On the Shelf at CCBC Libraries
Getting Out by
For eight years Keith Morton codirected a safe-space program for youth involved in gang or street violence in Providence, Rhode Island. Getting Out is a result of the innovative perspectives he developed as he worked alongside staff from a local nonviolence institute to help these young people make life-affirming choices. Rather than view their violence as pathological, Morton explains that gang members are victims of violence, and the trauma they have experienced leads them to choose violence as the most meaningful option available. To support young people as they "unlearned" violence and pursued nonviolent alternatives, he offered what he calls a "Youth Positive" approach that prioritizes healing over punishment and recognizes them as full human beings. Informed by deep personal connections with these youth, Morton contends that to help them, we need to change our question from "What is wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?"
Call Number: HV6439.U5 M687 2019
Gangs by
Gang activity continues to make headlines on both the local and the international levels. This book explores why people join gangs, what causes gang violence, and what strategies are most effective at reducing gang activity. Essays are selected from highly respected sources to provide readers with more than one intelligent viewpoint per issue discussed. Readers will hear from sources including the Palm Beach Post, Globe and Mail, and Yakima Herald-Republic.
Call Number: HV6437 .G343 2012
Gangs in America's Communities by
This book provides a comprehensive, up-to-date, and theoretically-grounded approach to gangs and youth violence. It covers significant topics of interest to gang scholars and practitioners and, in doing so, serves to prepare students to work with gang members, develop and manage anti-gang programs, or engage in scholarly endeavors. The book introduces readers to the foundations of gang studies through the origins of gangs, definitions and categories of youth/street gangs (and the distinctions between these arguably different types), national and international trends, distinguishing features of serious street gangs, what works with gangs and what doesn't, and myths and realities. James Howell's extensive experience in this area allows access to the most authoritative national survey data on gang trends, providing insight into topics such as female gangs, migration of gang members, small-town gangs versus the major adult gangs in large cities, gang homicides and drug trafficking.
Call Number: HV6439.U5 H679 2012
Policing Gangs in America by
Policing Gangs in America describes the assumptions, issues, problems, and events that characterize, shape, and define the police response to gangs in America today. The focus of this 2006 book is on the gang unit officers themselves and the environment in which they work. A discussion of research, statistical facts, theory, and policy with regard to gangs, gang members, and gang activity is used as a backdrop. The book is broadly focused on describing how gang units respond to community gang problems, and answers such questions as: why do police agencies organize their responses to gangs in certain ways? Who are the people who elect to police gangs? How do they make sense of gang members - individuals who spark fear in most citizens? What are their jobs really like? What characterizes their working environment? How do their responses to the gang problem fit with other policing strategies, such as community policing?
Call Number: HV8080.G35 K38 2006
Streaming Videos
- Dead Man, Inc Dead Man Incorporated," or "DMI" is an ultra-violent prison gang that has become the biggest threat in the Maryland State penal system. In just ten years, the gang has grown to include more than 14,000 members and can now be found across the country. DMI enforces strict rules and maintains an air of secrecy.
Article Databases
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowArticles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
- Baltimore Sun This link opens in a new windowBaltimore's newspaper, which is good for local news and issues from 1990 - today.
For articles published 1837-1992, see ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Baltimore Sun. - Combined Video Search on Library CatalogYou can search for all titles from Films on Demand, Academic Video Online and Digital Theatre plus.
- Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new windowArticles and ebooks about humanities topics like arts, history, language, law, literature, philosophy, and politics.
- ProQuest Central This link opens in a new windowArticles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Baltimore Sun This link opens in a new windowPrimary source articles covering the politics, society and events of the time period 1837 - 1992.
- Social Science DatabaseArticles on social science topics like communication, criminology, economics, education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology.
- SocINDEX This link opens in a new windowArticles on sociology topics including criminal justice, gender studies, racial studies, social services, and social work.
- Sociology Database This link opens in a new windowArticles on sociology topics including criminal justice, gender studies, racial studies, social services, and social work.
Online from CCBC Libraries
Gangland [2 Volumes] by
This two-volume set integrates informative encyclopedia entries and essential primary documents to provide an illuminating overview of trends in gang membership and activity in America in the 21st century. Gangland: An Encyclopedia of Gang Life from Cradle to Grave includes extended discussion of specific gangs; types of gangs based on ethnicity and environment (rural, suburban, and urban); recruitment and retention methods; leadership structure and other internal dynamics of various gangs; impacts of gang membership on extended family; the historical evolution of gangs in American society; depictions of gang life in popular culture; violent and nonviolent gang activities; and programs, policies, agencies, and organizations that have been crafted to combat gang activities. In addition, the encyclopedia includes a suite of primary sources that offer a look into the personal experiences of gang members, examine efforts by law enforcement and public officials to address gang activity, and address wider societal factors that make eradicating gangs such a difficult task. Comprises approximately 200 encyclopedia entries on gangs in the United States Illustrates entries through 16 primary documents Provides a chronology to help readers to contextualize developments related to gang activity Includes a Guide to Related Topics to facilitate tangential discovery Defines terms essential to understanding the subject matter of the text in a glossary
Publication Date: 2018-10-01
Youth Gangs by
In the quarter century since the first edition of this book, scholarship on gangs in general, and especially youth gangs, has grown exponentially. The first chapter has an expanded discussion of definitional issues, plus recent data from the National Youth Gang Survey, material on the evolving economic nature of gangs, and gang use of internet and social media. The second chapter continues by examining gang violence and drug involvement, and the extent to which they are intercorrelated, with new material on victimization of gang members and gang involvement in drug use and sales. Chapter 3 focuses on racial and ethnic decadences in gangs and the important role of race and ethnicity on gang membership and gang behavior in the U.S. The fourth chapter examines female gangs and gang membership and the changes that have taken place in the nature and extent of female gang membership over time. The fifth and sixth chapters place contemporary American gangs in the historical and international perspective. Chapter 5 includes a new section on youth gangs in the new millennium, and Chapter 6 has been reorganized, particularly to reflect the burgeoning research on European and other international gangs since the turn of the millennium. Chapter 7 has been expanded to include recent developments in the actual and potential application of biosocial, psychological, and life course developmental theories to gangs. Chapter 8 provides a comprehensive, multilevel theory of gangs with updates including new propositions, and new evidence for both the new and old propositions, based on more recent work in theory development and theory testing for gangs. The ninth and tenth chapters' revisions focus on legislative and justice system efforts to deter gang crime and membership. Chapter 10 also focuses on intervention and assistance programs outside the justice system, including discussion of the Gang Resistance Education and Training program. The final chapter concludes by considering the future of youth gangs in the U.S. and elsewhere in light of historical and cross-national evidence, theory, and experience with gang interventions and programs.
Publication Date: 2016-04-11
Code of the Street by
For several decades, researchers have studied the race/violence relationship. A number of explanations have been put forth to clarify the forces at play behind this relationship. Elijah Anderson, a professor of sociology currently at Yale University, presents a compelling argument for the high rates of violence among African-American adolescents. In his "code of the street" thesis, Anderson argues that the economic disadvantage, social dislocation and racial discrimination encountered by some African-American adolescents foster deviant, anti-social attitudes (ie: a street code) and developmental pathways that are related to violent behaviour. This book explores the research into the validity of the "code of the street" theory.
Publication Date: 2011-01-01
