The Prosocial Gang

Goldstein and Glick's book title, The Prosocial Gang, seems a contradiction in terms but it describes a successful attempt to alter the antisocial behavior in New York. . . . An important element of the research program in my view was the principle upon which the study was based. Respect and open communication underpinned the process and workers were given weekly supervision after having been consulted about how the project would work. This ethos, if followed through to the work with young people, would have some effect on the outcomes if the young people were also consulted and treated with respect. . . . As an academic exercise the book is well laid out with a full reference section at the end. . . . I would recommend it to youth justice workers because of its practical application and scene-setting of the wider world of young males.
--Christina Vincent in LCCJ Newsletter

"The value of the work--as a demonstration of what is possible--is great."
--Philip Priestly in Legal and Criminological Psychology

This important book describes in detail an award-winning gang intervention program: Aggression Replacement Training. The reduction in arrest rates, as well as other results, support the success of a multiyear project using the ART intervention approach with a series of very aggressive juvenile gangs in New York City. Working with gangs as a unit, the goal was to not only teach them anger control and other skills but do so in such a way that their real-world reference group (the gang) was turned, as much as possible, into a prosocial rather than an antisocial support group. This volume provides the reader with a thorough introduction to the history of gangs, current gang demographics, gang aggression and its etiology, and a review and critique of the various types of gang interventions that have been and are being tried. An invaluable resource for students as well as for practitioners dealing with gangs.

"Four evaluations found that the program [ART] significantly improves the quality of the youths' interpersonal skills; enhances their ability to reduce and control anger; decreases the level of egocentricity and increases concern for the needs of others; substantially decreases antisocial behaviors; improves community functioning, especially with peers; and decreases criminal recidivism."
--OJJDP Model Programs 1993 (Juvenile Justice Bulletin)