Transcript Juvenile Justice - Hawaii Community College

Juvenile Justice
Chapter 8
Law Enforcement response to
Violent Youth Offenders
Youths and Guns


Epidemic of gun violence between 1983
and 1993 due to easy access to guns
Boston Gun Project Operation Cease Fire




Use of gun reduction tactics
Gun-tracing technologies
Severe criminal penalties
Resulted in 75% drop in gun related
homicides
Youths and Guns

Directed Patrol

Kansas City Police



Youth Firearms Violence Initiative


Searches for illegal firearms
Increase traffic enforcement in police beats with high levels of
violence crime in an area
$1 million provided to police departments in 10 cities to fund
interventions directed at reducing gun crime
Project Safe Neighborhoods



Takes hardline against gun criminals to create safe
neighborhoods.
Coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement
Emphasis on tactical information gathering, more aggressive
prosecutions and enhanced accountability thoruhf performance
measures
Violent Juvenile Crime


Large number of Crimes committed by small group of
repeat offenders, most are violent
SHOCAP (Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive
Action Program

Recommendations;







Detention to establish separate and secure holdings for SHOCA
Mandatory Intakes for SHOCA to I.D. new charges and immediate
notification of prosecutor, special follow-ups and records of all
transactions of affender
Prosecution of violent offenders based on highest provable offense
No pre-trial release
Seek guilty plea on all charges
Assign only one district attorney to one case
Develop and maintain profiles on each violent offenders
Violent Juvenile Crime

Fingerprinting and photographing all violent
offenders: Section 56 Uniform Juvenile Court
Act, Police may fingerprint if




14 years or older involved in murder, non-negligent
manslaughter, forcible rape, aggravated assault,
robbery, burglary
Fingerprints removed from record and destroyed if
child adjudicated not delinquent or if the child
reaches age 21
Police has reason to believe that latent fingerprints
belong to a particular youth…If no match, then
fingerprint destroyed
May photograph child without judge’s consent if case
is transferred to another court for prosecution
Violent Juvenile Crime

Comprehensive Approach

Because SHOCA usually “fall through the cracks” it is
recommended that police:






Develop trust and cooperation between agencies serving
youth
I.D. and overcome real or perceived legal obstacles to
cooperative measures
Build credible interagency information process
Goal is to incapacitate repeat offenders, through detention,
incarceration, probation or other measures
Juvenile justice system needs to recognize that some SHOCA
are criminals who happen to be young
Need to identify the Hard-Core SHOCA
Violent Juvenile Crime

Early warning signs of violent offenders












Low tolerance for frustration
Poor coping skills
Signs of depression
Alienation
Lack of empathy
Exaggerated sense of entitlement
An attitude of superiority
Anger management problems
Intolerance
Lack of trust
Rigid and opinionated
Negative role models
Violent Juvenile Crime

Threat assessment




Direct threat: I.D.’s a specific target and is delivered
in a straight forward manner, clearly and explicitly
Indirect threat: Vague and ambiguous: “If I wanted
to, I could blow-up the school”
Veiled threat: Implies, but does not threaten
violence: “We would be better off if the school was
destroyed”
Conditional threat: If you don’t pay me $100,000 I
will blow-up this school
Violent Juvenile Crime

Security Technology in Schools





Metal detectors
Video cameras
Photo I.D.’s
School resource Officers
Other Violence Prevention Methods in Schools




Increased staff in identified problems areas
Mandatory participation in harassment classes for
student harassers
Big Brothers/Sisters mentoring programs to prevent
bullying
Workshops that bring together student athletes
(identified as the group doing the bullying), victimized
students, school staff, victim advocates and police
officers
Violent Juvenile Crime

Zero-Tolerance Policies


Predetermines consequences or punishments
for specific offenses
Proactive Lockdowns


Used by schools as a proactive step to avoid a
crisis: police and dogs sweep campus for
contraband
Effective in locating and securing weapons
Gangs

Indicators:





Graffiti
Intimidation assaults
Open sale of drugs
Drive-by shootings and murders
Gang Member Identification








Moniker: Street Name
Clothing
Body tattoos of gang symbols
Jewelry
Hand-signing
Use of monikers
Group photos that include gang members & associates
Hanging around behaviors
Gangs

Gang Names


Gang Symbols



Refers to localities, rebellion, animals, royalty,
and religion
Taken from professional or college sport
teams
Religion and occult
Clothing

Important for gang members to reinforce
their sense of belonging by adopting a gang
sense of style
Gangs

Representing






Signifies gang allegiance
Specific wearing of clothing or hat
Hairstyles
Gold jewelry in gang symbols
Cloth or bandana
Tattoos

Use tattoos as a method of communication
and identification
Gangs

Gang Communication






Primarily through their actions
Need for recognition by the community and rival
gangs
Verbal and non-verbal cues always present
Clothing, tattoos, symbols
Slang, hand signals and graffiti
Graffiti is use to mark a territory




Important part of Black and Hispanic gang traditions
Proclaims status and boundaries of turf and offers
challenges to rivals
May cross-out rival gang graffiti as a serious insult
Newspaper of the street
Gangs

Domain Identification

Claims identification with or control over specific
domains:



Geographic area, facilities, or enterprises
Turf= territorial boudaries
Schools




Primary recruiting place
Market for drugs
Will stake-out areas in school as their turf
May vandalize, graffiti paintings, stabbings and
shootings between rival gangs, as well as student
extortion and intimidation of teachers
Gangs

Drugs


Abuse and sell drugs
Are rationally organized and manage
successful drug trafficking
Characteristic
Crime Focus
Structure
Level of Cohesion
Leadership
Roles
Nature of Loyalty
Territories
Degree of Drug selling
Rivalries
Age of members
Street Gangs
Drug Gangs
Versatile
Drug Business Only
Larger organizations
Smaller Organization
Less Cohesive
More Cohesive
Looser
Centralized
Ill-defined
Market Defined
Code of Loyalty
Requirement of Loyalty
Residential
Sales Market
Members may sell
Members do sell
Inter-gang
Competition Controlled
Younger on the
average, but varies
Older on the average,
but narrower age range
Investigating Gangs






Use of long-term proactive investigations are
more effective
Difficult to get information because gang
members stick together
Business and community residents are afraid of
gangs
City gang programs have gang information
system
Crime incident data that can be linked to gang
members
Most reports come from patrol officers,
computerized files, offense reports, interviews
with gang members, surveillance reports
Investigating Gangs

OJJDP suggest that law enforcement combat
gang problems by:





Gather Information
Do not tolerate graffiti
Target hard-cor gang members
Consolidate gang-control functions
Comprehensive Gang Initiative Model:






Focus on harmful behaviors
Continuous diagnosis of problems
Coordination of groups or agencies
Monitor performance
Evaluation of impact
Adaptation to change
Police Prevention Efforts for Gangs







Participate in community awareness campaigns
Contacting parents of peripheral gang members to alert
them that their children are involved in a gang
Sponsor gang hotlines
Organize athletic events
Establish working relationships with local social service
agencies
Make presentations about gangs to schools and
community groups
Sponsor school-based drug prevention programs Serve
as a referral for jobs and community service
Police Prevention Efforts for Gangs

Civil Injunction (TRO)

Legal tool for addressing gang holds in certain
areas to disrupt gang’s routine activities


SEE Page 281
Gang Units



Most urban police departments have gang
units to deal with gang problems
Officers are trained and specialized
Uses Prevention, Suppression & Intervention
Police Prevention Efforts for Gangs



Suppression uses a collaborative effort
between police, probation and
prosecution, target the leaders and most
active gang members
Intervention gives gang members
opportunities to finish high school, get
their GED’s, to have tattoos removed, gain
employment and legal assistance
Prevention uses conflict resolution skills
and peer counseling