NCJ Number
133067
Date Published
Unknown
Length
40 pages
Annotation
This paper uses a literature review and results of ongoing research to discuss historical continuities in the literature on gangs, provide a typology of gangs, and discuss major issues in current analyses of gang crimes.
Abstract
The cumulative knowledge on gangs shows three historical continuities, each relating to social justice or the quality of life. These are (1) the racism-oppression thesis of gangs, (2) the underclass and human capital lag thesis, and (3) the political corruption and gangs thesis. Most gang classifications represent little more than "social typing" or the attribution of crucial factors. More comprehensive typologies classify gangs by their level of social organization and the type of social formation and by the organizational capability and level of their threat of crime. Current issues in the analysis of gang crimes include national gang patterns, estimations of the impacts of gang-related crime, and the development of social policy choices for reducing the gang problem. Figures, footnotes, and 80 references