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 21^st 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.