This is based on a SUCCESSFUL program running in Richmond, CA. It includes counseling, training, mentoring. Richmond killings dropped from 46 to 11 in one year. Richmond has been known as a high-crime/gang city in the Bay Area for a long, long time.
Richmond, California: Paying kids not to kill - CNN
$1,000/month is a lot cheaper than prison. If it helps just one kid to get a new life, the price is cheap.