NCJ Number
237542
Date Published
April 2012
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This fact sheet presents highlights of the 2010 National Youth Gang Survey (NYGS), which annually collects data on the size and scope of the Nation's gang problem from all police departments in cities with more than 50,000 residents and all suburban county police and sheriff's departments, as well as a random sample of police departments in cities with populations between 2,500 and 50,000, along with rural county sheriff's departments.
Abstract
The survey found that the prevalence rate of gang activity remained relatively stable from 2005 to 2010, in contrast to the decline in overall crime over the past decade. In 2010, gang activity and serious gang crime remained concentrated in the most populated jurisdictions. Nationally, gang-related homicides increased more than 10 percent from 2009 to 2010 in large cities. A large proportion of respondents reported the presence of gang-member migrants from other jurisdictions; however, contrary to findings from other, less extensive studies, NYGS respondents reported that gang members were less likely to migrate to smaller areas, rarely accounted for a sizeable proportion of the overall gang problem, and had most likely migrated to the area for social, not illegitimate, reasons. Less than 2 in 10 respondents reported having substantiated evidence of organizational connections between gangs in their jurisdiction and gangs outside the United States. Fewer agencies reported joint criminal activities such as drug trafficking, weapon smuggling, and extortion. 1 figure, 1 table, and 9 references