NCJ Number
146763
Journal
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Volume: 364 Dated: (1966) Pages: 96-112
Date Published
1966
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Youth gangs in a central city slum where studied to learn whether there is any validity to the image of gangs presented by the mass media as being preoccupied with and engaging in senseless, brutal acts of violence.
Abstract
During the 1960s, the American public perceived violence as being at an all-time high. The image most often associated with this perception was that of the urban street gang. The mass media portrayed gang members as brutal and willing to engage in violent behavior just for the fun of it. This article challenges this view of youth gang activity. In a study of youth gangs in a central city slum of 100,000 persons, researchers collected and analyzed data on the daily behavior of gang members in 60 behavioral areas. Although the study found that street gang members do engage in violent crime more frequently than most middle class adolescents, they are far less violent than portrayed by the mass media. Most violent crimes were directed at persons rather than at property. Race did not play a part in gang violence but sex, age and social status did. Researchers found that males of lower social status during late adolescence were most likely to participate in violent crimes. The image of street gangs engaging in senseless violence as an end in itself did not hold up in this study. It was found that most gang violence involved questions of honor and reputation. This was compared to national conflicts which occur for the same reasons. 5 tables