"Pushed Out" and "Pulled In": Youth Perspectives From a School-Based Gang Violence Intervention Program

• In Event: 26.079 - Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: 26.079-15 - Advances in Conflict Resolution and Violence Prevention

Abstract

Working class Latino youth often confront negative educational encounters, intensified by punitive school policies and adversarial treatment by teachers, which tend to lead some of these youngsters to being pushed out of school (Conchas & Vigil, 2010). The Latino youth of this study were identified as gang threats by school officials and reported to police officers. The ultimate outcome was a state of hyper-surveillance and criminalization where Latino boys became scrutinized and punished for common adolescent behavior (i.e. group bonding, loitering, arguing, and experimenting with rule-breaking). Discipline for these kids was handed over to police by schools to compensate for lack of solid discipline strategies, such as restorative approaches leading to the creation and implementation of the gang intervention program.

Authors

• Mario Gerardo Galicia, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Victor Rios, University of California - Santa Barbara