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Initiating Gang Research in a City That Has No Gangs

NCJ Number
173270
Author(s)
G D Curry; R J Fox; M J Ullom
Date Published
Unknown
Length
21 pages
Annotation
A preliminary survey of agencies dealing with juvenile crime was completed to identify agency-level perceptions of the social organization of juvenile and young adult crime in the city, and a content analysis of articles in the Washington Post was conducted to identify items reporting gang or gang-like activities over a 3-year period.
Abstract
The agency data collection instrument was a modified version of the National Youth Gang Intervention and Suppression Program survey, and completed interviews were conducted with 19 agencies. Questions designed to elicit information on a wide variety of groups that engaged in juvenile crime were asked. None of the agencies had an explicit programmed response to the gang problem. Both agency responses and newspaper accounts clearly identified organized gangs in the District of Columbia. Turf gangs were usually defined in terms of drug trafficking territory, while more loosely organized gangs were generally referred to as scavenger gangs. The District of Columbia had a drug-related crime problem and a violent crime problem, but whether the city had a juvenile gang problem could not be clearly determined. 8 references, 5 tables, and 7 figures