Gang Intervention Program
Strayer University
Juvenile Delinquency and Justice
Gang Intervention Program
Gangs have become more and more of a problem for society today as they bring in younger youth into their gangs. To help with this rise in the population of these gangs, many different intervention programs have been created to manage gang violence and crime.
One program in particular is YAP or Youth Advocate Program. Since 1975, YAP has operated 125 programs serving 75 counties across 15 states and Washington DC. They have 2300 staff serving 4500 young people and their families at any given time. “Founder and President, Thomas Jeffers, created the YAP program model in response to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s ruling in 1975 that banned youth from being incarcerated with adult inmates at the State Correctional Institution in Camp Hill. At the time, this prison housed serious, violent juvenile offenders, many with felony convictions” (The History of YAP, 2013, para. 9).
The YAP has a variety of program types including those in child welfare, in behavioral health, in schools, within developmental disabilities, in autism support, as gang intervention, and with adult offender re-entry. Their mission “is to provide individuals who are, have been or may be subject to compulsory care with the opportunity to develop, contribute and be valued as assets so that communities have safe, proven effective and economical alternatives to institutional placement”(Mission Statement, 2013, para. 1).
Their unique goals are: serving the most challenging youth, maintaining a “no reject/no eject” policy, building strong and important relationships with youth, following a same zip-code staff recruitment strategy, incorporating cultural competence as a core service principle provide intensive services designed to keep kids and communities safe, partnering with youth and families to devise flexible, individualized interventions built on unique strengths and needs…