NCJ Number
170272
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 25 Issue: 4 Dated: (1997) Pages: 289-302
Date Published
1997
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Using data from an inmate survey in Tianjin, China, this study examined selected characteristics of youth gangs, gang crime, and official punishment in contemporary China and compared gangs in China to those in the United States.
Abstract
Study respondents included 1,063 inmates, with a subset of 654 young respondents between 15 and 25 years of age. Variables of interest were organizational characteristics of gangs, recidivist status of gang members, current offense seriousness, current offense type, and severity of punishment. Ordinary least squares regression was used to test for the effect of gang- related crime on the severity of official punishment, as measured by the continuous variable of months sentenced. Findings indicated the organizational level of Chinese youth gangs was low, the age distribution of offenders who committed gang-related crime increased rapidly during the middle teenage years and then leveled off through the early 20's, and a significant association existed between prior offenses and gang involvement. These findings were consistent with research in the United States. There did not appear to be an association between gang-related crime and seriousness of the offense for which the inmate was incarcerated, and this finding was contrary to U.S. research indicating such an association. Finally, gang-related crime increased the severity of official punishment, consistent with the official Chinese policy of severely cracking down on gangs and gang crime. Frequency distributions of demographic study variables are appended. 53 references, 11 notes, 6 tables, and 1 figure