On Good Authority

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Outcomes of the Gang
Violence Reduction Project
On Good Authority
Vol. 4, No. 3
August 2000
On Good Authority is a periodic
briefing on trends and issues in
criminal justice program evaluation.
This report was written by Irving A.
Spergel, Ph.D., and Kwai Ming Wa, M.S.,
of the University of Chicago School of
Social Service Administration Gang
Research, Evaluation and Technical
Assistance Projects. It is a summary of
a program evaluation of the Gang
Violence Reduction Project
administered by the Chicago Police
Department. The evaluation was
conducted by the University of
Chicago under the direction of Dr.
Spergel.
The Illinois Criminal Justice
Information Authority is a state
agency dedicated to improving the
administration of criminal justice in
Illinois. The basic functions of the
Authority are criminal justice research,
federal and state grants administration,
and information systems development
and support.
For more information, or for copies of
this or other publications, contact the
Authority at (312) 793-8550, or visit
our Web site at www.icjia.state.il.us.
The evaluation was supported by grant #92-
DB-CX-0017, #93-DB-CX-0017, #94-DB-CX-
0017, #95-DB-VX-0017, #96-DB-MU-0017
and #97-DB-MU-0017, awarded by the
Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice
Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of
view in this document do not necessarily
represent the official position or policies of the
U.S. Department of Justice.
Printed by authority of the State of Illinois,
August 2000. Printing order #01-036; 3,500
copies.
George H. Ryan
Governor
Peter B. Bensinger
Chairman
Candice M. Kane
Executive Director
ILLINOIS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
INFORMATION AUTHORITY
After seven years of comprehen-sive
research, the Little Village
Gang Violence Reduction Project
(GVRP) evaluators submitted their
conclusions on changes in gang member
criminal behavior. The findings included:
• Gang members aged 17-24 targeted
by the program generally reduced and/or
lowered their level of arrests in relation to
gang members in the comparison sample
during the five-year program period.
• The project appeared to be particu-larly
successful with the more serious
offenders, using a combined approach of
comprehensive social intervention,
suppression, and opportunities provision
in the community.
Researchers from the University of
Chicago conducted an implementation
and impact evaluation of the GVRP from
1992 through 1999. The evaluation was
funded using federal Anti-Drug Abuse
Act funds distributed through the Illinois
Criminal Justice Information Authority.
This On Good Authority presents some of
the highlights of findings surrounding
criminal histories and outcomes between
targeted gang members and comparison
groups in the 10th police district.
The GVRP began operating in mid-
1992 and continued through mid-1997.
University of Chicago School of Social
Service Administration Professor Irving
Spergel designed the project and became
its coordinator over time.
Two major hard-core violent gang
constellations were targeted. The assump-tion
underlying the project’s structure was
that gang problems, especially serious
violence, occur in response to community
social disorganization and lack of
avenues of social opportunities. The key
policy and program focus of the project
model was to have social organizations
and representatives of the local commu-nity
work together to de-isolate, socially
assist, and control young gang members
so that they could participate in legitimate
mainstream activities in society. The
project strategy and structure included
outreach services provided by youth
workers with ties to the target community,
including some former gang members,
referrals for service and supervision from
police and probation officers, and gang
violence suppression efforts conducted by
the Chicago Police Department.
The evaluation sought to determine
whether gang crime, mainly violence, was
reduced at the individual, gang, and area
levels, and, if so, whether the GVRP and
its particular strategies accounted for
these changes. Evaluators collected data
over time using a variety of collection
methods: gang member interviews, field
observations, project staff contact and
service records, community surveys,
aggregate level police data, census data,
team meeting records, and focus groups.
Program and comparison groups
Comparative data analysis was completed
across three groups: 195 program youths,
90 quasi-program youths, and 208
comparison youths. The quasi-program
and comparison groups consisted of
selected members of the same two gangs,
the Latin Kings and the Two Six, who
were co-arrestees of program youths at
the time the latter entered the program.
The distinguishing feature between the