Study innovative methods for increasing parental involvement One of the most frequent recommendations to the Commission was to find ways to increase parental accountability. The Gang Crime Prevention Center is urged to study programs where continued receipt of certain forms of government aid for parents of chronically delinquent or truant children is conditioned on parental participation in parental skills training or other assistance programs. The Commission also urges review or creation of programs targeting parents of such children, even when the parents do not receive government aid. It is emphasized that any such programs are not to be predicated on a child's delinquency or truancy, but only on a parent's refusal to participate in assistance programs. It is in a community's schools where the earliest signs of criminal streetgang activity appear.
Gangs recruit children in and around schools.
Students must have an opportunity to learn and grow in school, free from gang violence, pressure and intimidation. In addition to recruitment involving physical violence and threats, which is covered by the existing compelling organization membership statute, criminal streetgangs often recruit young people to commit crimes by offering enticements, such as telephones, drugs and money. Fighting streetgangs, whether through legislation, suppression or intervention, requires an accurate picture of gang activity and gang crime. Studies, however, have revealed dozens of different definitions of streetgang among law enforcement agencies in Illinois. Once that is done, a reliable mechanism for collecting and tabulating gang-related crime must be established on a statewide basis.