"[This book] explores the important nexus of public safety and public health in preventing kids from joining gangs. Community leaders and practitioners are invited to engage in a new way of thinking about this nexus — and to put into practice evidence-based principles and practices that can halt the cascading impact of gangs on kids, families, neighborhoods, and society.

The book's goal is to help community leaders, police officers, teachers, and community-services providers to better understand what research says about keeping kids out of gangs and to make informed decisions about how to best use limited resources to prevent gang joining.

To change the course, it is important to look beyond individual-level risk factors to consider factors within families, schools, and communities that influence gang-joining. Opportunities and principles for prevention are described at each level." (from the website)

Among the key points:
mentality.
•Youth in gangs are more likely to abuse drugs, engage in high-risk sexual behaviors, and experience long-term health and social consequences.
•Girls join gangs in large numbers, contrary to stereotypes. Prevention efforts should address girls' risk for gang joining, including preventing sexual abuse and addressing abusive intimate partner violence for girls.