By Efi Avdela

This book examines how the intensive discussions about the issue of juvenile delinquency in the new international organizations (United Nations, World Health Organization, Council of Europe), which emerged after the end of the Second World War, internationalized the anxieties generated in the fifties and sixties by its purported increase in Europe and beyond. Greece, a regular member-state, anxious to ensure international legitimacy in the aftermath of the Civil War, presented abroad an embellished picture of the measures undertaken at home for the prevention and containment of juvenile delinquency, sidestepping the strong moralism and the juridical formalism that dominated both official and unofficial approaches.

Gottingen: V&R unipress GmbH, (Vienna University Press), 2019.

By Alava Séraphin, Divina Frau-Meigs and Ghayda Hassan

Does social media lead vulnerable individuals to resort to violence? Many people believe it does. And they respond with online censorship, surveillance and counter-speech. But what do we really know about the Internet as a cause, and what do we know about the impact of these reactions? All over the world, governments and Internet companies are making decisions on the basis of assumptions about the causes and remedies to violent attacks. The challenge is to have analysis and responses firmly grounded. The need is for a policy that is constructed on the basis of facts and evidence, and not founded on hunches – or driven by panic and fear mongering. It is in this context that UNESCO has commissioned the study titled Youth and Violent Extremism on Social Media – Mapping the Research. This work provides a global mapping of research (mainly during 2012-16) about the assumed roles played by social media in violent radicalization processes, especially when they affect youth and women. The research responds to the belief that the Internet at large is an active vector for violent radicalization that facilitates the proliferation of violent extremist ideologies. Indeed, much research shows that protagonists are indeed heavily spread throughout the Internet. There is a growing body of knowledge about how terrorists use cyberspace. Less clear, however, is the impact of this use, and even more opaque is the extent to which counter measures are helping to promote peaceful alternatives. While the Internet may play a facilitating role, it is not established that there is a causative link between it and radicalization towards extremism, violent radicalization, or the commission of actual acts of extremist violence.

Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2019. 168p.

By Marty Langley and Josh Sugarmann

The gun violence epidemic is devastating for America’s youth. VPC research helps educate the public on youth gun violence victimization, and we work directly with policymakers, gun violence prevention groups, and community leaders to move toward effective solutions.

For five consecutive years, the VPC published Lost Youth, a series of reports that put a spotlight on youth victims of gun violence in California county by county. The primary goal of these reports is to offer localized information on youth homicide victimization on the county level to better inform citizens, advocates, service providers, and policymakers.

By comparing on a county-by-county level the homicide rates for youth and young adults in California, it is our goal to add a new, ongoing context for presenting information and measuring progress on gun violence against youth, while at the same time helping to support discussion, analysis, policy development, and action. Above all, this work is conducted in the belief that information aids in the development of sound prevention strategies — on the local, state, and national levels.

Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, 2015. 36p.

By Patricia E. Campie, Anthony Petrosino, et al.

The Massachusetts Safe and Successful Youth Initiative (SSYI) commissioned a review of the evidence underlying effective programs designed to reduce serious violence among targeted groups of young offenders. A Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) methodology was used to identify and determine the effectiveness of rigorous evaluation studies of programs most similar to the SSYI intervention. A review of the implementation science literature complemented the evidence review to determine what characteristics organizations should demonstrate in order to produce optimal results from their SSYI efforts. Taken together, the guidance from evaluations of effective programs and the characteristics of high quality implementation provide SSYI with valuable insight on enhancing and improving violence prevention efforts moving forward.

Boston: Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, 2013. 50p.

By Jon Bannister, Jon Pickering, Susan Batchelor, Michele Burman, Keith Kintrea and Susan MccVie

Background and Aims 1. Recent years have witnessed growing concern about the existence of youth gangs and the engagement of their members in violent conflict involving knives and other weapons. However, there is limited reliable evidence relating to the nature, form and prevalence of youth ‘gangs’ and knife carrying in Scotland. Recognising these information shortfalls, the research reported here set out to: • Provide an overview of what is known about the nature and extent of youth gang activity and knife carrying in a set of case study locations. • Provide an in-depth account of the structures and activities of youth gangs in these settings. • Provide an in-depth account of the knife carrying in these settings. • Offer a series of recommendations for interventions in these behaviours based on this evidence. 2. The research was conducted in 5 case study locations, namely: Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire. There were two major data collection components. First, the research interviewed those engaged in the delivery of services designed to manage and challenge problematic youth behaviours, inclusive of youth gangs and knife carrying. Second, the research gained access (via these services) to a large sample of young people. Despite the intention to interview distinct samples of gang members and knife carriers, most of the young people identified through this methodological approach held some form of group affiliation.

Edinburgh: Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, 2010. 90p.

By Susan McVie

This report presents key findings on gang membership and knife carrying amongst a cohort of young people based on data collected by the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime (ESYTC). The analysis was commissioned in light of a lack of quantitative data measuring the extent of gang membership and knife crime in Scotland.

Edinburgh: Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR), 2010. 50p.

By Simon McMahon (Project Oracle) and Jyoti Belur

The suggestion that sport and physical activity can have a positive impact on young people’s lives is often intuitively accepted as common sense. Yet the way that positive change can be brought about is often considerably more vague. This report takes a step towards filling this gap by synthesising available evaluations of sports-based interventions in London. In doing so, it contributes to building an evidence base that can inform policy decisions and future interventions.

London: Project Oracle, 2013. 22p.

By Panu Poutvaara and Mikael Priks

This paper isolates the causal effect of policing on group violence, using unique panel data on self-reported crime by soccer and ice hockey hooligans. The problem of reverse causality from violence to policing is solved by two drastic reallocations of the Stockholm Supporter Police unit to other activities following the 9/11 terrorist attack in September 2001 and the Tsunami catastrophe in December 2004. Difference-in-difference analysis reveals that Stockholm-related hooligan violence increased dramatically during these periods.

Copenhagen: Centre for Economic and Business Research, Copenhagen Business School, 2007. 27p.

By John G. Horgan, Paul Gill, Noemie Bouhana, James Silver and Emily Corner

Lone actor terrorists (sometimes referred to as ‘lone wolves’) and mass murderers are more often than not assumed to be distinct, with little validity for comparison. Yet, both engage (or attempt to engage) in largely public and highly publicized acts of violence and often use similar weapons. - Using a series of bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses, we compared demographic, psychological and offense-related behavioral variables across and between 71 lone actor terrorists and 115 solo mass murderers. - Results indicate there is little to distinguish these offender types in terms of their socio-demographic profiles. However, their behaviors significantly differ with regards to (a) the degree to which they interact with co-conspirators (b) their antecedent event behaviors and (c) the degree to which they leak information prior to the attack.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 2016. 122p.

By Jonathan Ilan

Crime must be understood as a facet of class-cultural interaction, given that the majority of the convicted are young, urban, disadvantaged males, while the criminal law enshrines and enforces what could be viewed as middle-class behavioural expectations. Class-cultural dynamics have become increasingly complex in late modernity, however, with traditional certainties and class boundaries becoming blurred and indistinct. This thesis examines the social and cultural factors underlying youth offending and justice in an inner-city Dublin community through an ethnographic treatment of the various actors in a locality which has undergone significant change in recent years. The Crew, a group of young offenders, are shown to adhere to a ‘rough’or ‘street’variant of working class values, born of the experience of particularly intense disadvantage and exclusion. The group’s base is in the Northstreet community, which historically condoned a level of petty criminality as a response to the absolute poverty experienced by its residents. Internal divisions, economic resurgence and urban renewal have altered the way of life for the majority of the residents of this public housing complex, which has rendered the young offenders both a symbolic reminder of the past, and an obstacle to community leadership attempts to represent contemporary Northstreet as a ‘respectable area’. While developments in policing strategies have in turn blurred the traditional opposition between the Gardai and working-class communities, The Crew and the police force nevertheless continue to construct each other as opponents, engaging in a game-like conflict fuelled by the clash 'street' and 'decent' values.

Dublin: Technological University Dublin, 2007. 249p.

By The Juvenile Law Center

The United States incarcerates youth at more than double the rate of any other country in the world. On any given day, almost 50,000 young people are locked up in juvenile facilities across the country. Although overall juvenile incarceration rates have been falling, Black youth are still over five times more likely than their white peers to be detained or committed to an institution.

We know these institutions—many of which are over 100 years old—are part of a punitive corrections-oriented approach that does not work for youth. Research shows that institutional settings harm young people developmentally, psychologically, and—far too often—physically. Yet our country continues to rely on this outdated model as the backbone of its juvenile justice system.

Philadelphia: Juvenile Law Center, 2018. 31p.

By Lisa Pilnik, Robert G. Schwartz, Karen Lindell, Jessica Feierman and Christina Sorenson

There is broad consensus that incarcerating youth in the juvenile justice system is both dangerous and ineffective. Secure facilities and other juvenile justice placements pose a high risk of short- and long-term harm to children. Placing young people outside their homes disrupts family ties, undermines educational continuity and developmental trajectory, and can cause trauma and undermine a child’s developmental trajectory. Recent research has shown that placement also leads to long-term mental and physical health consequences. Moreover, far too many youth sent to “treatment” facilities experience abuse or neglect and fail to receive needed behavioral health services. Pennsylvania stakeholders have taken important steps to decrease placement rates and improve outcomes for youth—and local and state leadership is already engaged in continuing the reform efforts. At the same time, the need to dramatically change our responses to young people in the justice system is obvious. Where Pennsylvania was widely recognized as a leader in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, we now lag behind other states in the extent to which we use placement and the extent of our racial disparities. Wordsworth. VisionQuest. Glen Mills. Luzerne. Year after year, facilities in Pennsylvania are sued or shut down after the horrific treatment of youth in their care comes to light. Each time, children are removed from the placement and additional oversight is imposed to try to prevent a recurrence, and then it happens again. Oversight isn’t enough. To meet its obligations to our children, Pennsylvania must re-examine its reliance on juvenile placements. Working in collaboration with youth in the system and their families, we must create a system that stresses high-quality community-based solutions that are safer for children, promote public safety, and more effectively and efficiently use our resources.

Philadelphia: Juvenile Law Center, 2019. 44p.

By the Fines and Fees Justice Center (FFJC)

Every young person who comes into contact with Florida’s courts — regardless of guilt or innocence — is saddled with fees. Florida law authorizes 31 different court fees, costs and surcharges to be imposed on youth and their families. Together, these fees are quietly leading our youth, and their families, down a path of inescapable debt and poverty.

This report outlines the catastrophic consequences of juvenile fee debt for Florida’s children, families, and economy including: increased poverty, increased recidivism, and the exacerbation of racial disparities in the justice system. It also shows how the accumulation of fee debt is particularly damaging for Black youth and youth in the child welfare system.

Using county-level and statewide data, the report highlights the futility of both government, and private collection efforts, arguing that the costs of fee assessment and collection far outweigh the meager revenue received from such efforts.

Philadelphia: Fines and Fees Justice Center, 2022. 23p.

By Karen U. Lindell and Katrina L. Goodjoint

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Roper v. Simmons banning the death penalty for young people under the age of 18, the principle that “kids are different” has come to permeate the justice system’s approach to young people. The developmental differences between adolescents and adults are now codified in numerous state statutes, have been cited in countless court decisions, and are foundational concepts in juvenile defense. And, while there is much work still to be done, the shift toward a developmental approach to youth justice has contributed to dramatic reductions in youth incarceration rates over the last decade.1 Yet even the Supreme Court has acknowledged, “[t]he qualities that distinguish juveniles from adults do not disappear when an individual turns 18.”2 People do not transform from children into adults on their 18th birthdays; instead the transition to adulthood is gradual and highly individualized.

The report begins by describing the defining characteristics of emerging adulthood and laying out the case for reforming the justice system’s approach to emerging adults. The report then examines examples and lessons from around the country where reforms are underway, including raising the age of juvenile court jurisdiction, reforming criminal justice procedures and practices, and using support from systems outside of the justice field. Finally, the report presents an in-depth look at the legal provisions and programs impacting emerging adults in the six states of the Great Lakes region—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Our hope is that this report provides policymakers and advocates in each of those states, as well as elsewhere, greater tools to reshape justice for emerging adults in their jurisdictions.

Philadelphia, PA: Juvenile Law Center, 2020. 96p.

By Nadia Mozaffar, Kate Burdick, Maura McInerney, Kristina Moon, Katherine Dunn, Stephanie C. Burke and Naomi E. Goldstein

On any given day across the country, more than 48,000 youth are confined to juvenile justice facilities, where they are held for weeks, or even months at a time/

These youth are held in facilities that not only take them away from their homes, but also their schools. And while these facilities provide classes to prevent young people from falling behind in their schoolwork, many return to their schools to discover that they did not receive full academic credit for their work, that there is no record of their credits or that their credits will not count toward graduation. In other words, they discover that despite their best efforts to succeed, the juvenile justice system failed them. In fact, research spanning the last 20 years — including anecdotal reports from youth, families, advocates and others — describes rampant credit transfer problems. What’s more, the research in this report confirms that it continues to be a problem on a national scale, despite recently expanded mandates under the Every Student Succeeds Act and the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Act, federal laws requiring states to have procedures for timely assessment and transfer of credits. This report, Credit Overdue: How States Can Mitigate Academic Credit Transfer Problems for Youth in the Juvenile Justice System, is the first of its kind to analyze this problem from a national perspective, including the consequences youth experience due to the system's failure. The report also examines the legislative solutions necessary to ensure youth receive the academic credits they are due.

Philadelphia, PA: Juvenile Law Center, Education Law Center-PA, Drexel University and the Southern Poverty Law Center, 2022. 54p.

By John Pitts

This book provides an account of the emergence, nature and impact of armed youth gangs in an East London Borough over the last decade. It describes the challenges these armed young men and women pose to their communities, those charged with preventing crime and those struggling to vouchsafe 'community safety'. While the focus of the book is 'local', the processes it outlines and the effects it chronicles have both a national and international relevance.

It argues that the main reason behind the emergence of the armed youth gang has been the coalesence of two previously discreet socially deviant groups; the rowdy, episodically criminal, adolescent peer group on the one hand and the locally-based organized criminal network on the other.

The book analyses the impact of the globalisation of the drugs trade and the consequent shift in the focus of local organized crime from the 'blag' to the 'business'. It also discusses how socio-economic and cultural factors, as well as family and neighbourhood histories and loyalties and localized racial antagonisms all play their part in the emergence of the armed youth gang.

Cullompton, Devon, UK: Willan Publishing, 2008. 188p.

By Juanjo Medina, Andreas Cebulla, Andy Ross, Jon Shute, and Judith Aldridge

Youth gangs have received widespread political and media attention in the last decade. Gang membership has been linked to violent crime among young people, particularly in cases of gun and knife crime. More recently, this focus on gang membership among young people has been amplified by the rioting in some UK cities in summer 2011. Based on the suspected link between gangs and violent crime, government and different agencies have begun to develop policy responses to gangs. In November 2011, the government published its cross-government strategy to combat gang and youth violence. Alongside this, police forces and local authorities are drawing on US models to tackle gangs, including the formation of dedicated units and multi-agency teams. This study aims to enhance the evidence base for the developing policy context. We have used data from the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey (OCJS) to explore the circumstances that lead to young people joining, remaining, and leaving gangs in England and Wales. The OCJS provides the best nationally representative data available on young people’s victimisation and offending in the UK. Our findings, which are discussed in more detail in this briefing paper, are that gang membership increases the chances of offending, antisocial behaviour, and drug use among young people. This finding vindicates the current policy approach of treating gang membership as a distinct part of crime prevention and youth policy.

Manchester, UK: Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Manchester and NatCen Social Research,, 2013? 13p.

By Kara Apland, Hannah Lawrence, Jeff Mesie and Elizabeth Yarrow

This paper reports the findings from an evidence review ofthe views, perspectives and experiences of children in involved in gangs, on matters related to their subjective wellbeing. The report forms part of a series of studies examining the subjective wellbeing of vulnerable groups of children in England. This series was produced as part of a larger project focused on improving evidence about childhood vulnerability. Objectives of the review The main objectives of the review were:  to identify, appraise and synthesize published qualitative evidence on the subjective wellbeing of children in detention in England  to draw out key findings and conclusions from the evidence, as well as identifying any important gaps.

London: Children’s Commissioner for England, 2017. 39p.

By Children’s Commissioner for England

This report investigates what it means to be a child gang member in England. It estimates how many children in England are in gangs, and looks at the risks factors which make it more likely for a child to end up being groomed for gang membership. Finally, it questions whether those responsible for safeguarding children are responding adequately to the rise in gang violence and how children can better be kept safe. I have been shocked to discover that many of those responsible for the protection of children in their local areas seem to have no idea where to start, despite hundreds of thousands of children being at risk. In this, I draw parallels with CSE a decade ago – before children being sexually exploited were recognised as victims and not perpetrators, and the adults supposed to protect them stopped turning a blind eye to widescale abuse. Our research presented here estimates there are 27,000 children in England who identify as a gang member, only a fraction of whom are known to children’s services. Their experiences vary widely. For some, being in a gang entails little more than putting a hashtag on social media. For others it can be far more serious and dangerous. Many of the children who identify as gang members feel they have no choice or no better options. Some are groomed and exploited by gangs but never identify as members. Often it is these children, described to me once as ‘collateral’, who are the most vulnerable and at risk.

London: Children’s Commissioner for England, 2019. 39p.

By Jesse Jannetta; Rod Martinez; Paige Thompson; Janine M. Zweig; Lily Robin; Leigh Courtney; Lindsey Cramer; Storm Ervin; Andreea Matei; Krista White

The recommended strategies are derived from research on the impact of various efforts to reduce shootings and homicides committed by youth between the ages of 10 and 25 in gangs/groups and with the use of guns. Research indicates that a common feature of the most effective efforts involves collaborations among law enforcement agencies, local government agencies, and community organizations in designing, implementing, and testing policies and practices designed to prevent and respond to violence committed by youth gangs/groups. Recommendations are divided into two sections. Those in the first section address how to build anti-violence infrastructure to ensure planned efforts span the entire jurisdiction, have multiple components, are adaptable to variable circumstances, are sustainable over time, and are targeted at violence committed by youth gangs/groups. The second section focuses on how to develop effective programs and interventions that operate within and benefit from the existing infrastructure. Nine actions needed to develop an anti-violence infrastructure are discussed. There are some common titles given workers and types of work done by those employed in these antiviolence efforts outside of traditional justice agencies. Throughout this guide, four common job titles in such work are a “case manager,” “credible messenger.” ”outreach worker,” and a “violence interrupter.” The guide describes the functions of each of these jobs in the context of what research has indicated to be an effective infrastructure for countering youth gang/group violence. Some examples are provided of U.S. cities that have an established infrastructure for addressing violence by youth gangs/groups.

Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2022. 99p.