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…

What is known about gangs is reviewed and the information is brought up to date. The book covers reported changes in the structure and crime patterns of gangs, their age, ethnic, and gender characteristics, and their spread into almost all corners of the United States. The early chapters consider four issues that are major concerns in…

This guide to coping with street gangs is aimed at the young person who may be considering gang membership or who is afraid of gang violence. Understanding gangs leads to the ability to cope with the problems they pose. Part I explores "What Gangs Are," explaining characteristics of gangs and why young people join them. It is essential that…

This issue of the "School Intervention Report" contains a reprint from the "Youth Gangs: Guidelines for Educators and Community Youth Leaders." The juvenile gang has the power to motivate, direct, and positively sanction violence by its members. In examining the power of the gang to amplify violent conduct, there are at least three sets of causes…

Books in the Opposing Viewpoints Series present debates about current issues that can be used to teach critical reading and thinking skills. The variety of opinions expressed in this collection of articles and book excerpts explore many aspects of juvenile gangs. Some youths join gangs of their own free choice, to satisfy ego or greed. Others are…

To investigate the extent to which street gangs in Los Angeles (California) are comprised of youth or adults, self-report data from 435 gang members are examined. Findings do not generally support the idea of the aging gang member. Gangs consist primarily of adolescents, regardless of racial and socioeconomic differences. (SLD)

Minority gangs of the 1980s are examined as groups of juveniles and young adults and as a fraction of the forming underclass. Gangs today no longer disappear as their ethnic groups rises socially. Instead, gangs are becoming institutionalized in the central cities. This discussion of prior research in Los Angeles (California) and more recent…

Teams at several universities collaborated in studies of the Causes and Correlates of Delinquency program in three cities. This bulletin presents the findings from the Rochester (New York) Youth Development Study (RYDS) concerning the contributions of youth gang membership to delinquency. The RYDS started with a sample of 1,000 boys and girls in…