security
procedures, and

o review of instances of witness
intimidation and gang-oriented
courtroom disruptions, if any.

5. Quality of gang-related evidence:

o evaluation of the use of expert
witnesses in the court, and

o evaluation of the use and quality of
gang-related evidence submitted to the
court.

6. Review of sentencing decisions:

o quality of presentence investigation
reports,

o analysis of sentencing decisions for
gang youth, and

o adherence of judges to standard
sentencing guidelines for gang youth,
if in existence.

7. Assessment of placements on
probation:

o quality of probation officer case
reports and caseplan proposals,

o extent to which probation officers
enforce probation conditions (urine
testing, patrols in field, home visits,
collateral contacts, etc.),

o extent to which probation officers
implement their caseplans (re: remedial
education, family support, vocational
training, job placement),

o use of supervisory mechanisms (e.g.,
intensive probation, regular court
review, delayed sentencing, assuming
custody), and

o evaluation of technical violation
process.

8. Assessment of placements within
correctional institutions:

o analysis of correctional placement
decisions involving youth gang members
and a summary profile of placements,
and

o assessment of the "rehabilitative
environment" within correctional
institutions (e.g., services delivered
to youth, gang density).

9. Assessment of community mobilization
efforts by judges:

o joint or interagency activities
initiated by judges related to the gang
issue,

o participation by the judge or his or
her representative on interagency task
forces and attendance at meetings, and

o public talks on the issue.

10. Court assessment:

o performance reviews of judges by
colleagues and others who work in his
or her courtroom (e.g., prosecutors,
defense attorneys, probation),

o judicial turnover rates, and

o staff training and developmental
activities.

An analysis of information related to
these ten categories should provide the
court with a good idea of how well the
court's approach to youth gang activity
is being implemented. Periodic reports
should be useful in monitoring court
activity and making appropriate
adjustments.

Outcome Indicators

Outcome indicators should focus on:

1. Results of justice system processing
of youth gang members:

o results of court screening and
transfer decisions, and

o outcomes of probation supervision,
particularly with regard to probation
dismissal and revocation rates.

2. The short- and long-term effects of
diversion, probation, and incarceration
on youth gang members who come before
the court:

o rearrest and recidivism rates
including a summary of crimes
committed, gang- and nongang-related;

o the nature and extent of the youth
gang members relationship with the gang
and gang members during and after
diversion, probation, and
incarceration;

o school performance (e.g., attendance,
grades, conduct); and

o employment performance.

Several key questions should be asked
concerning the relationship between
process and outcome indicators for
adjudicated youth gang members.
Specifically: How effective are
different court actions in reducing
recidivism? Do similar gang youth who
are diverted or assigned to regular
probation, intensive probation, and
incarceration have different recidivism
rates? Are certain strategies,
especially community mobilization
efforts by judges, lowering gang crime
rates in targeted communities?
Independent researchers should be
employed periodically to determine the
effectiveness of the court's approach
to youth gang activity.

Summary

Research and evaluation are necessary
to measure the implementation and
results of the recommended approach to
gang activity. Process indicators
should be developed that measure the
extent to which the approach is
implemented. These indicators should
collect and assess information
regarding: 1) the quality of gang-
related evidence accepted in court; 2)
certifications of youth gang members to
adult court; 3) detention and release
decisions; 4) court safety procedures;
5) probation and correctional
placements; 6) community mobilization
efforts by judges; and 7) other
information such as judicial turnover
rates and staff training activities.
Outcome measures should be developed to
measure the effects or results of the
program. These indicators should
evaluate the results of court screening
and transfer decisions as well as the
outcomes of probation supervision.
Particular emphasis should be placed on
whether court actions are reducing
recidivism; youth assigned to different
dispositional tracks have different
recidivism rates; and gang crime rates
have declined in targeted communities.

Process and outcome effects have to be
determined.

How well is the court's approach to
youth gang activity being implemented?

How effective is the court's approach
to youth gang activity in controlling
the gang crime of its probationers?

------------------------------

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Burrell, Susan. 1990. "Gang Evidence:
Issues for the Criminal Defense." Santa
Clara   Law Review 30 (3) : 739-790.

Genelin, Michael and Loren Naimen.
1988. "Prosecuting Gang Homicides."
Prosecutor's Notebook. Vol. X.
California's District Attorney's
Association.

Guernsey, Carl E. 1986. Handbook for
Juvenile Court Judges. Reno, Nevada:
National Council of Juvenile and Family
Court Judges.

------------------------------

APPENDIX A

List of Program Reports from the
National Youth Gang Suppression and
Intervention Program

The following is a list of draft
reports developed by the National Youth
Gang Suppression and Intervention
Program, University of Chicago, in
cooperation with the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice.
Stage One Assessment of this research
and development program identifies
promising community and organizational
responses to the youth gang problem.
Stage Two Prototype/Model Development
focuses on developing twelve promising
prototype models to address the
problem. These models specify policies
and practices for the design and
mobilization of efforts at the
community and criminal justice levels.
Stage Three Technical Assistance
manuals provide guidelines for
implementing the models.

All reports are available in draft form
from the National Youth Gang
Information Center (NYGIC), 4301 North
Fairfax Drive, Suite 730, Arlington, VA
22203. NYGIC is OJJDP's central
dissemination point for all gang-
related information. NYGIC provides the
above reports in hardcopy and on high-
density computer disks in WordPerfect
5.1. Call NYGIC tollfree at 800-446-
GANG or 703-522-4007 locally for
assistance.

ASSESSMENT: STAGE 1

Full Reports Available:

1. Literature Review: Youth Gangs:
Problem and
Response, 1991, 357 pages. This
comprehensive literature review covers
what has been written on the youth gang
issue from a research and program
standpoint.

2. Survey of Youth Gang Problems and
Programs in 45 Cities and 6 Sites,
1990, 297 pages. This survey reports
aggregate gang or community level data
on youth gang problems and programs in
45 cities and 6 institutional sites for
the year 1987.

3. Community and Institutional
Responses to the Youth Gang Problem,
1990, 184 pages. This report consists
of case studies of how five communities
and one correctional institution
addressed youth gang problems in
promising ways.

4. Report of the Law Enforcement Youth
Gang Symposium, 1988, 152 pages. This
report describes the gang intervention
activities of fourteen police
departments located across the United
States, particularly with respect to
their attempts to reduce the gang
problem.

5. Law Enforcement Youth Gang
Definitional Conference - Transcript,
1990, 138 pages. This is a proceeding
of a conference at which gang experts
from law enforcement and academia from
Los Angeles city and county, Chicago
and New York City were brought together
in an effort to develop a uniform set
of definitions (i.e., gang, gang
member, gang incident) applicable to
street gang phenomena across the
country.

6. The Youth Gang Problem: Perceptions
of Former Youth Gang Influentials.
Transcripts of Two Symposia, 1990, 139
pages. These are the proceedings of two
symposia at which former gang
influentials -- Black and Hispanic --
describe why they joined the gang, what
activities they were involved in while
gang members, what factors caused them
to depart from the gang, and what
recommendations they had for community,
policy and agency changes.

7. Client Evaluation of Youth Gang
Services, 1990, 53 pages. This document
reports on the perceptions of current
and former youth gang members
concerning the nature and efficacy of
services provided by some of the
programs located at our field visit
sites.

8. Preventing Involvement in Youth Gang
Crime, 1990, 173 pages. This report
identifies indicators of Black and
Hispanic youth at risk of becoming gang
members in inner-city Chicago
communities with high gang crime rates.

9. Stage 1: Assessment Executive
Summary, 1990, 25 pages. This report
summarizes the findings of the
Assessment Stage of the National Youth
Gang Suppression and Intervention
Program.

MODEL DEVELOPMENT: STAGE 2

Gang Intervention Models recommend
policies and
procedures for addressing youth gang
members 12 to 24 years of age.
Strategies of suppression and
intervention are described. Issues of
prevention, although essential, are not
highlighted in these documents. The
models emphasize mobilizing community
interest and developing distinctive
institutional missions within the local
juvenile justice system. Gang
Intervention Models Available:

D0001 Executive Summary: Prototype
Models, 33
 pages.
D0002 Community Based Youth Agency, 24
pages.
D0003 Community Mobilization, 20 pages.
D0004 Corrections, 19 pages.
D0005 General Community Design, 56
pages.
D0006 Grassroots Organization, 19
pages. D0007 Judges, 15 pages.
D0008 Parole, 14 pages. D0009 Police,
21 pages. D0010 Probation, 16 pages.
D0011 Prosecution, 12 pages. D0012
Schools, 19 pages.
D0013 Youth Employment, 17 pages.

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE MANUALS: STAGE 3

Technical Assistance Manuals provide
detailed stepby-step guidelines for
implementing the models. Strategies are
designed to encourage gang-prone and
gang-involved youth to terminate
criminal activity and participate in
legitimate social, academic, and
employment pursuits. It cannot be sure
the policies and practices proposed to
reduce the youth gang crime problem are
effective until they are tested. Gang
Manuals Available:

D0014 Community Based Youth Agency, 92
pages.
D0015 Community Mobilization,
102 pages. D0016 Corrections,
84 pages.
D0017 General Community
Design, 110 pages. D0018
Grassroots Organization, 92
pages. D0019 Judges, 102
pages.
D0020 Parole, 98 pages. D0021 Police,
98 pages. D0022 Probation, 116 pages.
D0023 Prosecution, 74 pages. D0024
Schools, 150 pages.
D0025 Youth Employment, 120 pages.

------------------------------

Appendix B: GLOSSARY AND DISCUSSION OF
TERMS

There is much variation in the
definition of youth gang or its
equivalent terms depending on
particular agency, city, or region of
the country, race/ethnicity, gang
generation, and cultural factors. The
terms delinquent group, gang, and
criminal organization need to be
distinguished for policy and program
purposes to the fullest extent
possible.

1. Gang. This term generally refers to
a group or collective of persons with
a common identity whose members
interact on a fairly regular basis in
cliques or sometimes as a whole group.
The activi-
ties of the gang may be regarded as
legitimate, illegitimate, or criminal
in varying combinations.

o Street Gang. This term preferred by
law enforcement, emphasizes the
organized character of a group of
persons on the street, often engaged in
significant illegitimate or criminal
activity. The ages of members of these
street gangs vary; some street gangs
are more street-based than others. Some
authorities report arrests of street
gang members in their 30's, 40's, and
50's.

o Youth Gang. This term may refer to a
youth segment of a street gang, usually
between the ages of 12 and 24. Some
youth gang members are younger or
older. The term youth gang is often
used as equivalent to street gang, and
is somewhat preferred by community-
based agencies.

o Traditional Youth Gang. This term
refers to a youth gang comprising
mainly adolescents, juveniles, and some
young adults primarily concerned with
issues of status, prestige, and turf
protection. The youth gang may have a
name, a hangout, codes of conduct,
colors, special dress, signs, symbols,
etc. Traditional youth gangs often have
a leadership structure (implicit or
explicit), differ in degree of a gang
activities, and may persist over
several generations. Traditional youth
gangs vary by community as to
characteristics of age, gender,
race/ethnicity, scope, and nature of
delinquent or criminal activities. The
traditional youth gang contains many
types of subgroups engaged in various
delinquent, criminal, and social group
activities.

o Posse/Crew. The terms posse and crew
are sometimes equivalent to street or
youth gang. The posse or crew, more
often than the traditional youth gang,
is characterized by a commitment to
criminal gain activity, particularly
drug trafficking, rather than to status-
based conflict. It may be loosely
organized and/or connected to an adult
criminal organization. It emphasizes
employer-employee relationships and has
fewer social status-related or symbolic
interests or characteristics than the
traditional youth gang.

o Other Types of Youth "Gangs". Other
types of groups or "quasi" gangs may
include Stoners, Punk Rockers, Neo-Nazi
Skinheads, Hate Groups, Satanic Groups,
Motorcycle Gangs, Prison Gangs. They
may be similar to traditional or street
youth gangs in various ways, but have
distinctive organizational, cultural,
political, religious and institutional
lifestyles, perspectives, and biases.
They can be loosely organized or
ephemeral and engage in grouporiented
violent or criminal behavior to sustain
or defend these beliefs. They may also
be characterized by distinctive dress,
leadership structure, and concerns with
status and turf.

o Other Youth Group Considerations. It
is important to distinguish these gangs
and gang-like groups from youth or
street groups of an earlier era, which
are still present today. These groups
have
been called street clubs, youth
organizations, or social and athletic
clubs are usually less violent or
delinquent, generally contain fewer
regular members, and are not as often
regarded as delinquent youth gangs by
local residents. They serve to
socialize low-income, working-class,
sometimes first-generation youths in
transition from childhood to adulthood.
Their activities may constitute
acceptable behaviors that are
considered normal rites of passage in
the particular community.

"Copycat" gangs may be increasingly
present in some low-income and middle-
class communities, often located in
smaller cities, suburban, and rural
areas. Youth in these groups may
identify and attempt to imitate the
mannerisms and behaviors of youth gangs
in urban centers. Identification with
gang culture, in significant measure
through media influence, may be a
source of novel experience and
excitement for youth. The behavior of
such groups constitute a challenge to
authority in communities undergoing
change and where family disruption is
increasing. The activities of copycat
gangs may sometimes have serious
violent or criminal consequences.

Most of these youth gangs, however, are
ephemeral, engage in relatively minor
delinquent acts and have little if any
actual or ongoing contact with other
criminal juvenile or adult groups. The
threat these groups pose to the
community and to the social development
of their members should be carefully
assessed so that a problem is not
created or exaggerated where no, or
very little, evidence of a sustainable
or serious gang problem exists.

2. Delinquent Group. This refers to a
group or collectivity, mainly of
juveniles and/or adolescents, engaged
usually in less serious lawviolating
behavior. This law-violating behavior
is sometimes of a wider range,
particularly with respect to property
crimes, than those of youth gangs,
posses, crews, and other "quasi" gangs.
The delinquent group is usually less
organized and more ephemeral than a
youth gang. It is characterized by none
of the special characteristics of gangs
such as turf, distinctive dress,
colors, signs or symbols. The
delinquent group is the most prevalent
of all deviant youth groups in most
communities.

3. Criminal organization. This is
usually a relatively well-organized,
stable, and sophisticated clique,
group, or organization of youths and/or
adults committed primarily to
systematic, income-producing activity
of a criminal nature. Its members are
essentially employees of a criminal
business organization. The criminal
organization may at times use
intimidation and violence to achieve or
protect its economic interests. The
organization often provides employment
for current or former gang members.
Such organizations may provide illegal
services or goods to the community and
acquire rewards from local residents in
mutually acceptable and reinforcing
ways. The Loose Crew Triad and Mafia
are subtypes
of criminal organizations.

4. Gang clique, set, klika. The gang
clique and set are terms sometimes used
as equivalent to youth gang. On the
other hand, a klika on the west coast
may represent an entire cohort or age
sector of youth (e.g., 13- and 14-year-
old males) who join or are "jumped
into" a street gang. The clique in its
smaller-size connotation may signify a
"tight" grouping of two or three youths
who have similar characteristics or
criminal interests.

5. Youth Gang Member. This term can
indicate various types of members who
engage in a range of legitimate,
illegitimate, criminal, and/or violent
behaviors. Leaders and core members of
youth or street gangs are often (but
not always) more serious and frequent
offenders than are other kinds of gang
members. Arrested gang members are more
likely to become career criminals than
arrested nongang delinquents.

The following represent membership
categories of the more traditional turf-
based gang. In the course of a gang
member's career, he or she may assume
several roles:

o Gang leader. This individual makes
central or important decisions that
affect the gang's behavior. The leader
may be formally recognized as
President, King, Queen, Prince,
Ambassador, Old Gangster, or have no
title. Leadership may also be a
function shared by different members of
the group, depending on particular
situations, such as initiating a social
or athletic affair; starting or
sanctioning a gang fight; conducting a
drug transaction; or negotiating
criminal deals.

o Core or Hardcore gang member. This is
an attribution assigned, often by law
enforcement, to gang members who engage
consistently in gang violence and other
serious gang-motivated crime, e.g., a
shooter. It refers to the few gang
members who are most influential in the
development or implementation of the
gang's violent patterns of criminal
behavior.

o Regular member. This gang member
participates in the gang's criminal
activities on a consistent and frequent
basis. He or she is recognized as a
member in good standing or status.

o Associate. This term refers to a
youth who occasionally associates with
gang members on the street or elsewhere
but who neither recognizes himself nor
is usually, or fully, recognized by
others as a gang member, except
sometimes by law enforcement officials
when a gang crime is committed and the
particular youth is located nearby.

o Soldier or peon. This is a reliable
but lowstatus gang member.

o Peripheral or Fringe member. This
gang member participates periodically
and selectively in gang
events. He or she usually does not have
high status and is not regarded as a
reliable or committed gang member. The
gang member may readily leave the gang
and be excused from participation in
many of the gang's activities.
o Wannabe. This refers ordinarily to a
younger
(less frequently to an older) youth who
wants to join the gang. He or she may
be a friend or relative of a gang
member or former gang member, or
already be a member of a "tot" or a
juvenile gangrelated group. The wannabe
may be sought after to join the gang
and participate in its activities.

o Recruit. A recruit may at times be an
older youth
recruited for certain skills or talents
useful during crises, e.g., gang
fighting. He or she may be requested to
join for a limited period of time.

o Youth at risk of gang membership or
gang-prone
youth. This is a youth who is not yet a
gang member. He or she may not
explicitly aspire to gang membership,
nor be a target for gang recruitment.
However, certain social characteristics
and conditions within his or her
immediate environment make the youth
likely to become a gang member, such
as:

 he or she lives in a gang
neighborhood;
a member of his or her family is a gang
                member;
 he or she experiments with drugs;
 he or she commits delinquent acts;
 he or she is failing at school;
   he or she has certain physical or
                social
  attributes which are attractive to
the gang;
 he or she is knowledgeable about gang
lore;
   he or she occasionally flashes gang
             signs or wears
  gang colors;
   he or she is suspected by school or
                police of
  being a gang member.

These characteristics or conditions,
singly, may be insufficient to
predispose the youth to gang membership
or actually identify him or her as a
gang member. The National Youth Gang
Suppression and Intervention Program is
primarily concerned with the high-risk,
gang-prone youth or incipient gang
member who gives clear evidence of
likely or actual criminal gang
involvement.

o Floater, go-between, operator,
broker. Such a
youth or adult is ordinarily not a
member of a specific gang, but is well-
known and has high status or respect
among several gangs in the community.
He or she has certain knowledge,
talents, or resources useful to gangs,
e.g., access to other gangs, capacity
to mediate a gang fight, ability to
provide legal advice, access to weapons
or drugs.

o Veterano, Old Head, O.G. (Old
Gangster), Senior,
Advisor, Counselor. This is usually an
honorific status assigned to or taken
by a young adult who was (or was
reported to be) a gang member when he
or she was younger. These adults are
often no longer active gang members.
They may be junkies,
drug dealers, informers, racketeers,
legitimate business operators, human
service workers, a parent, or other
respected members of the community.
They sometimes attempt to influence the
group or its membership to maintain
gang tradition, increase or reduce gang
violence, or leave the gang and pursue
a legitimate (or illegitimate) adult
career. A few may participate
selectively on occasion in gang-
motivated criminal activity.

6. Group delinquency and gang crime
incidents. Not all group delinquency or
crime should be classified
automatically as a gang incident, e.g.,
purse snatching, disturbing the peace,
mob action, or group assault by nongang
members. Group delinquent acts are
often incorrectly classified as gang
motivated incidents, particularly in
emerging gang problem contexts where
the problem is just starting and
officials do not clearly recognize or
understand the distinctive character of
the problem. Authorities may initially
over-react and classify co-offending
youth as members of a gang when their
delinquent activity is neither gang
motivated nor gang-related.

o Labelling gang-motivated and gang-
related incidents. The police in
practice often employ a combination of
gang-motivated and gang-related
procedures to define gang crime
incidents. We believe that a system
should be developed to gather and
record information on gang crime which
neither exaggerates nor denies, but
accurately and meaningfully describes a
gang event. A definition should be
devised which emphasizes the gang
oriented nature of the incident, i.e.,
preferably using gang motivation
criteria, and not simply the fact that
the participant is a gang member.

The argument that the gang member is
influenced by his experience in the
gang even when he commits a nongang
crime must be balanced by two counter
arguments. Often the gang member was a
serious delinquent before he joined the
gang. Subsequent gang-related activity
should not thereby be regarded as
simply those of a gang delinquent. More
importantly, excessive reference to the
individual as a gang member simply
enhances his prestige and exaggerates
the threat of the gang or gang member
to the community.

However, since the gang member,
especially the leadership or core
member is likely to be a serious
offender, an information system should
be developed that records both gang-
motivated and gang-related crime of
certain types of offenders. Special
justice system attention should be paid
to the gang member who is a repeat
serious offender whether he commits
gang-motivated or non-gang-motivated
crime.

Due regard must be given to the fact
that not all gang members are
delinquent or criminal, and not all
delinquent or criminal gang members
will be hard-core offenders. The
complexity of the gang problem as well
as due process and civil rights require
that the individual gang youth should
be correctly identified as a criminally-
oriented gang
member. He or she should not be
subjected to excessive labelling and
punishment, which will probably
contribute neither to the protection of
the community nor to the social
development of the gang member in the
long run.

7. Social Disorganization. As used in
this manual, social disorganization
refers to a lack of integration across
the individual, family, organizations
and community. It indicates, for
example, an inability to mesh
motivations, norms, values, and
activities by the individual youth with
those of his or her family; by family
units with organizations such as the
school; by units within a particular
agency or organization; and across
organizations in a community.

At the societal and community levels,
social disorganization is often
associated with large and rapid
population movements and social changes
or disruptions, e.g., the influx of a
new minority population, the outflow of
middle-class families, and the failure
of key institutions such as schools,
law enforcement, and employers to
understand and meet the needs of a new
or changing population.

Gangs, or even certain communities, may
be regarded as coherently organized for
their particular purposes. However, the
predominant norms and values of these
gangs and communities are usually in
conflict with the legitimized norms of
the larger society. Gangs meet the
social and often economic needs of
people in ways not approved by the
dominant culture.

Variables of social disorganization may
not be related to variables of poverty,
racism, cultural conflict, and social
isolation.[1] We believe the
interaction of at least two variables,
particularly social disorganization and
poverty, creates high risks of gang
involvement.

Social disorganization may also refer
to changes that bring about excessive
stress or crises in patterns of
transition from one state or social
situation to another. These
transitional patterns may be normal,
expected, and desirable under
circumstances of stable relationships
at home and in the community. They
include the transition from: childhood
to adolescence; adolescence to young
adulthood; one level of schooling to
another; and a segregated to an
integrated school system, which may
require bussing.

Early gang involvements are likely to
occur during the transition of youth
from elementary to junior high, and
from junior high to high school in
certain neighborhoods. Social
disorganization may also be inherent in
the changing of seasons. For example,
gang activity seems often to rise in
the fall as youth begin school, just
before and after holiday breaks, and
during the late spring before summer
vacation.

1. For example, significant separation
of a housing
project from the neighborhood, or the
neighborhood from the city.