NCJ Number
173280
Editor(s)
M W Klein,
C L Maxson,
J Miller
Date Published
1995
Length
342 pages
Annotation
These 40 articles include new and recently published articles on gangs, with emphasis on their structures, their behaviors, and society's responses to them.
Abstract
The articles present varying perspectives and come from newspapers, popular magazines, professional books, and journals. The papers define gangs as a social and legal problem, review various ways of examining them, explain the nature and extent of the current gang problems, and discuss efforts to prevent and control gangs. The discussions cover street gangs, skinheads, tagger crews, drug gangs, and both male and female gang members. Individual papers explore definitions of gangs, with emphasis on distinguishing the essential nature of groups that can be called gangs; discuss gang theories and research methods; and explain how the internal dynamics of gangs affects the members' behaviors. Further papers discuss the delinquent and criminal activities in which gangs are involved, forms of social interventions that emphasize prevention and social change to reorient gang members in more prosocial directions, and the use of law enforcement procedures to crack down on gangs and deter their criminal behavior. The final papers examine alternative social policies in dealing with gangs, as well as the technical and ethical issues they involve. Tables, figures, and reference lists