Addressing youth involvement
in gangs
The issues of gang violence and crime are complex.
Addressing them requires working across sectors and
disciplines, recognizing the importance of a long-lasting
and effective continuum of prevention, intervention and
enforcement strategies that target youth involvement
in gangs. Police, community services, educators, cultural
communities, families and youth themselves come
together to confront gangs and organized crime in B.C.
Provincial Youth Gang Prevention Strategy
The Inter-ministry Committee on Youth Violence and
Crime in partnership with the National Crime Prevention
Centre is implementing a four-year provincial strategy to
prevent youth gang violence and crime with education,
law enforcement, government, youth and community
partners. The strategy was developed in 2006 in response
to incidents of gang violence witnessed by communities
across B.C.
Participating communities have developed local
Community Action and Assessment Networks (CAANs).
These networks are creating community action plans to
prevent youth involvement in gangs. Their experiences
and best practices will be shared with other communities
throughout B.C.