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Effects of Gangs on Student Performance and Delinquency in Public Schools

NCJ Number
152089
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Dated: (Fall 1994) Pages: 1-13
Author(s)
T A Regulus
Date Published
1994
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study assesses the relationships between youth gangs, school crime, and the academic performance and retention of students in one large urban public high school system.
Abstract
The central problem investigated was whether youth gangs contributed to high levels of school crime and poor student academic performance in the school system. Researchers examined the extent to which school crime was a general problem across all schools in the system and the patterns of crime in schools. The analysis also explored the degree to which youth gangs compared to student income and racial/ethnic traits, influenced crime in the schools. Data were assessed for two academic years to show the extent to which the observed relationships were constant over time. Data were obtained from official records and reports of the public school system, the city police department, and a legislatively created public school finance group in a large midwestern city. Data were obtained for 61 of the 63 high schools in the system during the 1983-84 and 1984-85 school years. The unit of analysis was the school; variables represented the aggregate characteristics of crimes and students at the school level. Published and official reports show that gang activity, school crime, low student achievement, and high drop-out rates were chronic problems within the school system during the school years examined. The study found that the number of gangs in individual schools was not related to either gang crimes or school crime; however, the occurrence of gang problems in schools was related to higher levels of school crime. This suggests that some set of factors and conditions that cause gang crimes and other disruptive gang problems in schools are more critical than the mere presence of gangs in schools. Implications of the findings for policy are discussed. 7 tables, 4 notes, and 20 references