The task of producing a Report that covers almost 30 years and requires specific information on close to 4,000 localities throughout the United States was a collective enterprise in the truest sense of the term. Thousands of people contributed their skills and knowledge to the development of The Growth of Youth Gang Problems in the United States: 1970-98, including the many officials and other observers who reported the existence of youth gangs in their local communities and the many media writers who converted these reports into printed form.

Invaluable assistance was provided by my colleagues and fellow workers at the National Youth Gang Center of the Institute for Intergovernmental Research in Tallahassee, FL. I am particularly indebted to Bruce Buckley, John Moore, Dr. James Howell, and Gene Slade, whose wisdom, judgment, and critical skills were generously and conscientiously made available to me. Bruce Buckley, in particular, displayed a remarkable ability to detect and correct unclear, inaccurate, and misplaced elements in reviewing the many pages of this Report. Special thanks are due to Dr. Howell, a long-time colleague, who generously provided the Introduction for this Report.

Other present and past staff members at the Institute for Intergovernmental Research—especially Trelles D'Alemberte, Donna Lindquist, Clay Jester, Mike Caster, Craig Terrett, and Linda Vannoy—provided valuable assistance with a wide variety of tasks including graphics design, technical computer problems, compilation of statistical and demographic data, and general logistics. Eugene Pond's extensive compilation of gang member homicides reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation contributed significantly to the task of identifying localities that experienced youth gang problems in the 1970's and 1980's.

I am most grateful to Emory Williams, Executive Vice President of the Institute for Intergovernmental Research, for his consistent encouragement and moral support. I also owe a debt of gratitude to my fellow consultants, Dr. David Curry and Dr. Cheryl Maxson, who shared with me the hard-won results of their extensive National Youth Gang Surveys. I also benefited from Dr. Curry's sage advice in dealing with knotty conceptual issues encountered in the Report.

Information derived from youth gang surveys conducted by other agencies was of great value. Two member agencies of the Regional Information Sharing Systems Intelligence Centers, the Regional Organized Crime Information Center (which gathers data for 15 Southern States) and the New England State Police Information Network (which gathers data for 6 New England States), provided detailed information on gangs in their jurisdictions. I am particularly grateful to William M. Deyermond, of the New England State Police Information Network, who made sure that I received a steady flow of current information on the gang situation in New England. James Scott, of the Gang Resistance Education and Training branch of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, provided important data on localities reporting youth gang problems in the late 1990's.

The final form of this Report owes a great deal to the suggestions of three independent reviewers working for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Donna Lindquist of the National Youth Gang Center also did a superb job of synthesizing and organizing the reactions and detailed comments of the reviewers.

Special thanks are also due to Dr. Hedy Bookin-Weiner, whose valuable assistance began in 1974, during the implementation of the first National Youth Gang Survey, and continued almost a quarter-century later with the completion of several parts of the present Report, including the references, table of contents, and endnotes.