YOUTH GANGS IN AMERICAN SOCIETY

John D. Hewit
Robert M. Regoli

英文摘要

    Criminologists have long been interested in youth gangs. Generally they have found delinquency to be a social act, frequently engaged in with peers as part of a group or gang. Research conducted in the early part of the 20th century tended to overestimate the amount of delinquency attributed to groups (cf., Shaw and McKay, 1931; Healy and Bronner, 1936). The reason for this overestimate is that they relied on official data reflecting arrests, and the police were more likely to arrest and refer youths to court if they congregated in groups. More recent research on the group nature of delinquency has often used self report data to estimate group delinquency rates. For example, Michael Hindelang (1976) found that some types of delinquency are truly more likely than others to be committed with associates, especially delinquent acts typically engaged in as part of social activities, such as using marijuana and getting drunk.
    The portion of delinquency in the community that could be attributed to gang members as opposed to nongang youth has also been examined. Research conducted in Rochester, New York (Thornberry and Burch, 1997), reports that about one-third of the youths reported being members of a street gang at some time prior to the end of high school. Those youths who belonged to gangs, however, account for the lion’s share of delinquent acts, especially the more serious acts. Gang members account for 86 percent of the serious delinquent acts, 69 percent of the violent delinquent acts, and 70 percent of the drug sales. Thornberry and Burch (1997) conclude that involvement in gangs substantially increases the likelihood of involvement in delinquency, particularly serious delinquency.