Assessment Guide
- Welcome
- Comprehensive Gang Model
- Suggested Readings
- FAQ
- Assessment Guide
- Implementation Manual
The assessment guide, A Guide to Assessing Your Community’s Youth Gang Problem, provides a blueprint for conducting an in-depth assessment of the gang problem in the community and guidance for the assessment process. It describes the data variables, sources of data, and data-collection instruments. It also provides suggestions on how to organize and analyze the data and guidelines for preparation of an Assessment Report that will present the results of the data-collection effort, as well as an analysis of the data and key findings regarding the community’s gang problem. For convenience, individual chapters or the entire document can be downloaded.
* Adobe PDF files require Adobe Reader to view or print them. If you
do not have Adobe Reader installed on your computer, click here to download the latest version from Adobe’s Web site at no
cost.
Download the Entire Document
- Assessment Guide
"A Guide to Assessing Your Community’s Youth Gang Problem"
Individual Chapters
- Introduction
This chapter describes the genesis of the Model, the purpose of the assessment guide, and an overview of the assessment process.
- The OJJDP Comprehensive
Gang Model
A brief description is given of the Model’s five core strategies: (1) community mobilization, (2) opportunities, (3) social intervention, (4) suppression, and (5) organizational change and development.
- Why Assess the Gang Problem?
Gang members commit serious and violent offenses at a rate higher than non-gang youth. This chapter provides a short overview of studies which have shown that gang members are responsible for a large proportion of both violent and nonviolent crimes, as self-reported in each study’s sample.
- Laying the Groundwork
Committed leadership is necessary from the start, beginning with data collection and data analysis. It continues to be necessary with the development of a plan to implement the Model and subsequently with the implementation of the Model. This chapter describes the roles and responsibilities of key staff during the assessment process. Descriptions of the Steering Committee, Project Coordinator, Research Partner, and Assessment Team are outlined. It also provides a sample of definitions of gang, gang member, and gang crime to assist in understanding diverse definitions of gangs and gang crime.
- Collecting the Data
This chapter provides a summary of five areas of inquiry which are key to assessing the nature and extent of a community’s gang problem. The key areas are demographics, gang crime, student involvement in gang activity, community perceptions, and current program resources. The following five chapters discuss each in detail.
- General Descriptive Data
Basic data about the community should be collected in order to provide a context for other data and spot trends in population demographics, as well as changes in the social and economic structure. This chapter describes the information needed to provide a general description of the community, its population, and service needs. It identifies the questions to be answered about the community, the information that will be needed, and the sources of that information.
- Gang Data
Because gang violence reduction is the focus of the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model, a key piece of the assessment is gang crime data. In order to understand the scope and nature of gang crime in the community, law enforcement data should be collected on demographics of gangs and gang members, types of crimes gang members commit, locations of gang crime, when crimes are committed, and victims of gang crime. Other information on gang activity is obtained through interviews with gang members. This chapter provides guidance on collecting this information and identifies the questions to be answered about gang characteristics and gang crime, the information necessary to answer those questions, and sources of that information. It also contains a gang member interview form and sample consent forms for gang member interviews.
- Student and School-Level
Data
Data collected from students and school staff about gang activity at school, as well as students who claim gang membership, are important to the assessment. A survey of students can also help identify risk and protective factors in a youth’s life that can help predict increased or decreased probability of developing problem behaviors such as gang behavior.
The chapter provides guidance on collecting data about student characteristics and disciplinary actions, students’ perceptions of gangs and gang activity, and school staff perspectives on gang activity on campus. The chapter identifies questions to be answered about students, student involvement in gang activities, risk and protective factors, and school staff perceptions; the information needed to answer the questions; and sources of that information. A discussion of risk and protective factors is included, as well as information pertaining to consent and confidentiality with respect to the student survey. A student survey instrument and an interview form for school staff are provided.
- Community Perceptions
of Gang Crime
Community leaders (formal and informal), community residents, parents, and others offer important perspectives about gangs and gang activity. This chapter identifies questions to be answered about community perspectives, information needed to answer the questions, and sources of that information. Included in this chapter are the following: (a) an interview form for community leaders, (b) a survey form for community residents, and (c) focus group questions for parents and parents of gang members.
- Current Activities and
Resources
Before developing a plan to implement the Model, the community will need to know what resources are currently available to address gang youths’ needs. This chapter provides guidance on conducting a resource inventory of organizations and agencies that serve gang youth, including justice system programs (law enforcement, probation, and corrections). Data-collection instruments are provided for both youth- and family-serving agencies and for justice system programs.
- Data-Collection Tools
This chapter describes several common data-collection tools and advantages/disadvantages of each.
- Analyzing and Interpreting
the Data
In preparation for writing an Assessment Report, the data should be analyzed and interpreted across all data-collection areas. This chapter briefly discusses quantitative and qualitative data and the types of statistics useful for this type of data analysis.
- Writing the Assessment
Report
This chapter provides guidance for writing the Assessment Report and includes an outline that can be used to present the assessment findings.
- References
