NCJ Number
192388
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 9 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2001 Pages: 53-76
Date Published
2001
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This profile of the gang called the Black P. Stone Nation (BPSN) used both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect data.
Abstract
The data came from published and unpublished historical sources, detailed interviews with current and former members of the BPSN, documents from BPSN informants, and quantitative data from survey research on BSPN members. Results revealed that this gang is unique in that several books have been written about it over the years. The gang has been based on illegal drug income and violence since its inception. However, the gang has significantly changed over the years. It now has a strong Islamic influence; this influence pervades the gang’s branches and internal written codes. The gang’s leader also sought to do contract terrorism work for Libya’s leader in 1986 and came close to carrying out domestic terrorism. A 1995 report used data from 41 BPSN members and revealed that they typically first heard about gangs and met someone in a gang at age 9, first saw someone killed or injured by gang violence at age 10.7, first experienced bullying at school at age 10.8, and first joined the BPSN gang at age 11.1. They averaged 15.7 years of age at the time of the survey and expected to quit the gang at age 26.6. The BPSN gang is a level 3 gang in that it is a formal organization, operates in many noncontiguous areas, is interstate in criminal function, and is one of the oldest active gangs in the United States today. Preventing the rise of gangs like the BPSN requires that all social institutions avoid collaborating with any gang or front group, that the government systematically remove any control and authority that gangs and gang members illegally use or abuse, and rethinking of the idea that Federal prison necessarily neutralizes a gang leader. Notes and 6 references