NCJ Number
195210
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2001 Pages: 93-106
Date Published
2001
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This study examined the types of criminal activities in which gang leaders participate.
Abstract
There is very little information about the structure of gangs and even less about gang leaders. What is known is that leaders direct criminal activity and that members gain status within the gang through criminal activity. One problem is the multitude of definitions surrounding leadership. Leaders can be defined by the traits of individual leaders, actions, interactions, role relationships, and the overall influence the leader exerts on the organization. Prior research has described leaders as the spokesperson for the gang, the best fighter, or the most resourceful and independent member of the gang. Gangs have been viewed as loosely organized or highly organized. Only some, not all, gang members are involved in organized criminal activity. Preliminary interviews with members of the Columbus Police Department Gang Unit suggested that each gang tended to specialize in its own areas of criminal behavior. The official arrest histories of Columbus gang leaders and hard-core members were analyzed to determine whether such offense specialization existed. Results showed that gang leaders committed 78 different types of crimes during the period from 1980 to 1994. The largest arrest category was crimes of violence, which accounted for 36 percent of all the arrests. Most of these arrests were for assault. Property offenses was the second largest category with gang leaders being arrested 239 times. Drug offenses ranked third. The majority of arrests were for non-index crimes. The data also showed that some gangs specialized in certain types of offending. It appears that further examination of gang organizational specialization or “niche crime” is warranted. One potential way to attack the business operations of these gangs may be to disrupt the various markets for their offending. These findings suggest that gangs no longer fit the stereotype of semi-organized groups of young men. 2 tables, 41 references