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Understanding and Preventing Gang Violence: Problem Analysis and Response Development in Lowell, Massachusetts

Harvard University

Jack McDevitt

Glenn L. Pierce

Northeastern University

Gang violence presents a major challenge to police departments in the United States. Problem-oriented policing has been suggested as a promising way to understand and prevent complex gang violence problems. Unfortunately, problem analysis, as currently practiced, is generally weak and the resulting responses usually consist of mostly traditional enforcement tactics. Academic-police partnerships can be very productive in understanding and responding to serious crime problems. Unfortunately, such collaborations are rare. The U.S. Department of Justice-sponsored Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative provides an important opportunity to facilitate academicpolice partnerships. In Lowell, Massachusetts, academics and practitioners collaborated on a problem analysis that shed important light on the nature of gang violence and led to the implementation of problem-oriented responses that have been promising in preventing gang violence.

Key Words: gang violence • Asian gangs • problem-oriented policing • problem analysis

Police Quarterly, Vol. 9, No. 1, 20-46 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1098611104264497


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