NCJ Number
160569
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: (1995) Pages: 31-46
Date Published
1995
Length
16 pages
Annotation
In testing the thesis that gang violence is not a random series of antisocial acts, this study used data from Long Beach, Calif., to examine the forms of gang violence, whether gang violence has generally increased, and whether gang violence permeates gang criminal behavior.
Abstract
The research, which was conducted between 1989 and 1993, collected data from the Long Beach Police department; direct interviews with current and former gang members, police officers assigned to gang neighborhoods, special officers in the city's Gang Suppression Unit, community and social service agencies, local officials, and teachers and school administrators; and from government documents, official statistics, and scholarly literature. Findings show that street gangs have existed in Long Beach since the 1950's; and since the 1960's, gang violence has increased. The data support conventional thinking about criminal gang behavior, i.e., that it is violent and escalating. A closer look at the data, however, suggests significant qualifications that are not usually part of the discourse on street gang violence. When violence does occur in the gang culture, it is perpetrated by juvenile members who act in an environment where adult influences and expectations are present, coupled with a youthful desire to establish one's own reputation and acquire social status. This contradicts the public's view of adult- orchestrated violence conducted by compliant and malleable youths. Not automatic rifles, but handguns are the primary tools of violence. Although the study does not discount the commonly perceived link between drugs and gang violence, it at least questions this relationship as the foundation of gang violence. Gang violence is limited in its patterns, and the evidence suggests that most gang criminal behavior, including violent acts, has either remained static or declined. Appended brief descriptions of California's Street Terrorism Enforcement Program and Los Angeles County's Gang Reporting and Tracking System, 4 tables, and 24 references