National Gang Center Community Violence Intervention—Addressing Gangs: Understanding Youth Gang Involvement Webinar

This webinar "Understanding Youth Gang Involvement," is the third in the “Community Violence Intervention—Addressing Gangs” series. It will address why youth join gangs. Research suggests that joining a gang is a complex decision that involves multiple negative conditions that "push" youth into gangs, as well as perceived positive opportunities that "pull" youth into gangs.  Understanding both the reasons behind a youth's decision to join a gang and the youth's level of embeddedness in the gang is instrumental in developing programs and supports for gang disengagement.  

As a result of this webinar, participants will be able to:  

• Understand the process of entry into gangs, including motivations, methods, and risk and protective factors
• Recognize differences in gang involvement, including the duration of association and embeddedness in gangs
• Identify appropriate programs, based on risk and protective factors, to support gang disengagement