U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Origins and Effects of Prison Drug Gangs in North Carolina

NCJ Number
171583
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: (Summer 1997) Pages: 23-35
Author(s)
D J Stevens
Date Published
1997
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study examines the origins and effects of North Carolina prison gangs.
Abstract
A study of 792 inmates at four penitentiaries showed that local prison gangs trade in drugs through violence and intimidation and that these gangs are linked to juvenile detention centers, thereby limiting membership affiliation. The study furthers a prisonization model that includes an assimilation into the inmate normative system, and gang formation for former juvenile training center residents. One implication of these findings is that gang formation is fostered at juvenile detention camps through a juvenilization process that culminates in subsequent adult incarceration. In North Carolina prisons, offenders who have previously been confined at a State juvenile center are more likely to band together with others who have shared similar juvenile center experiences. This association transcends race, religion, family and friendship ties, and hometown values and norms. The gangs use the prison drug trade as a form of control and power, and meet little opposition due to legal restraints and custodial decay. References, notes