Career Development Program for Juveniles Involved in Gangs

Introduction and Program Overview

This intervention plan provides various professional and organizational insights on the program and its facilitation services. The program recognizes the relevance of building the capacity, professionalism, and skills of the persons involved, while contributing toward the achievement of strategic priorities and goals. The program provides consultative information and services for units of planning, team development, and the implementation of change processes (Bradshaw et al., 2013). The system also coordinates training in correctional units.

The medium-term goals of the project include providing advice and support for the application and development of staff and organizational development initiatives. The suite of program components will build on professional capabilities, leadership and management skills, organizational knowledge, and team performance and development.

Literature Review

Various authors have produced literature on correctional systems. The practical approaches in gang situations include the need to address service delivery problems. Programs involve different stakeholders and groups that handle facets of local gang problems while focusing on intervention, prevention, and suppression. The collaborative approaches have inherent barriers that affect the success of these elements. The systems also include challenges around the definition of gang problems, successful formation of collaborations, discernment of ends and means, and the determination of impact.

The diversity of groups and their activities influences the focus on communities dealing with definitions and recognition of gang problems. The inability to define gang problems stems from the absence of both national and local consensus regarding the fundamental groups involved and the harm they inflict. Models describe gang-related problems within the context of harmful incidents occurring in communities, with similarities in the ways that cause concern among members of the public (The EMT Group, n.d.).

The agencies or groups working to address gang issues must facilitate coordination. Organizations handling gang problems undertake respective roles while advancing the essentials of their actions through coordination of management groups composed of representatives and participating agencies. Management groups guide such agencies in their immediate functions and responsibilities, ensuring accuracy in responding to various gang issues. The concept upon which a community will address gang problems differs depending on events that draw public attention to gang menace issues. In some cases, high-profile and often tragic events galvanize communities and stimulate mobilized gang responses. In other cases, public support for dealing with gang issues builds gradually. The lack of individuals and agencies serving as catalysts inhibits these processes (Anonymous, 2004).

Key organizations and community leaders begin by inducing open discussions and addressing gang issues. Standing task forces, committees, and organizational structures — referred to as steering committees — convene to undertake working steps. These groups oversee assessments of local gang problems using data acquired through evaluation and the development of sustainable strategies. Suppression activities in corrective actions include increased police patrols, community awareness campaigns, community policing, and support for law enforcement intelligence sharing. Policy fosters the establishment of multiagency law requirements coupled with prosecution responses targeting gang leaders. This approach also increases the scope of school resource officers within target areas and enables neighborhood teams to partner with police departments and other community members. Programs should support police departments in the review of crime data and related evaluation concepts (Vigil, 2003).

Theoretical Foundation

The program's application approach draws on social disorganization theory. The theory considers gang involvement as an alternative avenue for youth who lack other forms of social connectedness to community and personal institutions. The absence of such connectedness originates from various population movements, including diverse waves of immigration, rapid political, social, or economic changes, war or revolution, racism, and unstable political regimes. Other variables in the theory include rapid urbanization or industrialization, radical labor market shifts, community fragmentation, family or social disorganization, and the failure of socialization agents to meet the changing needs of the population (Lonnie, 1999).

Social disorganization theory stresses that gang formation is a typical and rational response to abnormal social situations. The theory insists that gangs originate from the efforts of youth seeking to create societies for themselves — groupings that cater to their needs where other forums have failed to exist. Gangs arise in contexts where life satisfaction and rewards within schools, families, and communities have not been made available. Prominent social disorganization theories use official topographic maps and police statistics to explain gang formation and delinquency occurring in city center areas. Crime rates remain relatively constant over time in such areas, illustrating the role of social disorganization — rather than individual characteristics — in determining the prevalence of criminal activity (Holder, Jr., Robinson, & Slowikowski, 2010).

Conclusion

The program provides sustainable methods of overcoming barriers faced by groups and agencies that address gang-related issues. There are dynamic and ongoing processes providing requisite guidance from the examination of problems and the identification of factors allowing those problems to persist. Addressing such questions within the program is important for the selection of appropriate responses to gang-related issues in communities. Assessment focuses on problem statements above and beyond the related responses.