A gang is defined as a group of people who have a claimed leader and a definite internal organisation, who use their numbers to gain control over a territory or community or engage in illegal, violent behaviour. Gangs have always been a major concern in the public sphere, and the problem is that it still exists as more of a public concern than a gang war issue.
Prevention
According to the National Institute of justice, prevention refers to the services, activities or programs designed to prevent people from joining gangs. As a rule of thumb, it is considered that prevention is better than cure. Therefore, the prevention program focuses primarily on young people. Situational gang crime prevention also focuses on the cause of the crime rather than who the offenders for perpetrators are. This way, it is possible to get to the root of the problem and to prevent those things from happening.
Intervention
The point of intervention is to draw gang members and close associates away from their current gangster lifestyle. There are already a large number of programs that involve law enforcement coordination with society. They also team up with the religious organisations for faith-based organisations in general and offer games like wheelz casino, education, job training and community services as incentives for the people involved in the gang to quit. By focusing on the good side of the people, it may be possible to help the people involved.
Suppression
Gang crime enforcement is a broad range of criminal justice activities where the prosecution, enforcement of the law, parole and probation focus their resources to make sure to limit accountability for the criminal activity of gangs and gang members. Some of these suppression tactics are given below:
- Sharing important intelligence information regarding gangs and their whereabouts between criminal justice in forces like the police, the judiciary, etc.
- Targeting, finding and apprehending repeat gang crime offenders
- Using civil ordinances or gang injunctions to prevent an association from any gang members
- Giving strict punishments to gang offenders like enhanced sentencin
Assessment
The first and foremost point that has to be made is that there should be a clear cut analysis and assessment of the problem. An upfront assessment of gang offenders and strategies helps to understand the problem with as much detail as possible. Leaders can accordingly plan and target violent perpetrators on a plan that saves both money and time in the long run.