It is the murder capital of the US. Known to many as the Windy City, more recently the media dubbed it Beirut by the lake. The number one cause of death between the ages of one and 34 is murder and 80% of killings in Chicago are the result of shootings.

It is the murder capital of the US. Known to many as the Windy City, more recently the media dubbed it Beirut by the lake. The number one cause of death between the ages of one and 34 is murder and 80% of killings in Chicago are the result of shootings.

The statistics make for unnerving reading, but it is the city's experience and success in mentoring young gang members that UK ministers and senior police from Scotland are interested in pursuing.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, head of Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), travelled to Chicago in February to look at some of the positive inroads they are making in encouraging young people to leave gangs.

Since 2003, Chicago has seen its murder rate fall from more than 600 to roughly 450 a year.

Glasgow, regularly labelled the UK's murder capital, is keen to emulate such dramatic decreases. According to the World Health Organisation, Scotland's murder rate for teenagers and young adults is five times that of England and Wales.

It is thought about 3000 people were seriously assaulted with a weapon in Glasgow last year, but only 1000 reported it.

Tessa Jowell, the UK Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport, visited Chicago recently to look at some of the projects, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has paid for two of the city's leading mentors to come over to the UK this week to explain their work.

To get out of a gang in Chicago, there is a prerequisite five-minute beating enforced by leaders, explains Kenny Ruiz, head of the YMCA's street intervention programme. One of his jobs is bartering with gang leaders to get the time and severity reduced.

"In the past 18 months we have had 18 detachments young people leaving gangs because of the dedication of staff," he says. "This is an unusually high number. We negotiate with the leaders to get them out of the gangs. There is always a beating but sometimes it is about negotiating the minutes down to two rather than five, or getting a smaller guy to do the beating.

"Everyone wants to get beaten on a cold day so they can wear more layers. We collect favours from the leaders by maybe helping them with court cases."

Mr Ruiz, recently named Chicagoan of the year, became a "hardcore" gang member at the age of 12 but was lucky enough to have the right people to help him.

He now works with around 800 gang members each year. "The key thing with young people is to listen," he says. "Too often people are too busy trying to tell their own story. We ask them whether their goal is to be a gang member in five years' time and what their aspirations are. You have to build a relationship of trust.

"We look for significant emotional events. Maybe they've got a girl pregnant or they're going to court or their friend got shot. It is about being there for them in these significant moments."

It helps that he comes from the same background, his conversation is peppered with the language of the street, and believes mentors should have that experience too.

"Any suspicion or any contact with the police and you are a chota' - a squealer," he says, laughing that he should have to spell the word out to a Brit.

Some would argue that Chicago's problems and solutions are incompatible with those of Scotland, where the majority of perpetrators are white, drunk and armed with a bottle of "Buckie" or knife, rather than a gun.

In Strathclyde alone police catch around 5000 people a year with knives and other blades.

In Chicago about three-quarters of victims and criminals are African American and just less than 20% are Hispanic. Roughly 5% of victims and criminals are white. But neither Mr Ruiz nor Mr Carnochan see that as an unbridgeable difference.

"There are clearly differences but the main factors in relation to violence are poverty, poor health, low aspirations, and they are common to both," says Mr Carnochan. "It just happens that the poor communities there are black and Hispanic whereas we have communities which are neither black nor Hispanic but who suffer the same problems.

"I don't think we can do exactly the same as they are doing in Chicago but it would be silly not to look at how they have tackled the problems and made real inroads with it. Here we have got the same gang names and territories that we had 20 years ago. It is time we did something different."

Forgetting how infrequently police officers admit to fear, I ask whether the mean streets of Chicago were intimidating. "Just different," he says.

Mr Ruiz explains candidly that one television crew recently pulled out of filming with him - too afraid of the gang violence even from the relative safety of the mediation team.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is paying for Mr Ruiz and Claude Robinson, vice-president of youth development and diversity with the Uhlich Children's Advantage Network, to fly over and spend the week disseminating their good practice in the UK. "We work with these young men weekly to identify their purpose in life and try to get them to work out who they are," says Mr Robinson.

"Some of those we mentor have already been involved in violence and are referred by the courts, others are just struggling. The ultimate end goal is to take them on a journey of self discovery.

"Society tends to focus on the violent aspects of what they do. They think that's their only way of getting attention. We want to show them the alternatives."

The west of Scotland's reputation for booze and blades is something the VRU recognises will take a long time to change but they believe mentoring, offering gang members positive male role models and alternative lifestyles, could form a key part of the strategy.

Scotland's most recent recorded crime statistics show that violent crime has fallen 9% in the past year. The work of the VRU may already be taking effect.

Mr Carnochan wants the conference in Glasgow on Wednesday to have a "coalescing effect", by getting different agencies to come together and look at how widely mentoring could be used across Scotland - whether for the hardcore gang member or struggling teenager.

"There is something we want to take from this in relation to the idea of positive male role models and other bits and pieces of their projects that we may want to look at in relation to Scotland," said Mr Carnochan.

"For the very hard-edge stuff we already have bodies like Include who do great work using professional mentors, but we want to see it across the spectrum.

"Some of the young men on the streets today could become the mentors of the future if they turn themselves around.

"It is not about having a fabulous job, big car or a huge house. It's about leading a good life, having a job and positive relationships with people. Not everyone can become a footballer."