USAID Releases Report on Gangs in Central America, Mexico
Agency reviews gang-related violence in region, proposes solutions
Washington -- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has issued a report assessing the phenomenon of youth gangs in Central America and Mexico, with a particular focus on El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua.
The assessment aimed "to understand the underlying problems" contributing to gang membership, to analyze the "transnational characteristics" of the gangs and to propose ways the United States can reach at-risk youth, USAID said in a May 19 news release. The agency noted that there was an increase in accounts of gang-related violence across Central America and the United States in 2005.
Over an eight-month period, USAID worked with partners in each of the five assessment countries to collect data through interviews with a wide range of people -- including government officials and representatives of civil society, the media, the private sector, and faith-based groups, as well as U.S. government officials and current and former gang members.
Among the USAID report's key findings:
• Marginalized urban areas are the breeding grounds of gang activity. Fueling the problem in these areas are high levels of youth unemployment, compounded by inadequate access to education and economic opportunities, family disintegration and intra-familial violence, easy access to drugs and small arms, and overwhelmed and ineffective justice systems that include prisons which serve as gang training camps.
• A combination of prevention, intervention, and law enforcement approaches are needed to halt the spread of gang violence over the long term. Thus far, countries have largely responded by stepping up law enforcement efforts, with much less attention paid to prevention and intervention. This imbalanced approach has not succeeded, judging by the fact that crime levels have not diminished.
• USAID, in collaboration with other partners at home and abroad, is uniquely positioned to address the gang problem by supporting policies and community-based programs that address the root causes of youth gang proliferation and that unite the prevention, intervention, and law enforcement dimensions.
The assessment (PDF, 1.5 MB) and related information are available at the USAID Web site.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
Washington -- The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has issued a report assessing the phenomenon of youth gangs in Central America and Mexico, with a particular focus on El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua.
The assessment aimed "to understand the underlying problems" contributing to gang membership, to analyze the "transnational characteristics" of the gangs and to propose ways the United States can reach at-risk youth, USAID said in a May 19 news release. The agency noted that there was an increase in accounts of gang-related violence across Central America and the United States in 2005.Over an eight-month period, USAID worked with partners in each of the five assessment countries to collect data through interviews with a wide range of people -- including government officials and representatives of civil society, the media, the private sector, and faith-based groups, as well as U.S. government officials and current and former gang members.
Among the USAID report's key findings:
• Marginalized urban areas are the breeding grounds of gang activity. Fueling the problem in these areas are high levels of youth unemployment, compounded by inadequate access to education and economic opportunities, family disintegration and intra-familial violence, easy access to drugs and small arms, and overwhelmed and ineffective justice systems that include prisons which serve as gang training camps.
• A combination of prevention, intervention, and law enforcement approaches are needed to halt the spread of gang violence over the long term. Thus far, countries have largely responded by stepping up law enforcement efforts, with much less attention paid to prevention and intervention. This imbalanced approach has not succeeded, judging by the fact that crime levels have not diminished.
• USAID, in collaboration with other partners at home and abroad, is uniquely positioned to address the gang problem by supporting policies and community-based programs that address the root causes of youth gang proliferation and that unite the prevention, intervention, and law enforcement dimensions.
The assessment (PDF, 1.5 MB) and related information are available at the USAID Web site.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
posted by Braye Cloud at
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