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1.) http://www.iir.com/n...ublications.htm
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Lots of links to websites on gangs
2.) http://www.iir.com/nygc/faq.htm
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Gangs Tech Project
#1 Guest_Matthew_*
Posted 14 April 2004 - 01:53 PM
| QUOTE |
| What is a youth gang? There is no single, accepted definition because of the varying characteristics of youth gangs (Howell, 2003). State and local jurisdictions tend to develop their own definitions. The terms youth gang and street gang are often used interchangeably, but use of the latter label can result in the confusion of youth gangs with adult criminal organizations. A youth gang is commonly thought of as a self-formed association of peers having the following characteristics: three or more members, generally ages 12 to 24; a gang name and some sense of identity, generally indicated by such symbols as style of clothing, graffiti, and hand signs; some degree of permanence and organization; and an elevated level of involvement in delinquent or criminal activity. Is the youth gang problem growing? The number of cities and counties experiencing youth gang problems increased substantially between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s (Miller, 2001). Based on the National Youth Gang Survey (NYGS) results, it is estimated that youth gangs were active in over 2,300 cities with populations over 2,500 in 2002. Gang activity is notably prevalent in the largest cities (over 100,000 population) in the United States—over 90 percent reported gang activity in each year between 1996 and 2001 (Egley, Major, and Howell, forthcoming). Overall, prevalence rates of gang activity remained relatively stable from 1996 to 2001 in the larger cities and counties, and markedly declined in the smaller populated areas. Preliminary results from the 2002 NYGS indicate a slight increase in the prevalence of gang activity from 2001, suggesting gang activity may once again be on the rise. What factors contributed to the proliferation of youth gang activity in the 1990s? While many factors have been suggested, two of the most widely discussed are: (1) diffusion of the gang culture through the popular media, and (2) economic restructuring, including such interrelated factors as deindustrialization, the loss of employment opportunities, and the growth of the urban underclass. There is little evidence that gang members purposefully migrated to other cities to set up drug trafficking operations; rather, they relocated primarily due to social reasons, such as family moves (Egley, 2000; Maxson, 1998). It is important to keep in mind that most youth gangs are homegrown, and that the factors which contribute to the emergence of gang activity in a community are not necessarily the same as those which contribute to its persistence (Klein, 1995). Are today's youth gangs different from gangs in the past? Some of the gangs that have emerged in the past decade are noticeably different from those that emerged before the mid-1980s (Howell, Egley, and Gleason, 2002; Howell, Moore, and Egley, 2002). These gangs are commonly described as having a "hybrid gang culture," meaning they do not follow the same rules or methods of operation, making documentation and categorization difficult (Starbuck, Howell, and Lindquist, 2001). They may have several of the following characteristics: a mixture of racial/ethnic groups, a mixture of symbols and graffiti associated with different gangs, wearing colors traditionally associated with a rival gang, less concern over turf or territory, and members who sometimes switch from one gang to another. Members of contemporary gangs often "cut and paste" bits of Hollywood images and big-city gang lore into their local versions of gangs. What proportion of adolescents join gangs? The prevalence of youth gang membership varies by locality and is typically higher in areas with longer-standing gang problems. A survey of nearly 6,000 eighth graders conducted in 11 cities found that 11 percent were currently gang members (17 percent said they had belonged to a gang at some point in their young lives) (Esbensen and Deschenes, 1998). Membership is yet higher among representative samples of high-risk youth in large cities, ranging from 14 percent to 30 percent in Denver, Colorado; Seattle, Washington; and Rochester, New York (Thornberry, 1998). However, most of these adolescents report remaining in the gang for less than one year. Sixty-three percent of gang members identified by law enforcement agencies in the 1999 National Youth Gang Survey (NYGS) were ages 18 and older (Egley, 2002). What is the racial and ethnic composition of youth gangs? According to the 2001 National Youth Gang Survey (NYGS) respondents, nearly half (49 percent) of all gang members are Hispanic/Latino, 34 percent are African American/black, 10 percent are Caucasian/white, 6 percent are Asian, and the remainder are of some other race/ethnicity (Egley et al., forthcoming). However, the racial composition of gangs varies considerably by locality. The newest gang-problem areas (i.e., emergence within the past decade) report, on average, a larger proportion of Caucasian/white gang members than any other racial/ethnic group (Howell, Egley, and Gleason, 2002). In short, the demographic composition of gangs is an extension of the characteristics of the larger community. Is female gang involvement increasing? Youth gang membership among girls is much more common (Moore and Hagedorn, 2001) and is documented more widely by law enforcement (Egley et al., forthcoming) than in the past. It has been estimated that between one-fourth and one-third of all youth gang members are female (Maxson and Whitlock, 2002), and that females leave the gang at an earlier age than males (Thornberry, Krohn, Lizotte, et al., 2003). Gender-mixed gangs also are more common than in the past. In 2000, 42 percent of all gang-problem jurisdictions in the National Youth Gang Survey (NYGS) reported a majority of their gangs had female members (Egley et al., forthcoming). What proportion of serious and violent crime is attributable to gang members? Studies of large urban samples show that gang members are responsible for a large proportion of violent offenses. Rochester, New York, gang members (30 percent of the sample) self-reported committing 68 percent of all adolescent violent offenses; in Seattle, gang members (15 percent of the sample) self-reported committing 85 percent of adolescent robberies; and in Denver, gang members (14 percent of the sample) self-reported committing 79 percent of all serious violent adolescent offenses (Thornberry, 1998). Is gun use a common form of gang violence? The use of firearms is a major feature of gang violence. Gang members are far more likely than other delinquents to carry guns and to use them. In the 2000 National Youth Gang Survey (NYGS), 84 percent of the gang-problem jurisdictions reported at least one occurrence of firearm use by one or more gang members in an assault crime (Egley and Arjunan, 2002). In a Rochester, New York, study, the rate of gun carrying was about ten times higher for gang members than it was for nongang juvenile offenders (Thornberry et al., 2003). Gang members who owned and/or carried guns also committed about ten times more violent crimes than one would expect from their numbers in the sample population. What is the impact of gang membership on individual offending levels? Gang membership is a strong predictor of individual violence in adolescence, and in one study, has been observed to be an even more powerful predictor than two of the most highly regarded factors (i.e., delinquent peer association and prior violence) (Thornberry, 1998). Survey research has consistently demonstrated that youth are significantly more criminally active during periods of active gang membership, particularly in serious and violent offenses, and that prolonged periods of gang involvement have a way of increasing the "criminal embeddedness" of members (Thornberry et al., 2003). "Associates" of gang members also have elevated offense rates (Curry, Decker, and Egley, 2002). What are the major risk factors for gang membership? Risk factors for gang membership span all social domains, which research has linked to a variety of adolescent problem behaviors, including serious violence and delinquency (Howell, 2003). These risk factor domains are: individual characteristics, family conditions, school experiences and performance, peer group influences, and the community context. Risk factors predictive of gang membership include prior and/or early involvement in delinquency, especially violence and drug use; problematic parent-child relations; low school attachment and academic achievement; association with peers who engage in delinquency; and disorganized neighborhoods in which large numbers of youth are in trouble (Hill, Lui, and Hawkins, 2001; Thornberry et al., 2003). The accumulation of risk factors greatly increases the likelihood of gang involvement, just as it does for other problem behaviors. The presence of risk factors in multiple domains appears to increase the likelihood of gang involvement even more (Thornberry et al., 2003). What are the consequences of gang membership? Gang involvement is likely to take a heavy toll on youths' social development and life-course experiences. The gang acts as "a powerful social network" in constraining the behavior of members, limiting access to prosocial networks, and cutting individuals off from conventional pursuits (Thornberry et al., 2003). These effects of the gang tend to produce precocious, off-time, and unsuccessful transitions that bring disorder to the life course in a cascading series of difficulties, including school dropout, early parenthood, and unstable employment. For some gang members, the end result of this foreclosure of future opportunities is continued involvement in criminal activity throughout adolescence and into adulthood. In addition, the likelihood of experiencing violent victimization is much higher for gang members than it is for members of other peer groups. In one study, involvement in gang fights increased the likelihood of violent victimization more than threefold (Loeber, Kalb, and Huizinga, 2001). Is there a relationship between gang member drug involvement and violence? Youth gang members often are actively involved in drug use, drug trafficking, and violence. Although drug use is strongly associated with drug trafficking and drug selling is strongly associated with other serious and violent crimes, gang drug trafficking does not necessarily cause more frequent violent offending. While gang participation, drug trafficking, and violence tend to occur together, they are not a single, comprehensive problem. Moreover, gang violence has many other sources (Howell and Decker, 1999). What can be done about youth gangs? The Comprehensive Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Model (Spergel, 1995) is a flexible framework that guides communities in developing and organizing a continuum of programs and strategies. The National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) has developed an assessment protocol that any community can use to assess its gang problem, which guides development of a gang prevention, intervention, and suppression continuum (NYGC, 2002a). Resource materials that assist communities in developing an action plan to implement the Comprehensive Gang Model are also available (NYGC, 2002b). |
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