The National Gang Intelligence Center issued its 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment (NGTA) : 

• Since 2009, gang membership has increased by over 40 percent. 
• There are 1,400,000 active gang members in the United States. 
• There are more than 33,000 gangs in the United States. 
• Gang membership increased most significantly in the Northeast and Southeast regions, although the West and Great Lakes boast the highest number of gang members. 
• Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions and up to 90% in several others, according to the NGIC analysis. 
• Gang-related crime and violence is escalating as they employ violence and intimidation to control their territories and illicit operations. 
• Gang members are migrating from urban areas to suburban and rural communities to recruit new members, expand their drug territories, form new alliances and collaborate with rival gangs. Local neighborhood, hybrid and female gang membership is on the rise. 

View the entire report at http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/2011-national-gang-threat-assessment/2011-national-gang-threat-assessment/

On June 22, 2011 the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) launched CrimeSolutions.gov, a one-stop shop for information about programs that work in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. This new website is a credible resource to inform practitioners about what works using the best available evidence in order to help state, local, and tribal jurisdictions address crime effectively and efficiently.

This searchable online database includes over 145 evidence-based programs and covers a range of justice-related topics including: ·         Corrections & Reentry ·         Courts ·         Crime & Crime Prevention ·         Drugs & Substance Abuse ·         Juveniles ·         Law Enforcement ·         Technology &Forensics ·         Victims & Victimization

Expert reviewers assess available studies on each program and assign “evidence ratings” – effective, promising, or no results – to indicate whether there is evidence from research that a program achieves its goals. Replicating programs that have been shown to work (“effective” and “promising” programs) has the potential to not only improve outcomes, but also save time and resources.

As Assistant Attorney General Laurie O. Robinson explained “We all have tight budgets today. CrimeSolutions.gov helps us take a ‘smart on crime’ approach that relies on data-driven, evidence-based analysis to identify and replicate justice-related programs that have shown real results in preventing and reducing crime and serving crime victims.” For more information visit www.crimesolutions.gov or contact Phelan Wyrick at phelan.wyrick@usdoj.gov 

read the full report here NATIONALNEEDSASSESSMENTOFJUVENILEJUSTICEPROFESSIONALS2010.pdf (1.54 mb)

Here's a good resource that just got better. The National Gang Center (NGC) houses a gang-related articles database and just recently they added Canadian provinces.

The NGC's Gang-Related News Articles page provides a list of articles pertaining to gangs and gang-related activities from various U.S. and Canadian news sources. A link to the source of each article is provided. The list of articles can be refined by date and limited to a specific state or Canadian province or territory. As of checking the webpage today NGC has over 12,000 articles with over 4,000 in California.

You can find the webpage by clicking here.

Happy Reading!

from LATimes.com

An educated weapon will combat gangs

City-sanctioned intervention workers are studying for a unique assignment: preventing the next crime.

By Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times

May 23, 2010

1.     Go to http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/GANGINFO.

2.     Click Application Form.

3.     Complete the form and hit Submit.

4.     You will then receive an e-mail confirmation—click on the URL to confirm your request to start a new account.

For a complete copy of the report click here.

National Gang Threat Summary Gangs pose a serious threat to public safety in many communities throughout the United States. Gang members are increasingly migrating from urban to suburban areas and are responsible for a growing percentage of crime and violence in many communities. Much gang-related criminal activity involves drug trafficking; however, gang members are increasingly engaging in alien and weapons trafficking. Additionally, a rising number of U.S.-based gangs are seemingly intent on developing working relationships with U.S.-and foreign-based drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) and other criminal organizations to gain direct access to foreign sources of illicit drugs. 

Key Findings The following key findings were developed by analysis of available federal, state, and local law enforcement information; 2008 National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS) data; and verified open source information:

• Approximately 1 million gang members belonging to more than 20,000 gangs were criminally active within all 50 states and the District of Columbia as of September 2008.
• Local street gangs, or neighborhood-based street gangs, remain a significant threat because they continue to account for the largest number of gangs nationwide. Most engage in violence in conjunction with a variety of crimes, including retail-level drug distribution.
• According to NDTS data, 58 percent of state and local law enforcement agencies reported that criminal gangs were active in their jurisdictions in 2008 compared with 45 percent of state and local agencies in 2004.
• Gang members are migrating from urban areas to suburban and rural communities, expanding the gangs’ influence in most regions; they are doing so for a variety of reasons, including expanding drug distribution territories, increasing illicit revenue, recruiting new members, hiding from law enforcement, and escaping other gangs. Many suburban and rural communities are experiencing increasing gang-related crime and violence because of expanding gang influence.
• Criminal gangs commit as much as 80 percent of the crime in many communities, according to law enforcement officials throughout the nation. Typical gang-related crimes include alien smuggling, armed robbery, assault, auto theft; drug trafficking, extortion, fraud, home invasions, identity theft, murder, and weapons trafficking.
• Gang members are the primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs. They also are increasingly distributing wholesale-level quantities of marijuana and cocaine in most urban and suburban communities.
• Some gangs traffic illicit drugs at the regional and national levels; several are capable of competing with U.S.-based Mexican DTOs.
• U.S.-based gang members illegally cross the U.S.–Mexico border for the express purpose of smuggling illicit drugs and illegal aliens from Mexico into the United States.
• Many gangs actively use the Internet to recruit new members and to communicate with members in other areas of the United States and in foreign countries.
• Street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs pose a growing threat to law enforcement along the U.S. – Canada border. They frequently associate with Canada-based gangs and criminal organizations to facilitate various criminal activities, including drug smuggling into the United States.

              

March 24 - 26, 2009, A four-member team from Fresno County attended a training in Orlando, Florida hosted by the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention and facilitated by the National Youth Gang Center.

The training was an in-depth overview of the OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model. It featured presenters and speakers from OJJDP pilot site communities from around the country that have been implementing the Model.

County of Fresno adopted the Model as its key approach to addressing gangs at a launch meeting in February 2008. Since that time we have received a grant from The California Endowment to assist with completion of a county-wide assessment and development of an Implementation Plan. A Preliminary Report and video can be seen here. The final report is slated to be completed this year.

For more information on the training and next steps identified for Fresno County download the attached newsletter (below). For additional information and a copy of the Comprehensive Gang Model Manual click here.

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