Discuss the various strategies currently in use by communities that are working to suppress gang activity and violence

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A straightforward three-pronged approach to addressing the gang problem is to apply a balance of prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies. The first strategy
—prevention—aims at keeping youths from becoming gang members in the first place and is divided into two tiers: primary prevention, directed at all youths living in communities where gangs are present, and secondary prevention, targeting at-risk youths. The second strategy—intervention—is directed at youths already involved in gangs—either as active members or close associates—and provides sanctions and services designed to push these juveniles out of and away from gangs. The third strategy—suppression—targets serious and chronic offenders, those hard-core members most embedded in the gang culture, who comprise a relatively small proportion of the population but who commit a disproportionately large share of crime and violence. Suppression involves both formal and informal social control procedures, such as close supervision and monitoring of gang-involved youth by agencies of the juvenile/criminal justice system and also by community-based agencies, schools, and grassroots groups.