Measuring Gang Involvement in a Justice-Referred Sample of Youth in Treatment

• NCJ Number: 248870
• Journal: Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2014 Pages: 41-59
• Author(s): Paul Boxer; Bonita Veysey; Michael Ostermann; Joanna Kubik
• Date Published: January 2015
• Length: 19 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2011-JV-FX-0104
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study assessed gang involvement among 421 youth referred by the justice system for intensive home- and community-based mental health treatment.

Abstract

Gangs are present in about 34 percent of all jurisdictions in the United States. Given elevations in violence and victimization associated with gang involvement, effective means are needed for measuring involvement among individual youth. This is especially the case among youth receiving services for problem behavior who might benefit from targeted treatments helping them reduce involvement in gangs. Using self-report survey and therapist-recorded data, the current study identified 94 (22 percent) youth as gang involved. Risk factor measures provided support for the authors' classification, driven primarily by self-reported indicators of gang involvement as opposed to therapist-recorded indicators. (Publisher abstract modified)