Compared to nongang offenders, gang members are responsible for a disproportionate percentage of serious and violent offenses and engage in the sale and distribution of drugs. Ethnicity and social isolation interact with poverty and community disorganization to account for much of the gang problem. The gang is an important social institution, particularly for low-income male youth and young adults from newcomer and residual populations because it often serves social, cultural, and economic functions no longer adequately performed by the family, the school, and the labor market. The following major policy emphases for dealing with gangs have evolved: local community mobilization, youth outreach, social opportunities, and gang suppression. Improved policies should integrate and coordinate these approaches within a framework of social control and institution building. Schools, social agencies, and community groups should give first priority to juvenile and adolescent gang members and second priority to older adolescent and young adult gang members in collaboration with law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies to develop gang prevention programs. The scope and seriousness of the gang problem are discussed, and characteristics of gang members are described. Links among gang membership, drugs, and violence are examined. 245 references