ong juveniles increased by 14.9 percent from 1989 to 1998 (Corbitt, 2000). While some analysts argue as does Daane (2003) that the juvenile violent crime rate has decreased steadily during the past five years, few would deny that the problem of violence and violence-related behavior, including juvenile gang membership and activity, remains significant in the lives of many American children and adolescents.
Of specific importance today is gang-centered or fostered violent crime which negatively impacts upon many American communities. Particularly affected, according to Siegel and Senna (2000), are urban neighborhoods characterized by high levels of poverty, joblessness, and other forms of crime. While juveniles belonging to gangs may be responsible for many violent crimes committed by members of this age cohort, they also are more likely than other juvenile groups to be victims of violent crimes. Daane (2003) maintains that 12 to 15 year-olds have the second highest violent crime victimization rate in the United States.
One theory focused on the causes of crime in general and youth gang violence in particular asserts that social and physical disorder in urban neighborhoods, if unchecked, leads to serious crime because disordered neighborhoods permit minor public incivilities to escalate into predatory crime as a consequence of attitudinal schema suggesting that manifestations of disorder represent indifference (Sampson & Raudenbush, 2001). The so-called "broken windows" theory advanced by Wilson and Kelling (1982) proposes that if sufficient "broken windows" in a neighborhood go unattended, the neighborhood falls into a moral and material malaise. Correcting or eliminating this malaise is therefore regarded as instrumental in reducing crime and youth gang violence (Perry, 2001).
The problem to be examined in this study focuses upon the degree to which one innovative strategy for preventing youth gang violence is eff...