This document provides a summary of gang violence in the African American community and recommendations to prevent it. It defines the problem of gang violence and prevalence rates. African American gangs have high rates of violence despite lower membership. Factors that contribute to gang violence include poverty, lack of opportunities, and social disorganization. The document recommends that the mayor implement community outreach programs to reduce poverty and increase social and economic well-being, citing two specific programs as examples: Neighborhood Centers Inc. and Connecticut Association for Human Services. Both work to improve communities and move families out of poverty.

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I. Cover Page
CJUS-P420
Preventing Gang Violence in the African American Community
2015
Stephanie Terzich
sterzich@indiana.edu
847-254-8332
323 N Grant St., Bloomington, IN 47408

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II. Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to examine the increasingly prevalent issue of gang
violence in the African American community as well as provide numerous prevention
strategies. By including the definition of the actual problem of gang violence, the causation,
and providing recommendations and strategies to prevent it, the Mayor of Metropolitan
city can successfully implement policies or programs.
III. Definition of the Problem
Prevalence
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (2011) there are approximately
33,000 gangs in the United States. Along with that, gang related crime and violence is on
the rise. Gangs are responsible for 48% of violent crime with some areas being even higher.
The NGIC (National Gang Intelligence Center) breaks up gangs by type. These types are
labeled as National-Level Street Gangs, Prison Gangs, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, and
Neighborhood-Based Gangs. Of these four types, neighborhood-based gangs have the
highest threat to the community (2011). Along with certain types of gangs, the NGIC also
breaks down gangs based on race. In their 2011 report they separated gangs by four
different races; Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, White, and All Other.
Between 1996-2011, Black or African American was the second highest ethnicity of gang
members, around 30-40%, Hispanic being highest at around 40-50%. Unfortunately,
homicide is the second leading cause of mortality among adolescents across all races with
ages 15-24 being the most at risk group of adolescents (Hammond et al., 1993). However,

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according to the study, “Gang Involvement and Delinquency Among Hispanic and African-
American Adolescent Males” the percentage of African Americans attacked in a gang
incident was 6.7 compared to Hispanics which was 0.7. Not only that, but African American
males are more likely to die due to gun injuries from a “friend or acquaintance than any
other cause” (Hammond et al., 1993). Also, the likelihood of an African American being the
attacker in a gang incident is 3.7 compared to Hispanics, which were 2.9 (Curry et al.,
1992). Even though gang involvement is lower for African Americans, gang violence seems
to be higher. In the NGIC report, they found that between violent crimes, property crimes,
and drug sales committed by gangs, violent crimes are the most prevalent. Gang members
are “more likely than nonmembers to commit violent offense and property crime and to
use drugs” and they are also twice as likely than nonmembers to carry handguns (Hill et al.,
1999). In a study done comparing delinquency to gang violence, it was found that 31% of
the individuals surveyed were gang members, however 69% of violent offenses were
committed by them as well as 82% of the more serious violent crimes (Taylor et al., 2006).
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Report, they define
violent crime as “composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter,
forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault” (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2012).
Even though violent crime has seen a decrease from 2006-2010, (Federal Bureau of
Investigation, 2010) gang violent crime has increased in certain areas, for example
homicide increased from 79.6% in 2011 to 83.0% in 2012 (NGIC, 2012). Also according to
the United States Department of Justice, between the years 2002-2006, gangs were
implicated in about 900 homicides per year (2008).

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During the 1980’s gangs began to “expand their drug distribution networks into
suburban areas traditionally influenced by local gangs” (The United States Department of
Justice, 2008). Drug use and drug trafficking are significantly associated with violence and
particularly gang violence. “Gangs typically control the trade in drugs, protections, and
numbers in their territory” (Akerlof et al., 1994).
The above stats and findings show that gang violence is a problem in the United
States, especially with African American gangs. Gang violence is a problem that has been
happening for years and seems to be increasing. It has effects on many members of the
communities and the country as a whole. The top three influences of violence according to
NGIC (2012) would be drug-related factors, inter-gang conflict, and return from
confinement, with drug-related being the highest at about 80%. Because of this, one will
see an increase in gang violence in areas that are most likely to have drug related problems.
It has been found that victimization is higher in activities like drug selling (Taylor et al.,
2006). Gang members also have a code of retaliation when it comes to rival gangs. Drive-by
shootings are one of the most common acts of retaliation (Taylor et al., 2006). The question
is, what factors increase a community’s chance of producing gangs and the violent acts
committed by them?
Critical Critique
There are many stakeholders that neglect factors that influence the creation of
violence. “Neighborhoods that offer few legitimate employment opportunities, inadequate
job information networks, and poor schools lead to the disappearance of work...many
people lose their feeling of connectedness to work in the formal economy…” (Wilson,
1996), this is where gangs come in. In order for one to feed one’s family they resort to drug

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trafficking and other gang related crimes, which then leads to violence. Along with fewer
employment opportunities, the educational system is one of the main stakeholders based
on the fact that gang member’s primary ages are 15-24 (Hammond et al., 1993). "Being a
gang member is just an easier way to get in to drug dealing. It's like if you going to get a job
and you have a high school diploma. If you don't have one you ain't goin' to get the job”
(Akerlof et al., 1994). In a study done to see factors that influence aggression and fighting
behavior among African American adolescents it was found that 37% of 6th and 7th graders
had been in a fight at school. At such young ages of 11-15 years old, there was a positive
correlation found between physical violence and their attitudes towards violence, or that
the more they fought in school, their attitudes towards violence became relaxed (Cotton et
al., 1994).
Law enforcement is another participant in the neglect of socially disorganized
communities. It has been found that poor communities with good relations with the police
actually suffer less crime than do those that lack access “to resources of public social
control” (Clear et al., 2006). Incarceration also plays a role in the community. Incarcerated
family members lead to less supervised youths (Clear et al., 2006). In middle-class
communities, where member’s attitudes with police seem to be positive, there is a better
law enforcement response. In poor communities, however, the police seem to play an
“ambiguous role” or keeping some sort of order and also arresting members unfairly
(Akerlof et al., 1994).
Consequences
Gang membership has been shown to be a significant factor in increasing chances of
adolescent parenthood, school failure or dropout, incarceration, and low economic or

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occupational status (Barnes et al., 2001). A consequence of gang violence in a community is
the innocent victims that become involved. Not only does gang violence put enormous
strain on the family of the gang members but it puts a strain on the community as well.
Community members are normally well aware of gang activities. An example is of Alex
Kotlowitz’s experience in a Chicago public housing project. There was an enormous list of
unreported incidents that never went to the police including bullet holes in apartments,
holes dug into walls for escape routes, vacant apartments used as gang clubhouses, the list
goes on. The residents feared retaliation so these incidents would go unreported (Akerlof
et al., 1994). According to the study “Perceptions of Gang Crime and Recreation among
Latinos” (Stodolska, et al., 2009), people of the community who participated in this study
stated that “gangs ‘hijacked’ the entire neighborhood and made it unsafe to play, walk or
bike on the street, or travel to the park”. The study found that residents displayed
avoidance behaviors by avoiding gang areas, protective behaviors, such as carrying a gun
for protection, and collective behaviors meaning they relied on neighbor support.
An increased chance of an STD, or sexually transmitted disease is another
consequence of gang violence, as well as single parent families. Because many Black African
American males are unable to hold a job due to drug trafficking in gangs, they seek to
impose their masculinity in other ways. Gang membership among females is associated
with early sexual activity, many sexual partners, and lower frequency of practicing safe sex
(Barnes et al., 2001). Many women who enter into a relationship only care about whether
or not “the police isn’t looking for him” or “make sure he didn’t recently get out of jail”
(Whitehead, 1999). This leads to STDs and unplanned pregnancies. Many of these men will
be incarcerated at some point. Otis, a man interviewed for an article about fatherhood in

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low economic communities stated he had already served three sentences in jail (Roy et al.,
2010). So, this leaves the mother by herself to raise the child, which increases the child’s
chances of committing delinquent acts.
Most adults in an urban underclass community are not working a typical workweek.
Gangs and gang violence in the community leads many to seek other opportunities for
economic improvement. Because adolescents start so young and many drop out of school
to join gangs, they lose the opportunity for education, which is what one needs to become
employed. Instead they turn to other activities such as drug trafficking. It seems to be an
endless cycle (Wilson, 1996).
IV. Causations
According to Jankowski (1991), most theories blame gang creation on socially
disorganized communities. This means that poor economic conditions lead to a lack of
social control. Social disorganization is caused by three factors, “low economic status,
ethnic heterogeneity, and residential mobility” (Gabbidon et al., 2005). Social
disorganization creates many factors that influence gang violence. Socially disorganized
areas have low income, so one can assume there are low employment opportunities and
unequal economic opportunities. Also, an unfortunate causation of social disorganization is
a lack of law enforcement; so many gangs decide to take matters into their own hands
(Gabbidon et al., 2005). Gangs have recently started aggressively recruiting juveniles for
multiple reasons, two of these reasons include vulnerability and willingness to commit
violent acts (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2011). It was found that 42% of adolescents
in a survey stated that they fought within the past year and out of that 42%, 26% carried a
weapon (Cotton et al., 1994). In the study “The Psychological Consequences to Adolescents

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of Exposure to Gang Violence in the Community” it was found many adolescents join gangs
because they feel a sense of security and belonging (Kelley, 2010). Individuals will base
their responses off of the constraints and limited opportunities in their communities. This
is linked to a branch of the disorganization theory called “Strain Theory” (Hill et al., 1999).
If there are little opportunities for success then people of that community will do what they
can to survive (Wilson, 1996). In the end it all comes down to survival, whether that be on a
community or individual level. Because of the basic need for survival, this ends up bringing
people together for protection and a structured subgroup, hence the formations of gangs
(Wilson, 1996).
V. Recommendations
In order to prevent gang violence in the African American community, the Mayor of
Metropolitan City should allocate funds to implement community outreach programs
that seek to reduce poverty.
According to Bruce Rankin and James Quane (2000), social isolation is “the lack of
contract or sustain interaction with individuals and institutions that represent mainstream
society”. Social isolation plays an enormous role in disadvantaged and impoverished
neighborhoods (Rankin et al., 2000). Neighborhoods where poverty is extreme provide for
the emergence of social norms and lifestyles that are in opposition to society. Oppositional
norms and lifestyles have been found to be associated with weak labor force attachment,
crime and many other problems (Rankin et al., 2000). Poverty is once again a growing
concern for American society especially for African Americans and other minorities (Cohen
et al., 1993). In a study aimed to find recommendations for youth gangs, the authors found
that “members of the gangs identified in this study are overwhelmingly drawn from the
‘urban black underclass’” (Huff, 1989). Both gang and non-gang youth homicides are also

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most prevalent in disadvantaged areas with economic instability (Rosenfeld et al., 1999).
Socially isolated neighborhoods sufferfrom the inability to function like the surrounding
community which leads to unconventional attitudes about education and steady
employment and also weakens social control leading to criminal activity which explains
why gang involvement thrives in these areas (Rankin et al., 2000). As a result, what is
needed are programs that help community mobilization and offer resources to reform
educational systems and job markets. These programs should focus on encouraging
investments in impoverished neighborhoods and more control of social institutions
(Hagedorn, 1991).
Neighborhood Centers Inc.
Neighborhood Centers Inc. is a program that is based in Houston, Texas. This
organization has risen to the top 1% of nonprofits in the United States. Their main goal is to
“Transform communities. FOR GOOD.” (Neighborhood centers inc, 2015). They are
committed to the belief that people and the neighborhoods they come from are good and
that they are worth it (Neighborhood centers inc, 2015). At the moment they have five
community centers, 25 school sites, 18 senior services, six tax centers and financial
services, and 13 career centers. These “neighborhoods” were created with the goal to help
better communities and individual families lead better lives socially, economically and
individually. According to their yearly annual report for 2015 they brought resources,
education and connection to more than 528,000 people this past year. Many of the
“neighborhoods” help in many different ways. Their neighborhoods are small communities
they have built and worked with to improve community life. There are facilities for
veterans; there are different types of educational programs including colleges as well as

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schools for elementary and primary education. They also have facilities made for helping
individuals find jobs (Neighborhood centers Inc, 2015). They host “celebrations” which are
monthly neighborhood events that inform the public of their vision, how to volunteer, and
the most pressing issues they face. Government contracts and grants, United Way, and
private Contributions primarily fund them (Guidestar, 2014). Their client impact has
increased by 40% (Guidestar, 2014). Implementing a program like this would aid in
decreasing gang violence because it provides individuals in socially disorganized
communities access to services and programs that aid in increasing their social and
economical well-being and increasing the social and economical state of the community as
a whole (Neighborhood Centers Inc, 2015). This would then lead to a decrease of gang
violence due to the fact that gang violence seems to be most prevalent in black underclass
communities (Huff, 1989).
Connecticut Association for Human Services
Established in 1910, their mission is to work to reduce poverty while building
individual family economic success. Their main categories of work are personal finance,
human services, education, and family (Idealist, 2015). They do this by informing citizens,
human service providers, corporate leaders, policy makers, and others to advocate for
policy changes. They want to move low socioeconomic families “towards prosperity”
(CAHS, 2015). They develop and strengthen programs to move families “out of poverty and
to prevent families from falling into poverty by providing universal access to support and
opportunities” (CAHS, 2015). Their three main programs are CT Kids Count, CT Money
School, and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit. For
instance, CT Money School was founded in 2009 and relies on contributions and expertise

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of hundreds of volunteers to help others become self-sufficient (CAHS, 2015). To date, CT
Money School has provided approximately 5,000 people with financial education. They
also work with many other programs like different policy networks, Working Poor Families
Project, and many more. Volunteers, like the ones from the CT Money School, and
donations, support their existence. Their main sources of revenue come from private
foundations, government, and private individuals. The money they generate is used for
meeting basic individual needs, public policy, and financial security for families (CAHS,
2015).
In order to prevent gang violence in the African American community, the Mayor of
Metropolitan City should allocate funds to expand the availability of age-appropriate
mentoring programs that are targeted toward youth and young adults at risk for
gang involvement.
One of the main and more prevalent risk factors associated with gang membership
is an adolescent who hangs out with peers who engage in delinquency (Howell, 2010).
Adolescence is a time when an individual is most influenced by his or her peers (Dahlberg,
1998). Peers help an individual feel accepted and they become a support system for
important experiences in ones life. One of the main issues with youth gang involvement
comes from the people they have made relationships with (Dahlberg, 1998). Negative
influences from peers lead to negative outcomes of individuals and the negative outcomes
of this association would be gang membership. According to a study by Esbensen et al.
(1993), gang membership starts as early as 12 years old. The highest percent in an actual
gang was 14 year olds. Also, gang members reported that they have a greater likelihood to
continue to hangout with peers who are more likely to participate in gang activities
(Esbensen et al., 1993). However, studies show that adolescents who have a loving and

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supportive mentor will reduce that person’s chances of drug use and alcohol use, improve
their school performance, and reduce violent incidences (Jucovy, 2003).
Amachi Mentoring Program
Located in Philadelphia and created in 2000, Amachi’s goal is to provide the 7.3
million children with parents who are under some form of federal supervision, a mentor.
This mentor establishes a constant relationship with the child based on faith and love
(Amachi Mentoring, 2015). Through a careful process, a child and mentor are matched
together and meet weekly. They go by the Big Brother Big Sister mentoring model, which
has positive effects on the life opportunities of children. Since their start in 2000, they have
expanded their program nationwide with the help of Big Brother Big Sister. They have also
partnered with the Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree program (Amachi Mentoring, 2015).
This means that they will provide mentors for this program. Angel Tree has more than
600,000 children of prisoners under their program.
They started by recruiting pastors who then recruit the mentors (Jucovy, 2003).
They train every single volunteer or mentor at their Amachi Training Institute. The training
program includes how to recruit pastors, volunteers, and children. They also have role-play
sessions, guest speakers, and workshops on how to maintain relationships with everyone
they recruit (Amachi Mentoring, 2015). They enroll only children between the ages of 5-18
with the majority of them being between the ages of 10-12 (Jucovy, 2003). Once paired
with a mentor, the two spend most of their time “just hanging out”, they also attend church
services, do school work, go to sporting events as well as many other activities. Just
hanging out with the mentor helps the child see this person as a reliable adult in their life
(Jucovy, 2003). This program would clearly aid the Mayor in decreasing gang violence due

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to the fact that many children from broken homes without reliable adults end up in gangs.
Therefore, by implementing this program, one can stop the problem before it even starts.
BUILD (Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development)
This organization started out in Chicago in 1969 as a gang intervention program.
Since then, they have gone from serving 200 gang-affiliated youth to serving over 3,000.
Their mission now is to “engage at-risk youth in schools and on the streets, so they can
realize their educational and career potential and contribute to the stability, safety and well
being of our communities” (Build Chicago, 2014). They do this by prevention, intervention,
future building, and health and wellness (Build Chicago, 2014).
They prevent by implementing in-school activities such as their “Violence/Gang
Prevention Curriculum” in the classroom. They also provide out of school activities, which
include academic assistance, recreational activities, mentoring, and leadership skills. From
the prevention program, 94% of 8th graders graduated elementary school, 80% of youth
receiving tutoring improved academically, as well as a 59% decrease in youth aggression
(Build Chicago, 2014).
They intervene by using their “Violence Remediation” program, which provides
activities that are alternatives to gang life. This includes recreational activities, tutoring,
counseling, substance abuse treatment, and job training. They also use their “Restorative
Justice Initiatives” which help with youth already involved with the justice system. They try
to provide alternatives to detention and reduce recidivism. From the Restorative Justice
Initiative, 97% avoided returning to detention/incarceration, there was a 59% decrease of
youth exhibiting aggressive behavior on a weekly basis, and a 54% decrease in number of
youth that are gang affiliated (Build Chicago, 2014).

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They build futures by implementing their “College and Career Prep” program and
work with high school students “on personal motivation, academic attainment, college
admissions, financial aid, vocational training, and career exploration” (Build Chicago,
2014). They also implement “Youth Leadership Development” which creates youth council
and core group members to help them track life-plan goals, enhance their leadership skills
and assist them to become peer mentors and counselors (Build Chicago, 2014). From this
program, 93% of high school seniors graduated, and 72% enrolled in college. Both of these
rates are higher than the average in Chicago (Build Chicago, 2014).
They promote health and wellness by implementing a program called “Healthy
Futures” which strives to improve the mental and physical health of the youth along with
their families. They provide health education, exercise, support groups, recovery from
trauma, access to healthy foods, and access to affordable health care (Build Chicago, 2014).
In order to prevent gang violence in the African American community, the Mayor of
Metropolitan City should allocate funds to implement family support programs that
target families at risk for negative child outcomes.
There are several factors that lead to gang involvement and violent crime; one of the
most important revolves around family factors. Gang members often report family conflict
within their home while growing up, including, parent abuse, child abuse, alcoholism, drug
addiction and family trouble with law enforcement (Hill et al., 1999). Single parent families
are common with gang individuals and early sexual activity is significantly related to gang
membership (Hill et al., 1999). One study found that youth from single parent homes are
significantly more likely than youth from two parent homes to join gangs. Not only does the
family structure affect gang membership but family management does as well, or poor
family management that is (Hill et al. 1999). It has been found that many adolescents will

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substitute their family for the gang in order to achieve a sense of emotional support that
they cannot find at home. In a study that researched child development and factors
associated with gang membership, it was found that when asked to name the three most
important people in their lives, gang members often excluded their mothers (Barnes et al.,
2001). A style of family management that seems to work would be the unilateral parent
decision making which may be understood as an authoritarian style of parenting. It has
been shown to decrease deviant activity among African American adolescents (Barnes et
al., 2001).
Healthy Families Indiana
This program was designed to help promote healthy families and healthy children.
They are active in every county in Indiana and they offer a variety of services, which
includes a voluntary home visitation program, aid with child development, health care
access, and parent education (IN.gov, 2015). They identify families in low socio-economic
areas at high risk for child maltreatment. They seek to reduce child abuse, neglect, and
delinquency (IN.gov, 2015). The first training “Institute for Strengthening Families” was
opened in 2004. It included state agency leaders, university educators, and many others
(In.gov, 2012). Each worker employed by this program must complete intensive training
within the first six months that they are employed. They also have multiple partnerships
including, Indiana Department of Child Services, Early Head Start, Division of Mental
Health, and many hospitals (IN.gov 2008). In 2012, Healthy Families assessed 11,342
families across Indiana, 2,871 of those were African-American families (In.gov, 2012). They
want to improve family environmental factors, including, improving children’s health,
decrease crime and improve employment rates. They are federally funded and received $1

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million in state funding in 2012. A local example of this initiative in action is “The Villages”
program in Monroe County. The program follows the healthy family guidelines and also
includes adoption services (The Villages, 2015). Overall, this initiative is perfect in helping
prevent gang violence because gang membership is greatly influenced by the home
environment.
Ridge Project
This project was developed in 2000. It was designed to help individuals understand
responsibility in Ohio. They work with prisons, including physical, mental and spiritual
divisions using a biblical principle. They wish to promote responsible parenting, especially
within fatherhood, teach effective relationship communication skills, and developing
positive character traits (Ridge, 2015).
Their actual program is called TYRO and it includes TYRO Dads, Couple
Communication, and TYRO Job Ethics Training. Basically, it is a character-building program
designed to strengthen families (Ridge, 2015). This program has been successful especially
with uniting fathers in prison with their families. According to their website, they have
received numerous awards from correction and rehabilitation centers. TYRO is also
recognized by the White House and the Department of Justice as a “hero for fatherhood and
families” (Ridge, 2015). They receive revenue from private donors as well as partnering
with companies such as CVS and Petco. They host numerous events including a Gala, a 5k
and also an event called “Catch With Dad” to help fathers connect with their children
(Ridge, 2015).
In order to prevent gang violence in the African American community, the Mayor of
Metropolitan City should allocate funds to implement more contemporary, problem-
oriented policing initiatives that seek to improve police and community
collaboration.

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Problem-oriented policing “works to identify why things are going wrong and to
frame responses using a wide variety of often untraditional practices” (Braga et al., 2001).
According to the research done by Spergel et al., (1997), on multiple police community
collaboration programs, one of the principle factors in the reduction of gangs and gang
violence is the close collaboration of multiple members of a community. Youth workers,
who are normally former gang members, police, and probation officers are examples of
community members who help (Spergel et al., 1997). These people work very closely with
members of the communities who are involved in gangs, possess guns, or are repeat
offenders. They also work primarily with people who are teenagers to early 20s, which is
the average age for gang membership (Spergel at al., 1997). Problem oriented policing goes
by a simple interactive approach of “problem identification, analysis, response, evaluation,
and adjustment of the response” (Braga et al, 2001). Collaboration between the community
and police has a large effect on gang activity. According to Akerlof et al. (1993), the most
“important constraint on the criminal activities of gangs comes from the police power of
the larger society outside its territory and the attitudes of local residents towards
cooperation with the police”.
Operation Ceasefire Boston
This is a problem-oriented policing initiative that strived to decrease homicide
victimization of adolescents in Boston. The program started in 1995 as the Boston Gun
Project and a year later the mission was renamed Operation Ceasefire (Braga et al., 2001).
The program focused law enforcement and social services on a small number of gang
offenders. It was associated with a two-thirds drop in youth homicide in the late 1990s
(Braga et al., 2013). To do this, they included two important components: the first was the

18. 18
attempt to create a strong deterrent to gang violence and the second was to direct law
enforcement on illicit firearm traffickers that supplied adolescents with firearms (Braga et
al., 2001). The group created a set of actions that would address the law-enforcement goal
aimed at firearm trafficking. They expanded the focus of all law-enforcement, local, state,
and federal, towards the firearm trafficking along with interstate firearm trafficking. They
also focused on individuals with a past criminal record because they had an increased
chance of trafficking firearms to youth. Another focus was on the specific guns used by the
city’s most violent gangs (Braga et al., 2001). Along with law enforcement, they created a
strategy called “pulling levers” aimed to help the other important component of Ceasefire.
“Pulling levers” in a basic sense was group members worked to deter violent behavior by
repeating gang members by reaching out directly to those gangs (Braga et al., 2001). The
“pulling levers” name was created because their message was that violence would no
longer be tolerated and that they would be “pulling every lever legally available when
violence occurred” (Braga et al., 2001). This program would clearly help the Mayor of
Metropolitan City decrease gang violence due to the fact that it was able to decrease gang
shootings by 31%.
Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS)
Beginning in 1993, CAPS main priorities are bringing together police, the
community and other agencies to identify and solve neighborhood crime problems (CAPS,
2015). It is recognized as one of the best community and police programs in the United
States. They primarily rely on community education and they educate on anything from
gang awareness to senior services. They hold events monthly and spread their awareness
by television (CAPS, 2015). According to an article on their website examining the years

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2007-2008, violent crime was steadily decreasing while the national violent crime was
increasing. Their main activity is what they called “Beat Meetings” which are conducted by
a beat civilian and beat officer. There are 258 police beats in Chicago and they all meet once
every month within their specific community. They discuss chronic problems within their
community and how to solve them using their CAPS 5-Step problem solving process, which
is: identify and prioritize, analyze, design strategies, implement strategies, and evaluate
and celebrate (CAPS, 2015). They have a number of youth activities and educational
programs along with the availability to help in other neighborhoods aside from just the
individuals. The mayor also made CAPS a priority for all city agencies, not just the police
department. This program is much more focused on community relations with law
enforcement rather than just policing. This aids in decreasing and preventing gang
violence because “the level of criminal activity in the inner city is determined by the
interactions among three groups: gangs, community members, and police” (Akerlof et al.,
1993).
Obstacles and Challenges
Recommendation 1:
“In order to prevent gang violence in the African American community, the Mayor of
Metropolitan City should allocate funds to implement community outreach programs that
seek to reduce poverty.”
A main risk factor and challenge would be if a community could continue the
program on its own after the initial funding period (Shediac-Rizkallah, 1998). If the
community or city cannot keep up funding then everything will go to waste. There is also
the challenge of community participation. Members of the community may be against the

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creation of such a program because of how they grew up or how they live their lives.
Another huge issue is that of the “broken window” disorder that means that if one area of
the community is broken then the rest will follow (Clear et al., 2003).
Recommendation 2:
“In order to prevent gang violence in the African American community, the Mayor of
Metropolitan City should allocate funds to expand the availability of age-appropriate
mentoring programs that are targeted toward youth and young adults at risk for gang
involvement.”
One of the main challenges the Mayor faces by implementing this recommendation
would be the beginning of the mentor and child relationship. Any match will require
patience with the child and the mentor must also gain the child’s trust (Jucovy, 2003).
Another challenge would be dealing with the adolescent’s caregivers. Parents may “see
mentors as a Santa Claus, with trips to the malls and buying things”, or they may become
jealous of the mentor and child relationship (Jucovy, 2003). The decision to involve
authorities when a child’s life is in danger also is an extreme challenge. It goes back to the
family structure and how it affects gang involvement. A mentor has to decide between
taking the child away from his or her family and possibly affecting gang membership or
leaving that child in an ill-suited environment, which also would affect gang membership
(Jucovy, 2003).
Recommendation 3:
“In order to prevent gang violence in the African American community, the Mayor of
Metropolitan City should allocate funds to implement family support programs that target
families at risk for negative child outcomes.”

21. 21
A problem with this recommendation is the unwillingness to participate in this
program. Their values may be different. Also many of these programs ignore the mother
who normally has the entire burden of raising the child. Their “perspectives on
construction of alternative masculinities” might differ from the norm (Roy et al., 2010).
Recommendation 4:
“In order to prevent gang violence in the African American community, the Mayor of
Metropolitan City should allocate funds to implement more contemporary, problem-
oriented policing initiatives that seek to improve police and community collaboration.”
An implication would be the acceptance of police by the community. A study by
Clear et al. (2003) found that high rates of arrest and incarceration led to community
hatred towards police. The willingness to cooperate is important and many times the
community views police as outsiders (Akerlof, et al., 1993). Another huge challenge is to
help residents overcome their fear of gangs. Many communities fear gang retaliation if
found to be helping police. According the Akerlof et al., (1993) fear normally dominates
their decisions to work with law enforcement.
Conclusion
Preventing gang violence in the African American community can be a difficult task
and because of this, there have been many strategies and programs designed to aid in its
prevention. The issue then becomes choosing the correct recommendations and strategies
that will provide the best results for this problem. As one can see from the research stated
above, allocating funds to implement community outreach programs that seek to reduce
poverty, expanding the availability of age-appropriate mentoring programs that target at-
risk youth, implementing more family support programs and as well as more problem-

22. 22
oriented policing initiatives are the best options in improving the prevention of gang
violence in the African American community.
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