Evaluating Gang Resistance Education and Training (Great)

Abstract

Gangs became a major concern of law enforcement and the public in the late 1980s and remain so in the first half of the 1990s. One response for addressing the problem has been the development and dissemination of a prevention program called Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT). This program is similar to the popular Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program of the 1980s. No published evaluations exist about GREAT although there have been numerous evaluations of DARE. The latter show that DARE has a very small effect on the drug behavior of children. This research reports an evaluation of GREAT in several sites in the United States that show that it also has a very small effect on children. However, as is the case with DARE, GREAT will continue because of the powerful symbolic political and public relations utility it has for various stakeholders.