Gangs and youth violence challenge communities and individuals throughout Wisconsin. Some of the gangs that operate in the state are part of corporate organizations headquartered in Chicago and Los Angeles. Others are ethnically based or are independent groups of antisocial young people unique to a particular community. Youth violence includes both assaults on others as well as self-destructive behavior and suicide. In most Wisconsin communities, alcohol and other drug abuse is the most common form of youth violence.

Young people join or form gangs for a variety of reasons. For some, it is not even a conscious decision, but rather simply following friends, neighbors, and relatives. In most communities in our state, boredom is the most common reason that young people join gangs and/or abuse drugs and alcohol.. For some, gangs offer an opportunity for belonging, excitement, and employment, albeit in ways that involve dangerous and illegal activities.

Since the mid-1990s, police and school officials have acted promptly and harshly with youth gangs. "Zero tolerance" policies have been relatively effective in eliminating graffiti, signs, colors, and other manifestations of gangs. Young people seem to approach forming or joining gangs less frivolously. Corporate gangs are less visible, but remain active in trafficking drugs. By all accounts, alcohol and drug abuse among young people is getting significantly worse than it had been even a few years ago.

Providing real alternatives to gangs and dealing with the effects of gangs and youth violence requires the resources and cooperation of a number of actors in the community who are usually pursuing separate and distinct objectives. This typically leaves communities less than well poised to deal effectively with the multifaceted nature of gangs and youth violence. Governance is fragmented between school districts, municipalities, police departments, family service agencies, recreation programs, churches, and businesses. Among these, there is no obvious single entity that is responsible for the issues of gangs and youth violence.

To enhance the abilities of communities to meet the challenges of gangs and youth violence, the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has provided a program known as "Teaming Up on Gangs."

History of the Program

The Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs was established by the Wisconsin Legislature in 1984 with a multifaceted mission—to engage in instruction, research, and outreach. The School fulfills this mission by offering a master’s degree in public policy; by encouraging scholarly research on numerous issues that have public policy implications; and by offering numerous enrichment and training opportunities to policymakers at all levels of government. The School’s Center for State, Local, and Tribal Governance has contributed to that commitment by establishing an annual program geared toward assisting Wisconsin communities in addressing the issue of gangs and youth violence. The program is the centerpiece of the Skornicka Seminars at La Follette, initiated with support from Joel Skornicka to improve local governance in the state. Joel Skornicka is a former mayor of Madison and assistant to UW chancellors.

The seminar is a forum in which community leaders can come together, learn about the latest developments in the field, share ideas and experiences, and develop action steps to improve their approach toward prevention and deterrence of gang activity and youth violence. Since the program’s inception in 1994, 29 communities from throughout the state have accepted the invitation to participate in the program. In 2001 an additional four—La Crosse, Sun Prairie, Sheboygan, and the Menominee Nation—are participating.

Purpose of Case Studies

The case studies here were written to share the experiences of communities and to prepare participants in the program to become engaged in problem-solving discussions. In the past, attending communities have been invited to the conference without significant prior contact from La Follette. Often, community leaders would meet for the first time at the conference and were confronted with issues of which they were previously unaware. While productive in helping to establish the linkages necessary to develop holistic community approaches, the La Follette School felt that improvements could be made to prepare participants better.

Because of the work of students in a graduate seminar at La Follette, beginning in 1999, seminar participants now have the benefit of case studies completed on their respective communities. Students worked in teams to identify the current state of community gang and youth violence problems, to analyze root causes of those problems, and to outline the existing community responses and resources.

Students interviewed a cross-section of community leaders seeking their perception of the problems, the existing community responses to those problems, and areas in need of further attention. Interviewees included school principals, police officers, nonprofit leaders, community businesspersons, social workers and religious leaders, among others. Discussions with young people were important to get a sense of their views of opportunities and issues in their communities. Research also included the examination of relevant documents and news accounts.

It is important to reiterate that the case studies are to inform the community of observations made by impartial investigators reporting the results of interviews and research. It is not meant to judge community work on the problem, only to provide the group with a common base for analysis, further probing, and development of action steps. The challenge for program participants is to use one another to address the general issues outlined in the case study, clarify their validity, and develop action steps to improve the community approach to gangs and youth violence.

Each community is, of course, unique. Each case study reflects the richness and uniqueness of the communities. We do not follow a common outline or way of presenting the material. This way, the specifics of the nature of gangs and youth violence issues and the character of each community can be clear. The analyses of the communities are, however, informed by some common, basic concepts: gang suppression, prevention, and intervention.

Community Programs: Suppression, Prevention and Intervention

Suppression refers to efforts to end existing violence or other anti-social behavior. The most visible and obvious example of suppression is police work. This is activity that is sophisticated, skilled, and professional. The La Follette program on gangs and youth violence does not focus on suppression, but instead works primarily on prevention and intervention. This is a choice that reflects our understanding of how La Follette is, and is not, best able to contribute to local gover-nance efforts, and is in no way intended to diminish the importance of suppression. The effective apprehension of criminals is essential for safety in a community and to promote personal responsi-bility among individuals.

Prevention programs include those providing general services and opportunities that meet the needs that young people might otherwise fill through involvement in gangs and violence. Prevention in large part is about an environment that is safe, healthy, and stimulating for everyone, whether or not they might be inclined to engage in anti-social or self-destructive behaviors. The general accessibility of prevention programs can frustrate those who would like to focus on those most at risk rather than others who probably would not join a gang or be destructive. The dilem-ma, of course, is that it is not always clear who is really at risk. Profiles of individuals who might be at risk are far from perfect. Some of the most notable instances of violent, anti-social individuals come from intact, educated, and relatively affluent families. Despite the frustration sometimes asso-ciated with judging the results of prevention programs, they are valuable for those times when they actually have diverted a particular person from illegal and unhealthy activity. They are also valuable for their general contribution to health and safety in a community.

A key benefit of intervention programs is that they are clearly targeted to individuals who need assistance. An intervention program is for a victim or perpetrator of violence, someone appre-hended for drug trafficking, an individual who failed in a suicide attempt, or a girl who is pregnant. The challenge is to understand the factors that led to the trouble and to find attractive and effective alternatives, but unlike prevention programs, here there is no guessing about who needs the pro-gram. Communities need a combination of suppression, prevention, and intervention programs. A balanced approach is a mixed approach, and the mix needs to be community specific. A given com-munity might, for example, establish or expand a prevention program that gets as many youth as possible into sports and community service activities as arenas for meeting needs for peer relation-ships, personal growth, and alternatives to “boredom.” Intervention programs like alternative schools, mentoring, and counseling then might target those who demonstrate that they cannot or will not be reached by prevention programs. An arrest may identify someone who needs interven-tion services. Suppression and intervention are sometimes interactive in attempts to help some indi-viduals. The case studies included in this collection offer initial assessments of community preven-tion and intervention efforts. Discussion of the prevention-intervention mix, in light of the issues facing a particular community, may be a useful beginning toward the design of ways in which the challenges of gangs and youth violence might be addressed.

Dennis Dresang, Director
Center for State, Local, and Tribal Governance
La Follette School of Public Affairs