This bulletin provides an overview of the problems that youth gangs pose. It pinpoints the differences between youth gangs and adult criminal organizations and examines the risk factors that lead to youth gang membership. Some promising strategies being used to curb youth gang involvement are reviewed. The proliferation of youth gangs since 1980…

Answers to commonly asked questions about female gang members. Girls typically join gangs at age 14 to 15. If given alternatives, females will often leave gangs sooner than males. Female gang members are respected, and see themselves as strong, committed soldiers. Includes "Myths about Females in Gangs" and suggestions for additional…

Both social ability and social disability models of delinquent peer relations have been developed to explain the social relations of delinquents. A key difference between these models is the assumption of normal social relations among delinquents in the social ability model, contrasted to the social ineptitude and lack of social skills attributed…

Juvenile delinquency can be expected in capitalist societies where the lowest level workers encounter coercive control in the workplace and reproduce this in their families. Their children are the most likely to be placed in coercive school situations, encounter peer pressure to participate in delinquent behavior, and become delinquent. (IS)