Youth Street Gangs

Vernon Harlan grew up around urban gangs and as a researcher now speaks to the methodological and practical means of curbing their spread and breaking the criminogenic cycle that engulfs their members. As a member of the African American community, he is in the forefront of scholarly and policy groups dealing with this social phenomena. The legal and social implications of a rise in deviant criminal behavior among the young particularly urban minority youth is immense. Harlan discusses the legal and political cost of a gulag "solution" as well as the failings and inadequacies of a social reform and welfare approach to criminogenic America. He discusses theory, praxis and prescriptive social theory aimed at breaking up the cycle of violence and dependency and offer concrete solutions.