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This document is archival in nature and is intended Le présent document a une valeur archivistique et for those who wish to consult archival documents fait partie des documents d’archives rendus made available from the collection of Public Safety disponibles par Sécurité publique Canada à ceux Canada. qui souhaitent consulter ces documents issus de sa collection. Some of these documents are available in only one official language. Translation, to be provided Certains de ces documents ne sont disponibles by Public Safety Canada, is available upon que dans une langue officielle. Sécurité publique request. Canada fournira une traduction sur demande. ________ Research Report _________ Gang Cohesion and Intervention Strategies: A Review of the Literature Ce rapport est également disponible en français. Pour en obtenir un exemplaire, veuillez vous adresser à la Direction de la recherche, Service correctionnel du Canada, 340, avenue Laurier Ouest, Ottawa (Ontario) K1A 0P9. This report is also available in French. Should additional copies be required, they can be obtained from the Research Branch, Correctional Service of Canada, 340 Laurier Ave. West, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0P9. 2012 Nº R-292 Gang Cohesion and Intervention Strategies: A Review of the Literature Laura Dunbar This report was written under a contract managed by the Correctional Service of Canada, Research Branch, Correctional Research Division. The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Correctional Service of Canada. Correctional Service of Canada November 2012 Acknowledgements This review of the literature on gang cohesion and intervention strategies was initially conceptualized and started by the Research Branch, Correctional Service of Canada. The author would therefore like to thank Yvonne Stys for her development of a thematic framework for the organization of materials as well as for her work in compiling the literature and summarizing some of the resources used in this report. The author would also like to thank Sara Johnson for her editorial expertise and thoughtful feedback on earlier drafts of this report. ii Executive Summary Key words: gang, definition, cohesion, management, intervention, community-based, institutional. The proliferation of gang membership and activity has become an increasing concern in Canadian society. As the gang problem becomes more severe, the need to find effective strategies to deal with this problem has become more important. The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has recognized the specific challenges that gang-affiliated offenders pose to the safety and operation of its institutions and is actively assessing best practices in gang management and intervention. This research report outlines the status of gangs in Canada, including current definitions, and provides an overview of the community and institutional landscapes. Gang cohesion is examined including a review of criminological theories and research explaining why individuals seek out and join gangs, remain with a gang, and decide to leave a gang. Further, the cohesiveness of different types of gangs is addressed. Gang management and intervention strategies, both in the community and in the institutional setting, which aim to identify means to address the gang problem in the United States and Canada, are reviewed. Finally, CSC’s establishment of a strategic framework to address gangs in the correctional setting and its continued focus on how to better manage gang activities in institutions is discussed. Despite numerous attempts, there is no consensus regarding what constitutes gang activity, nor agreement among researchers on the ‘true’ definition of a gang. However, some key elements of gang activity and structure have been identified and several typologies of gangs have been proposed to assist in the definition, recognition and classification of groups. Based on continuous changes and their complex nature, gangs must be defined in the local Canadian context if policy and programming are to proceed effectively. In the community landscape, street gangs are growing in number and type and are becoming more violent and criminally sophisticated; Canada is becoming the center of operations for some trans-national organized crime groups such as the Hell’s Angels. Furthermore there has been an increase in female gang members. The ethnic composition of gang members varies across the country with British Columbia having the highest proportion of Asian gang members while the Prairie provinces have the highest representation of Aboriginal members. The line between different types of criminal groups is becoming less distinct – there are links between street gangs and organized crime groups and between street and prison gangs. A combination of rising gang activity in Canada and the introduction of criminal justice interventions has culminated in the growth of gang-affiliated offenders and transformed the profile of the inmate population. Differences have been identified between gang affiliate types suggesting unique offender profiles rooted in gang groupings. In the institutional setting, ethnic minority groups are disproportionately represented among gang members and this is particularly evident for Aboriginal gang members. Street gangs and prison gangs present a major challenge iii for prison administration because of the high level of violence and criminogenic need commonly associated with these groups. The differences identified between gang types suggest that varying approaches are required to manage these groups. Since the ‘gang’ emerged as a social concern, researchers have sought to explain its dynamics. Individuals may join gangs for a myriad of reasons including for protection, access to resources and power, emotional support, or based on poor bonds to conventional society; gangs meet the unfulfilled needs of their members. Individuals may maintain membership with their gangs as a result of socialization, greater cohesion and the continued functionality of the gang lifestyle, or because of a fear of leaving and limited options available outside the gang. Individuals may choose to leave their gangs as a result of the temporary nature of membership, experiences with violence, or increasing bonds and attachments to conventional people and activities. Variations in gang cohesion are related to the conditions under which the gang is founded or developed, the characteristics of the members, their collective choices, and the level of loyalty expected. Community-based gang interventions have adopted several strategies and can be divided into three groups: social development intervention strategies, law enforcement strategies and comprehensive strategies. Detached-worker, school-based intervention, and suppression programs encompass the majority of efforts. Recently, promising multi-faceted approaches to intervention have employed a combination of these strategies along with provision of education and job opportunities as well as individual and family counselling for gang members. What is clear is that before embarking on the implementation of gang intervention strategies in the community setting, a systematic research and development process should be conducted to identify what strategies work in a particular location that is experiencing a particular type of gang problem with particular types of individuals. In the United States and in Canada, a number of methods, techniques and strategies have been employed to address the influence of gang members in correctional institutions. Included among these are transfers; isolation, segregation and alternative housing options; debriefing; dissociation; zero-tolerance policies; and intelligence gathering, information sharing and training opportunities. However, despite the best of intentions, these interventions have demonstrated limited success. While management and suppression strategies are important for ensuring institutional safety and security, more research is needed on the effectiveness of correctional programming and treatment to address the unmet needs of gang-affiliated inmates including individual cognitive-behavioural treatment; corrections-based disengagement strategies; and Aboriginal-focused interventions. The current state of gangs in Canada makes innovative approaches to the treatment of gang members in the institutional setting necessary. CSC has a number of policies in place to address the management of gangs in its institutions and it is moving to incorporate more of the promising practices identified in the research literature. It has acknowledged that in order to address the complexity of the gang problem facing Canada, a coordinated and integrated approach involving key criminal justice stakeholders is needed. CSC has set up a strategic framework