NCJ Number
185299
Journal
Sociological Spectrum Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Dated: October-December 2000 Pages: 409-432
Editor(s)
Jackie Eller,
Peter Heller
Date Published
2000
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This research, based on a content analysis of 4,445 newspaper articles, examined the images that emerged from stories of criminal gangs and society's response to them.
Abstract
Data were obtained from articles in the Dallas Morning News between 1991 and 1996. The content analysis of these articles used the constant comparative method. Data were analyzed through a detailed reading of each article, and initial coding categories were derived from comparing each article with all preceding articles. As coding progressed and no new categories emerged, emphasis shifted to a comparison of each article with previously derived categories. The 4,445 articles spread over the 6-year period represented an average of more than 2 articles per day indicating that gangs and gang crime represented a major source of daily news. Major themes in the newspaper coverage of gangs included gang crime, gang busting, gang accounts, gang resistance, gang references, foreign gangs, gang research, and gang rape. Articles devoted to the coverage of gang crimes were outnumbered by stories dealing with various community responses. Articles reporting the results of scientific research on gangs constituted the smallest category. Results are discussed in light of their importance in the construction of social problems discourse and the maintenance of symbolic power and social control. 60 references, 1 table, and 2 figures