The chapters in Changing Course: Preventing Gang Membership are written in plain English and share these common features to help readers see the most critical information up front and begin to connect research with real-world applications:
- Key principles are presented in short, bulleted form.
- An "In Brief" summary pulls together key findings and ideas.
- A Q&A interview with a practitioner ("In the Spotlight") offers a personalized illustration.
- Implementation challenges are explored.
- Policy issues are discussed.
In addition to an introduction and conclusion by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 11 chapters:
- Why Is Gang Membership Prevention Important? by Dr. James C. ("Buddy") Howell
- How Should We Reduce the Attraction of Gangs? by Dr. Carl S. Taylor and Ms. Pamela R. Smith
- How Should We Identify Youth at Risk for Joining Gangs? by Dr. Nancy G. Guerra, Ms. Carly B. Dierkhising and Dr. Pedro R. Payne
- What Should Public Health Professionals Do to Prevent Gang Membership? by Dr. Tamara M. Haegerich, Dr. James A. Mercy and Ms. Billie P. Weiss
- What Is the Role of Police in Preventing Gang Membership? by Dr. Scott H. Decker
- What Should Be Done in the Family to Prevent Gang Membership? by Dr. Deborah Gorman-Smith, Ms. Kimberly Bromann Cassel and Ms. Andrea Kampfner
- What Should Be Done in the Schools to Prevent Gang Membership? by Dr. Gary D. Gottfredson
- What Should Be Done in the Communities to Prevent Gang Membership? by Dr. Jorja Leap
- How Should We Prevent Girls From Joining Gangs? by Dr. Meda Chesney-Lind
- How Do Race, Ethnicity and Immigration Influence Gang Membership? by Drs. Adrienne Freng and Terrance J. Taylor
- Program Evaluation: How Do We Know If We Are Preventing Gang Membership? by Drs. Finn Esbensen and Kristy N. Matsuda
"In the Spotlight" sections feature interviews with these practitioners:
- Anthony Holt, chief of police and assistant vice president for community affairs at Wayne State University; Virgil Taylor, executive director of The Peace Project, a Detroit-based partnership; Tisha Johnson, with the Detroit-based Street-Side Development Academy; Yusuf Shakur, director with the Detroit-based Urban Youth Leadership Group and a former gang leader; and Michael Williams, president of the Detroit-based Orchards Children's Services
- Sgt. Raul Vergara, Riverside County (Calif.) Gang Task Force (RCGTF), and Cmdr. Joe DelGuidice, RCGTF's assistant director and a member of the Riverside County District Attorney's Office Bureau of Investigations
- Connie Rice, civil rights lawyer and co-director of the Advancement Project
- Joe Mollner, senior director of delinquency and gang initiatives for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America
- Jan Hassan-Butera, program director, and Rhonda Jackson, clinical supervisor, with the New York City-based SCO Family of Services
- Thomas W. Gore, president and executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Associates for Renewal in Education (ARE) Public Charter School
- Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries
- Marian D. Daniel, founder of the Baltimore-based Female Intervention Team (FIT)
About This Article
This artice appeared in NIJ Journal Issue 273, March 2014, as a sidebar to the article Changing Course: Keeping Kids Out of Gangs by Nancy Ritter, Thomas R. Simon, Ph.D., and Reshma R. Mahendra, M.P.H.