By Luciana Vosnick

This research examines and compares how humanitarian and peacebuilding organizations approach engagement with street gangs in North and Latin America for risk management purposes. Drawing from multiple semi-structured interviews with humanitarian and peacebuilding organizations, the study demonstrates that humanitarians and peacebuilders adopt either a risk mitigation or risk prevention approach when engaging with street gangs. Such risk management strategies are informed both by the organizations’ mission and by the normative lenses they adopt when looking at gangs. The research shows that the prevention and mitigation dichotomy responds to a perception of gangs being either a static source of violence to be contained or a social entity capable of change and transformation. Such lenses contribute to creating the framework through which organizations work because they influence how these organizations perceive risk and, as a result, affect how they manage risk on the tactical level.

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  The research results demonstrate that these distinct strategies produce very different outcomes. For instance, a risk mitigation approach produces an apolitical, neutral relationship with gangs that might benefit organizations with a strategic objective centered on delivering immediate, short-term emergency aid. In comparison, a risk prevention approach embodies a more robust engagement with gangs, leading to a higher level of interpersonal trust that might be beneficial for organizations aiming to implement long-term development or violence reduction programs. The research shows that each risk management strategy carries consequences because it affects an organization’s ability to implement programs successfully. The study concludes by offering practical suggestions to charitable organizations seeking to engage with street gangs in violent urban contexts.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Division of Continuing Education, 2022. 71p.

By Mark Freeman and Vanda Felbab-Brown

Negotiations with violent criminal groups – such as mafias, cartels, gangs and pirates – occur more often than imagined. This publication, grounded in more than three years of in-depth IFIT research and dozens of first-person interviews conducted with actual negotiators, offers key lessons drawn from the most diverse set of negotiations with violent criminal groups ever examined in one place. One of the prominent discoveries of this study – which centres on negotiations intended to reduce or end violence – is how the best of theory and practice regarding peace talks with militant groups (and associated areas such as transitional justice) appears largely absent from consideration or application in talks with violent criminal groups. The gap is striking and counterproductive, but also heralds an opportunity to achieve greater results in future. Another key discovery relates to the endgame of the negotiation. With militant groups, the point of negotiations is typically to end the use of organised political violence, by exchanging disarmament (and/or incorporation into the army) for some form of political empowerment and rehabilitation. With violent criminal groups, the endgame is harder to pin down, because their motivations are understood to be mainly pecuniary, leaving it unclear what they could transform into. However, the examined cases suggest that the challenge is surmountable – and under a surprising variety of conditions.

Barcelona: Institute for Integrated Transitions, 2021.

By Teun van Ruitenburg and Arjan Blokland

The Netherlands is known as one of the pioneering countries adopting a whole-of-government approach to fighting organised crime. In 2012, the Dutch government launched a similar multi-agency approach to tackle outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs). This paper provides a brief overview of the problem of OMCGs in the Netherlands and describes the different aspects of the Dutch whole-of-government approach. After reflecting on these efforts, we conclude that little is yet known about the effectiveness of this whole-of government approach to OMCG crime.

Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2022. 15p.

By Anna Applebaum and Briana Mawby

Gang violence is most often considered a criminal rather than a conflict issue, which limits the international community’s willingness to mitigate the conflict or provide humanitarian aid. However, the disruption of daily life caused by widespread gang violence is increasingly similar to experiences of war, including limited freedom of movement and high numbers of civilian casualties. High levels of violence lead to significant migration flows and displacement, as has been seen in individuals fleeing from Syria to Europe and from Central America’s Northern Triangle (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) to the United States. This note, which focuses on El Salvador, highlights the scale and nature of gang violence and points to the ways in which the Women, Peace, and Security agenda can help to strengthen prevention and responses.

Washington, DC: Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security,2018. 8p.

By Pamela Ruiz

Government officials in northern Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) claim the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 are primarily responsible for violence in their countries. These gangs have been identified to exert violence, extortion rackets, and confront security forces that enter gang-controlled communities (Seelke, 2014; Natarajan et al, 2015; International Crisis Group, 2017; Servicio Social Pasionista (SSPAS), 2017; Insight Crime and Asociación para una Sociedad mas Justa (ASJ) [Association for a more Just Society] 2016, Arce, 2015). But exactly how do gangs contribute to violence and extortion rackets in these countries? What are the differences, if any, on how the gangs commit these crimes in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador? This working paper discusses the complex violence dynamics in northern Central America and argues that a chronic deficiency in data, weak rule of law, and impunity exacerbate insecurity in these countries. The Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 originated in Los Angeles, California and are now present throughout the United States, northern Central America, Spain, and Italy (Franco, 2008; Valdez, 2009; Seelke, 2016; Valencia, 2016; Finklea, 2018; Dudley & Avalos, 2018). Barrio 18 was formed in the 1960s by mixed-race Mexican, and MS-13 was formed in latter 1980s by Salvadorans who fled the civil war (Franco, 2008; Valdez, 2009; Seelke, 2016; Wolf, 2012). Some scholars argue gang culture was exported when individuals with criminal records were deported to their country of origin, while other scholars argue voluntary migration contributed to gangs’ presence in northern Central America (Arana, 2005; Franco, 2008; Seelke, 2016; Cruz, 2010). It is imperative to clarify that a criminal removal from the United States is not synonymous, nor does it imply a perfect correlation with a gang member being removed .

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  Nonetheless, these gangs have become major security concerns in northern Central America. This study examined the concentration of crimes often attributed exclusively to gangs (homicides, extortion, and confrontations) using administrative data from the Salvadoran National Civilian Police, Honduran Prosecutor’s Office, and Guatemalan National Civilian Police. Interviews with subject matter experts supplemented the quantitative analysis to gain further understanding of violence dynamics per country. This paper follows with a literature review on homicides, extortion, and confrontations trends in northern Central America, a methodology section, results, and a discussion.

Miami: Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, Florida International University, 2022. 31p.

By Reana Bezić

Juveniles represent the most important human capital on which societies have to rely in order to achieve sustainable progress and social change. Their delinquency is a complex phenomenon and one of the most challenging criminological and social problems. Throughout the 20th century, criminology has produced numerous studies focusing on aetiological factors and phenomenological characteristics of juvenile delinquency. However, juvenile crime research in the Balkans has remained scarce, with only few empirical studies having been carried out thus far. Such an 'empirical black hole' makes cross=national and comparative criminological research on juvenile crime in the Balkans far overdue. This volume provides a first comprehensive account of the prevalence and incidence of juvenile crime in the Balkans, based on self-reports in youth populations of five countries of the region: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia. The analyses focus on differences and common characteristics among the five country samples, involving a total of 8,460 respondents. Based on these findings, further analyses are centered on indicators that might impact the development of juvenile crime. In general, this study is focused on theory-testing and the search for mechanisms that explain juvenile crime in the region. The main theory that was tested is the social control theory. The study presents important empirical evidence for establishing, developing and evaluating prevention programmes, which are an important component of rational, evidence-based crime policies in the Balkans.

Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2021. 200p.

By Kirsten Elisa Petersen and Lars Ladefoged

This research and knowledge gathering project presents international, Nordic, and Danish research and knowledge regarding youth in gangs. This research and knowledge gathering constitutes part II of a combined research project focused on young men in gangs, which has been running since January of 2013. Earlier in the course of the project, report number 1 was published with the title “Voices from a Gang – Young Gang Members Own Stories as told by themselves about Growing Up, Daily Life, and Their Future"..

The research project also encompassed a temporal and economic opportunity to develop research and knowledge gathering specifically with a focus on pinning down existing research-based knowledge on the subject of youth in gangs, both in a Danish and international context – and this is what is now being presented in this report. The third and last report (Report Part III) presents the results of that part of the research project that focused on the social programs and efforts that are being implemented across the country in various forms to prevent gang affiliation, as well as focusing on efforts that help young people leave gangs. Here, the professional workers are included, meaning those who work with young people in gangs in various ways, their knowledge and experience, and the social and social-pedagogical efforts, theories, and methods, on which the professionals base their work. The third and last report in the complete research project about young men in gangs is expected to be published in December of 2018.

Copenhaven: DPU, Aarhus Universitet, 2018. 154p.

By Julia Stanyard

As the coronavirus pandemic began to infiltrate East and southern Africa, authorities across the region imposed unprecedented restrictions on the movement and freedoms of their citizens. As many observers argued in the following months, the reliance on the police to enforce these restrictions turned a public-health crisis into a security and human-rights crisis. Overnight, many in poor and marginalized communities saw their legitimate livelihoods become impossible. But what became of the illegitimate livelihoods and illegal economies? How did groups that were already operating outside the law react to the lockdowns?

This study explores these questions by using Cape Town, South Africa, as a lens to analyze trends across the East and southern African region. Drawing on in-depth reporting as well as interviews across the Cape Flats with gang members, community members and civil-society activists, the report charts the first hundred days of lockdown. This reporting is integrated with further research drawn from our network of researchers in Cape Town, other cities in South Africa and in Kenya and Tanzania. The report concludes that the lockdowns have brought about significant change in a number of areas, namely how gangs operate economically; the political power they wield over communities; levels of violence and street-level crime; and the relationship between corrupt law-enforcement officials and gang members.

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime, 2020. 33p.

By Summer Walker

The growth of gang violence in Haiti has been a major concern in recent years. Years of political dysfunction in the Caribbean country have combined with deteriorating economic conditions, the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters, to create a weakening of state power. Under these conditions, gangs have multiplied, joined up forces and asserted authority in an increasingly destructive manner.

In the last five years, gangs have grown rapidly in number, expanding their territories and tightening their control over Haiti’s political and economic infrastructure. They have established themselves as the mercenary partners of politicians and state administrators, as mafia-style armed groups profiting from the private sector and as the local coordinators of international criminal networks.

There are now an estimated 200 gangs operating across Haiti, and around 95 in the capital, Port-au-Prince, alone. This has resulted in a major insecurity crisis, with large-scale attacks on communities, politicians and journalists, high levels of violence, mass kidnappings and large-scale forced displacements

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime, 2022. 26p.

By the U.S. Department of Justice

La Mara Salvatrucha (“MS-13”) is a violent street gang that operates as a transnational criminal organization (“TCO”) and has been designated as such by federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of the Treasury. MS-13 operates in the United States, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and other countries. Each year, MS-13 is responsible for violent crimes in the United States, including murders, extortion, arms and drug trafficking, assaults, rapes, human trafficking, robberies, and kidnappings. For decades, MS-13 has exploited weaknesses in U.S. immigration enforcement policies to move its members in and out of the United States and to recruit new members who have arrived in the United States illegally.3 Moreover, MS-13 has infiltrated both cities and suburbs of the United States and established cliques in California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia,

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  This report describes the Department’s work to dismantle La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) in the United States and abroad. The data show that since 2016, the Department has prosecuted approximately 749 MS-13 gang members. So far, more than 500 of these MS-13 gang members have been convicted, including 37 who received life sentences. Department prosecutors are using more than 20 federal criminal statutes to prosecute MS-13 members, including, for the first time, filing terrorism charges against MS-13’s leadership. The data also show that for decades MS-13 has exploited weaknesses in border enforcement policies, as approximately 74 percent of the defendants prosecuted were unlawfully present in the United States. The report also describes the Department’s efforts to combat MS-13 internationally through increased partnerships with law enforcement in Mexico and Central America. Through international cooperation, hundreds of MS-13 members have been arrested abroad and more than 50 MS-13 members have been extradited to the United States.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 2022. 17p.

By Barbara Bloom and David Steinhart

In I978,The National council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) published a study entitledWhy Punish the Children? The study JL offered a comprehensive and critical view of the nation's treatment of children whose mothers were incarcerated in the nation's jails and prisons. It documented a neglected and forgotten class of young people whose lives were disrupted and often damaged by the experience of isolation from their imprisoned mothers. Recommendations presented in the study were intended to focus attention on these children and their needs. The present work is a reassessment of the study published in I978. The need for a current appraisal is sharpened by the fact that the incarceration rate for female offenders has skyrocketed in recent years. This has spurred unwelcome growth of the invisible class of infants, children and teenagers who find themselves without a mother at home. While new legions of children are growing up separated from their mothers, government agencies appear more powerless than ever to attend to the needs of the children, their mothers and their caregivers. Now more than ever, we must renew our concern and define our commitment to these children. This report offers an appraisal of their needs and a current agenda for reform.

San Francisco: National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 1993. 86p.

By Frederic M. Thrasher

While gangs and gang culture have been around for countless centuries, The Gang is one of the first academic studies of the phenomenon. Originally published in 1927, Frederic Milton Thrasher’s magnum opus offers a profound and careful analysis of hundreds of gangs in Chicago in the early part of the twentieth century. With rich prose and an eye for detail, Thrasher looked specifically at the way in which urban geography shaped gangs, and posited the thesis that neighborhoods in flux were more likely to produce gangs. Moreover, he traced gang culture back to feudal and medieval power systems and linked tribal ethos in other societies to codes of honor and glory found in American gangs

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973. 214p.

Edited by Scott H. Decker and David C. Pyrooz

Pulling together the most salient, current issues in the field today, The Handbook of Gangs provides a significant assessment by leading scholars of key topics related to gangs, gang members, and responses to gangs.

• Chapters cover a wide array of the most prominent issues in the field of gangs, written by scholars who have been leaders in developing new ways of thinking about the topics

• Delivers cutting-edge reviews of the current state of research and practice and addresses where the field has been, where it is today and where it should go in the future

• Includes extensive coverage of the individual theories of delinquency and provides special emphasis on policy and prevention program implications in the study of gangs

Chichester, West Sussex:Wiley Blackwell, 2015. 592p

Edited by Finn-Aage Esbensen and Cheryl L. Maxson

As a steady source of juvenile delinquents and an incubator for future adult offenders, the youth gang has long been a focus of attention, from their origins and prevalence to intervention and prevention strategies. But while delinquent youth form gangs worldwide, youth gang research has generally focused on the U.S.

Youth Gangs in International Perspective provides a needed corrective by offering significant studies from across Europe, as well as Trinidad-Tobago and Israel. The book spans the diversity of the field in the cultural and scholarly traditions represented and methods used, analyzing not only the social processes under which gangs operate and cohere, but also the evolution of the research base, starting with the Eurogang Program’s definition of the term youth gang. Cross-national and gender issues are discussed, as are measurement concerns and the possibility that the American conception of the youth gang is impeding European understanding of these groups.

New York Dordrecht: Springer, 2012. 322p.

Edited by Malcolm W. Klein, Hans-Jürgen Kerner, Cheryl L. Maxson and Elmar G. M. Weitekamp

The Eurogang Paradox is the first comprehensive collection of original research reports on the status of street gangs and problematic youth groups in Europe, as well as a set of special, state-of-the-art reports on the current status of American street gang research and its implications for the European gang situation. Seven American papers are joined with reports from England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Holland, Belgium, France, and Slovenia. Summary chapters by the American and European editors provide overviews of the street gang picture: the associated issues and problems of definition, community context, comparative research procedures, and implications for prevention and intervention. Professionals and students will find these papers easy to comprehend yet fully informative on comparative street gang studies.

Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic, 2001. 335p.

By Irving A. Spergel

Every day there are new stories of gang-related crime: from the proliferation of illegal weapons in the streets and children dealing drugs in their schools, to innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire of never-ending gang wars. Once considered an urban phenomenon, gang violence is permeating American life, spreading to the suburbs and bringing the problem closer to home for much of America. The government, schools, social agencies, and the justice system are conspicuous by their sporadic interest in the subject and have failed to develop effective policies and programs. Existing social support mechanisms and strategies for suppressing violence have often been unsuccessful. And, state and federal policy is largely nonexistent.In The Youth Gang Problem: A Community Approach, Irving Spergel provides a systematic analysis of youth gangs in the United States. Based on research, historical and comparative analysis, and agency documents and the author's extensive first-hand experience, the work explores the gang problem from the perspective of community disorganization, especially population movement, and the plight of the underclass. It examines the factors of gang member personality, gang dynamics, criminal organization, and the influence of family, school, prisons, and politics, as well as the response of criminal justice agencies and community groups.

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  Spergel describes techniques used by social agencies, schools, employment programs, criminal justice agencies, and grass-roots organizations for dealing with gangs, and recommends strategies that emphasize the use of local resources, planning, and collaborative procedures.There is no single strategy and no easy solution to the youth gang problem in the United States. There are, however, substantial steps we can take, and they must be honestly and systematically tested. Offering a practical and alternative approach to a serious social problem, The Youth Gang Problem: A Community Approach is a major and long-awaited contribution to this dilemma. It is required reading for criminal justice personnel, school staff, social workers, policy makers, students and scholars of urban and organizational sociology, and the general reader concerned with the youth gang problem and how to control, intervene, and prevent it.

Oxford, UK; New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. 368p.

By Kyung-Seok Choo

Choo explores group delinquency in the Asian American community. His primary focus is two youth groups, a Korean affiliated Chinese youth gang and a Korean delinquent group. The two groups have evolved through different processes and under different community circumstances. Both manifest differing patterns of delinquent activities and require different approaches to their problems. By analyzing the demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural characteristics of the Korean immigrant community, the book discusses the unique lifestyle of Korean-American immigrants in relation to their youth and group delinquency problem. Choo also explains the phenomenon of gangs and immigrant youth by detailed comparison of the emergence, development, persistence and change of theser two distinctive groups.

New York: LFB Scholarly Publishing, 2007. 215p.

By Ko-lin Chin

In Chinatown Gangs, Ko-lin Chin penetrates a closed society and presents a rare portrait of the underworld of New York City's Chinatown. Based on first-hand accounts from gang members, gang victims, community leaders, and law enforcement authorities, this pioneering study reveals the pervasiveness, the muscle, the longevity, and the institutionalization of Chinatown gangs. Chin reveals the fear gangs instill in the Chinese community. At the same time, he shows how the economic viability of the community is sapped, and how gangs encourage lawlessness, making a mockery of law enforcement agencies.Ko-lin Chin makes clear that gang crime is inexorably linked to Chinatown's political economy and social history. He shows how gangs are formed to become "equalizers" within a social environment where individual and group conflicts, whether social, political, or economic, are unlikely to be solved in American courts. Moreover, Chin argues that Chinatown's informal economy provides yet another opportunity for street gangs to become "providers" or "protectors" of illegal services. These gangs, therefore, are the pathological manifestation of a closed community, one whose problems are not easily seen--and less easily understood--by outsiders.Chin's concrete data on gang characteristics, activities, methods of operation and violence make him uniquely qualified to propose ways to restrain gang violence, and Chinatown Gangs closes with his specific policy suggestions. It is the definitive study of gangs in an American Chinatown.

New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. 248p.

By James Diego Vigil

The Pico Gardens housing development in East Los Angeles has a high percentage of resident families with a history of persistent poverty, gang involvement, and crime. In some families, members of three generations have belonged to gangs. Many other Pico Gardens families, however, have managed to avoid the cycle of gang involvement.In this work, Vigil adds to the tradition of poverty research and elaborates on the association of family dynamics and gang membership. The main objective of his research was to discover what factors make some families more vulnerable to gang membership, and why gang resistance was evidenced in similarly situated non-gang-involved families. Providing rich, in-depth interviews and observations, Vigil examines the wide variations in income and social capital that exist among the ostensibly poor, mostly Mexican American residents. Vigil documents how families connect and interact with social agencies in greater East Los Angeles to help chart the routines and rhythms of the lives of public housing residents. He presents family life histories to augment and provide texture to the quantitative information.By studying life in Pico Gardens, Vigil feels we can better understand how human agency interacts with structural factors to produce the reality that families living in all public housing developments must contend with daily.

Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2007. 256p.

By Frederic M. Thrasher

While gangs and gang culture have been around for countless centuries, The Gang is one of the first academic studies of the phenomenon. Originally published in 1927, Frederic Milton Thrasher’s magnum opus offers a profound and careful analysis of hundreds of gangs in Chicago in the early part of the twentieth century. With rich prose and an eye for detail, Thrasher looked specifically at the way in which urban geography shaped gangs, and posited the thesis that neighborhoods in flux were more likely to produce gangs. Moreover, he traced gang culture back to feudal and medieval power systems and linked tribal ethos in other societies to codes of honor and glory found in American gangs

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973. 214p.