Prevent Gang Violence Research Articles

Supporting Gang Violence Prevention Efforts: A Public Health Approach for Nurses

The impact of gang violence on a youth’s risk for death or injury is tremendous. Prevention of complex societal problems, such as gang violence, requires a substantial effort and commitment from many sectors and disciplines. Nurses are uniquely positioned to help lead such efforts. Understanding the public health perspective to gang violence may be an important tool for nurses attempting to prevent this problem. The public health approach has four key components: defining and monitoring the problem; identifying risk, protective, and promoting factors; developing and evaluating interventions; and dissemination. This article outlines these components, current research on gang violence, and concludes by summarizing critical challenges for nurses to consider as they contribute to public health initiatives to prevent gang violence.

Availability, Gang Violence, and Alcohol Policy: Gaining Support for Alcohol Regulation via Harm Reduction Strategies

The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between alcohol availability and gang violence. The goal of this study is to examine this relationship and the possibility that alcohol policy can prevent gang violence. Gang crimes and retail outlets were geocoded, and analyzed in conjunction with U.S. census data on race, ethnic diversity, family structure, poverty, and housing composition. A spatially aware pooled cross-sectional and time-series design was utilized. A relationship between alcohol outlet density and youth gang activity was found, as were relationships between youth gang activity and family structure, vacant housing and owner-occupied housing. Existing regulations on density of alcohol outlets may reduce or prevent gang-related violence. This possibility could give new life to policy levers that are under pressure from the alcohol industry and others in the alcohol policy arena.

Understanding and Preventing Gang Violence: Problem Analysis and Response Development in Lowell, Massachusetts

Understanding and Preventing Gang Violence: Problem Analysis and Response Development in Lowell, Massachusetts

Understanding and preventing gang violence: problem analysis and response development in Lowell, Massachusetts

Understanding and preventing gang violence: problem analysis and response development in Lowell, Massachusetts

Understanding and Preventing Gang Violence: Problem Analysis and Response Development in Lowell, Massachusetts

Gang violence presents a major challenge to police departments in the United States. Problem-oriented policing has been suggested as a promising way to understand and prevent complex gang violence problems. Unfortunately, problem analysis, as currently practiced, is generally weak and the resulting responses usually consist of mostly traditional enforcement tactics. Academic-police partnerships can be very productive in understanding and responding to serious crime problems. Unfortunately, such collaborations are rare. The U.S. Department of Justice-sponsored Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative provides an important opportunity to facilitate academicpolice partnerships. In Lowell, Massachusetts, academics and practitioners collaborated on a problem analysis that shed important light on the nature of gang violence and led to the implementation of problem-oriented responses that have been promising in preventing gang violence.

The Epidemic of Gang-Related Homicides in Los Angeles County From 1979 Through 1994

To determine trends in gang homicides and the population at greatest risk for homicide by reviewing all gang-related homicides in Los Angeles County, California, from January 1979 to December 1994. Homicide files of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department from 1979 to 1994 involving violent street gang activity were reviewed. Gang files were reviewed for demographic data, weapons used, homicides by drive-by shootings, and times and geographic areas of occurrence. Los Angeles County from January 1, 1979, to December 31, 1994. Age, race, and sex of gang-related homicide victims; frequency of weapon use; and the change in gang-related homicide rates during the study period. A total of 7288 gang-related homicides occurred in Los Angeles County from 1979 through 1994; 5541 of these homicides occurred in Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department jurisdictions. During the study period, the proportion of all homicides that were gang related increased from 18.1% to 43.0% (P < .001). Of the 5541 gang-related homicide victims, 4580 (85.6%) were aged 15 to 34 years, 93.3% were African American or Hispanic, 5157 (93.2%) were male, 3559 (64.2%) were gang members, and 1408 (25.4%) occurred during drive-by shootings. Firearms were used in an increasing proportion of homicides, from 71.4% in 1979 to 94.5% in 1994. Homicides by semiautomatic handguns dramatically increased during the study period. Gang-related homicide rates for African-American males aged 15 to 19 years increased from 60.50 per 100,000 population per year in 1979 to 1981 to 192.41 per 100,000 population per year in 1989 to 1991. Gang-related homicides in Los Angeles County have reached epidemic proportions and are a major public health problem. To prevent gang violence, the root causes of violent street gang formation must be alleviated, the cycle of violent street gang involvement must be broken, and access to firearms must be limited.

The Perspectives of Violent Street Gang Injuries

Street gang violence has become a major public health problem in the United States, especially in the inner city. To prevent gang violence, one must understand the many facets of violent street gang activity and the psychological effects of gang violence on individuals as well as on the community. Further, one must have an understanding of the root causes of violent street gang formation, the relationship of firearms to gang violence, and the medical cost of these types of injuries. Prevention should begin with alleviating the root causes of violent street gang formation and include breaking the bonds of violent street gang membership. Adults acknowledge a societal obligation to protect and guide children and adolescents as an investment in the future. Because both children and adolescents lack judgment and experience, they cannot be expected to avoid injury and violence on their own. Although the financial cost of preventing gang violence would not be insignificant, the savings in terms of lives and medical expenditure would be immense. Unless steps are taken to end the physical and psychological trauma, regions of the United States, such as Los Angeles County, will not be safe from the effects of gang violence.