This study examined whether the extent to which youth experience consequences resulting from substance use was related to their impulse control. Longitudinal data are from 1,216 justice-system-involved male adolescents from the Crossroads Study (46% Latino, 37% Black, 15% White, and 2% self-identified other race). Results indicate that youth lower…

After nearly four decades of growth, the number of people held in U.S. prisons has begun to decline. In an era of decarceration, social scientists need to understand prisoner reentry experiences. Longitudinal studies are one strategy to accomplish this goal. Yet, the retention of a formerly incarcerated population across waves of interviews is…

Mounting evidence suggests that social media can exacerbate tensions among gangs that ultimately lead to violence, but serious questions remain about precisely how conflict online translates to conflict offline. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which gang violence can be mediated by the Internet. We conducted a sociolinguistic…

Youth living in violent urban neighborhoods increasingly post messages online from urban street corners. The decline of the digital divide and the proliferation of social media platforms connect youth to peer communities who may share experiences with neighborhood stress and trauma. Social media can also be used for targeted retribution when…

The relation between being out of school and participating in criminal economies is widely documented in the literature on youth delinquency. However, the complex connection between these two phenomena has not yet been fully unpacked. This paper draws from two studies that we, the authors, conducted separately to explore the role educational…

Latinos represent 20% of the more than 1 million gang-associated youth in the United States. This study explores how gang associated Latino males use their funds of gang knowledge to navigate their urban schools and communities. The findings highlight how Latino males build relationships and exchange information with each other, endure and…

The aim of this article was to examine how media attention affects the social exclusion of young refugees negotiating their way towards settlement in Australia. Emerging stereotypes and prejudices against young male refugees require new ways of understanding the impact of global, national and local issues on their social exclusion. The article…

Latinos represent 20% of the more than 1 million gang-associated youth in the United States. This study explores how gang associated Latino males use their funds of gang knowledge to navigate their urban schools and communities. The findings highlight how Latino males build relationships and exchange information with each other, endure and…

Growing up in a poor, dysfunctional family in a violent inner-city neighborhood, Jackson faced daily challenges even getting to the bus stop without being attacked by gang members. When he was bused to a white suburban school in 5th grade, things got even worse. Every black student who was bused in from his neighborhood was placed in remedial…

The goal of this study was to understand whether ethnic pride among young, incarcerated Black and Latino men was associated with successful community reentry. We interviewed 397 Black and Latino men 16 to 18 years old in a New York City jail and then again 1 year after their release to determine the relationship between participants' sense of…

Nationally, only half of Latino males graduate from high school (Contreras, 2011). Scholars are beginning to critically examine the various internal and external influences which contribute to low academic achievement for Latino males. This qualitative study uses a human ecological theory to examine how Latino male high school students with high…

American youth do not have equal access to academic success and life achievements. In particular, low-income male students of color are disproportionately failing in school, filling prisons, and enduring the consequences of low social capital and poor investment in their futures. Unfortunately, many young people cope with poverty and life in…

This article reports on one teacher's year-long project seeking to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline through class dialogue around gang affiliations. The review of literature defines the school-to-prison pipeline and its connections to gang affiliation. The study engaged methods of qualitative action research with seven male participants…

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study (Moustakas, 1994) was to describe the experiences that single Hispanic mothers of gang-affiliated male juveniles face during their sons' reentry process after being released from a Texas Juvenile Justice Department state facility. Methods: After an extensive review of…

The current study explores the rate at which members of Lagos' "area boys" engage in drug and alcohol use, and determines the predictive roles of parental and neighbourhood characteristics in the gang patterns of psychoactive substance misuse behaviour. The study approached gang members (N = 129) aged from 18 to 38 years (M = 25.83, SD = 4.82)…