Definition And Classification Of Gangs Executive … – Oas
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Introduction
In response to the growing concern among the member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS), the General Secretariat of the Organization has been engaged for more than one year in a systematic study of the issue of gangs and their various violent and criminal manifestations. The Department of Public Security (DPS) of the OAS has been assigned the mandate and responsibility to propose hemispheric measures on this problem, on the understanding that violence in general, and that generated by gangs in particular, has become a topic that resonates deeply in the inter-American system. The resolutions and mandates of the Organization urge the adoption of crosscutting and regional measures for prevention and control of violence in order to protect the political and democratic stability of member states. It soon became clear in the course of the General Secretariat’s work on this issue that a great deal of information exists, as well as a large amount of