MENU TITLE: Youth Gangs.
Series: OJJDP Fact Sheet #72
Published: December 1997
Author: James C. Howell, Ph.D.
Subject: Gangs
5 pages
9,322 bytes

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Youth Gangs
by James C. Howell, Ph.D

What is a youth gang? 

There is no single, accepted definition. State and
local jurisdictions tend to develop their own.
Nevertheless, a youth gang is commonly thought of
as a self-formed association of peers having the
following characteristics: a gang name and
recognizable symbols, identifiable leadership, a
geographic territory, a regular meeting pattern,
and collective actions to carry out illegal
activities.

What proportion of adolescents join gangs?

Youth gang membership prevalence varies by
locality. Surveys of urban youth samples indicate
that from 14% to 30% of adolescents join gangs at
some point. Most youth gang members are young
adults. The age range of youth gang members is
about 12 to 24; membership is expanding at the top
and the bottom of the age range, but mainly at the
top.

Is the youth gang problem growing?

The United States has seen rapid proliferation of
youth gangs since 1980. During this period, the
number of cities reporting youth gang problems has
increased from an estimated 286 jurisdictions with
more than 2,000 gangs and nearly 100,000 members in
1980 (Miller, 1982) to about 2,000 jurisdictions
with more than 23,000 gangs and more than 650,000
members in 1995 (Moore, 1997; National Youth Gang
Center, 1997). All States and almost all large
cities reported youth gang problems in 1995. More
than half (58%) of all responding jurisdictions,
including 50% of cities and towns with populations
under 25,000, also reported youth gang problems.
About half the agencies reporting gang problems
thought the situation was getting worse; only 10%
believed it was getting better. These 1995 survey
results cannot be extrapolated for the entire
population, however, because the sample purposely
included cities that reported youth gang problems
in previous surveys. 

Is youth gang violence increasing?

Although trend data are not available on overall
youth gang violence, it may be increasing along
with the number of gangs and gang members, and the
availability of firearms. Youth gang homicides have
clearly increased. Gang-related killings in major
gang cities totaled 633 in 1980 and youth gang
homicides have increased dramatically since then,
reaching epidemic proportions in cities such as
Chicago and Los Angeles. These two cities alone
accounted for more than 1,000 gang homicides in
1994.

Is female gang and crime involvement increasing?

Although the national trend data necessary to make
precise historical comparisons are not available,
the answer appears to be yes. Female involvement in
youth gangs is increasing as part of the overall
growth in adolescent gang involvement. However, the
traditional female auxiliary role vis-a-vis male
gangs may not be changing significantly
(Chesney-Lind, 1993).

What proportion of serious and violent crime is
attributable to gang members?

Studies of large urban samples show that gang
members are responsible for a large proportion of
violent offenses. Rochester gang members (30% of
the sample) self-reported committing 68% of all
adolescent violent offenses (Thornberry, in press);
in Seattle, gang members (15% of the sample)
self-reported committing 85% of adolescent
robberies (Battin et al., in press); and in Denver,
gang members (14% of the sample) self-reported
committing 89% of all serious violent adolescent
offenses (Huizinga, 1997).

What impact does gang membership have on individual
offending levels?

Juvenile gang members commit serious and violent
offenses at a rate several times higher than
nongang adolescents. In Denver, gang members were
found to commit about three times as many serious
and violent offenses as nongang youth (Esbensen and
Huizinga, 1993). Even greater differences were
observed in Seattle, where gang youth self-reported
more than five times as many violent offenses as
nongang youth (Hill et al., forthcoming), and in
Rochester, where gang members were found to commit
about seven times as many serious and violent
delinquent acts as nongang adolescents (Bjerregaard
and Smith, 1993).

How strong are the effects of gang membership?

First, studies in Denver, Rochester, and Seattle
show that the influence of the gang on levels of
violent offending is greater than the influence of
other highly delinquent nongang peers. Second,
while in the gang, members commit serious and
violent acts at a much higher level of frequency
compared with before and after gang membership.
Third, the influence of the gang is longlasting. In
all three sites, gang members' offense rates
dropped after they left the gang, but still
remained fairly high.

What is the relationship between gang member drug
involvement and violence?

Youth gang members often are actively involved in
drug use, drug trafficking, and violence. Although
drug use is strongly associated with drug
trafficking and drug selling is strongly associated
with other serious and violent crimes, gang drug
trafficking does not necessarily cause more
frequent violent offending. Rather, gang
participation, drug trafficking, and violence occur
together (Howell and Decker, forthcoming).

How can gang homicide patterns best be
characterized?

Gang homicides are characterized by periodic spurts
(Block and Block, 1993), peaking, retreating to
higher plateaus than before, then surging upward
again. Each homicide peak tends to correspond to a
series of escalating confrontations, usually over
gang member recruitment, impulsive and emotional
defense of one's identity as a gang member, turf
protection and expansion, defending the honor of
the gang, drug wars, and trivial events of 
a confrontational nature. These episodes generally
follow a predictable pattern. First, a loosely
organized gang gains cohesion as a result of a
perceived or real threat from a rival gang. A
mobilizing event then occurs, followed by an
escalation of activity, a violent event, and rapid
deescalation. The cycle is completed when the other
gang retaliates for the inflicted harm, creating a
feedback loop in which one killing justifies
another (Decker, 1996; Decker and Van Winkle,
1996).

Is there a strong correlation between gang drug
trafficking and homicide?

No. The presumed strong correlation between
gang-related homicides and drug trafficking has
been refuted by several studies in different cities
(Howell, 1997a). Two caveats to this statement are
in order. First, some gang homicides are related
directly to the business of drug trafficking.
Second, the existence of gang drug markets provides
a context in which gang homicides are more likely
to occur. Drug markets bring rival gang members
into proximity with one another. However, the
growth in youth gang homicides over the past decade
is driven mainly by other kinds of gang conflicts
and by increased access to and use of firearms,
particularly more lethal automatic and
semiautomatic weapons.

Is gang migration a major cause of the growth of
gangs in the United States?

No. A 1992 gang migration study of 1,100 U.S.
cities found that "most cities had local gangs
before the onset of migration, and many respondents
felt their city would have a gang problem
regardless of migration" (Maxson et al., 1996, p.
29). Although the study showed that most youth gang
problems are "homegrown," cities reporting gang
migration said local crime rates or patterns
generally were affected by migrants, primarily
through increases in thefts, robberies, and other
violent crimes. According to Maxson and colleagues
(1996, p. 27), "Gang migrants were generally not
perceived as having a substantial impact on the
local drug market, probably because of their
relatively low numbers."

What is the racial and ethnic composition of youth
gangs?

In the early 19th century, U.S. gangs were
primarily Irish, Jewish, and Italian (Sante, 1991).
According to a recent national law enforcement
survey, 48% of gang members are black, 43% are
Hispanic, 5% are white, and 4% are Asian (Curry,
1996). However, student surveys show a much larger
representation of white adolescents among youth
gang members. In a survey of nearly 6,000 eighth
graders in 11 sites (Esbensen and Osgood, 1997),
31% of the students who said they were gang members
were black, 25% were Hispanic, 25% were white, 5%
were Asian, and 15% were of other racial and ethnic
groups (percentages do not add to 100% due to
rounding).

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James C. Howell is an Adjunct Researcher with the
National Youth Gang Center. This Fact Sheet is
based mainly on a report by the author (Youth gang
drug trafficking and homicide: Policy and program
implications. Juvenile Justice. OJJDP. December
1997). For a list of sources cited in this Fact
Sheet, call the Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse,
800-638-8736. They are also available as an
addendum through fax-on-demand at the toll-free
number and from OJJDP's World Wide Web page,
www.ncjrs.org/ojjhome.htm.

FS-9772