Gang Resistance Education and Training Program
Gang Resistance Education and Training Program
Alian Cruz
CRJ 305: Crime Prevention
Ann Meek
08 OCT, 2011
For my final paper I am going to talk about a program that in my eyes is a great way for our youth to receive different views and healthy choices when it comes to avoiding and confronting gangs or gang members. Gang Resistance Education and Training, abbreviated G.R.E.A.T., and provides a school-based, police officer instructed program that includes classroom instruction and various learning activities. The mission of the program is to provide a range of activities to our kids to keep them away from gangs or related activity as well as educate them on competency, usefulness, and personal empowerment which will prevent them from falling to the teeth of gang activity. The program originally began as a nine lesson middle-school curriculum. In early 1992, the first G.R.E.A.T Officer Program was conducted in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1993, due to its perceived success, the program was expanded nationwide and was congressionally supported as part of the ATF’s project outreach. During the duration of this paper, the reader will be able to understand what the program is all about as well as the goal of the program and the support that the program has received in the past. What is important after all is that in today’s society, we give our children the knowledge and the power to say no to gangs and teach them the right alternatives to choose from. Individuals react negatively to the phrase gang through personal experience, media, music, and movies; however, what individuals see depicted is not necessarily the entire truth behind gangs. While a lack of consensus exists in identifying the sheer volume of the gang problem, many can easily identify and agree that a high rate of criminal activity exists among gangs and gang members (Esbensen & Osgood, 1999). Esbensen and Osgood (1999) state that in the 1990s gang membership and criminal activity of gangs had
Alian Cruz
CRJ 305: Crime Prevention
Ann Meek
08 OCT, 2011
For my final paper I am going to talk about a program that in my eyes is a great way for our youth to receive different views and healthy choices when it comes to avoiding and confronting gangs or gang members. Gang Resistance Education and Training, abbreviated G.R.E.A.T., and provides a school-based, police officer instructed program that includes classroom instruction and various learning activities. The mission of the program is to provide a range of activities to our kids to keep them away from gangs or related activity as well as educate them on competency, usefulness, and personal empowerment which will prevent them from falling to the teeth of gang activity. The program originally began as a nine lesson middle-school curriculum. In early 1992, the first G.R.E.A.T Officer Program was conducted in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1993, due to its perceived success, the program was expanded nationwide and was congressionally supported as part of the ATF’s project outreach. During the duration of this paper, the reader will be able to understand what the program is all about as well as the goal of the program and the support that the program has received in the past. What is important after all is that in today’s society, we give our children the knowledge and the power to say no to gangs and teach them the right alternatives to choose from. Individuals react negatively to the phrase gang through personal experience, media, music, and movies; however, what individuals see depicted is not necessarily the entire truth behind gangs. While a lack of consensus exists in identifying the sheer volume of the gang problem, many can easily identify and agree that a high rate of criminal activity exists among gangs and gang members (Esbensen & Osgood, 1999). Esbensen and Osgood (1999) state that in the 1990s gang membership and criminal activity of gangs had