Reducing Gang Violence

In order to reduce gang violence I would implement community crime prevention programs or strategies targeting changes in community infrastructure, culture, and the physical environment. Furthermore, gang violence will be reduced by executing a diversity of approaches including neighborhood watch, community policing, urban or physical design, and comprehensive or multi-disciplinary efforts. These strategies may seek to engage residents, community and faith-based organizations, and local government agencies in addressing the factors that contribute to the community’s crime, delinquency, and disorder.
As a means of reaching out to offenders of gang violence I would administer social interventions that would involve a variety of services provided to gang members, such as remedial education, recreational activities (e. g. , softball games involving both gangs), counseling in homes and on the streets, crisis counseling, and referral to drug treatment and mental health services. Employing more community youth workers that would be responsible for reaching out, contacting, and providing a range of limited but intensive services to youth gang members.
A form of public education by providing economic and social opportunities through the access of jobs and to job training, as well as educational resources and educating the community by informing them that gang problems result from the interaction of sociological, demographic, economic, and cultural factors along with social instability and lack of economic opportunity. Having more people understand where this stems from can lead to concentrating on assessing the needs of youths and providing them with individualized support services and suppression/control by involving their families, local organizations, and their communities.

This program will be based as an extension of the Juvenile Court facilities in Salinas, CA. It will be administered through our city’s Sherriff’s office and the office of the Attorney General. It will be paid for by trying to get a cooperative agreement award from the State of California and from donations and fund raisers. The program should include local police officers, probation officers, community youth workers, church groups, boys and girls clubs, and several local residents who work as a team to understand gang structures and provide social intervention and social opportunities whenever possible.
The program should reach out to youths unable to connect with legitimate social institutions. Youths at different points in their lives need different things. Older gang members may be ready to secure a legitimate job and need training and education to do so. Younger youths at risk of becoming gang members may need alternative schools or family counseling. The program should provide individualized services for each youth based on his or her needs. This not only consists of surveillance, arrest, probation, and imprisonment to stop violent behavior, but also involves greater communication between agency service providers and control providers.
All providers jointly decide what happens to a youth when trouble arises or when it is about to. All workers need to work closely with one another and collaborate. Former gang members working as community youth workers need to be given as much respect as police officers in the program. Each group can provide important information for the program that the other may not be able to obtain. Works Cited Crime Solutions (2010). Program Profile Comprehensive Gang Model. Retrieved from http://www. crimesolutions. ov/ProgramDetails. aspx? ID=278 (OJJDP) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 2010. Best Practices to Address Community Gang Problems: OJJDP’s Comprehensive Gang Model. Second Edition. Washington, D. C. : U. S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 15 Mar. 2013. Web. Spergel, Irving A. , and Susan F. Grossman. 1997. “The Little Village Project: A Community Approach to the Gang Problem. ” Social Work 42:456–70.