One of a kind: A case study of a juvenile gang specialty court

There are many interventions for gang-involved youth, but little prior research has sought to understand gang specialty courts. This case study aims to do so by analyzing secondary and primary data from a gang specialty court in Texas. Results indicate that the court is high-intensity supervision primarily for minority youth. The program aims to impact the “push” and “pull” factors that lead to gang involvement and represents a departure from typical juvenile case processing by providing relocation services, adult mentors, and counseling. However, concerns related to the potential misidentification of youth and our limited understanding of causal effects remain barriers to assessing the program’s full impact.