Targeted Outreach - Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention ...

Introduction 1
I. Introduction Although decreasing in recent years, the level of violent
crime is still considerably higher than it was in
the 1960s and 1970s. Furthermore, experts predict
that violent crime rates will not continue to drop as
drastically, if at all, in the years to come (see Snyder
and Sickmund, 1999).
Criminological research consistently finds that gang
members are more likely than non-gang members to
commit offenses, especially serious and violent
offenses, and to do so with high frequency (see
Howell, 1998, for a review; also Thornberry, 1998).
For example, in a study conducted in Rochester, New
York, gang members accounted for 68 percent of the
violent acts, 68 percent of the property crimes and
70 percent of drug sales, even though they represented
less than one-third of the sample
(Thornberry, 1998).
Although an annual survey of law enforcement agencies
in the United States indicates that 1996 marked
the current peak in the number of gang members
nationally (Egley, 2000), the number of youth
between the ages 14 to 24 in the U.S.—the prime age
for gang involvement—is growing. Thus, determining
effective ways to prevent and continue to deter
the spread of gangs remains critical in the efforts to
reduce crime.
In response to the rise in the number of gang members
and the rise in juvenile crime and delinquency
during the early 1990s, the Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) developed the
Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang
Prevention, Intervention and Suppression (Spergel,
Chance et al., 1994; Spergel, Curry et al., 1994; see
also Burch and Chemers, 1997; Burch and Kane,
1999). This comprehensive gang model, often
referred to as the Spergel model, engages communities
in a systematic gang assessment, consensus building
and program development process. The model
involves the delivery of five core strategies—community
mobilization; provision of academic, economic
and social opportunities; social intervention; gang
suppression; and organizational change and development—through
an integrated and team-oriented
problem-solving approach.
This evaluation examined two initiatives developed
by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) and local
Clubs that fit within the OJJDP Comprehensive