Newark Juveniles Not More Likely to be Arrested for Violent Crime

December 20, 2007 12:36:36 PM

The Newark Kids Count data has been released with some interesting findings. Follow the link for the article in the New York Times.

Statistics on Children in Newark..."

"To the authors of the report, “Newark Kids Count 2007,” the most unexpected finding was that juveniles in Newark are no more likely to be arrested for violent crime than youths in surrounding Essex County, which includes wealthy suburbs, or in New Jersey as a whole.

Considering Newark’s reputation for lawlessness — and the national attention it received last summer when four teenagers and two adults were charged with killing three students on a playground. Cecilia Zalkind, the organization’s executive director, said she found such statistics refreshingly counterintuitive.

“This data shows we’re on the right track,” said Ms. Zalkind, whose organization has been issuing an annual scorecard for Newark since 1993.

Posted by Amy Jacob
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Gang Panel Write-up

December 19, 2007 3:33:16 PM

GANG PANEL DISCUSSION – CHAMPION TEAM BEST PRACTICES
MANAGING GANG-AFFILIATED YOUTH IN SECURE SETTINGS
10/30 and 11/1/07

During our Champion Team rallies last spring, it was requested that we have a panel discussion around the topic of managing youth who are gang-involved in detention and secure settings. We organized this for our fall rallies, which took place for the northern and southern regions on 10/30 and 11/1/07.

We were very fortunate to have speakers from the Essex County Youth Detention Center, Sgts. Michael Thomas and Jack Vizzone, as well as Sgts. Mark Johnson, Vernon Boyd, Mike Tobey, Elaris Robinson, and Keith Devan from the Camden County Youth Detention Center. We were also fortunate to have Officers Sean Murray and Mark Hutton from Johnstone campus in Bordentown, and William Young and Samuel Newton from NJTS in Monroe. The speakers had a wealth of experience to share during our short time together, and I'll do my best to recap the major themes below.

To separate or mix?

All of our speakers agreed that when we mix youth in housing units, it's more effective at neutralizing violence and aggressive behavior. Experience with youth in gangs seems to dictate that separating youth based on affiliation creates far more problems for housing.

Classification of gang-involved youth

Essex County shared their system for classifying youth. They start with a detailed ID (identification) sheet that is completed on intake. This sheet includes pertinent data, including name, birth date, hometown, and other important identifiers such as tattoos. They also include parental involvement in gangs and any other anecdotal information that helps to determine what a youth's affiliation might be. Also, speakers pointed out that the youth often leave graffiti on walls where they are housed that often identifies their gang affiliation.

In Essex, youth are classified based on the following four criteria: affiliation, aggressiveness, size, and leadership abilities. Youth are then housed to try to balance these qualities within housing units. In Essex, housing unit charts are created to help track this information.

Officer Murray explained the concept of “stain.” Youth in gangs have “stain” (status) for different violent acts committed on the street (ie; murder). He also explained G-check, stating that if a youth claims to be affiliated with a gang, other members of the gang will check the youth out to see if they know the set. They have 30 days to “get right” or else they are labeled “fool.” If a youth gets identified as “fool,” (having made a false claim to be affiliated with a gang) they will be vulnerable to attack from the gang members.

The question was asked, “If you house aggressive youth with other aggressive youth, doesn’t that promote them to be more aggressive?” The answer from Essex county was, “Not in our experience. We find that the youth balance each other out.”

This strategy was affirmed by Camden as well as the officers from secure care, who also follow a practice of separating youth from the same sets in housing units.

Ways to obtain information

Ask the residents! Building rapport with the youth and asking directly about gang issues is an effective way to learn. As Officer Murray stated, "The kids - that's your training right there." The officers emphasized the critical importance of being able to communicate with youth effectively to get information that allows for appropriate housing.

Initial interviews at intake seem to be an important first step in getting critical identifying information.

All speakers emphasized how critical it is to share information about the youth with other officers and staff. Throughout both panel discussions, the importance of timely communication about residents’ involvement and potential conflicts were stressed by all participants.

It was also brought out the youth will use certain types of speech patterns that identify them, such as youth involved with Crips won’t pronounce “bs” in their words, and youth involved with Bloods won’t pronounce Cs.

Tracking Information

In secure care, there is a card of information that goes with the resident that states all of the identifying data. In Camden, they use binders with information on the youth.

In Camden County, they also have their Electronic Monitoring Sgts. as part of their gang unit, which helps them with communication. The Sgts in EM can continue to track and follow youth when they leave and can provide valuable insight and information about what is happening on the streets with gang involved youth that may play out in the detention center.

Mail

It was suggested to open mail in front of residents to check for gang-related markings. Officers from JMSF and NJTS emphasized to county detention centers that if they should receive mail with gang affiliated markings on it to return it to NJTS and JMSF. Residents will be charged for sending out gang-related correspondence.

Teaching youth to live together without violence

Sgt. Mark Johnson made the important insight, “We try to show them, if they can live together in here, they can do it out there.”


Note:

A lot of valuable information was shared over the two rallies, and unfortunately it was hard to capture it all. If anyone has anything to add that they learned that is not included in this summary, please forward it for inclusion.

Posted by Amy Jacob
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