WHAT
A PARENT SHOULD DO TO KEEP THEIR CHILD OUT OF A GANG
One of the best ways to
prevent your child from becoming involved with gangs is to remain active in
their lives. Maintain open communication with your son or daughter so that you
know who their friends are and how they spend their time. Any parent of a teenager
will agree that this can be easier said than done. As adolescents develop their
independence, they can become angry at what they perceive as too much parental
involvement. Stay the course; be as involved as you can and show them your love
and concern.
- Be aware
if your child is at risk of becoming involved in a gang or whether they display
the warning signs of gang involvement. The first step in helping your child
is to identify whether gang involvement is a potential or existing problem
in their life.
- Communication
is essential. Share your concerns about possible gang involvement
with your child. In many cases, especially early in the process of becoming
a part of gang life, an adolescent can be redirected to more positive social
networks. Adolescence is a difficult time for most teenagers and is especially
hard for those facing multiple risks.
- Talk with your
child to share your concerns and show them your love
and support. At the same time, ask questions about their friends and activities
and try to set reasonable guidelines to limit their contact with delinquent
youth or gang members.
- Discuss
the dangers posed by gangs as a pathway to delinquency and crime
and the negative impacts on school, family and future jobs prospects.
If your child feels pressure to join a gang, be clear that it is much
easier to say no to becoming involved with a gang than it is to leave
the gang.
- Discuss
alternative activities, including more involvement with school
and extra curricular activities. Encourage them to pursue other interests
in sports, after school jobs, or other community activities.
- Seek support
from professionals. If your child is in school, the school counselor
or pupil personnel worker can be excellent resources in identifying programs
available through the school system or through youth services in your community.
They may not be aware of gang-specific prevention and treatment programs,
but they will be aware of programs that can address some of the underlying
problems that contribute to gang involvement. Many programs support youth
who are at risk for delinquency. These programs can have multiple objectives,
including:
- Strategies to help
someone become more successful academically.
- Strategies to help
a youth develop more effective problem solving techniques so they don’t
need to resort to violence or seek help from gangs.
- Techniques to help
families communicate more effectively and help parents develop more effective
parenting skills.
- Opportunities for
youth to have alternative ways to spend their free time including after
school programs and recreational and job development programs.
WHAT
EDUCATORS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS SHOULD DO TO HELP YOUTH STAY OUT OF GANGS
Gangs are a relatively
recent problem in much of the State of Maryland. While no jurisdiction in Maryland
has implemented a comprehensive program to both prevent youth from joining gangs
and intervening to assist youth already in a gang, there are effective programs
throughout the State to assist youth at-risk for delinquent behavior. Nationally
there are relatively few programs targeted specifically to prevent gang involvement
or to intervene to help a youth get out of a gang. However, after considering
the factors that put youth at-risk of gang involvement, these same factors are
addressed in a variety of delinquency prevention/intervention programs.
James Howell is one of
the leading researchers on juvenile delinquency and youth gangs. Based on his
review of the research in many studies, he identified risks in five areas: individual
characteristics, the family situation, school experiences, delinquent peer groups,
community and cultural conditions. These risk factors were described in the
section on “RISK FACTORS FOR YOUTH
JOINING GANGS”.
There are several excellent
websites that assist community leaders in developing a response to gang problems.
These sites are either developed or funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Programs.
- The best single tool
to assist in assessing a community’s gang problem and planning strategies
to deal with it can be found at http://www.iir.com/nygc/tool/
. This site includes a wealth of information, one of the most useful sections
summarizes the evaluation of programs designed to address gang and delinquency
prevention/intervention programs http://www.iir.com/nygc/tool/planning_and_implementation_programs.cfm
. The user of this site is asked to identify the targeted age and it then
lists programs for that age group. The reader can then click on the program
and it provides a summary of the evaluation of each program and the risk factors
that it targets. For example, programs are identified that develop
- Strategies to help
a child become more successful academically.
- Strategies to help
a youth develop more effective problem solving techniques so they don’t
need to resort to violence or seek help from gangs.
- Techniques to help
families communicate more effectively and help parents develop more effective
parenting skills.
- Opportunities for
youth to have alternative ways to spend their free time including after
school programs and recreational and job development programs.
- Another OJJDP funded
site provides a wide array of resources for assessing and developing strategies
to deal with gang problems. The site http://www.iir.com/nygc/acgp/default.htm
has a large volume of reference resources and it probably more useful for
administrators or law enforcement personnel who are responsible for developing
a comprehensive strategy.
top
of page