News stories about pre-dawn police raids and mass arrests in Toronto’s low-income neighbourhoods have become commonplace in recent years. But this fall, the City of Toronto will open a new chapter in its fight against gangs by launching an intensive $5-million pilot program that targets 300 adolescents who seem destined for gang life, or who are already gang members and want a way out.
This federally funded program is innovative because it was designed in close consultation with U of T criminologist Scot Wortley, a leading expert on Canada’s urban youth gangs.
The new program will offer the selected youths counselling for anger management and substance abuse; employment advice and training in marketable skills; opportunities to participate in sports and cultural programs; and support for their families. Wortley will evaluate the results while the program is operating, so officials can decide if this new approach should be used elsewhere.
Through their research, Wortley and his colleague Julian Tanner, a sociologist at U of T Scarborough, have learned that most hard-core Toronto gang members are not young teens but adults in their late teens and 20s. Wortley observes that some teens like to adopt the gang-member pose, but may not be involved with criminal activities, such as drug dealing or possessing weapons. Contrary to the impression of many teachers and other authority figures, teens don’t often “cross the line and engage in crime for economic purposes,” says Wortley.
Wortley and Tanner will analyze whether the program successfully diverts youth from criminal activity and into the mainstream economy. Helping young adults land a job they can respect is the trickiest piece of the puzzle. As Tanner recounts, one gang member they interviewed said he deals drugs because it’s preferable to working in a running-shoe store dressed as a referee. “Many of these kids have nothing but disdain for these sorts of jobs,” he says. “That is going to be one of the challenges.”
Recent Posts
U of T’s Feminist Sports Club Is Here to Bend the Rules
The group invites non-athletes to try their hand at games like dodgeball and basketball in a fun – and distinctly supportive – atmosphere
From Mental Health Studies to Michelin Guide
U of T Scarborough alum Ambica Jain’s unexpected path to restaurant success
A Blueprint for Global Prosperity
Researchers across U of T are banding together to help the United Nations meet its 17 sustainable development goals
3 Responses to “ Exit Strategy ”
Please reel in any urban-parochial impulses when casually commenting about “criminal activities, such as ... possessing weapons.” In free countries such as ours, a variety of weapons may be legally possessed, such as those found in any kitchen, many pockets, or by members of your (late) Hart House Rifle/Revolver Club.
Frank Eigler
BASc 1995, MEng 2000,
Brantford, Ontario
@Frank Eigler: Please reel in any engineering-tunnel-vision impulses when casually letter-writing about "criminal activities, such as… possessing weapons." In free countries such as ours, subject to reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society, possessing a weapon is an indictable/summary criminal offense in a number of circumstances, such as possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose (Criminal Code s. 88), and carrying a concealed weapon (s. 90).
I would like to refer Mr. MacIsaac to Bill C-68 (aka The Firearms Act) and its reprehensible trampling of individual rights. The fact that our property is never our own (be it land or chattels) should be studied by law students. Weapons are any object used to harm or threaten another individual. My firearms are NOT weapons since they have never been used in any offensive manner. Individuals who are capable and trained, be they free citizens or government agents, The should be able to own firearms. Mr. Allan Rock stated only police and the military should have guns, as did Himmler in 1934 (those who wish to possess firearms should join the Army, yada yada yada). We all know how that ended.