Serious Delinquency and Gang Participation: Combining and Specializing in Drug Selling, Theft, and Violence

• NCJ Number: 248859
• Journal: Journal of Research on Adolescence Volume: 24 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2014 Pages: 235-251
• Author(s): Rachel A. Gordon; Hillary L. Rowe; Dustin Pardini; Rolf Loeber; Helene R. White; David P. Farrington
• Date Published: June 2014
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): 96-MU-FX-0012; 2005-JK-FX-0001
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article; Document (Online)
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using Pittsburgh Youth Study data, the current study examined the extent to which over 600 gang members and non-gang-involved young men specialized in drug selling, serious theft, or serious violence, or engaged simultaneously in these serious delinquent behaviors, throughout the 1990s.

Abstract

The study found that the increase in delinquency associated with gang membership was concentrated in two combinations: serious violence and drug selling; and serious violence, drug selling, and serious theft. Several covariates were similarly associated with multi-type serious delinquency and gang membership (age, historical time, Black race, and residential mobility), suggesting that these behaviors may share common developmental, familial, and contextual risks. The authors encourage future research to further examine the association of gang membership with engagement in particular configurations of serious delinquency. (Publisher abstract modified)