Unit Web Activity Lesson Plans

Unit 2: Criminal Law and Juvenile Justice
Gangs in America

Overview

This lesson is designed to explore the initiatives that various private and government organizations are taking to combat the influence of gangs on America's youth.

Correlation to Textbook

This lesson correlates to Unit Two, Chapter 7: Crime in America, in the Street Law textbook.

Correlation to the National Standards for Civics and Government

III.B.1. The institutions of the national government: Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding the purposes, organization, and functions of the institutions of the national government.

III.C.3. Major responsibilities of state and local governments: Students should be able to identify the major responsibilities of their state and local governments and explain how those governments affect their lives.

V.D. Students should be able to explain what civic dispositions or traits of private and public character are important to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy.

V.E. Students should be able to explain how citizens can take part in civic life.

Objectives

At the conclusion of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Identify a youth or street gang.
• Explain why citizens are concerned about gang violence and the influence of gangs in the United States.
• Evaluate what the federal government is doing to track and combat gang violence.
• Evaluate one or more local efforts to combat the influence of gangs.

Before You Teach This Lesson

1. Before you take your students to the computer lab or assign this lesson for independent research, go through it yourself to make sure that it suits your purposes and that the links work.
2. This lesson is designed for use in a computer lab, so that the students will have the time they need to read and browse the various Web sites. Some of the material can be printed out and photocopied if you want to spend less time in the lab. For example, you could print out the Frequently Asked Questions from the National Youth Gang Center or the PDF pamphlet from the National Crime Prevention Council and have the students read that for homework the day before you go to the lab.
3. Decide which steps you want your students to follow. For example, the information from the National Youth Gang Center and the National Crime Prevention Council overlaps a bit. You could have your students read one or both pieces of information.
4. Decide if you want your students to explore all of the local anti-gang initiatives or just one. You could promote discussion by dividing the students into groups and directing each group to look at a different city, then report to the class later.
5. You may want to decide which culminating activity to use before you even begin the lesson, but you also may want to delay and see what interests and excites your students. Some classes will be more interested than others in this subject, and the culminating activity should reflect how much energy they have to devote to the issue.

Lesson Plan

1. Review the lesson outcomes with students.
2. If a Resource Person is helping to co-teach this lesson, introduce him or her and explain how you will work together.
3. Direct students to follow the steps you have chosen in the lesson. If students are working in groups, make sure that each member of the group has a role or area of responsibility.
4. Depending on where you live, you may want to add a step and have your students research gang activity and intervention in your region.
5. Allow the students to discuss what they find in both small groups and as a whole class. Let their interests drive the choice of the culminating activity.

Suggestions for Using Resource People

• Contact the guidance department in your school to see if the department chair or another counselor can co-teach this lesson and speak to your students about the available resources in your school. For example, does your school provide anger management or conflict resolution classes? Do you have peer mediation? How can the students take an active role in keeping the peace in their own school?
• Contact the local police station to see if someone from that precinct's gang unit can co-teach this lesson and speak to your students about gangs in your area.
• Contact a local anti-gang advocacy group to see if someone can co-teach this lesson and speak to your students about private anti-gang choices in your area.

Timing of Lesson

The timing of this lesson will depend on which steps you choose for your students to follow. If they visit each of the Web sites in the lesson, you will need at least two 45-minute class periods or one 90-minute block period. You can shorten your time in the computer lab by printing out some of the introductory information (Steps 1 and 2) for use as homework or in the classroom.