By Owen Elrifi

This paper explores the classification of gangs as criminal actors and not as political actors. I propose that urban street gangs often resemble and reflect the actions of the Weberian state in their communities and that this makes them inherently political, even if they do not make explicitly political claims against the state. To test this, I develop a theoretical framework by which to compare gang characteristics to state characteristics. Through ethnographic case studies of three Chicagoan gangs in the latter half of the 20th century, I demonstrate the utility of my framework in analysis and evaluate the similarities between gangs and states.

Chicago: University of Chicago, 2019. 70p.

By David P. Farrington and Brandon C. Welsh

After decades of rigorous study in the United States and across the Western world, a great deal is known about the early risk factors for offending. High impulsiveness, low attainment, criminal parents, parental conflict, and growing up in a deprived, high-crime neighborhood are among the most important factors. There is also a growing body of high quality scientific evidence on the effectiveness of early prevention programs designed to prevent children from embarking on a life of crime. Drawing on the latest evidence, Saving Children from a Life of Crime is the first book to assess the early causes of offending and what works best to prevent it. Preschool intellectual enrichment, child skills training, parent management training, and home visiting programs are among the most effective early prevention programs. Criminologists David Farrington and Brandon Welsh also outline a policy strategy--early prevention--that uses this current research knowledge and brings into sharper focus what America's national crime fighting priority ought to be. At a time when unacceptable crime levels in America, rising criminal justice costs, and a punitive crime policy have spurred a growing interest in the early prevention of delinquency, Farrington and Welsh here lay the groundwork for change with a comprehensive national prevention strategy to save children from a life of crime.

New York: Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006. 248p.

By Mark Shaw and Luke Skywalker

The focus of this Policy Note is specifically on the role of women and girls in gangs as an opportunity to examine whether a more “gendered” response to the phenomenon of gangsterism could have success. The case study for the research was the gangs of Cape Town, a city not only with a historical problem of gangs, but one where recent trends have showed a dramatic upswing in violence, both within and between gangs. Cape Town was chosen largely because it offered the possibility, through the network of the Global Initiative and its links to the University of Cape Town, for interviewing female gang members in a way that would have been difficult to achieve elsewhere. Cape Town now displays violence - at a level of 60 homicides per 100,000 residents for 2015/16 – that is consistent with many cities in Latin and Central America that have had longstanding challenges with gangs. In Cape Town, violence is closely linked to changes within the city’s drug economy in marginalised areas, and the introduction of a flood of firearms (ironically many from police stores) from 2010. This has exacerbated conflict between gangs and increased the ability of smaller and new gangs – who have obtained access to weapons – to both enter and expand their drug operations. The result is a fluid and violent environment, although this is generally confined to previously marginalised so-called ‘coloured’ or mixed race areas of the city. It goes without saying, however, that the human cost and suffering has been enormous, with some parts of the city having homicide rates of over 100 deaths per 100,000 people with innocent bystanders, including children, often caught in the crossfire.

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational and Organized Crime, 2017. 27p.

By Ben Fisher and Anthony Petrosino

One common policy in response to concerns about school safety is to regularly employ police in school buildings. Although many schools have had some regular presence of police in their buildings, the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 led to more scrutiny of law enforcement across the board. As a result, several districts across the nation began to reconsider the use of police in schools. However, as schools began returning to full-time, in-person teaching, concerns about the safety of students and staff led several districts to reverse their decision and bring officers back to campus. Clearly, more research is needed to guide this important policy decision. To respond to this research need, the WestEd Justice and Prevention Research Center, in collaboration with Professor Ben Fisher of Florida State University, conducted a systematic review of research on the effects of school policing on safety, perceptions, and academic outcomes. This brief summarizes results from this synthesis of 32 evaluations.

San Francisco, CA: WestEd,  2022. 5p.

By Thomas Hanson, Jo Ann Izu, Trevor Fronius, Anthony Petrosino

Bullying affects large numbers of U.S. students in elementary schools and is associated with short and long-term harms for both victims and bullies. Although prevention is critical, schools also need effective interventions for dealing with bullying once it occurs. Funded by the National Institute of Justice and in collaboration with the Oakland Unified School District and No Bully, WestEd conducted a two-year study of the impacts of the No Bully System (NBS) - a promising set of interventions designed to activate adult and peer support systems within the school for the targets of bullying – using a cluster randomized experimental design involving 24 elementary schools. No Bully trains staff to prevent and interrupt student harassment and bullying and ensure school-wide anti-bullying policies are in place. The core component of NBS is the Solution Team where a trained adult facilitator (Solution Coach) brings together a group of 6-8 students (Solution Team) that includes the bully or bullies, bystanders and pro-social peers, and leads the team through a series of three brief meetings to end the bullying of one of their peers by cultivating empathy and developing peer-driven solutions. The target is not included in the initial meetings though s/he is invited to attend the final session.  

Los Alamitos, CA: WestEd, 2019. 29p.

By Daniel P. Mears; Sonja E. Siennick; George B. Pesta; Andrea N. Montes; Samantha J. Brown; Nicole L. Collier

Findings and methodology are reported for a process and impact evaluation of the School Safety and Student Performance Program established in the School District of Palm Beach County (Florida) from 2015 to 2018 in an effort to improve at-risk students' behavior and academic performance, as well as to improve school-wide safety and academic performance. The project involved a collaboration between the schools, the schools' police department, the juvenile court, and several service providers. The focus was on at-risk youth, including those with some type of contact with the police or the juvenile justice system through probation or diversion programs. The intervention placed juvenile probation officers (JPOs) in schools, along with family counselors and case managers. JPOs provided school-based supervision in schools only for the youth on probation. Intervention plans were developed by a team for youth who were randomly assigned to the intervention group. Student participation was voluntary, based on assent and consent protocols. Services were matched to the needs of each participant. Evaluation analyses suggest that although the intervention was well-grounded in theory and research on adolescent behavior, no consistent beneficial or adverse effects of the intervention were found for either student or school outcomes; however, some of the analyses suggest that the intervention may have been partially effective for some of the participants. The report notes that the process evaluation identified a number of potential intervention benefits that were not directly measured in the study, such as improved advocacy for at-risk students. The process evaluation also identified a range of factors that may have contributed to some of the null intervention effects. Evaluation methodology, research implications, and implications for policy and practice are discussed. 

Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University, 2018. 92p.

By April K. Lewis; Cindy Nguyen; Carrie Freshour; Cindy Schaeffer; Eric Slade

Findings and methodology are reported for an evaluation of the impact on school safety of a new comprehensive emotional and behavioral health crisis response and prevention (EBH-CRP) intervention implemented in Baltimore County (Maryland) public schools. The EBH-CRP intervention is a comprehensive training, organization, and support protocol for school and community stakeholders intended to increase school and community competence in preventing and responding to student emotional and behavioral health crises. The primary goal of the evaluation was to measure changes in specific school safety and discipline outcomes in intervention schools compared to schools that did not participate in the intervention. Data collection and analysis for the evaluation covered two intervention school years. The impact of the EBH-CRP intervention on stakeholder knowledge and preparedness to address emotional and behavioral health across the continuum was measured by comparing pre-post change in diverse stakeholder perceived knowledge and preparedness to address emotional and behavioral health concerns in intervention schools compared to non-participating schools. Intervention school participants in specific training components also reported on their pre-post change in knowledge, preparedness, and benefits of the EBH-CRP intervention over the project period.

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  Poisson regression models predicted student suspensions, office referrals, bullying reports, and juvenile justice referrals. The evaluation encompassed participant and control middle schools and high schools. A secondary aim of the evaluation was to assess the impact of the EBH-CRP intervention on emotional and behavioral health crisis incidents and service-use outcomes. A cost-benefit analysis assessed the net benefits (dollar benefits minus costs) of the EBH-CRP intervention. Schools that implemented the EBH-CRP model had fewer student suspensions and office referrals in intervention year 2, and they were more often recognizing, assessing, and addressing emotional and behavioral crises among students.

Final Report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2019. 56p.

By Joshua R. Polanin, Dorothy Espelage, Jennifer K. Grotpeter

This is the Final Summary Overview of the methodology and findings of a study with the goal of finding, collecting, and synthesizing all available published and unpublished research reports that quantitatively analyze the longitudinal relationship between a measure of school violence and later mental health, school performance, or crime/delinquency outcomes. The study used state-of-the-art systematic review and meta-analysis methods to assess the variation in the relationships across studies through multiple-meta-regression modeling. These methods included combining effect sizes by estimating a random effects model with robust variance estimation. A total of 131 research reports from 114 independent studies were included in this meta-analysis. The findings indicate that experiences of various types of school violence are related to adverse outcomes in mental health, school performance, and crime/delinquency. This study distinguished the effects that stem from perpetrating school violence from those attributed to being a victim of school violence. The perpetration of school violence was strongly linked to numerous mental health issues, poor academic performance, and involvement in criminal/delinquent behaviors; on the other hand, being a victim of school violence was associated with only adverse mental health outcomes. Thus, strategies to prevent school violence should view student perpetrators of school violence as having mental health needs, being disconnected from school, and being resistant to school policies. Victims of school violence should be viewed as at risk for mental health disorders, including suicidal ideation.

Washington, DC:  U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2020. 30p.

By Moriah Taylor, Jeremy Bilfield, Zoe Livengood, Melissa Sickmund

This study examined factors influencing decisions that lead from a school-based incident to exclusionary discipline, an arrest, and a referral to the juvenile court. Phase 1 involved interviewing groups of key stakeholders including school administrators, district administrators, discipline coordinators, juvenile court judges and other staff, law enforcement officers, Positive Behavior Intervention Support coordinators, and child welfare agencies to understand their approaches to behavior management. For each set of interviews, researchers used the information from the structured interviews to create diagrams outlining the sequence of potential decisions involved in responding to behavior incidents. This report presents the qualitative analysis resulting from Phase 1.

Pittsburgh, PA:  National Center for Juvenile Justice, 2019. 45p. 

By Jillian J. Turanovic, Travis C. Pratt, Teresa C. Kulig and Francis T. Cullen

This is the Final Summary Overview of the methodology and findings of a meta-analysis of empirical literature on school violence to determine the key individual-, school-, and community-level factors that influence violence and related problems (victimization, offending, and aggressive behavior) within primary and secondary (K-12) schools. This study's analyses are based on 8,551 effect sizes identified from 693 studies of school violence. The authors note that this is the largest meta-analysis on this issue conducted in the field of criminal justice and is among the largest compiled in the social sciences. A total of 31 predictors of school violence were assessed at the individual, institutional, and community levels. Separate analyses were conducted in assessing the major predictors of any victimization at school, bullying victimization, violent victimization, any aggressive/delinquent behavior at school, bullying perpetration, violent offending, and bringing a weapon to school. The research reviewed indicates that the strongest and most consistent risk factors for various forms of aggression/delinquency at school are antisocial behaviors, deviant peers, victimization, peer rejection, and antisocial attitudes. The strongest predictors for victimization at school are prior victimization, low social competence, peer rejection, violent school context, and negative school climate. LGBT students and those with disabilities are at higher risk for victimization at school. School target-hardening practices, such as security cameras, metal detectors, and school resource officers or security personnel were not found to have any association with any type of violence or victimization at school. 18 tables, 37 references, and a listing of the studies reviewed.

Final report to the U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2019. 63p.

By Véronique Irwin. Ke Wang and Alexandra Thompson

Report on Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2021 provides the most recent national indicators on school crime and safety. The information presented in this report serves as a reference for policymakers and practitioners so that they can develop effective programs and policies aimed at violence and school crime prevention. Accurate information about the nature, extent, and scope of the problem being addressed is essential for developing effective programs and policies. This is the 24th edition of Indicators of School Crime and Safety, a joint effort of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). This report provides summary statistics to inform the nation about current aspects of crime and safety in schools.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, 2022. 39p.

By Jillian J. Turanovic and Sonja E. Siennick

Although school violence is on the decline, it remains a significant concern for the general public, policymakers, and researchers. This report commissioned by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) takes a comprehensive look at the state of the research on school violence and includes additional discussions about research on serious violence and studies that were funded by NIJ’s Comprehensive School Safety Initiative. It is based on an empirical review of 55 meta-analyses and a supplemental review of the methods and findings of 362 recent research studies. The research found that the strongest predictor of school violence perpetration was delinquent/antisocial behavior. Other strong predictors were attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, child maltreatment, peer rejection, and moral disengagement. The reviews identified several other moderately strong predictors of school violence, including deviant peers, callous unemotional traits, narcissism, exposure to domestic violence, agreeableness (inverse association), prosocial behaviors (inverse association), positive school climate (inverse association), and victimization.

Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2022. 86p.

By Hunter S. Thompson

California, Labor Day weekend… early, with ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levi’s roll out from damp garages, allnight diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur… The Menace is loose again, the Hell’s Angels, the hundred-carat headline, running fast and loud on the early morning freeway, low in the saddle, nobody smiles, jamming crazy through traffic and ninety miles an hour down the center stripe, missing by inches… like Genghis Khan on an iron horse, a monster steed with a fiery anus, flat out through the eye of a beer can and up your daughter’s leg with no quarter asked and none given; show the squares some class, give em a whiff of those kicks they’ll never know… Ah, these righteous dudes, they love to screw it on… Little Jesus, the Gimp, Chocolate George, Buzzard, Zorro, Hambone, Clean Cut, Tiny, Terry the Tramp, Frenchy, Mouldy Marvin, Mother Miles, Dirty Ed, Chuck the Duck, Fat Freddy, Filthy Phil, Charger Charley the Child Molester, Crazy Cross, Puff, Magoo, Animal and at least a hundred more… tense for the action, long hair in the wind, beards and bandanas flapping, earrings, armpits, chain whips, swastikas and stripped-down Harleys flashing chrome as traffic on 101 moves over, nervous, to let the formation pass like a burst of dirty thunder.

New York: Ballantine Books, 1966. 186p.

By Hunter S. Thompson

California, Labor Day weekend… early, with ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levi’s roll out from damp garages, allnight diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur… The Menace is loose again, the Hell’s Angels, the hundred-carat headline, running fast and loud on the early morning freeway, low in the saddle, nobody smiles, jamming crazy through traffic and ninety miles an hour down the center stripe, missing by inches… like Genghis Khan on an iron horse, a monster steed with a fiery anus, flat out through the eye of a beer can and up your daughter’s leg with no quarter asked and none given; show the squares some class, give em a whiff of those kicks they’ll never know… Ah, these righteous dudes, they love to screw it on… Little Jesus, the Gimp, Chocolate George, Buzzard, Zorro, Hambone, Clean Cut, Tiny, Terry the Tramp, Frenchy, Mouldy Marvin, Mother Miles, Dirty Ed, Chuck the Duck, Fat Freddy, Filthy Phil, Charger Charley the Child Molester, Crazy Cross, Puff, Magoo, Animal and at least a hundred more… tense for the action, long hair in the wind, beards and bandanas flapping, earrings, armpits, chain whips, swastikas and stripped-down Harleys flashing chrome as traffic on 101 moves over, nervous, to let the formation pass like a burst of dirty thunder.

New York: Ballantine Books, 1966. 186p.

By Edward Winterhalder and Wil De Clercq

From years of bloody conflict to probationary Bandidos membership, this memoir recalls the life and times of an outlaw biker from Oklahoma and his quest to add to the Bandidos Nation. The Rock Machine, founded by Salvatore Cazzetta, had every intention of standing up against the Hells Angels. Heavily outnumbered, the Rock Machine appealed to the worldwide Bandidos Motorcycle Club, who rivaled the Hells Angels in terms of membership and strength. In January 2000, the Rock Machine ceased to exist and became a probationary Bandidos chapter. Winterhalder was assigned this transition and, at 46 years of age, was considered an elder statesman in the outlaw biker world. He was the founder and former president of the Oklahoma Bandidos and a confirmed biker for 25 years. Furthermore, he possessed a keen knowledge of jurisprudence and was an astute businessman who owned and operated a multi-million dollar construction management company. Starting with the arrest and unsuccessful deportation proceedings, and leading to more intrigue, assassinations, and double-crosses, Winterhalder found his life spiraling further and further out of control.

Toronto: ECW Press, 2008.

By Paul Cherry

The Quebec-chartered “Nomad” chapter of the Hells Angels had two specific goals: to monopolize the Quebec drug trade; and to expand that trade across other parts of Canada. Their war against rival dealer gangs escalated to a boiling point, taking the lives of dozens of gangsters and innocent people as it played itself out openly on Montreal’s streets. Little did the Nomads know that at the height of achieving their goals, they would also be months away from a lengthy police investigation to shut them down. The trials that followed revealed seven years of conflict and murder initiated by Maurice “Mom” Boucher, the man who was at the epicentre of this war. One criminal trial in particular turned out to be one of the longest in Canadian history. It meant convincing a jury to accept the notion that a biker gang works on the same principle as a pirate ship — even the cook knows what their common goal is. The “biker trials” brought out informants on both sides of the conflict, who, for a variety of reasons had turned on the gangs they had previously sworn loyalty to. Their testimonies revealed the arrogance of the Nomads in their pursuit of a monopoly over Quebec’s illegal drug trade. Now, Cherry reveals the inside story of the biker culture and the biker trials.

Toronto: ECW Press, 2005.

By Thomas Barker

Biker Gangs and Organized Crime examines the reported criminal behavior of the entire spectrum of 1% biker clubs and members. It identifies the clubs whose members have been involved in criminal behavior and classifies their behaviors as individual, group, or club- sponsored/condoned behavior. While other books examine the criminal exploits of one or more of what are called the ''Big Five'' biker clubs because of their size and sophistication, or the sensational crimes of lesser known 1% biker clubs or club members, this book pays attention to the criminal activities of individuals, groups and chapters of other clubs as well. The book is based on journalistic accounts and autobiographies of former and present members of biker clubs, academic/scholarly works, law enforcement/government reports, articles from newspapers and biker websites, and a content analysis of federal and state court cases regarding bikers and motorcycle clubs.

Newark, NJ: Matthew Bender & Company, Inc., 2007. 198p.

By Klaus von Lampe and Arjan Blokland

Outlaw motorcycle clubs have spread across the globe. Their members have been associated with serious crime, and law enforcement often perceives them to be a form of organized crime. Outlaw bikers are disproportionately engaged in crime, but the role of the club itself in these crimes remains unclear. Three scenarios describe possible relations between clubs and the crimes of their members. In the “bad apple” scenario, members individually engage in crime; club membership may offer advantages in enabling and facilitating offending. In the “club within a club” scenario, members engage in crimes separate from the club, but because of the number of members involved, including high-ranking members, the club itself appears to be taking part. The club can be said to function as a criminal organization only when the formal organizational chain of command takes part in organization of the crime, lower level members regard senior members’ leadership in the crime as legitimate, and the crime is generally understood as “club business.” All three scenarios may play out simultaneously within one club with regard to different crimes.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020. 58p.

By Ross Coulthart and Duncan McNab

Telling the bloody, insider’s story of the international drug and weapons smuggling operations of the feared Bandidos gang, this chilling tale is the first time that an insider has told the true story of the bike gangs that dominate the drug and illegal weapons trade across the globe. For 10 years, Steve Utah was a Bandidos insider, a trusted confidante of senior bike gang members along the east coast of Australia. He arranged their security, cooked their drugs, and witnessed meetings in which overseas weapons smuggling was planned. Utah loved the wildness of the Bandido life and their contempt for the law, but as he plummeted deeper into the heart of the group, his life started to spiral out of control. He witnessed vicious beatings, helped dump corpses, and saw men executed in front of his eyes. In a desperate attempt to regain control of his life, he resorted to the unthinkable—he rolled over to the federal police and told them all he knew about the Bandidos. This shocking, unflinching, tragic story is his confession, and possibly his dying gasp, for he knows that inevitably the Bandido code will be honored and he will be silenced.

Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2008. 316p.

By Jerry Langton

You'll never meet the bikers in this book or visit the mythical rust belt city of Springfield. But through the eyes of Ned "Crash" Aiken, you will experience the real world of the outlaw biker gang-a world shaped by desperation, casual brutality and fascinating rites of passage. Biker follows the career trajectory of "Crash" from his days as a small-time high school drug dealer to his rapid rise through the ranks of a biker gang that is rapidly and brutally expanding its territory and criminal connections. Aiken's story relates how an outlaw biker sees his gang from the inside. It is an experience shaped by seamy and ruthless characters waging a never ending battle to establish their supremacy. From drug running and gun sales, to prostitution and allegiances forged by violence, this is a struggle played out within biker gangs the world over. And as the reader discovers in this intense docudrama, this is not the romantic freewheeling beer-fest version of the Hells Angels, but a sleazy existence that draws social outcasts like moths to a flame.

New York: Wiley, 2009. 256p.