This fact sheet provides an overview of the nation's gang problem and summarizes findings from the 2012 survey. Of the 2,538 survey recipients, 2,199 (87 percent) responded to the survey. In 2012, there were an estimated 30,700 gangs (an increase from 29,900 in 2011) and 850,000 gang members (an increase from 782,500 in 2011) throughout 3,100…

After a period of decline, gang membership and gang activity are on the increase in the United States. Recent Department of Justice figures indicate that there are currently over 26,000 gangs involving over 800,000 members active in virtually every community in the nation. No longer territorial, gang activity extends from the most impoverished and…

This study investigates the effect of the threat of legal sanctions on intentions to commit three types of offenses with a representative sample of 744 officially adjudicated youth with varying histories of offenses and gang involvement. In a departure from previous research, the authors find small severity effects for property crimes that are not…

This study addresses the link between gang membership and arrest frequency, exploring the Gang x Socioeconomic status interaction on those arrests. Notoriously poor, delinquent, and often well-known to police, America's gang youth should have very high odds of arrest. Yet it is unclear whether mere membership in a gang increases the risk of arrest…

The "2008 Title V Report to Congress" marks a departure from the past. Before 2008, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) reported solely on the Community Prevention Grants program in its "Title V Report to Congress." This year, OJJDP is reporting on the four delinquency prevention programs that were…

This article traces the historical coverage of the gender issue in the criminological literature. It also provides contemporary empirical evidence about differences and similarities between girls and boys with respect to juvenile crime and to processing by the juvenile justice system, by analyzing several national juvenile crime data series, all…

This bulletin offers data on recent trends in juvenile violence, juvenile drug offenses, and gang-related juvenile offending, and describes prosecutorial responses to such offenses. Examples of promising prosecutor-led programs combating the illicit use of guns, violence, drugs, and gangs are also provided. These examples provide a range of ideas…

The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice of the Committee on the Judiciary convened to discuss the federal role in combating juvenile participation in gangs. A proposed amendment to the crime bill being developed, described at the hearing by Senator Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), makes it a federal offense to engage in gang-related crime and subjects…

This report presents comprehensive information on juvenile crime, violence, and victimization and on the juvenile justice system. This report brings together the latest available statistics from a variety of sources and includes numerous tables, graphs, and maps, accompanied by analyses in clear, nontechnical language. The report offers Congress,…