Gang-Related Citations as
Compiled from
WorldCat and the Criminal Justice Abstracts
from July 2003-March 2006
Compiled by Nicole Celeste, Graduate Assistant
Internet Links provided by Christopher Laughlin, Criminology major,
Missouri State University and recent hire on the Springfield (MO) Police
Department!
Reviews and Abstracts shown with links to their original sources.
Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology
Missouri State University, Springfield, MO
Key:
* Abstract from hyperlink
** Indicates full PDF
file
*** Indicates Google books preview
The content
of all article abstracts and reviews were taken directly from the link
provided in the title of the work as shown below.
*Alarid, Leanne Fiftal, and Paul F. Cromwell,
In Her Own Words: Women Offenders’ Views on Crime and Victimization:
An Anthology, Roxbury Pub. Co., Los Angeles, Calif., 2006.
This unique volume
offers first-hand accounts of women's experience with crime and
victimization and provides a rare opportunity for students to view the
world from the perspective of the female offender. The text is designed
to offer a surrogate experience--an inside view on how female
law-breaking behavior overlaps with victimization in some cases, and how
law breaking is a rational choice in others.
*Alexander, Claire, “Imagining
the Asian Gang: Ethnicity, Masculinity and Youth After ‘The Riots’,”
Critical Social Policy, 24 (4), November 2004, pp. 526-549
The paper explores
the discourses surrounding the ‘riots’ of 2001 as a reflection of
contemporary understandings of raced/ethnic, gendered and generational
identities, and changing discourses about race and ethnicity in Britain.
The paper examines these themes in relation to current academic
theorizations of culture, identity and difference. Finally, the paper
explores the implementation of these understandings in current
government policy papers and practices around ‘community cohesion’ and
‘citizenship’.
Allan, E. L., Civil Gang Abatement: The Effectiveness and
Implications of Policing by Injunction Criminal Justice Recent
Scholarship, LFB Scholarly Publishing, New York City, NY, 2004.
*Arana, Ana, “How
the Street Gangs Took Central America,” Foreign Affairs,
Volume 84, Issue 3, May/Jun2005, pp. 98-110.
For a decade, the
United States has exported its gang problem, sending Central
American-born criminals back to their homelands -- without warning local
governments. The result has been an explosive rise of vicious,
transnational gangs that now threaten the stability of the region's
fragile democracies. As Washington fiddles, the gangs are growing,
spreading north into Mexico and back to the United States.
**Aryan, Henry E., R. Jandial, R. L. Bennett, L. S. Masri, S. D. Lavine,
and M. L. Levy, “Gunshot
Wounds to the Head: Gang- and Non-Gang-Related Injuries and Outcomes,”
Brain Injury, Volume 19 (7), July 2005, pp. 505-510
*Asbury, Herbert,
The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld,
Wheeler Pub., Waterville, ME, 2003.
This is a history of
the mean streets and alleys of New York City. This is the history
closest to the people who lived in the tenement buildings and in the
homes of Manhattan preceding the Civil War and the decades immediately
following that conflict. The “other” histories, the stories of
presidents and generals, of industrialists and railroad barons, are
histories of the ruling class, and as such seem a distance away from the
average citizen.
Barbour, Scott., Gangs, Greenhaven Press/Thomson Gale, Detroit,
MI, 2006.
*Bell, James, and Nicole Lim, “Young
Once, Indian Forever: Youth Gangs in Indian Country,” American
Indian Quarterly, Volume 29, No. 3-4, Sum-Fall 2005, pp. 626-650.
Not unlike mainstream
society of the United States, Indian Country faces new challenges
regarding the values, mores, and behavior of its young people. Since
their first encounters with European explorers, American Indians have
fought to preserve their culture and traditions. Federal policies that
addressed the "Indian problem" by establishing reservations and BIA
boarding schools, as well as through the implementation of assimilation,
termination, and relocation programs, are but a few illustrations of a
long history of institutional efforts to colonize American Indian
culture and identity.
*Bendixen, M., I.M. Endresen, and D. Olweus, “Joining
and Leaving Gangs: Selection and Facilitation Effects on Self-Reported
Antisocial Behaviour in Early Adolescence,” European Journal of
Criminology, Volume 3, No. 1, 2006, pp. 85-114.
Gang membership is
repeatedly reported to be one of the strongest predictors of antisocial
behaviour. However, whether this association primarily reflects a
selection effect or whether it primarily is related to a facilitation of
antisocial behaviour within the gang has scarcely been an object of
empirical study. This paper examines how antisocial behaviour and gang
membership are associated among adolescents across time, using
longitudinal data from a representative sample of Norwegian adolescents
*Bennett, Trevor, and Katy Holloway, “Gang
Membership, Drugs and Crime in the UK,” British Journal of
Criminology, Volume 44, No. 3, 2004, pp. 305-323.
There are also
reports that street gangs are involved in serious and violent offending
and sometimes carry guns. In some respects, the picture painted by these
reports is similar to the stereotype of gang membership in the United
States. However, there is little criminological research on gangs in the
United Kingdom that can shed light on this development.
Bjorgo, Tore, “Conflict
Processes Between Youth Groups in a Norwegian City: Polarisation and
Revenge,” European Journal of Crime, Criminal Law and Justice,
13, 1, 2005, pp. 44-74.
This study analyses
the dynamics of conflict between two youth scenes in the Norwegian city
of Kristiansand, commonly described as ‘the neo-Nazis’, and their
counterparts, referred to as ‘the anti-racists’ or ‘the Valla Gang’. The
‘neo-Nazis’ regularly committed acts of violence against other youths
belonging to the multi-ethnic youth scene. As such, many of these
incidents could clearly be described as acts of racist violence or hate
crime.
Brotherton, David, and Luis Barrios, The Almighty Latin King and
Queen Nation: Street Politics and the Transformation of a New York City
Gang. Columbia University Press, New York, 2004.
Brownfield, David, “Differential Association and Gang Membership,”
Journal of Gang Research, Volume 11, No. 1, Fall 2003, pp. 1-12.
**Carlie, Mike, "The
Media Sensationalize the Gang Problem," Gangs: Opposing
Viewpoints, Thomson/Gale Publishers, 2005, pp. 24-31. Drawn from
Chapter 12 of Into the Abyss: A Personal Journey into the World of
Street Gangs, by Michael K. Carlie, self-published, 2002.
**Carlie, Mike, “The
Mass Media influence Young People to Join Gangs,” Gangs: Opposing
Viewpoints, Thomson/Gale Publishers, 2005, pp. 95-98. Drawn from
Chapter 12 of Into the Abyss: A Personal Journey into the World of
Street Gangs, by Michael K. Carlie, self-published, 2002.
*Carr, Patrick J.,
Clean Streets: Controlling Crime, Maintaining Order, and Building
Community Activism, New York University Press, New York, 2005.
With the close
proximity of gangs and the easy access to drugs, keeping urban
neighborhoods safe from crime has long been a central concern for
residents. Many urban communities have tried to come together to form
initiatives like neighborhood watchgroups, drug-free zones, or
after-school programs designed to keep kids off the street. In Clean
Streets, Partrick Carr profiles a typical white, working-class community
on Chicago's South side over a five year period to see how they tried to
keep their streets safe.
***Chesney-Lind, Meda, and Lisa Pasko,
The Female Offender: Girls, Women, and Crime, Sage Publications,
Thousand Oaks, California, 2004.
**Christeson, W., and S. Newman,
Caught in the Crossfire: Arresting Gang Violence by Investing in Kids,
Fight Crime: Investing in Kids, Washington, DC, 2004.
Corcoran, Kevin, Alex Washington, and Nancy Meyers, “The Impact of Gang
Membership on Mental Health Symptoms, Behavior Problems and Antisocial
Criminality of Incarcerated Young Men,” Journal of Gang Research,
12 (4), Summer 2005, pp. 25-36.
*Coughlin, Brenda C., and Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, “The
Urban Street Gang After 1970," Annual Review of Sociology,
Volume 29, 2003, pp. 41-64.
This review discusses
research on the urban street gang after the 1960s, the period in which
social scientists began to conceptualize the gang outside of the
social-problems framework. Street-gang research has changed dramatically
in the past three decades in accordance with general shifts in
sociological research, including developments in gender studies,
economic sociology, and race and ethnic relations. This review addresses
these major trends and debates and highlights suggestions for areas of
future inquiry that build on innovations of contemporary scholars.
*Covey, Herbert C.,
Street Gangs Throughout the World, Charles C Thomas,
Springfield, Ill., 2003.
Although a
substantial amount of research on street gangs has been conducted in
recent decades, much of it has focused on the United States. This book
attempts to summarize much of the research being conducted in many other
countries where the street gang phenomenon is currently developing. The
introductory section of the text addresses important topics on the
various definitions of gangs and youth subcultures and presents
methodological issues concerning the measurement of street gang activity
in different countries.
*Curry, David G., and Scott H. Decker,
Confronting Gangs: Crime and Community, Roxbury Park, Los
Angeles, Calif., 2003.
Confronting Gangs:
Crime and Community integrates new sections on European gangs and prison
gangs. In addition, it updates materials from the National Youth Gang
Survey, adds a new section on female gangs, updates the section on field
studies of gangs, identifies the maturation of gangs and gang members,
and updates the section on gang interventions and gang policy by
examining major federal and state initiatives on gangs.
*Davis, Ken, “Street
Gangs: Utilizing Their Roll Calls for Investigative and Research
Purposes,” Journal of Gang Research, Volume 10, No. 3, 2003,
pp. 25-36.
During the early
nineties, I had the privilege of working within several anti-graffiti
and gang programs. The two most interesting initiatives happened within
a community agency and a law enforcement unit.
*Decker, Scott H.,
Policing Gangs and Youth Violence, Wadsworth/Thomson Learning,
Belmont, CA, 2003.
Presents
problem-solving and suppression-based approaches that police agencies
are using to address youth and gang violence. The 12 chapters emphasize
the complexity of issues that surround gangs, and the need to expand
thinking about how to respond more effectively. Most of the
contributions are case studies of projects launched by large American
cities, and are written by academics.
***Decker, Scott H., and Frank M. Weerman,
European Street Gangs and Troublesome Youth Groups, AltaMira
Press, Lanham, Md., 2005.
*Delaney, Tim,
American Street Gangs, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle
River, N.J., 2006.
"American Street
Gangs" draws on Delaney's firsthand encounters and interviews with gang
members as well as his academic work. He said it is the first book to
explore gang activity in Upstate New York. "I focus on theoretical and
socioeconomic reasons why there are gangs, why people turn to gangs and
how we could get people out of gangs," Delaney said.
*De La Rosa, Mario R., Douglas Rugh, and Patria Rojas, “Substance
Abuse Among Puerto Rican and Dominican Gang Members in a Small City
Setting,” Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions,
5, 1-2, 2005, pp. 21-43.
Joining a gang
increases an adolescent's risk for substance abuse. To better understand
the contextual development of drug use behavior, this retrospective
ethnographic study describes a sample of 76 young small-city mainland
Puerto-Rican and Dominican males who joined gangs when they were
younger. Data is presented and discussed on the drug abuse behavior
including their drug using progression and the context in which such use
occurs.
De Olivares, Karen, “Gang Unit Journal Part I: ‘There’s Always a But…’,”
Journal of Gang Research, Volume 11, No. 4, Summer 2004, pp.
17-24.
*Dimitriadis, Greg,
Friendship, Cliques, and Gangs: Young Black Men Coming of Age in Urban
America, Teachers College Press, New York, 2003.
This book challenges
educators, policymakers, and researchers to take a closer look at
"at-risk" populations. Friendship, Cliques, and Gangs is focused on the
evaluation of alternative approaches to pedagogical methods and examines
the deep and complicated friendship of two youths who are the primary
focus of the text. In this book, the author attempts to emphasize the
intricate role of friendship in at-risk youth, to explore the use of
alternative educational sites when working with them, and to stress the
ways in which youth draw on older figures in the community for support
and mentoring.
*Dishion, Thomas J., Sarah E. Nelson, and Miwa Yasui, “Predicting
Early Adolescent Gang Involvement From Middle School Adaptation,”
Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Volume 34 (1),
February 2005, pp. 62-73.
This study examined
the role of adaptation in the first year of middle school (Grade 6, age
11) to affiliation with gangs by the last year of middle school (Grade
8, age 13). The sample consisted of 714 European American (EA) and
African American (AA) boys and girls. Specifically, academic grades,
reports of antisocial behavior, and peer relations in 6th grade were
used to predict multiple measures of gang involvement by 8th grade. The
multiple measures of gang involvement included self-, peer, teacher, and
counselor reports. Unexpectedly, self-report measures of gang
involvement did not correlate highly with peer and school staff reports.
***Doob, Anthony N, and Carla Cesaroni,
Responding to Youth Crime in Canada, University of Toronto
Press, Toronto, 2004.
Dudley, William, and Louise I. Gerdes, Gangs: Opposing Viewpoints,
Greenhaven Press, Farmington Hills, MI, 2005.
*Duffy, Maureen P., and Scott Edward Gillig, “Teen
Gangs: A Global View,” Greenwood, Westport, CT, 2004.
This volume shows the
international scope of the phenomenon today. Gang activity in 14
countries, including the United States, is discussed within the larger
framework of social and economic conditions. Each chapter explains the
nature of the gang activity in that country; touches on the causes, such
as poverty, marginalization, and self-identity problems; and heavily
emphasizes the responses, including education and community-based
intervention.
***Durst Johnson, C.,
Youth Gangs in Literature. Recent Contributions in Exploring Social
Issues Through Literature. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT, 2004.
Edgar, Kathleen, Youth Violence, Crime, and Gangs: Children at Risk,
Thomson/Gale, Detroit, MI, 2004.
*Eitle, David, Steven Gunkel, and Karen Van Gundy, “Cumulative
Exposure to Stressful Life Events and Male Gang Membership,”
Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 32, No. 3, 2004, pp. 95-111.
In this article, the
authors examine risk factors that predict gang membership among a cohort
of South Florida boys. Using both prospective and retrospective data,
the authors evaluated the role of early exposure to stressful life
events in predicting joining a gang, controlling for other risk factors.
The analysis revealed that while cumulative preteen stress exposure was
not found to be a significant predictor of gang membership, the
association between such exposure and the dependent variable might be
mediated through other factors.
*Esbensen, F., and F.M. Weerman, “Youth
Gangs and Troublesome Youth Groups in the United States and the
Netherlands: A Cross-National Comparison,” European Journal of
Criminology, Volume 2, No. 1, 2005, pp. 5-37.
A minority of
adolescents are part of street-oriented groups in which illegal
behaviour is common, groups that can be referred to as ‘youth gangs’ or
‘troublesome youth groups’. Such groups are a well-known phenomenon in
the United States and recently have been reported in a number of
European nations. Relatively few researchers, however, have endeavoured
to explore such youth gangs from a comparative perspective.
*Esbensen, Finn-Aage, Stephen G. Tibbetts, and Larry Gaines,
American Youth Gangs at the Millennium, Waveland Pr., Long
Grove, IL, 2004.
During the last
fifteen years of the twentieth century, there was a virtual explosion of
attention to youth gangs and youth violence that prompted the
proliferation of numerous myths and misperceptions about American youth
gangs. The chapters in this book, some previously published and others
solicited specifically for this volume, were written by highly regarded
scholars and researchers who address the status of youth gangs in
America at the turn of the twenty-first century.
*Fleisher, Mark S., “Fieldwork
Research and Social Network Analysis: Different Methods Creating
Complementary Perspectives,” Journal of Contemporary Criminal
Justice, Volume 21, No. 2, May 2005, pp. 120-134.
This article suggests
that participant observation and social network analysis are able to
yield complementary perspectives on youth gangs. Participant observation
over a long period yields systematically gathered observations and
interview narratives. Such data may provide a close-up look at youth
gangs at street level; however, participant observation has limitations
that constrain its applicability in multisite research.
*Fleisher, Mark S., and Jessie L. Krienert, “Life-Course
Events, Social Networks, and the Emergence of Violence Among Female Gang
Members,” Journal of Community Psychology, Volume 32 (5),
September 2004, pp. 607-622.
Using data gathered
from a multi-year field study, this article identifies specific
life-course events shared by gang-affiliated women. Gangs emerge as a
cultural adaptation or pro-social community response to poverty and
racial isolation. Through the use of a social-network approach, data
show that violence dramatically increases in the period between gang
affiliation and first pregnancy and decreases with pregnancy and
childbirth.
*Fremon, C.,
G-dog and the Homeboys: Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los
Angeles, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, 2004.
Freelance journalist
Fremon profiles the work of Los Angeles Catholic priest Father Greg
Boyle (or "G-dog" to the gang members with whom he works), founder of
Jobs for a Future and Homeboy Industries, during the early 1990s. She
offers Boyle as an example of how approaching gang violence with an eye
towards prevention and intervention can be much more effective than
simply aiming for "lock-'em-up and-throw-away-the-key" suppression.
Gandhirajan, C.
K., Organised Crime, Efficient Offset Printers, New
Delhi, 2004.
***Gerler, E.R.,
Handbook of School Violence. Haworth Press, New York, NY, 2004.
Gilbertson, D Lee, and Seth J. Malinski, “Gangs in the Law: A Content
Analysis of Statutory Definitions for the Term ‘Gang’,” Journal of
Gang Research, Volume 13, No. 1, Fall 2005, pp. 1-16.
Gleeson, K., “From Centenary to the Olympics, Gang Rape in Sydney,”
Current Issues in Criminal Justice: Journal of the Institute of
Criminology, Volume 16, No. 2, 2004, pp. 183-201.
*Gordon, Rachel A., Benjamin B. Lahey, and Eriko Kawai, “Antisocial
Behavior and Youth Gang Membership: Selection and Socialization,”
Criminology, Volume 42, No. 1, 2004, pp. 55-87.
Her research
interests broadly surround considering together the factors that predict
individual and family circumstances with the effects of those
circumstances on well-being, often using longitudinal statistical
models. The topics of this research have included youth gangs and
delinquency, multigenerational coresidence and early parenthood,
employment programs for young couples, and neighborhoods and nonparental
child care settings as contexts for development.
Grascia, Andrew M., “Truth About Outlaw Bikers & What You Can Expect If
They Come to Your Town,” Journal of Gang Research, Volume 11, No.
4, Summer 2004, pp. 1-15.
Grascia, Andrew M., “Gang Violence: Mara Salvatrucha – ‘Forever
Salvador’,” Journal of Gang Research, Volume 11, No. 2, Winter
2004, pp. 29-36.
Grascia, Andrew M., “Gangster Rap: The Real Words Behind the Songs,”
Journal of Gang Research, Volume 11, No. 1, Fall 2003, pp. 55-63.
Green, Satasha L., “Youth Gangs of Rural Texas: College Students Speak
Out,” Journal of Gang Research, 12, 2, Winter 2005, pp. 19-40.
*Hagedorn, J.M., “The
Global Impact of Gangs,” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice,
Volume 21, No. 2, 2005, pp. 153-169.
The American study of
gangs can no longer start and stop with local conditions but
today must also be rooted in a global context. Studying gangs
is important because of unprecedented world urbanization, the
retreat of the state under the pressure of neoliberal policies,
the strengthening of cultural resistance identities, including
fundamentalist religion, nationalism, and hip-hop culture, the
valorization of some urban spaces and marginalization of others,
and the institutionalization of gangs in some cities across
the world.
*Hagedorn, John M.,
Gangs in the Global City: Alternatives to Traditional Criminology,
University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 2006.
Thanks to a unique
application of the concept of globalization, gangs are no longer
strictly an American phenomenon. In this collection of 14 articles,
including an introduction by Hagedorn (criminal justice, U. of Illinois
at Chicago) contributors consider the new theories of urban political
economy that take into consideration the ubiquitous nature of gangs and
their cross-border enterprises. Topics include the misconceptions about
gangs within traditional criminology, the institutionalization of gangs'
race and space, social exclusion as it relates to the sociology of
vindictiveness and the criminology of transgression, the "global city"
and its role in gang work and political culture, female global gangs,
extremist gangs in a unified Germany, the influence of the spirituality
of liberation, responses to neoliberalism such as radicalism and crime,
and the challenges of gangs in global contexts.
*Hanson, Robert, Greg Warchol, and Linda Zupan. “Policing
Paradise: Law and Disorder in Belize,” Police Practice &
Research, Volume 5, No. 3, 2004, pp. 241-257.
Of late, little
attention has been paid by criminologists to the nature of crime and the
criminal justice systems in the countries of Central America. Given its
many natural attractions, favorable exchange rate, and proximity to the
USA, the small Central American nation of Belize is striving to become a
tourist destination. However, Belize is also beset with a very high
crime rate--a function of a myriad of social, political, and economic
problems and challenges.
*Hayden, Tom,
Street Wars: Gangs and the Future of Violence, New Press, New
York, 2004.
Over 25,000 young
people have died as a result of urban street violence over the past 20
years, writes Tom Hayden in Street Wars. As staggering as that number
is, he still finds room for optimism, stressing that gang violence is
preventable, not inevitable, and that former gang members are not
necessarily incorrigible criminals. In making his point, he offers many
examples of how one-time violent criminals made the unlikely
transformation to peacemakers and community leaders.
Hicks, Wendy L., “Skinheads: A Three Nation Comparison,” Journal of
Gang Research, Volume 11, No. 2, Winter 2004, pp. 51-73.
*Howell, James C., and Arlen Egley Jr., “Moving
Risk Factors Into Developmental Theories of Gang Membership,”
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, Volume 3, No. 4, October 2005,
pp. 334-354.
Several quantitative
longitudinal studies of youth gang members—particularly those embedded
in well-designed studies of large, representative samples of children
and adolescents—have expanded interest in risk factors for gang
membership. Drawing on recent research findings, this article aims to
review and synthesize risk factors for gang involvement and to integrate
these in a theoretical explanation of youth gang membership.
Huang, Hua-Lun, “Let Senior Brothers/Sisters Meet Junior
Brothers/Sisters: The Categorical Linkages Between Traditional Chinese
Secret Associations and Modern Organized Chinese Underground Groups,”
Journal of Gang Research, Volume 11, (4) Summer 2004, pp. 47-68.
*Hughes, L.A., and J. F. Short, “Disputes
Involving Youth Street Gang Members: Micro-social Contexts,”
Criminology, Volume 43, 2005, pp. 43-76.
This paper examines
microsocial contexts of violent and nonviolent dispute-related incidents
involving gang members. Data consist of reports of field observations of
twelve black and eight white youth street gangs in Chicago between 1959
and 1962.
*Hughes, L.A., “Studying
Youth Gangs: Alternative Methods and Conclusions,” Journal of
Contemporary Criminal Justice, Volume 21, No. 2, 2005, pp. 98-119.
This article reviews
the major methods that have been used to study youth gangs and discusses
the consequences of their use for what is known about the topic. Despite
the development of a substantial scholarly literature, understanding of
gang phenomena is limited by critical disconnects between quantitative
and qualitative research traditions. It is argued that integration of
these traditions will result in a more comprehensive accounting of the
causes and consequences of gangs, gang membership, and gang behavior.
*Hughes, Lorine, A.,
Violent and Non-violent Disputes Involving Gang Youth, LFB
Scholarly Pub., 2005.
Hughes analyzes the
occurrence and resolution of dispute-related incidents involving black
and white youth street gangs in Chicago. Quantitative analysis involves
assessing situational variables suggested by the literature as relevant
to the occurrence of violence. When possible, interaction sequences also
are examined. Qualitative analysis emphasizes themes related to the
conditions under which disputes are likely to emerge and either escalate
into violence or be "squashed."
*Hunt G., K. Joe-Laidler, and K. MacKenzie, “Moving
into Motherhood: Gang Girls and Controlled Risk,” Youth and
Society. Volume 36, No. 3, 2005, pp. 333-373.
A growing body of
research challenges the popular characterization that young mothers are
bad mothers. This article focuses on a group of girls and young women
who were pregnant or mothers and who were engaged in a risky lifestyle
through their heavy involvement in gangs, partying, and drinking. The
authors examine the impact of the process of motherhood at its different
stages (from pregnancy to parenthood) on both the "homegirls'"
involvement and membership in the gang and their alcohol consumption.
*Hutton, Christopher, and Kingsley Bolton,
A Dictionary of Cantonese Slang: The Language of Hong Kong Movies,
Street Gangs and City Life, University of Hawai’i Press,
Honolulu, 2005.
This unconventional
and colourful dictionary locates the discussion of its subject,
Cantonese slang, within the social, cultural and political dynamics of
Hong Kong society. 'Slang' refers to a wide range of Hong Kong
vernacular Cantonese speech styles, notably the language of the
underworld of teenagers, and of Hong Kong movies and comics.
Jackson, Mary S., Lessie Bass, and Elizabeth G. Sharpe, “Working With
Youth Street Gangs and Their Families: Utilizing a Nurturing Model for
Social Work Practice,” Journal of Gang Research, Volume 12 (2),
Winter 2005, pp. 1-18.
***Johnson, Claudia D.,
Youth Gangs in Literature, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn.,
2004.
Kakar, Suman, “Gang Membership, Delinquent Friends and Criminal Family
Members: Determining the Connections,” Journal of Gang Research,
Volume 13, No. 1, Fall 2005, pp. 41-52.
Kan, Paul Rexton, “The Blurring Distinction Between War and Crime in the
21st Century: Breaking the Target Selection Paradigm in a
Globalizing World,” Defense Intelligence Journal, Volume 13,
Issue 1/2, 2005, pp. 39-45.
*Kaplan, David, and Alec Dubro,
Yakuza: Japan’s Criminal Underworld, University of California
Press, Berkeley, 2003.
Known for their
striking full-body tattoos and severed fingertips, Japan's gangsters
comprise a criminal class eighty thousand strong--more than four times
the size of the American Mafia. Despite their criminal nature, the
yakuza are accepted by fellow Japanese to a degree guaranteed to shock
most Westerners. Here is the first book to reveal the extraordinary
reach of Japan's Mafia. Originally published in 1986, Yakuza was
so controversial in Japan that it could not be published there for five
years. But in the West it has long served as the standard reference on
Japanese organized crime, inspiring novels, screenplays, and criminal
investigations.
**Katz, C. M.,
A Study of the 2002 Arizona Youth Survey: Gang Membership Among Youth,
Arizona Criminal Justice Commission, Phoenix, AZ, 2004.
*Katz, Charles M., “Issues
in the Production and Dissemination of Gang Statistics: An Ethnographic
Study of a Large Midwestern Police Gang Unit,” Crime &
Delinquency, Volume 49, No. 3, 2003, pp. 485-516.
Despite previous
research, there remains no consensus on definitions of who is
a gang member, what is a gang, and what is gang activity.
This paper examines these issues based on results of a survey
administered to two groups involved in responding to gangs—members
of a gang task force and officers of an urban police
department—and a group of juvenile detainees. Considerable
differences are observed among the three groups in their
appraisal of the extent and impact of gang activity, number
of gangs and gang members, and gang-relatedness of five
vignettes.
*Katz, Charles M., and Vincent J. Webb,
Policing Gangs in America, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 2006.
Policing Gangs in
America
describes the assumptions, issues, problems, and events that
characterize, shape, and define the police response to gangs in America
today. The primary focus of the book is on the gang unit officers and
the environment in which they work. A discussion of research,
statistical facts, theory, and policy with regard to gangs, gang
members, and gang activity is used as a backdrop.
*Katz, Charles M., Vincent J. Webb, and Todd A. Armstrong, “Fear
of Gangs: A Test of Alternative Theoretical Models,” Justice
Quarterly, Volume 20, No. 1, 2003, pp. 95-130.
On the basis of data
on 800 randomly selected residents in a large south-western metropolitan
city, we assess the influence of four theoretical models on fear of
crime and fear of gangs. In doing so, we compare general fear of crime
to specific fear of gangs to delineate whether the same factors
influence each or whether different fears are the product of different
factors. The results indicate that while many of the factors that
influence fear of crime and fear of gangs are similar, there are
significant differences in the magnitude in which these factors
influence our measures of fear.
*Katz, Charles M., Vincent J. Webb, and Scott H. Decker, “Using
the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program to Further Understand
the Relationship Between Drug Use and Gang Membership, Justice
Quarterly, Volume 22, No. 1, March 2005, pp. 58-88.
In this paper, we
examine the relationship between drug use and gang membership using data
from the Arizona Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program, which
collects both self-report and hard measures (i.e., urinalysis) of drug
use. Our analyses revealed that self-reported recent drug use (i.e.,
drug use in the past three days) and urinalysis outcomes were similarly
associated with the gang-membership variables. These findings suggest
that self-reported data obtained from gang members is a particularly
robust method for gathering information on their recent behavior.
Additionally, our results were supportive of the social facilitation
model, showing that current gang members were significantly more likely
to use marijuana and cocaine compared with former gang members. The
implications for policy and future research are discussed.
*Kee C., K. Sim, J. Teoh, C.S. Tian, and K.H. Ng, “Individual
and Familial Characteristics of Youths Involved in Street Corner Gangs
in Singapore,” Journal of Adolescence, 26 (4), August 2003,
pp. 401-412.
Study compares 36
youths involved in street corner gangs in Singapore with 91 age-matched
controls on measures of self-esteem, aggression, dysfunctional parenting
and parent-adolescent communication. Results revealed that gang youths
had lower self-esteem and higher levels of aggression than controls.
Findings diverge from anticipated familial correlates of antisocial
activity in youths.
Kelly, Katharine, “The Linkages Between Street Gangs and Organized
Crime: The Canadian Experience,” Journal of Gang Research, Volume
13 (1), Fall 2005, pp. 17-31.
Kent State University, and Institute for the Study and Prevention of
Violence, Current Perspectives on Violence Prevention, Institute
for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Kent State University, Kent,
Ohio, 2003.
*Klein, M.W., “The
Value of Comparisons in Street Gang Research,” Journal of
Contemporary Criminal Justice, Volume 21, No. 2, 2005, pp. 135-152
This article calls
for greater attention to the use of comparative studies in
street gang research. Five examples of good but noncomparative
studies are reviewed to make the case. Then, a number of
opportunities for comparative research are reviewed: gang
member comparisons, gang members versus non-gang youth,
cross-gang comparisons, comparisons across locations,
historical comparisons, and methodological comparisons. For
each type, selected studies are cited to illustrate the
advantages of planned comparisons.
***Klein, Malcolm W., Gang Cop:
The Words and Ways of Officer Paco Domingo, Altamira Press,
Walnut Creek, CA, 2004.
***Klein, Malcolm W., and Cheryl L. Maxson,
Street Gang Patterns and Policies, Oxford University Press, New
York, 2006.
Knox, George W., “Females and Gangs: Sexual Violence, Prostitution, and
Exploitation,” Journal of Gang Research, Volume 11, No. 3, 2004,
pp. 1-15.
***Kontos, Luis, David Brotherton, and Luis Barrios,
Gangs and Society: Alternative Perspectives, Columbia University
Press, New York, NY, 2003.
*Krienert, Jessie L., and Mark S. Fleisher,
Crime and Employment: Critical Issues in Crime Reduction for Corrections,
AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA, 2004.
One of the critical
issues facing the US correctional system is recidivism among
male offenders. Although some studies suggest a link between
post-incarceration unemployment and crime, others have taken
a contrary theoretical approach and consider unemployment to
be a major risk factor. To address the unemploymen-crime
relationship, this article examines the following: rates of
incarceration; cultural factors and social pathologies; factors
in prison affecting inmates' ability to gain employment skills;
post-prison factors such as stigma, employers' concerns toward
hiring ex-offenders, and legal barriers restricting the employment
of ex-offenders.
*Lane, J., “Exploring
Fear of General and Gang Crimes Among Juveniles on Probation: The
Impacts of Delinquent Behaviors,” Youth Violence and Juvenile
Justice, Volume 4, No. 1, 2006, pp. 34-54.
This exploratory
study examines fear of general and gang-related crime among juvenile
probationers. Most had used alcohol and marijuana before, and many had
committed at least one crime during the study period. Most were afraid
of shooting and murder, and about one third were afraid of other crimes.
More participation in drug use and delinquency behaviors was generally
unrelated to fear.
*Lane, Jodi, and James W. Meeker, “Social
Disorganization Perceptions, Fear of Gang Crime, and Behavioral
Precautions Among Whites, Latinos, and Vietnamese,” Journal of
Criminal Justice, Volume 32, No. 1, 2004, pp. 49-62.
Gangs were an
important media and policy topic during the 1990s, but few studies
focused on fear of gangs specifically. Even fewer studies examined
ethnic differences in perceptions of community problems, fear, and
behavioral precautions due to gangs. Using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
techniques, this article examines differences among Whites, Latinos, and
Vietnamese in perceptions of community disorder and diversity, perceived
risk and fear of gang crime, and resulting behavioral precautions.
*Lane, Jodi, and James W. Meeker, “Theories
and Fear of Gang Crime Among Whites and Latinos: A Replication and
Extension of Prior Research,” Journal of Criminal Justice,
Volume 33 (6), November-December 2005, pp. 627-641.
Fear of gang crime
was used as a key justification for harsh punishment policies recently,
and gangs were known to be associated with more disorder and crime.
There was little systematic evidence about the presence, causes, or
consequences of gang-related fear for the public. Prior studies showed
that in some people's minds, racial and ethnic diversity was blamed for
disorder, community decline, and crime.
Liebel, Manfred, “‘Barrio Gangs’ in the United States: A Challenge for
the Exclusive Society,” Desacatos, 18, 2005, May-Aug, pp.
127-146.
*Lintner, Bertil, “Chinese
Organised Crime,” Global Crime, Volume 6, No. 1, February
2004, pp. 84-96.
Secret societies have
always been endemic to Chinese overseas communities, surviving on fear
and corruption and prospering through their involvement in a wide range
of legal and illegal businesses. For many years, Hong Kong was seen as
the 'capital' of this worldwide Chinese criminal fraternity and, in the
1980s, many outside observers and analysts thought the gangs that were
based in the then British colony would leave once it reverted to Chinese
rule in 1997. In the end, the reverse turned out to be the case. Not
only did the Hong Kong Triads make arrangements with the territory's new
overlords, but in Chinatowns all over the world, close links were also
forged with mainland Chinese interests.
Liu, Carmen K. M., and Helene H. Fung, “Gang Members’ Social Network
Composition and Psychological Well-Being: Extending Socioemotional
Selectivity Theory to the Study of Gang Involvement,” Journal of
Psychology in Chinese Societies, Volume 6 (1), Special Issue:
Psychology of Aging in Chinese Societies, 2005, pp. 89-108.
*Maclure, Richard, and Melvin Sotelo, “Youth
Gangs in Nicaragua: Gang Membership as Structured Individualization,”
Journal of Youth Studies, Volume 7 (4), December 2004, pp.
417-432.
In Nicaragua the rise
of urban youth gangs has led the government to adopt a crime-control
approach that focuses on containing adolescent violence. Yet efforts to
foil youth gangs have been ineffectual, largely because the nature of
gang membership is little understood. This article presents the results
of a qualitative study of youth gang membership in the capital city of
Managua.
**Major, Aline K., Arlen Egley, and James C. Howell,
Youth Gangs in Indian Country, U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice
and Delinquency Prevention, Washington DC, 2004.
**Manwaring, Max G., Army War College (U.S.), and Strategic Studies
Institute,
Street Gangs: The New Urban Insurgency, Strategic Studies
Institute, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA, 2005.
*Maxson, Cheryl L., Karen M. Hennigan, and David C. Sloane,
“‘It’s Getting Crazy Out There:’ Can A Civil Gang Injunction Change a
Community,” Criminology & Public Policy, Volume 4, Issue 3,
Aug 2005, pp 577-605.
Civil gang
injunctions are an increasingly popular gang suppression tactic. This
article reports on the first scientific evaluation of the community
impact of this strategy. San Bernardino residents in five neighborhoods
were surveyed about their perceptions and experience of crime, gang
activity, and neighborhood quality 18 months before and 6 months after
the issuance of an injunction. Analyses indicated positive evidence of
short-term effects in the disordered, primary injunction area, including
less gang presence, fewer reports of gang intimidation, and less fear of
confrontation with gang members, but no significant changes in
intermediate or long-term outcomes except lower fear of crime.
*McGloin, Jean Marie, “Policy
and Intervention Considerations of a Network Analysis of Street Gangs,”
Criminology & Public Policy, Volume 4, No. 3, August 2005, pp.
607-636.
This study details a
network analysis of the street gang landscape in Newark, New Jersey.
Using individual gang members as the unit of analysis and multiple
layers of associations as the linkages within the networks, the results
suggest that the gangs in Newark are loosely organized with pockets of
cohesion. In addition, there is variation with regard to individual
connectedness within the gangs, and certain gang members emerge as
"cut-points" or the only connection among gang members or groups of gang
members.
***McShane, Marilyn D., and Franklin P. Williams,
Encyclopedia of Juvenile Justice, Sage, Thousand Oaks, Calif.,
2003
Miller, J. Mitchell, Holly E. Ventura, and Jennifer D. Tatum, “An
Assessment of Gang Presence and Related Activity at the County Level:
Another Deniability Refutation,” Journal of Gang Research, Volume
11, No. 2, 2004, pp. 1-22.
Mooney, Katie, “Identities in the Ducktail Youth Subculture in
Post-World-War-Two South Africa, Journal of Youth Studies, Volume
8 (1), March 2005, pp. 41-57.
Morales, Gabe, “Chicano Music and Latino Rap and its Influence on Gang
Violence and Culture,” Journal of Gang Research, Volume 10, No.
2, 2003, pp. 55-63.
***Muncie, John,
Youth & Crime, SAGE Publications, London, Thousand Oaks, Calif.,
2004
**New Jersey Commission on Investigation,
The Changing Face of Organized Crime in New Jersey: A Status Report,
Trenton, NJ, 2004.
***Olivares, José M.,
Bring Them Back Alive: Helping Teens Get Out and Stay Out of Trouble,
Taylor Trade Pub., Lanham, 2004, 2001.
Papachristos, Andrew V., “Gang World,” Foreign Policy, Issue 147,
Mar/Apr 2005, pp 48.
*Petersen, Rebecca D.,
Understanding Contemporary Gangs in America: An Interdisciplinary
Approach, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2004.
This unique
text-reader provides students with a comprehensive and contemporary
perspective on gangs in America. Its current articles, written by
national experts in the field, contain a variety of diverse viewpoints
and contribute to an interdisciplinary understanding of gangs and their
broad societal implications.
*Petersen, Rebecca D, and Avelardo Valdez, “Using
Snowball-Based Methods in Hidden Populations to Generate a Randomized
Community Sample of Gang-Affiliated Adolescents,” Youth Violence
and Juvenile Justice, 3, 2, Apr 2005, pp. 151-167.
Criminologists long
have recognized the importance of field studies of active offenders.
Nevertheless, the vast majority of them have shied away from researching
criminals "in the wild" in the belief that doing so is impractical. This
article, based on the authors' fieldwork with 105 currently active
residential burglars, challenges that assumption. Specifically, it
describes how the authors went about finding these offenders and
obtaining their cooperation.
*Peterson, Dana, and Finn-Aage Esbensen, “The
Outlook is G.R.E.A.T.: What Educators Say About School-Based Prevention
and the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) Program,”
Evaluation Review, Volume 28, No. 3, 2004, pp. 218-245.
This article reports
on a survey of administrators, counselors, and teachers from middle
schools involved in the National Evaluation of the Gang Resistance
Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) program. This survey was part of a
multisite evaluation that also elicited the responses of students,
parents, and officers teaching the G.R.E.A.T. program. School personnel
provide their views about important current issues, including their
perceptions of school safety, the role of law enforcement officers in
schools, and the role and effectiveness of school-based prevention
programs in general and the G.R.E.A.T. program in particular. Results
from this survey have important implications for the plethora of
prevention programs currently located in American schools.
*Peterson, D, T.J. Taylor and F. Esbensen, “Gang
Membership and Violent Victimization,” Justice Quarterly,
Volume 21, No. 4, 2004, pp. 793-815.
Youth gangs and
violence have received substantial scholarly and public
attention during the past two decades. While most of the
extant research on youth gang members has focused on their
offending behaviors, few quantitative studies have been
conducted to examine the link between gang membership and violent
victimization. The current study uses data from a multi-site
study of youth to explore potential factors related to this
increased risk. These findings suggest that gang members are
more likely to experience violent victimization, as well as
greater frequency of victimization, than do non-gang members.
Pih, Kay Kei-ho, and KuoRay Mao, “‘Golden Parachutes’ and Gangbanging:
Taiwanese Gangs in Suburban Southern California” Journal of Gang
Research, 12, 4, Summer 2005, pp. 59-72.
**Porter, L.E. and L.J. Alison, “Behavioural
Coherence in Violent Group Activity: An Interpersonal Model of Sexually
Violent Gang Behaviour,” Aggressive Behavior, Volume 30, No.
5, 2004, pp. 449-468.
*Porter, Louise E., and Laurence J. Alison, “The
Primacy of Decision-Action as an Influence Strategy of Violent Gang
Leaders,” Small Group Research, Volume 36 (2), April 2005,
pp. 188-207.
This study examined
the relationship between decisions, actions, and orders as
facets of influence, both over criminal events and group
members, for 37 leaders of sexually violent gangs. The degree
to which decisions, actions, and orders were employed during
the offense (quantitative variation), as well as the
combinations of these elements (qualitative variation), was
examined to evaluate the range of different influence strategies.
Two main combinations, or influence strategies, emerged: (a)
decision and action and (b) decision and order, suggesting two
predominant pathways that emerge with decision making as central
to both, with the former path being far more frequent.
*Pridemore, W.A., “Review
of the Literature on Risk and Protective Factors of Offending Among
Native Americans,” Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice,
Volume 2, No. 4, 2004. pp. 45-63.
The social and
economic conditions faced by much of the Native American population, as
well as the history and treatment of Native Americans in our society,
create many risk factors for criminal offending. At the same time,
however, the cultures, traditions, and spiritualities of Native American
tribes likely provide unique protective factors against offending in
light of these risks. While these issues, especially drug and alcohol
abuse, have received considerable attention by a handful of scholars,
the level of research on risk and protective factors of offending have
not, although recent research and funding decisions are beginning to
make this topic a priority.
Przemieniecki, Chris J., “Gang Behavior and Movies: Do Hollywood Gang
Films Influence Violent Gang Behavior?” Journal of Gang Research,
12, 2, Winter 2005, pp. 41-71.
Queen, William, Under and Alone: The True Story of the Undercover
Agent who Infiltrated America’s Most Violent Outlaw Motorcycle Gang,
Random House, New York, 2005.
Reckson, Batya, and Lily Becker, “Exploration of the Narrative of South
African Teachers Working in a Gang-Violent Community in the Western
Cape,” International Journal of Social Welfare, 14, 2, Apr 2005,
pp. 107-115.
Rizzo, Mark, “Why Do Children Join Gangs?” Journal of Gang Research,
Volume 11, No. 1, Fall 2003, pp. 65-74.
*Rodriguez, Luis J.,
Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., Simon &
Schuster, New York, 2005.
By age twelve, Luis
Rodríguez was a veteran of East L.A. gang warfare. Lured by a seemingly
invincible gang culture, he witnessed countless shootings, beatings, and
arrests, then watched with increasing fear as drugs, murder, suicide,
and senseless acts of street crime claimed friends and family members.
Before long Rodríguez saw a way out of the barrio through education and
the power of words, and successfully broke free from years of violence
and desperation.
*Rodriguez, Luis, “The
End of the Line: California Gangs and the Promise of Street Peace,”
Social Justice, Volume 32, Issue 3, 2005, pp. 12-23.
Early in 2005, an
alleged gang youth, a Marine recently AWOL from Iraq, made the headlines
when he killed a police officer and then himself at a convenience store
near Modesto. His family denied any gang ties, but most of the media
reported this allegation. In fact, the country's most notorious "supergangs"
originated in California: the Crips, Bloods, Hell's Angels, Mexican
Mafia, Nuestra Familia, Mara Salvatrucha, 18th Street, Sur Trece, the
Aryan Brotherhood, and others. Most would think relatively warm weather
as well as breathtaking mountain and shoreline regions could temper any
such developments.
Rogers, Joseph, “Confronting Transnational Gangs in the Americas,”
Journal of Gang Research, Volume 10, No. 2, 2003, pp. 33-44.
*Rush, George,
Gangs, Drugs & Organized Crime: The Connection, LawTech Pub.,
San Clemente, CA, 2004.
This book is an easy
to read overview of the connection between Gangs, Drugs and Organized
Crime. This book is interesting reading particularly for officers and
students who aspire to work special assignments dealing with organized
crime, narcotics and/or gang units.
*Sanchez-Jankowski, Martin. “Gangs
and Social Change,” Theoretical Criminology, Volume 7, No. 2,
2003, pp. 191-216.
Extant literature on
the subject has usually defined gangs as loose associations
of individuals engaged in some type of delinquent or criminal
activity. Yet researchers have failed to sociologically
differentiate gangs from other types of collective behavior.
In contrast, this article understands gangs as organizations
influenced by the social structure of the urban areas in which
they operate.
Savelli, Lou, Gangs Across America and Their Symbols: Including
Street Gangs, Ethnic Gangs, Occult Groups, Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, Hate
Groups, Extremists, Terrorists, and Prison Gangs, Loosleaf Law
Publications, Flushing, N.Y., 2004.
Schneider, Jacqueline, Nick Tilley, and Jill Dando, Gangs,
Ashgate, Aldershot, Hants, England, Burlington, VT, 2004.
*Schram, P.J., and L.K. Gaines, “Examining
Delinquent Nongang Members and Delinquent Gang Members: A Comparison of
Juvenile Probationers at Intake and Outcomes, “ Youth Violence
and Juvenile Justice, Volume 3, No. 2, 2005, pp. 99-115.
This study examines
differences between juvenile gang and nongang members participating in a
juvenile probation program designed to identify and intervene with youth
considered to be high risk for subsequent criminal and delinquent
activity. After participating in the Multidisciplinary Team Program,
both gang and nongang members significantly improved their grade point
average, lowered the number of classes missed, and reduced the number of
suspensions. Both groups also improved on family functioning and a
decrease in reported alcohol and substance abuse. There were also
improvements for gang and nongang members concerning subsequent
delinquent activity.
*Scott, Greg, “’It’s
a Sucker’s Outfit’: How Urban Gangs Enable and Impede the Integration of
Ex-Convicts,” Ethnography, Volume 5, No. 1, 2004, pp.
107-140.
This article examines
how drug-dealing gangs shape the pre- and post-carceral lives
of male ex-convicts in Chicago based on ethnographic
interviews with 19 former and current gang affiliates backed
by field observation and an additional 85 interviews. While
the gangs supply important material and non-material
resources to its members in the short term, association with
it turns out to be debilitating and self-defeating
in the long term. Ex-felons returning from prison to their neighborhood
thus experience the street gang as a double-edged sword. They
hold that poverty, institutionalized racism, and
underdeveloped and undervalued human capital are best
compensated for, if not remediated, by joining up with the
gang.
*Scott, Michael,
Lords of Lawndale: My Life in a Chicago White Street Gang,
Authorhouse, Bloomington, IN, 2004.
Bred and defined in
the 1950S era of White greaser gangs, the Gaylords steadily grew in
Chicago to become a gang to be reckoned with. By the early 1980s,
Spanish immigration threatened not only their reign, but the very
survival of many. Michael Scott was a member of the Gaylords through
this turbulent time period, and has written a story based on actual
advents, to offer all of us a ticket to take a suspenseful guided tour.
The book not only gives the reader a roller coaster ride of traditional
gang fights, but it also gives an historical account of what it took to
walk the streets of Chicago as White youth in the 1970s and 1980s.
*Shelden, Randall G., Sharon K. Tracy, and William B. Brown,
Youth Gangs in American Society, Thomson/Wadsworth, Belmont, CA,
2004.
This comprehensive
survey of the literature on gangs and gang activities in America
includes theoretical perspectives on why gangs exist, gang typologies,
descriptions of gang activities, and various intervention strategies for
dealing with gangs.
***Short, Jr., James F., and Lorine A. Hughes,
Studying Youth Gangs, AltaMira Press, Lanham, MD, 2006.
St Cyr, Jenna L., and Scott H. Decker, “Girls, Guys, and Gangs:
Convergence or Divergence in the Gendered Construction of Gangs and
Groups,” Journal of Criminal Justice, Volume 31, No. 5,
September/October 2003, pp. 423-433.
Sule, Dorothy D., “Correlates of Hispanic Female Gang Membership,”
Journal of Gang Research, 12, 4, Summer 2005, pp. 1-23.
*Sullivan, Mercer L., “Maybe
We Shouldn’t Study ‘Gangs’: Does Reification Obscure Youth Violence?”
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Volume 21, No. 2, May
2005, pp. 170-190.
The extensive study
of youth gangs over the years has tended to become a field of
studies unto itself. Yet, scholars have failed to arrive at a
commonly accepted definition of what youth gangs are.
Further, collective illegal behavior by youths is not always
identified with gangs. One result of this definitional
ambiguity is the discrepancy between the reported proliferation
of youth gangs in the 1990s and the sharp decline in reported
youth violence during the latter part of the same decade.
*Taylor, C.S., P.R. Smith, and V.A. Taylor, “Individual
and Ecological Assets and Thriving Among African American Adolescent
Male Gang and Community-Based Organization Members: A Report From Wave
3 of the ‘Overcoming the Odds’ Study,” Journal of Early
Adolescence, Volume 25, No. 1, 2005, pp. 72-93.
The third wave of the
Overcoming the Odds longitudinal study involves data about
individual and ecological developmental assets and thriving
among African American male adolescents in inner-city Detroit
gangs or in youth development, communitybased organizations.
Both groups had comparable levels of either low or high
assets across the three waves. Stability in asset levels was
not related to either of two measures of thriving or to a
second measure of assets.
Taylor, Carl S., Richard M. Lerner, and Alexander Von Eye, “Internal and
External Development Assets Among African American Male Gang Members,”
Journal of Adolescent Research, Volume 19, No. 3, 2004, pp.
303-322.
Taylor, Dorothy, “Native American Youths and Gangs,” Journal of Gang
Research, Volume 10, No. 2, 2003, pp. 45-54.
*Thomas, Christopher R., Charles E. Holzer and Julie A. Wall, “Serious
Delinquency and Gang Membership,” Adolescent Psychiatry,
Volume 27, 2004, pp. 61-81.
Youth violence and
serious delinquency increased dramatically in the 1980s. Over the same
period, youth gangs increased in number and membership (Table 1).
Previously found only in large inner cities, youth gangs appeared in
smaller cities and suburban communities. Some researchers (Sickmund,
Snyder, and Poe-Yamagata, 1996) consider the rise in youth gangs a
contributing factor to the increase in youth violence.
***Thornberry, Terence P.,
Gangs and Delinquency in Developmental Perspective, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, UK, New York, NY, 2003.
**Tita, G., and A. Abrahamse,
Gang Homicide in LA, 1981-2001(Vol. 3). Perspectives on Violence
Prevention at the Local Level, California Attorney General’s Office,
Sacramento, CA, 2004.
Tita, G.E., J. Cohen, and J. Engberg, “An
Ecological Study of the Location of Gang ‘Set Space’,” Social
Problems, Volume 52, No. 2, 2005, pp. 272-299
Previous gang
research has focused primarily on the attributes of individuals who join
gangs. This ecological study of violent urban youth gangs examines the
social, economic, and physical organization of places where gangs
locate. Our goal is to understand those features of communities that
either facilitate the formation of gangs or insulate an area from gang
formation.
*Torres-Rivera, Edil, and Loan T. Phan, “Puerto
Rican Gangs: A Historical Overview,” Journal of Addictions and
Offender Counseling, Volume 25, No. 2, April 2005, p. 87.
This article presents
the problem of gangs on the island of Puerto Rico from a historical,
economical, and political perspective. Some Puerto Rican historians are
convinced that the gang problem in Puerto Rico is due to the political
ambiguity and human rights violations of prison inmates. Some social
scientists believe that gangs are not a widespread problem in Puerto
Rico. Their claim is supported by the fact that the only literature
about gangs that can be found in Puerto Rican libraries is in newspapers
and not in academic literature.
Tsunokai, Glenn T., “Beyond
the Lenses of the ‘Model’ Minority Myth: A Descriptive Portrait of Asian
Gang Members,” Journal of Gang Research, 12, 4, Summer 2005,
pp. 37-58.
When viewed under the
lenses of the ‘model’ minority myth, Asian youths are often portrayed as
academic ‘overachievers’ who strictly adhere to the norms and values of
society. Although empirically inaccurate and racially stereotypic, the
‘model’ minority discourse continues to mask the incredible diversity
that exists within the Asian American community. With this in mind, the
present paper utilizes survey data to provide a descriptive portrait of
Asian gang members in Southern California, paying close attention to
their overall attitudes and beliefs about gang life— an area of research
that has often been neglected
United States
Congress, House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration,
Border Security, and Claims, Immigration and the Alien Gang Epidemic:
Problems and Solutions: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Immigration,
Border Security, and Claims of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of
Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, First Session, April 13,
2005, U.S. G.P.O., Washington, 2005.
Vaquera, Tony, and David W. Bailey, “Latin Gang in the Americas: Los
Mara Salvatrucha,” Crime and Justice International, Volume 20,
No. 83, November/December 2004, pp. 4-10.
Valdez, Al, Gangs: A Guide to Understanding Street Gangs, Law
Tech Pub. Co., San Clemente, Calif., 2005.
Valdez, Avelardo, and Raquel Flores, “A Situational Analysis of Dating
Violence Among Mexican American Females Associated with Street Gangs,”
Sociological Focus, 38, 2, May 2005, pp. 95-114.
Valdez, Avelardo, and Stephen J. Sifaneck, “Getting
High and Getting By: Dimensions of Drug Selling Behavior Among American
Mexican Gang Members in Southern Texas,” Journal of Research in
Crime and Delinquency, Volume 41, No. 1, 2004, pp. 82-105.
This article discerns the role
that Mexican American gang members play in drug markets, and
the relationship between gang members’drug use and drug
selling in South Texas. A four-part typology based on the two
dimensions of gang type and gang member emerged from this
qualitative analysis of 160 male gang members: Homeboys,
Hustlers, Slangers, and Ballers. Major findings include the
following: (1) many gang members are user/sellers and are not
profit-oriented dealers, (2) gangs commonly do extend "protection"
to drug-selling members, and (3) proximity to Mexican drug
markets, adult prison gangs, and criminal family members may
play important roles in whether these gang members have
access and the profit potential to actually deal drugs.
*Vigil,
James Diego, “Urban
Violence and Street Gangs,” Annual Review of Anthropology,
Volume 32, 2003, pp. 225-242.
What causes urban street gang violence and how can we better understand
the forces that shape this type of adolescent and youth behavior? For
close to a century, social researchers have taken many different paths
in attempting to unravel this complex question, especially in the
context of large-scale immigrant adaptation to the city. In recent
decades these researchers have relied primarily on data gathered from
survey, quantitative approaches.
Villegas Alarcon, Francisco, “Youth Gangs in Lima,” Espacio Abierto,
14, 1, Jan-Mar 2005, pp. 73-95.
*Walker-Barnes, C.J., and C.A. Mason, “Delinquency
and Substance Use Among Gang-Involved Youth: The Moderating Role of
Parenting Practices,” American Journal of Community Psychology,
Volume 34, No. 3/4, 2004, pp. 235-250.
During the past two
decades there has been tremendous growth in the scientific literature on
adolescent gangs in the United States. In part, this has resulted from a
marked and widespread resurgence in youth gang activity throughout the
country. According to the National Youth Gang Survey, law enforcement
agencies estimated that there were more than 24,500 gangs with 772,500
members active in 2000.
**Weisheit, Ralph A., and L Edward Wells, “Youth
Gangs in Rural America,” NIJ Journal, No. 251, July 2004, pp.
2-6.
Wennar, Jeffrey T., “Mara Salvatrucha (MS 13) in Montgomery County
Maryland,” Journal of Gang Research, Volume 11, No. 2, Winter
2004, pp. 23-28.
***Yablonsky, Lewis,
Gangs in Court. Lawyers & Judges Pub. Co., Tucson, AZ, 2005.
Zilberg, Elana, “Fools
Banished From the Kingdom: Remapping Geographies of Gang Violence
Between the Americas (Los Angeles and San Salvador),” American
Quarterly, Volume 56, Issue 3, Sep2004, pp. 21.
Fools Banished from
the Kingdom: Remapping Geographies of Gang Violence between the Americas
(Los Angeles and San Salvador) Elana Zilberg The topographical reform of
the civic body by the unceremonious exportation and dumping of libido in
the countryside and in the far away colonies . . . is the perfect
representation of the production of identity through negation.
*Zimmerman, Marc A., Susan Morrel-Samuels, Naima Wong, Darian Tarver,
Deana Rabiah, and Sharrice White, “Guns,
Gangs, and Gossip: An Analysis of Student Essays on Youth Violence,”
Journal of Early Adolescence, Volume 24 (4), November 2004, pp.
385-411.
Youth violence is an
important public health problem, but few researchers have studied
violence from youth's perspectives. Middle school students' essays about
the causes of youth violence were analyzed using qualitative and
quantitative methods. The causes of violence identified by students were
categorized into individual, peer, family, and societal factors. Seven
to 11 subcategories were identified within each factor. Variations in
the frequency of quotes among factors, the independent effects of factor
and sex, and their interaction were examined.