Often lost within the system and sometimes blamed for gang-related crimes for which they hold no responsibility, victims of gang violence frequently receive limited support and experience significant barriers to justice and healing. Their social, cultural, and systemic alienation produces fear, anger, frustration, and confusion when they are brutally injured by, caught in the crossfire of, or lose a loved one to gang violence.

Recognizing that the needs and concerns of this underserved victim population merit special attention, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) convened two Planning Group meetings on May 17 and August 14, 1996. The participants included several victims and survivors of gang violence, as well as victim advocates who work closely with prosecutor and law enforcement programs, and representatives from the judiciary, corrections departments, and relevant federal agencies--all of whom provide assistance to victims of gang violence.

The goals of these meetings were to:

• Examine the unique characteristics of victims of gang-related violence;

• Identify the "promising practices" in assisting these victims;

• Consider establishing a national network of gang violence victims and service providers, similar to the highly successful programs initiated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and Parents of Murdered Children and Other Survivors of Homicide Victims (POMC);

• Generate ideas regarding how the federal government can provide leadership and support for efforts to assist victims of gang violence; and

• Formulate an action plan for accomplishing the recommendations of the Planning Group.

Planning Group participants indicated a number of unique aspects of gang violence victimization:

• Gang violence victims often live with or among the perpetrators of their crimes, similar to victims of domestic violence. Thus, they experience a complex reaction to their victimization.

• Victims and witnesses fear the entire gang, as opposed to a sole perpetrator.

• Victims and witnesses are frequently intimidated into not cooperating with the criminal justice system.

• Although some victims are gang members who "contribute" to violence, many victims and survivors who do not confront a lack of sympathy and services from the criminal justice system because of inferences that they have contributed to the crime in some way, such as their "choice" to live in a gang-ridden neighborhood.

• Most communities do not provide any funding, such as relocation assistance, to help ensure the safety of gang violence victims and do not have effective victim assistance programs for them.

Working on the front lines of victim and witness assistance in areas confronted with gang-related violence, the Planning Group participants provided some compelling examples of what appears to be working--programs that could be replicated in other communities:

Comprehensive Victim Assistance Program for Victims of Gang Violence

One "promising practice" is The Gang Victim Services Program in Orange County, California. It offers a full range of services and multilingual, multicultural support to victims and survivors of gang violence. Five victim advocates work closely with the District Attorney's gang investigators and vertical prosecution team, as well as with municipal law enforcement agencies, to ensure that comprehensive services are provided. The program provides:

• Emergency crisis response;

• Death notification;

• Accompaniment of survivors to emergency rooms;

• Orientation to coroner procedures and policies;

• Autopsy information;

• Assistance with burials and funerals;

• Crime scene clean-up;

• Intervention with employers and the media;

• Advocacy and accompaniment throughout the criminal justice process;

• Referrals for counseling services;

• Assistance in obtaining victim compensation;

• Orientation to post trial services, such as how to obtain notification of the offender's status and parole hearings; and

• Training for service providers, such as emergency medical and hospital personnel, regarding effective and sensitive responses to gang victims.

Another "promising practice" is Teens on Target, a hospital-based gang violence reduction program in Los Angeles and Oakland, California. It provides immediate and long-term assistance to teenage victims, intervention with gang members who accompany victims to emergency rooms, and gang prevention strategies for schools. The program uses trained peer counselors, many of whom are in wheelchairs because they, too, were victims of gang violence. These counselors give bedside support to injured teens and act as positive role models, providing alternatives to violence.

During each hospital visit, the peer counselor provides a one-on-one review of the violent crime that led to the hospitalization and explores alternative strategies for dealing with violent incidents; shares coping skills and support systems; helps to develop a plan for staying safe; and sets up ongoing peer support to help the victim not rejoin the gang culture. If gang members accompany a victim to the emergency room, peer counselors encourage them not to pursue violent responses. This program received the 1996 Crime Victim Service Award, the highest federal honor for victim advocacy.

School-based Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance Program

Victims Services, Inc., offers school-based programs in New York City to educate students, faculty, and family members how to cope with and avoid crime, including gang violence, that pervades their daily lives. These programs operate in coordinated fashion within a number of schools, with the particular needs of each community in mind. They include:

• A 20-lesson anti-violence curriculum offered in ten schools. The curriculum addresses gang violence, as well as bias-related incidents, domestic violence, and child abuse.

• Safe Harbors, a safe room in the school where students, faculty, and families can find counseling and support groups, including ones addressing gang violence.

• Project SMART, a peer mediation/conflict resolution program that teaches students, faculty, and parents alternatives to violence. It has been effectively used in resolving disputes between rival gangs.

• Training in crisis intervention and victim assistance for parents, including how to support kids who witness or experience violence.

Many effective victim assistance programs have been organized around the country by victims of gang violence. For example, Save Our Sons and Daughters (SOSAD) is a nonprofit grassroots organization founded in 1987 by Clementine Barfield, whose 16-year-old son, Derrick, was killed in the summer of 1986. She joined other parents of slain children to channel their grief and anger into activism--working together to create positive alternatives to violence throughout the community. SOSAD provides counseling and training in violence prevention, crisis intervention, multicultural conflict resolution, gang redirection, and peer and bereavement support.

Another group led by mothers who have lost children to gang violence is Mothers of All Children, located in Brooklyn, New York, which was founded by Frances Davis. During the past eight years, Frances lost each of her three sons to gunfire. Ms. Davis turned her pain into service and in 1993 created her own nonprofit, all-volunteer organization, Mothers of All Children. Ms. Davis recruits, trains, and inspires her volunteers, who then provide other survivors of homicide victims with bereavement counseling or help organize community violence prevention activities for youth, such as the basketball tournament, "Shoot Hoops, Not Guns." Frances Davis deals with her grief and her loss by continuing to participate in victim impact panels before young people at high schools and detention centers throughout the northeast.

The Tariq Khamisa Foundation, located in San Diego, California, was founded by investment banker Azim Khamisa after the murder of his 20-year-old son, Tariq. Tariq was delivering pizzas when four teenaged gang members surrounded him and demanded the pizza. When he refused, an 18-year-old gang leader ordered a 14-year-old to kill Tariq with a handgun. Tariq's father joined with the grandfather of the 14-year-old killer to form the Foundation, which is dedicated to preventing similar crimes through educational programs in schools. The Foundation is producing a documentary to assist kids in learning about gang violence and its impact. The documentary will feature an interview with Tariq's killer, who was sentenced to 30 years in custody and who encourages students to seek alternatives to gangs.

Public-Private Partnership to Reduce Gang Violence

Effective prevention and assistance programs can be implemented through public/private sector partnerships. For example, the Wichita/Sedgewick County Neighborhood Initiative in Kansas is a public-private effort to reduce gang violence by coordinating the efforts of grassroots community organizations; public agencies, including law enforcement, city government, and the schools; and interested for-profit and nonprofit private sector businesses, labor groups, and civic organizations. The Initiative's primary function is to obtain needed resources to deal with gang violence by bringing all parties to the table regularly, including community police administrators, city and county management representatives, the mayor, legislators, grassroots anti-gang groups, and gang members themselves. When a two-year-old child was murdered in a drive-by shooting, the Initiative responded to community requests for assistance by trying to arrange a truce among the rival gangs. The Initiative's project director is on loan to the group from the Boeing Company for three years, and several private-sector organizations provide storefront space and volunteers.

Planning Group Recommendations

The Planning Group recommends implementation of the following ten proposals to improve services to victims of gang violence:

1. A national network of professionals and volunteers concerned with victims and witnesses of gang violence should be established to provide vision, support, and direction to federal, state, tribal, and local initiatives.

2. Comprehensive vertical assistance units for victims of gang violence should be established in all jurisdictions where gang activity is pervasive. These units could offer the types of multi-lingual services provided by the Gang Victim Services Program in Orange County, California, which include emergency crisis response services, accompaniment throughout the criminal justice system, and training for service providers.

3. Hospital-based counseling and prevention programs should be established in medical facilities that often provide services to gang violence victims. These programs could include the types of services provided by Teens on Target in California. In addition, a protocol that includes appropriate security and safety procedures should be developed to assist hospital personnel in responding to incidents of gang violence.

4. School-based counseling and prevention programs addressing gang violence should be established where gangs are prevalent. These programs could be modeled after the integrated mediation and violence prevention programs of Victim Services, Inc., in New York City, which include an anti-violence curriculum, support groups, and conflict resolution/peer mediation modules that are used in cases involving gang violence. Gang-impacted school districts should consider providing crisis counseling services for youth witnesses to violent crimes.

5. Host sites should be established with support from the Office for Victims of Crime to provide interested parties from other communities with training regarding promising practices, such as comprehensive victim assistance programs based in prosecutors' offices, hospitals, and schools.

6. Training curricula that include cross-disciplinary information should be developed and offered to professionals who deal with victims and witnesses of gang violence. Training should be provided for first responders on how to deal with survivors at the crime scene; funeral directors on how to deal with gangs before, during, and after funeral services; all criminal justice personnel, including police, prosecutors, and judges; mental health professionals; compensation providers; and teachers.

7. A protocol should be developed and implemented for debriefing all crisis responders to victims of gang violence, including emergency medical technicians and law enforcement personnel, who face serious threats to their physical and emotional well-being when not provided with ongoing opportunities for debriefing following critical incidents.

8. Policies, protocols, and programs should be established to promote safety for victims and witnesses of gang violence and those who assist them at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels. These could include both emergency and short-term relocation programs, security measures in courthouses and at correctional facilities, and secure transportation. Prosecutors should be encouraged to use every legal measure possible to ensure the safety of such witnesses before, during, and after case disposition.

9. The U.S. Department of Justice should review its existing resources relevant to victims of gang violence and provide more discretionary funding to encourage the proliferation of "promising practices" that reduce gang violence and assist victims. All federally funded gang intervention/suppression programs and planning groups should include needed services for victims of gang violence.

10. The Office for Victims of Crime should support a working group on victims and witnesses of gang violence to provide assistance in the development of training curricula, selection of host sites, and implementation of the recommendations contained in this report.

Planning Group participants were divided into five working groups, with each group developing a preliminary action plan that includes goals and related products to be accomplished in one year. The action plan can be summarized as follows:

The National Network Working Group will develop a structure for a national network to provide training, technical assistance, and nationwide support for victims and witnesses of gang violence and those who serve them, including the creation of a name for the network, development of a mission statement, strategic planning, membership recruitment, and public awareness and community outreach activities.

The Training and Technical Assistance Working Group will develop training curricula and ongoing technical assistance based upon promising practices identified by the Planning Group and augmented by a national assessment of existing programs that assist victims and witnesses of gang violence. Training and technical assistance will be profession-specific for key stakeholders, including all criminal and juvenile justice officials, victim assistance and victim compensation personnel, medical professionals, funeral directors, educators, and other relevant professionals.

The Medical and EMT Working Group will provide training and assistance in the development of protocols for medical professionals--including hospitals, emergency rooms, trauma centers, and emergency medical technicians. Protocols will address how to best meet the needs of victims of gang violence, coordinate medical evidence with the justice system and inform victims about their rights within the system, and provide victims with immediate and long-term support and appropriate referrals for ongoing assistance.

The Promising Practices Working Group will identify existing promising practices that assist victims and witnesses of gang violence and promote their replication through ongoing training, technical assistance, and use of host sites. The working group will seek to replicate services with strong community policing philosophies and practices which rely on community partnerships across disciplinary lines.

The Protection and Safety Working Group will provide training and technical assistance on strategies which can be utilized by the criminal justice system and allied professionals to protect victims and witnesses from gang intimidation and retaliation. The working group will develop recommendations for new policies and pursue opportunities to publicize and enhance existing policies that protect victims and witnesses and promote successful prosecution of offenders by the criminal justice system.

OVC's Response to the Recommendations

In response to the recommendations and proposed action plan of the Planning Group, OVC has developed the following action plan. OVC will:

1. Encourage program evaluation of promising practices discussed in the report and continue to seek authority to use program funds for evaluation and prevention activities.

2. Consider funding several host sites where victim service providers can receive technical assistance to replicate promising programs, policies, and approaches that provide sensitive services to victims and witnesses of gang violence. Sites may include comprehensive victim assistance programs based in prosecutors' offices, hospitals, and schools. OVC's Trainers' Bureau can facilitate this effort.

3. Provide support to develop training curricula for diverse professionals about gang violence victims.

4. Provide support for projects promoting safety for victims and witnesses of gang violence.

5. Provide support for developing a protocol for debriefing all crisis responders to incidents involving victims of gang violence.

6. Work with other Department of Justice components to ensure that federally funded gang programs include needed services for victims of gang violence.

7. Support an expanded planning group with diverse representation to provide assistance in the development of resources needed to assist gang violence victims and those who serve them.

8. Support a planning group to examine the culturally-specific issues of victims of gang violence in Indian country.

9. Facilitate discussions regarding a national network of victims of gang violence and their service providers.

• $175,000 of FY 1996 funds for a field-initiated project that will develop technical assistance materials to help victim service providers improve assistance to victims of gang-related crimes. The project will identify and document the successful ways agencies and communities are serving victims of gang violence and their families and describe practical applications for criminal justice and victim assistance staff. A package of technical assistance materials will be developed and pilot tested in at least two jurisdictions.

• $200,000 of FY 1997 funds for two demonstration programs located in a school or community to assist preteen and teen victims and witnesses of gang violence and other juvenile crimes. The purpose of these two projects is to establish replicable comprehensive programs for these victims.

• $50,000 of FY 1997 funds for a grantee to develop a victim service component for OJJDP Gang Demonstration Sites.

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