Gang Prevention Strategies

In New Zealand three main strategies are used to deal with gangs. These are prevention, intervention and suppression. Prevention strategies include community awareness about gangs, changing the community conditions contributing to gang involvement and creating effective facilities for support and crime reporting (Aizon, A. 2012). Intervention strategies include drug and alcohol treatment, counseling, training and employment (Carr and Tam, 2013). Suppression includes policing, and probation searches (Carr and Tam, 2013). The criminological theoretical perspectives drawn on in this essay are labeling theory and strain theory. Labelling theory was developed by sociologist Howard Becker. It focuses on the tendency of majorities to negatively label

2012). Prevention in schools for example antibullying programs can help reduce gang involvement by creating a more positive school environment and reducing incidents of victimization and therefore students ' wont need protection from agang against the bully (Pesce and Wilczynski, 2005). Strain theory can be applied to this as strains such as being bullied by peers, are more likely to develop a positive attitude toward the use of violence, resulting in copying criminal behaviors to manage, or escape from strains (Moon, Hays, Blurton,

The CEIS wanted to reduce youth gang recruitment by reacting positively to the needs of underachieving students who had trouble finding employment once they had left school. It also provided children and young people with pro-social activities to do outside of school. The main goal of the GELS was to engage gangs, into different government-funded schemes. In 1987 the Committee of Inquiry into Violent Offending found that these schemes had positive results in decreasing the amount of offending and anti social behavior of the people who participated in them. Although it was stopped as there were complaints after it was suspected that criminal activity was occurring using vehicles bought by the government. In February 2009 the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families (Youth Courts Jurisdiction and Orders) Amendment Bill was introduced. This gave the Youth Court the power to issue a range of orders including parenting, mentoring, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes. Young People and Gangs in New Zealand 2009 http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/00PLSocRP09021/c4b167110df911a1e1252fc7c9e3e09c263941f4
Several forms of strain, which are linked to criminal behavior are also risk factors and can be seen above. For example, family conflict, failure to achieve economic goals, parenting