Ladoblem

Comparative report on types
of intervention used for youth
at risk of joining a street gang
Practices from Belgium,
Canada and France

Montreal, March 2011

ComParative
analysis
rePort

www.crime-prevention-intl.org

Comparative report on the types of intervention used for youth at risk of joining a street gang :
practices from Belgium, Canada and France.
This report was producedas part of the funding agreement between ICPC
and the Government of Canada’s National Centre for the Prevention of Crime.
Supervision: Paula Miraglia
Coordination, drafting and editing: Joanie Prince
Research: Camille Karbassi and Julie Kropp
Graphic design and Printing : Danalco Impressions Inc.
Translation: Elizabeth Reeve
Key-words: street gangs, youth, membership, comparative report,practices

international Centre for the Prevention of Crime
465, rue St-Jean, suite 803
Montreal, (Quebec)
Canada
H2Y 2R6
www.crime-prevention-intl.org

ICPC
Supervision: Paula Miraglia
Coordination, drafting and editing: Joanie Prince
Research: Camille Karbassi and Julie Kropp

CIPC

>

Table of content :
INTRODUCTION
WhaT iS a STReeT gang?
gang STRuCTuRe
STReeT ganginvolveMenT:
WhaT aRe The RiSK and PRoTeCTive faCToRS?
PRevenTion of STReeT gang involveMenT

3
3

METHODS

7

CHAPTER 1 : BELGIUM

9

4
5

BaCKgRound
inSPiRaTional Belgian PRaCTiCeS
The Be+ Project
The noTa Bene project
(school dropout monitoring group for the City of Brussels)
The programme multidimensionnel d’encadrement
préventif de la violence urbaine (PMePvu)
faCT SheeTSon Belgian PRaCTiCeS

13
15

CHAPTER 2 : CANADA

19

BaCKgRound
inSPiRaTional Canadian PRaCTiCeS
Remix Project
Programme de suivi intensif de Montréal (PSi-MTl)
Choices Youth Program
inReach
faCT SheeTS foR Canadian PRaCTiCeS

20
22
22
23
24
24
26

CHAPTER 3 : FRANCE

10
12
12
13

31

BaCKgRound
inSPiRaTional fRenCh PRaCTiCeS
Parental responsibility coursesCity of Pessac’s Chantiers éducatifs
l’aviron
The Meaux Schooling Continuation initiative
faCT SheeTS foR fRenCh PRaCTiCeS/iniTiaTiveS

32
33
33
33
34
35
36

CONCLUSION

41

BIBLIOGRAPHY

47

Comparative report on the types of intervention used for youth at risk of joining a street gang :
Practices from Belgium, Canada, and France.

introduction
What is a street gang?“Youth gangs”, “urban gangs”, “bandes de jeunes”, “gangs de jeunes”: a variety of terms are used interchangeably to designate what is generally referred to as a “street gang”. due to the number of different
terms used, it is difficult to define precisely what a street gang is. despite considerable research (guay and
gaumont-Casias, 2009) on the topic, no universal definition for the term “street gang”has yet been established. There is no consensus, be it among governments, police organizations, community organizations
or other civil society actors, as to the criteria for an adequate definition of the term (Barchechat, 2006).
While there may be no consensus as to a definition, what is usually referred to is a group of young people
who self-identify as a group, are generally perceived byothers as a “distinct group, involved in a significant
number of delinquent incidents that produce consistent negative responses from the community” (national Crime Prevention Centre, 2007). The eurogang network offers the following definition: “a street gang
(or a problematic youth group corresponding to a street gang elsewhere) is any stable, street-oriented
youth group whose own identityincludes involvement in antisocial activity” (Weerman, Maxson, esbensen,
alridge, Medina and gemert, 2009). it should be noted that the concepts of identity and delinquent activities are common to both definitions.
Gang structure
While they do not have highly organized hierarchical structures such as are found in criminal biker gangs,
street gangs generally are generally comprised of hard core,...