NCJ Number
208988
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: Winter 2005 Pages: 19-40
Date Published
2005
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This comparative study examined the activities and characteristics of youths and their involvement in actual gangs in selected rural areas of Texas compared to those in urban areas.
Abstract
Juvenile delinquent gangs have been traditionally linked to urban areas with little attention given to juvenile gang behavior in rural areas. This study examined the existence of gangs and gang activities in selected rural areas of Texas with population sizes less-than 100,000. The gangs were compared to youth gangs found in urban areas throughout the United States in order to determine their legitimacy. The data were comprised from a survey of 48 college students from a university in Texas in 2000. The study set out to determine whether gangs existed in the community, if there was a relationship between the population sizes of given areas and the frequency of gang activities, and whether the presence of gangs in rural areas and small cities of South Texas changed over time. Three survey questionnaires were utilized to gather the data: the College Student Survey, the Gang Characteristic Survey, and the 1995 National Young Gang Survey. Although youth gangs have some common characteristics, such as violence, they were otherwise diversified by age and duration, race and ethnicity, sex, gender, status, and class. The study indicates that young people “hanging out” is not comparable to gangs and gang activities. In addition, gang and gang-like violence is not exclusive to urban areas. References and appendix