Preventing Young People from Involvement in Violence, Gangs and Organized Crime

What works in preventing young people from involvement in violent offending, from membership of gangs or from being drawn into organized crime? The chapter is divided into two sections. The first provides an overview of the findings of a series of 14 research reviews published between 2010 and 2017, several of which became the basis of policy or advisory documents. The second is a review of research studies published between 2017 and 2020 which evaluated interventions provided by police working in partnership with other agencies. There was a large quantity of research on youth offending, yet only a small fraction of it focused on methods of preventing involvement in violent crime or in gangs. Previous reviews found positive results in terms of reducing rates of serious violence by young people. The most successful interventions came from pulling levers interventions in several US cities. Other effective projects involved providing high-risk individuals with appropriate support services, supervision and opportunities for engagement in activities. Promising methods were identified of working with young people at risk of joining gangs, by developing multi-agency community-based projects, including work in schools. Research on this however remains limited. Given the nature of organized crime, its relationship to youth violence and gangs is difficult to ascertain because (1) it is predominantly carried out by adult offenders, (2) little is known about the processes by which younger people are recruited into it and (3) other than major investigations and law enforcement efforts, little is known about how to reduce it.