RELEASE ON RECIEPT

YOUTH GANGS ARE SERIOUS PROBLEM IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA SCHOOLS, SURVEY
SHOWS

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 13 -- Youth gangs pose a
substantial problem in Northern Virginia, according to a survey of
school personnel in six school divisions.
	Ninety percent of 575 school professionals in Alexandria,
Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Spotsylvania school
divisions who responded to a spring 1997 survey reported that youth
gangs are a serious or emerging problem in their locales.  The
participants identified 112 gangs by name; the most frequently cited
were Tiny Rascal Gangsters, Latinos Locos, Bloods, Latin Kings and
Crips.
	The survey was undertaken by the Virginia Youth Violence
Project at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education.
The school counselors, psychologists, social workers, nurses and other
professionals surveyed were participants in a May conference on drugs
and violence that was organized by Virginia Commonwealth University's
Center for School-Community Collaboration.
	The school professionals surveyed reported direct contact with
youth gang members.  About 48 percent have witnessed youth gang
activity, and about 43 percent have worked with gang members in their
schools.  The survey identified "youth gang" as "youth who use a name
or symbol to define themselves as a group and engage in recurrent
serious criminal activity."
	"The unexpected high degree of school professionals'
involvement with gang members makes it imperative that schools have
adequate policies regarding youth gangs," said Dewey Cornell, director
of U.Va.'s Youth Violence Project, who supervised the survey.  "The
responses also point to the critical need for school professionals to
receive training that prepares them for working with youth gang
members."
	Survey respondents in Loudoun and Spotsylvania reported
substantially less gang activity or involvement with youth gang
members than those in other school divisions.  However, they said that
youth gangs are an emerging problem and identified a need for
prevention training. Since July 1, faculty in U.Va.'s and VCU's schools
of education have been helping localities develop violence-prevention plans.
Called the Youth Gang Project in Virginia, the consortium was created by the
1997 General Assembly.  The survey of Northern Virginia school
professionals gives project faculty an understanding of the types of
training programs school professionals value.
	Eighty-six percent of the survey participants were female.
Eighty-three percent were white; 14 percent were African-American and
2 percent were Hispanic.  Nearly 65 percent of the respondents were
parents.
	Respondents identified numerous programs, such as those
focusing on youth employment, parent education and mentoring, as being
effective in reducing youth crime.
	The participants' descriptions of programs will be
incorporated into the training provided by those in the Virginia Youth
Violence Project.
	For more information on youth violence in Virginia, access the
Virginia Youth Violence web site at
http://curry.edschool.Virginia.edu/curry/centers/youthvio/.  The site
which offers nearly a dozen color charts about youth gangs in
Virginia, also describes current work related to violence in Virginia
schools, youth gangs and juvenile homicide.
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                                                    November 12, 1997
	
	For more information, contact Dewey Cornell at (804) 924-0793
or via dcornell@virginia.edu. Gaynelle Whitlock, director of VCU's
Center for School-Community Collaboration, is at (804) 828-1482.