Effect of Gang Membership on Parole Outcome

• NCJ Number: 201744
• Journal: Journal of Gang Research Volume: 10 Issue: 4 Dated: Summer 2003 Pages: 25-38
• Author(s): Marilyn D. McShane; Frank P. Williams III; H. Michael Dolny
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article discusses the recidivism levels of gang members on parole.

Abstract

Gang members have long been thought of as crime-prone individuals. Little research has been done to determine whether gang members have higher rates of parole failure and whether these experiences can be explained outside of the gang membership context. This study examined gang members’ recidivism rates in comparison to the general parole population and controls for variables that may potentially contribute to any such differences. The data were derived from closed case files at California parole offices. The primary hypothesis was that gang members would be more likely to fail on parole than the average non-gang-member parolee. It was anticipated that two factors would be involved in the gang member-parole failure relationship: age and type of commitment offense. Results showed that parolees that were affiliated with gangs were statistically more likely to fail on parole. While age at release was a significant predictor of parole outcome, controlling for that variable did not eliminate the ability of gang affiliation to predict recidivism. Gang members continued to have higher rates of parole failure regardless of their age group. Gang members were potentially more likely to engage in certain types of crimes which, as a category, result in greater recidivism. The relationship of gang membership with parole outcome may be a function of a recidivist propensity within certain crime types. When controlled for crime type by using five categories of commitment offenses, the gang-recidivism relationship remained statistically significant across all offense categories. The results demonstrate that gang membership is not one of the strongest predictors of recidivism but it does remain statistically significant. It was concluded that gang membership has an independent, negative effect on parole outcome. 6 tables, 10 references, 9 endnotes