Gang Resistance Education and Training
Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T) is a national program that educates elementary and middle school children how to avoid becoming a gang member. The program is instructed by police officers and is part classroom instruction and other learning activities. “The goal of the GREAT program is to teach youth how to set goals for themselves, how to resist peer pressure, how to resolve conflicts, and how gangs can affect the quality of their lives.” (Ramsey, Rust, & Sobel, 2003) The program also teaches the youth personal empowerment, among other things, that prevent them from getting into any gang activity. Originally the program was based off a nine lesson middle-school curriculum.
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This is why the goals of G.R.E.A.T. are to stop gang involvement, violence, and prevent youth crime. They do this by providing a pathway to develop relationships with their family, other young people, and most importantly law enforcement officials in order to create a safer environment for the youth. In order to make a bigger impact, the program is taught in two different school levels.
The G.R.EA.T. program is taught to the youth starting in elementary and continuing until middle school. The elementary program and middle school program are both skill based learning. The elementary program is designed as an introduction course to the middle school program. The elementary program sets the foundation that begins to teach the youth skills that are needed for the more intensive program that is taught in middle school. All of this is done while they develop the bond between the youth and law enforcement officials. These bonds continue to develop once the students move onto the middle school program.
The curriculum of the middle school program is more in depth in an attempt to cement the good behaviors of the students. This is done by enhancing their knowledge of their actions and consequences. These courses are taught to the sixth and seventh grade students. They are based on scenarios in order to show the student how to avoid engaging in violent behavior. At the middle school level the youth should
T.A.R.G.E.T is an acronym for Tri Agency Gang Enforcement Team represents a multiagency approach to targeting current gang members with suppression measures while also targeting entire gangs with police suppression. Each team in the TARGET program consists of gang investigators, a probation officer, a deputy district attorney, and a district attorney investigator. This program uses a three-pronged strategy: 1 selective incarceration of the most violent and repeat older gang offenders in the most violent gangs, 2 the enforcement of probation controls graduated sanctions and intensive supervision on younger, less violent gang offenders, and 3 arrests of gang leaders in “hot spots” of gang activity. A major aim of the TARGET program is to reduce
Understanding that most of this kids are coming from a lower social economic background means that there is not a lot of resources provided for them. Despite this what the community should do is have a career fair to help gang members. According to, Beth Caldwell “ connecting gang members with meaningful employment opportunities, may be some of the most successful efforts in helping people to stop engaging in gang activity”. Having a career fair can be an option for youth gang members to think about going to college or finding a job rather than being in a gang. Giving them the ability to think that their essence is important can impact their life in a positive course. Job training skills can help them be a better person to seek for job opportunities. Even though civil gang injunction tend to bring a negative aspect into society and communities, they also benefit our society. Civil gang injunction help maintain community safety and focuses on the safety of the
The gang in Memphis, Tn migrated from Chicago and California, in which they called themselves the Crips and the Bloods subsets, Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, Latin Kings, Blac P. Stones, Four Corner Hustles to name a few. These gangs are known for their juvenile memberships. However, the Gang Reduction Assistance for Saving Society's Youth (GRASSY) program has provided resources for gang members by making nearby streets more feasible. This organization has reduced gang conflicts in nearby school by 63 percent. In doing such there is an increase in school attendance and graduation of gang members. It is Ron Pope goal to ensure that school-age student will become inactive in their gang membership(Goggans, L., 2014). In the state of Tennessee,
A two-pronged prevention approach has proven effective, with primary prevention strategies aimed at the community 's general population and secondary prevention strategies targeting youth between the ages of 7 and 14 who are at high risk of joining gangs. Prevention efforts undertaken by law enforcement departments around the country include: “Participating in community awareness campaigns (e.g. developing public service announcements and poster campaigns). Contacting the parents of peripheral gang members (through the mail or during personal visits) to alert them that their children are involved with a gang. Sponsoring gang hotlines to gather information and facilitate a quick response to gang-related issues. Organizing athletic events with teams of law enforcement officers and gang members. Establishing working relationships with local social service agencies. Making presentations about gangs to schools and community groups as a combined effort at prevention and information gathering. Sponsoring school-based gang and drug prevention programs (e.g. DARE and GREAT)” (Hess, 2013 p.230).
After realizing this method was not exactly efficient in preventing gang violence, programs were started to steer gangs in the right direction. Although these programs are new and are not fully functioning yet, they have shown significant improvements in prevention and continue to research the topic to this day. The solution to gang violence has not been discovered yet, but there are many theories regarding the issue.
The first important ingredient in the G.R.E.A.T program is the instruction of life skills is the foundation of the program. The program is intended as an immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership for children in the years immediately before the prime ages for introduction into gangs and delinquent behavior. In accordance with a study by Dr. Esbensen in 2000, delinquency often serves as a precursor to gang involvement, the GREAT program focuses on providing life skills to students to help them avoid delinquent behavior and resorting to violence to solve problems. Communities need not have a gang problem in order to benefit from the program as its primary objective is prevention and is intended as an immunization against delinquency, youth violence, and gang membership.
In society there is no possible way to turn every gang member into a changed person. But there is a way to lead these young teens away from that type of lifestyle. It’s through many projects and programs that are completely centered on these teens to help get them off the streets and into school to get a good education. On television they have a show where at
The Canadian government also uses Intervention programs. This programs purpose is to help street gang members, especially youth leave gangs as well as prevent young people who are on the border of joining street gangs join them. Along with prevention techniques, intervention program must be individualized to meet the adolescents needs to get them out of their current gang. Multisystemic Therapy which was designed specifically for chronic juvenile offenders which can be also connected to youth gangs, is a home based program where all areas of the adolescents life that influences them are involved including home, school, peer group and neighbourhood. With therapists available twenty-four hours a day, this program can be successful. The purpose of Multisystemic Therapy is to “empower the family to take responsibility for making and maintaining gains.... parents are encouraged to develop the requisite skills to solve their own problems rather than rely on professionals” (Leschied & Cunningham 9). Another intervention strategy based out of Regina, is called RAGS which stands for Regina Anti-Gang Services specifically targets gang involved Aboriginal youth from the ages of thirteen to thirty. The goal is to reduce the amount of youth gang crimes by providing services that can end in adolescents leaving the gangs. The program offers intensive counselling, teaching
If more help is given to social services, more youth can avoid gangs. There are social programs that help youth not join gangs but without the help of other programs then they can’t succeed. In the article “ Helping At Risk Youth Say No to Gangs” says that the G.R.E.A.T. program or the Gang Resistance Education and Training “teaches kids to avoid gangs and be friendly with the police” (Higgins 1) These types of programs can help youth say no to gangs and weaken the threat of gangs. The programs can help weaken the threat gangs pose to the public and help the youth become
Program description. GREAT is a brief 9 week school-based program directed to elementary and middle school students by trained, uniformed police officers. This program teaches 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students about the impact of crime on the community and its victims; the differences between cultures; how to meet the basic needs without joining a
therefore, gang behavior can be prevented by providing parents resources that include support groups and parenting classes to gain good parenting skills that will enable them to help their children have a better chance in life.
Gangs originated naturally during the adolescent years of a child. They started from small play groups that eventually found themselves in conflict with other small groups of youth. Due to the conflict between the two small groups of youth it became a part of a child’s mind set to come together as a gang and protect their rights and satisfy the needs that their environment and families couldn’t provide. There are about 24,500 gangs in the U.S and out of those gangs 40% of them are juveniles (Hess, Orthmann, Wright, 2013). There are numerous reason why a child would join a gang, and the
Gangs are becoming prevalent in today’s society and within our schools. More and more young people are turning to gangs in an attempt to escape their everyday lives and the future, which they perceive as dismal and bleak. They are initially attracted to the prestige and cash flow, which is glamorized by the street gang. Many gangs are actively involved in criminal misconduct, such as drug and gun trafficking, burglaries and homicides. However, street gangs are not just a criminal justice issue, but a social problem, which is triggered by poverty, peer pressure, boredom, despair and lacking a sense of belonging.
There are several positive and successful programs that are put in place in which involves the help and deterrence of youth from engaging into gangs. Such task of helping out the youth and future generations takes time and commitment. Possible solutions of getting involved in helping the youth that are in the gangs to get them off the streets are implementing the same gang model that they already know in which involves the commitment of one to another as members of a close-knitted family but without the drugs and violence. With the ideas and belief that they have already known would be easier to implement and develop programs that they are familiar to. Such programs should instill the same love, respect, and belonging as one would receive when joined a gang; therefore, it gives them another option of committing themselves in a positive way as a model citizen. It gives them
In society today, there is a major problem We live in a society where gangs are taking over our neighborhoods in numbers. It is the responsibility of the individuals to part take in getting their neighborhoods back under control. Gangs are becoming a growing problem in American society. More young people are turning to gangs to solve problems in their lives or for acceptance. When youths join gangs, they drop all their social activities with school, family, and friends. However, individuals ruin their lives, and the chances of them having a decent education, and a successful life by getting involved in gang activity.