Strategies for Preventing Gang Violence: A Century of Evolving Programming and Research

Abstract

AbstractGang crime has been a major concern in the United States since the beginning of the 20th century, when it began steadily spreading across the country. Of particular concern to law enforcement is gang‐perpetrated violence, which makes up the majority of violent crime in the nation. Numerous programs have been implemented over the past century in an attempt to curb this violence. In this chapter, we chronicle the evolution of gang violence intervention programming, beginning with early neighborhood mobilization, youth outreach, and social service programs and ending with more recent suppression and comprehensive programs. We discuss the empirical evidence related to each and argue that comprehensive programs, particularly those involving “pulling levers” focused deterrence strategies, are the most effective. Thereafter, we discuss the difficulties encountered when implementing comprehensive programs and argue that future comprehensive strategies would benefit from the incorporation of social network analysis and predictive analytics.