Addressing Community Gang Problems
Welcome to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) site for technical assistance on the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model (Model). The purpose of this site is to assist communities in understanding the local youth gang problem, its origins, potential causes, and contributing factors and to develop a plan to address the problem.
The OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model is a comprehensive, collaborative approach designed to prevent and reduce youth gang violence. The Model calls for five core strategies to be delivered through an integrated approach by a team of community agencies and organizations. The five strategies are as follows: (1) community mobilization, (2) social intervention, (3) opportunities, (4) suppression, and (5) organizational change.
These pages provide assistance to communities in assessing their gang problem
and designing a plan to implement the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Comprehensive Gang Model. Two guides are provided: (1) A Guide to Assessing Your Community’s Youth Gang Problem provides information and direction about conducting a data-driven assessment,
and (2) Planning for Implementation offers
assistance in the development of a plan to implement the Model.
Assessment Guide Overview:
Research consistently shows that gang problems differ among and within communities. Prior to implementing program solutions, communities need to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the nature and scope of their gang problem. An assessment of a community’s local gang problem provides an understanding of the problem, its origins, potential causes, and contributing factors. A comprehensive, data-driven assessment of the gang problem will:
- Identify the most serious and prevalent gang-related problems.
- Determine factors contributing to gang problems.
- Identify target group(s) for intervention, suppression, and prevention efforts.
- Shape community mobilization efforts and identify community members who should be involved.
- Identify organizational or systems issues that must be addressed in order to have a long-term effect on the problem.
- Identify current efforts to address gangs and gang-involved youth.
This guide was developed to assist policymakers, practitioners, and community leaders in assessing and understanding their youth gang problem. It provides a blueprint for an in-depth assessment, including suggested data to be collected and the development of an Assessment Report that provides an analysis of the data.
Implementation Manual Overview:
Using data in the Assessment Report, the Steering Committee (a group of persons who represent key policy and administrative leaders of agencies and community organizations, as well as other community leaders concerned with youth gang problems) will determine whether the community has a significant gang crime problem. If so, the Steering Committee will develop an Implementation Plan with relevant program responses to reduce local gang crime and gang activity. An Implementation Plan will:
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Define goals, objectives, and activities for implementing the Model.
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Identify the target group(s) for focus of activities.
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Determine the agency(ies) responsible for carrying out the activities.
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Identify the person responsible for each activity.
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Acknowledge potential barriers and a plan to overcome the barriers.
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Determine start and completion dates.
This manual is intended for use by the Steering Committee and project staff as they develop the plan. It provides the following: (1) information to guide the Steering Committee through the development of an Implementation Plan and (2) the structure and staff composition by which the plan and the Model strategies can be carried out.
