Practice Profile: Gang Membership Prevention Programs

Evidence Rating for Outcomes

Juvenile Problem & At-Risk Behaviors | Gang Membership

Date: This profile was posted on July 15, 2019

This practice includes programs that are designed to deter youth from joining gangs. Programs can be delivered either to a universal population (i.e., all youth regardless of risk level), or to youth identified as being at-risk for gang membership. Programs include preventive awareness strategies and gang membership prevention strategies. The practice is rated Promising for reducing the likelihood that youth will join a gang.

Practice Goals/Target Population

Gang prevention strategies attempt to deter youth from joining gangs. Because these programs are implemented to prevent youth from joining gangs, they do not target existing gang members.

There are generally two types of gang prevention programs: preventive awareness strategies and gang membership prevention strategies (Gravel et al. 2013). Preventive awareness strategies are designed to reduce gang membership for all youth, regardless of risk level. These programs are delivered to a universal population (for example, all students in a classroom), based on the rationale that any youth may be at risk of gang membership. Gang membership prevention strategies specifically target at-risk youth. At-risk youth are defined as youth who live in areas with gang activity or areas that have conditions in which gang activity thrives. At-risk youth may also be those who display characteristics that make them vulnerable to the appeal of gangs or behaviors conducive to gang activity, such as violence or aggression (Arbreton and McClanahan 2002).

Practice Activities/Key Personnel

Preventive awareness and gang prevention strategies include 1) addressing the risk factors associated with gang membership, 2) improving supervision of youth, 3) providing referrals to services and supports, 4) training youth in interpersonal skills (i.e., conflict resolution), 5) encouraging healthy-relationship building with prosocial peers, 6) offering safe spaces for youth recreation, and 7) emphasizing academic engagement (Esbensen et al. 2013; Arbreton and McClanahan 2002).

Preventive awareness strategies help youth develop skills to deal with at-risk situations, such as having peer pressure to engage in substance use or other illegal activities (Gravel et al. 2013). Gang prevention programs resemble those used in preventive awareness but place greater emphasis on risk factors and risky situations. Furthermore, prevention strategies typically recruit at-risk youth for participation and focus on times (late nights, weekends, after high-profile incidents) or places (neighborhoods with known gang activity) where risk of contact with gangs is heightened (Gravel et al. 2013).

Both preventive awareness and gang membership programs rely on collaboration across law enforcement, schools, local stakeholders, and community members, and may be delivered in schools or afterschool recreational settings. Some are also designed to help youth develop a positive bond with law enforcement (Esbensen et al. 2013).

Meta-Analysis Snapshot
	Literature Coverage Dates	Number of Studies	Number of Study Participants
Meta Analysis 1	1980-2014	6	8749

Meta Analysis 1

Wong and colleagues (2016) conduced a meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness of gang prevention programs. They grouped the programs into two categories: gang prevention programs and preventive awareness programs (Gravel et al. 2013). To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to have 1) evaluated a strategy for preventing gang membership or gang-related delinquency/crime; 2) reported on at least one quantitative outcome related to crime, delinquency, victimization, or gang membership; 3) included samples with at least 20 subjects; 4) been written in English; 5) been published between 1980 and 2014 (unpublished studies were also considered); 6) been conducted in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, or a Western European country; 7) provided sufficient data to allow for computation of an effect size with respect to treatment impact; and 8) used a randomized or quasi-experimental research design with a comparison group.

The final sample for the meta-analysis included six studies published between 1988 and 2013. A total of 8,749 youth participated in the studies in cities across the United States. One study used a randomized control design, and the remaining five studies used quasi-experimental designs with non-equivalent comparison groups selected by some level of matching. No demographic information was provided about the study participants. Four of the studies were peer-reviewed journal articles, one was a book chapter, and one was a government-sponsored report. Two of the studies looked at preventative awareness programs, and four studies looked at gang membership prevention programs.

Five of the six studies assessed gang membership as a dichotomous variable; therefore, the effect sizes were calculated as log odds ratios. One study assessed gang membership by degree of gang involvement using a 17-point scale, and this effect size was calculated using a standardized mean difference formula (Cohen’s d). Given concerns of pooling together effects using logistic and normal distributions, the overall effect size was converted to a log odds ratio. The individual log odds ratios were then pooled together to create a single estimate of treatment effect. Each study’s effect size was weighted based on the variance of the odds ratio and the sample size. Because of the limited amount of outcome data in many of the studies (i.e., low event rate of gang membership) and treatment/control group imbalance, the authors conducted the meta-analyses using Mantel-Haenszel fixed effects models.

Date Created: July 17, 2024

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Practice Snapshot

Age: 10 - 17

Gender: Male, Female

Targeted Population: Children Exposed to Violence

Setting (Delivery): School, Other Community Setting, High Crime Neighborhoods/Hot Spots

Practice Type: Classroom Curricula, Gang Prevention/Intervention, Violence Prevention

Unit of Analysis: Persons

Researcher:
Jennifer S. Wong
Associate Professor
School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University

8888 University Drive
Burnaby BC
Canada

Phone: 778.782.8148
Email

Practice Profile: Gang Membership Prevention Programs

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Practice Summary

Practice Description

Practice Goals/Target Population

Practice Activities/Key Personnel

Meta-Analysis Outcomes

Meta-Analysis Methodology

Cost

Other Information

Evidence-Base (Meta-Analyses Reviewed)

Additional References