NCJ Number
137404
Journal
Youth and Society Volume: 23 Issue: 4 Dated: (June 1992) Pages: 434-451
Date Published
1992
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Self-report field data gathered in interviews with 445 active street gang members between October 1989 and June 1990 were examined to investigate the extent to which street gangs are the domain of youth or adulthood.
Abstract
The findings failed to confirm the new gang hypothesis that increases in urban economic deprivation result in protracted gang membership. Adult gang membership was as statistically rare in neighborhoods with few opportunities as in neighborhoods with many opportunities. There were slight empirical differences in gang member age as a function of race and class in the direction predicted by new gang theorists. Gang members who were both low socioeconomic status and black appeared to be, on average, slightly older than either their low or middle/upper socioeconomic status white counterparts. When controlling for race and socioeconomic status, significant differences were not found between the ages of gang members. In sum, the general findings indicate that most street gang members are likely to be adolescents who give up their street gang memberships upon reaching adulthood. 8 notes, 1 figure, 3 tables, 35 references, and 1 appendix