Youth Gangs in Schools In recent years, youth gangs and gang-related violence in schools have highlighted many news reports and is considered to be a rapidly increasing problem for cities and suburban areas.

Youth gangs in schools have become more prevalent, with a record number of students (25%) admitting to knowing someone in a gang, or knowing of a youth gang, or gun possession on school grounds due to youth gang presence (Howell and Lynch 1).

Youth gangs have been around for decades, from the Jets in West Side Story, to recent Hollywood films like Colors, and Boyz in the Hood, gangs have been showcased as having an honor system and a feeling of unity. Unfortunately most youths who join gangs suffer from low self-esteem; feel powerless in their own life; and/or feel rejected at home or in school (Toronto School District). Membership in a youth gang gives them a sense of belonging, and above all, a feeling of power.

The emergence of gangs in schools reflects on a shift of power, from faculty, to student. The safety of other students, and of the faculty and staff comes into play when we allow for youth gangs to gain credence in our schools.

Violence associated with student-orientated gangs eventually will spill into our streets and, worst off, into our schools. It is therefore, of the highest importance, that we as a community nip this issue in the bud, as it were, and create a program to counteract, and prevent youth gangs and gang violence in schools.

The first step towards diminishing youth gang violence, and gang presence in our schools, is education. The National Youth Gang Center offers outreach programs and seminars for schools that have proven to be educational and upfront about youth gang violence in schools. Research gathered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, has shown that often times, gang problems are not resolved because a community denies they have a problem [with gangs] (Model Chapter 2).

Taking this into account, education on youth gangs in particular must extend the barriers of school grounds and into the community. Activities run and organized by school sports teams, and clubs would help initialize community education as well as providing an opportunity for donations for an Anti-Youth Gang program.

An...

Regardless of nature, all violent threats should be treated the same.
Along with education, early prevention is necessary to establish that students are not influenced to organize or join a youth gang as they progress from elementary to high school grades. Through Violence Prevention Programs, schools can implement schemes already proven successful in other districts.

Suggested programs are: Anger Coping Program, and BrainPower Program as outlined in the Department of Education's 1999 Annual Report on School Safety (ch3, p. 32).

Devised by John Lachman, Ph.D. Of the University of Alabama, Anger Coping Program provides cognitive training to 8 to 14-year-olds through role-playing and group problem solving and positive reinforcement activities. These activities include a reward reinforcement system for goal achievement. Students involved in the program for 12-18 weeks showed 30% less antisocial and violent behaviors (31).

BrainPower Program is a retraining intervention ideally used to decrease peer-induced aggression, as is often seen between youth gangs. This 12-lesson program implements activities and materials in late-elementary grades where the main objective is to train boys who are showing aggressive tendencies, not to use violence in negative social contexts.

Using three components, the program teaches participants how to recognize the intent of others; understand the meaning of…