The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and the Phoenix Police Department developed the Gang Resistance Education and Training Program (G.R.E.A.T.) as a potentially cost-effective approach to reduce serious youth and adult gang crime. The program, which began in 1991, was aimed at providing students with tools to resist the lure of joining a gang. Modeled after the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (a school-based drug prevention program taught by law enforcement officers), the 13-session course taught by uniformed law officers to middle school students, the curriculum: (1) highlights the dangers of gang life and provides information on the dangers of gang involvement; (2) seeks to help students develop life skills in peacefully resolving conflict and resisting pressure to join gangs; and (3) encourages adolescents to develop a positive relationship with law enforcement. Unlike most efforts to reduce gang involvement, this program is given to an entire classroom, rather than focusing on adolescents who appear to be most at risk for gang membership.

The program also provides a shorter curriculum for third and fourth graders as well as a summer and a family component. Nearly 365,000 students received the G.R.E.A.T. curriculum in fiscal year 2002.

A national evaluation of the program yielded some contradictory findings. There were no significant differences between participants and non-participants after two years, but after four years, G.R.E.A.T. students exhibited more positive social attitudes than non-G.R.E.A.T. students. Students in the G.R.E.A.T. program reported lower levels of risk-seeking and victimization, more positive attitudes toward the police, more negative attitudes toward gangs, and more friends involved in positive social activities than students in the control group. Neither study showed any reduction in gang membership and delinquent behavior.

But the study's authors cautioned that the program results were modest. "Clearly, this program is not a 'silver bullet' or a panacea for gang violence," stated evaluator Finn-Aage Esbensen. The initial poor results promoted ATF to solicit a review of the curriculum, which the Bureau revised in January 2001 to provide more interactive lessons, greater involvement with classroom teachers, and booster sessions to reinforce skills learned in earlier years.

For more information on the program see http://www.great-online.org/.

For information on the evaluation see Esbensen, F. A. (June 2004). Evaluating G.R.E.A.T.: A School-Based Gang Prevention Program. Washington, DC U.S. Department of Justice. Also available on-line at http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/198604.pdf.