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Violence by Youth Gangs and Youth Problem in Major American Cities

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Violence by Youth Gangs and Youth Problem in Major American Cities If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. Violence By Youth Gangs And Youth Groups As A Crime Problem In Major American Cities f, . , Monograph J' ," . LOAN DO'CU" RETURN TO: . M£NT NCJRS P. O. BOX 24.035 . .. ' WASHINGTONn c.'.. S-:OPOSTOFFIC£ • ..,. 24 '. , , "' Nlitionlilinstitute for Juvenile Justice and DelinquehcyPrevention .' Office of Juvenile Justice; and Delinqu~~cyPreveritiolt .' . , . ,'.::..' l); \::" ; ": Law Enforcement Assistance'Administrati~n . '. '\\ U,S. Department of JlISfice r 1 ~. ~. - ~l;&,B Violence By Youth Gangs And Youth Groups As A Crime Problem In Major '. American Cities This project was supported by Grant Monograph Number 74-NI-99-0047 awarded to the Center for Criminal Justice of the Harvard Law School by the National Institute for Juvenile Justice and De­ Walter B. Miller linquency Prevention, ,Law Enforce­ ment Assistance Administration. U.S. Center for Criminal Justice Department of Justice tinder the Harvard Law School Omnibus Crime ContrQI and Safe Streets Act-of 1968,. as amended. i 1 . Cambridge, Mass. Points of view or opinions stated in .\ this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Depart­ December 1975 ment of Justice. 'd ACQUISITIO,NS National Institute for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prcwention . Office of 1uvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Law Enforcement Assistance Administr.atlon: U.S. Department ofJustice li'or sale by tho superluten!le~tol Documents, u.s. Gov~ment PrIntllll OlBae . Wasbilllton, D.C.l1Al4Irl- PrIce $1.40 . ' .Stoct'No. 027-oocrooc99-7 , Table of Contents Chapter I A National-level Survey of Youth Gangs and Groups: Rationale and Methods ........................ Chapter II Youth Gangs and Law-violating Youth Groups in Twelve Major United States Cities: Existence and Seriousness of the &oblem ...........,-: ......... Chapter 111 The Size of the Problem: Numbers of Gangs, Law­ violating Groups, and Gang/Group Members in Major United States Cities •.......................... i ",j '. Chapter IV Social Characteristics of Gang Members in Six Cities: Age, Sex, Social Status, Locale, National Background Chapter V Gang-related Killings and Other Officially-recorded Gang-member Crime,s ......................... Chapter VI Gang-member Viol~nce ........................ Chapter VII Gang Activities and 'the Public Schools. , . Chapter VIII Trends in Youth Gang Crime: Past and Future ........ \ \ Chapter IX Urban Gang Violence in the 1970's: Summary and Conclusions .•..•.........•.......•.......... ; ..... ,' •• < - ~~, • -- ----~------:------- -- - --.,---- - ------------- '" List of Tables .. Table I Numbers and Agency-affIliations of Survey Respondents ... II ~ Table The Fifteen Largest Metropolitan Areas with Youth Gang Survey CitiesIndicated .................... ~1, ~~ ", Table III Five Most Frequently Cited Criteria for Defining a ;, Gang: Six Gang-problem Cities .................. f: Table IV Respondents' Estimates as to the Existence and Seriousness of?roblems with Youth Groups Specifically Designated as "Gangs" ................ ~~ f Table V Respondents' Estimates as to the Existence and : Seriousness of Problems with Law-violating Youth ~; Groups, Collective Youth Crime and Related Ph.enomena ... Table VI Respondents' Estimates as to whether Major Agencies or Groups Recognize the Existence uf a Youth Gang Problem: By Agency ............... , ......... Table VII Respondents' Estimates as to whether Major Agencies or Groups Recognize the Existence of a Youth Gang J Problem: By City ........................... " " Table VIII Estimates of Numbers of Gangs and Groups in Chicago, 1966,1971,1975 ........................... Table IX 'Numbers of Gangs and Gang Members in Six Gang- Problem Cities, 1973-1975 ..................... Table X Estimated Proportions of Youth Afflliated with Gangs or Law-violating Groups in Six Gang-Problem Cities ..... (l Table XI Respondents' Estimates of the Age-range of the Majority of Gang Members •..................... Table XII Ages of Gang-member Perpetrators and Victims: Four Cities .........•...•.••........•........... Table XIII the Etbnic/RacialBackground of Gang/Group Members . in Six Gang-probtemCitiesby Continent ofAnce~tral. Origin ....•..... , ..........•.. ~~ ~ .•..~ .•..•... Table XIV Major Ethnic Categories of Gang Members in Six Cities .... Table XV Gang-related Killings: Gang-problem Cities, 1972-1974.... " Table XVI Rates of Gang-related Killings: Five Cities, 1972-1974 .... Table XVII Juvenile Homicides and Gang~related Killings ......... Table XVIII Arrests of Gang Members, 1973,-1974 ............... Table XIX Gang-member Arrests as a Prol?ortion of Juvenile Arrests, 1973··].974 ............ '; ................... Table XX Major Forms of Assaultive Encounters: Gang-member Participants, 1973-1975 ........................ Table XXI Victims of Gang Violence: Four Cities .............. Table XXII Three Categories of Gang-member Victims ........... Table XXIII School-related Forms of Gang Activity .............. Table XXIV Gang-problem Cities: Predictions of Trends in Near Future ................................... Table XXV Gang-problem Cities Ranked by Proportion of Respond­ ents Predicting No Improvement of Gang Problems in Near Future .................. ,............. Table XXVI Conditions Citec1. as Affecting Future of Gang Problems .... Table XXVII Comparison of 1970 Male Youth PopUlation with Projected Population for 1980: Six Gang-problem cities ... Foreword '.. Many crime analysts in recent years in the cities. Miller believes these fig­ have tended to overlook the problem ures may "represent substantial under­ of youth gang violence in our major counts" because of the different cities. They shared the popular view definitions in use in the cities for that gangs were a problem of the classifying gang-related homicides. 1950's but no longer. In making these determinations, Now, in the first nationwide study Miller rel;ed on the judgments of ever undertaken of the nature and ex­ criminal justice and social service per­ tent of gang violence, Walter B. Miller sonnel in the cities rather than under­ reports that gangs in many cases have taking an independent survey of gang continued to be a problem for the last members. 20 years and in other cases have Miller already is expanding tI;is changed in their patterns-such as in­ study under a new grant from tl'JiiJ creased use of guns, less formalized National Institute for Juvenile Justice organizational structure, and greater and Delinquency Prever.don. This activity in the schools-previously second study will focus on additional considered "neutral turf." cities and also will attempt to fmd, How could there have been such a among other things, some explanations misreading of the national situation? for the serious gang violence so preva­ According to Miller, the problem lies lent today. ' in the lack of any systematic method for gathering the right information. Milton Luger Miller's study concentrated pri­ Assistant Administrator marilyon the eight largest U.S. cities. Office of Juvenile Justice and He fmds gallg violence levels high in: Delinquency Prevention New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia and San Fran­ cisco. From available data, he esti­ mates the youth gang population in these cities as ranging from 760 gangs and 28,500 members to 2,700 gangs and 81,500 members. Statistics kept by these cities show 525 gang-related murders in the three-year period from 1972 through 1974, or an equivalent of 25 percent ,of all juvenile homicides (": . " "(} · , ,- I. /~~ational-Ievel Survey of The United States in the mid-1970's corded such offenses, and the character Youth Gangs and Groups: faces a profusion of serious crime of political responses to such informa- Rationale and Methods* problems. These affect life at all levels, tion! fonus of crime which may in fact and include consumer fraud, govern- be quite inappropriate as0bjects of mental corruption at federal, state and concerted effort become the recipients municipal levels, epidemics of arson in of major resources, while othl'T forms, major cities, widespread use of habit- which may pose a greater threat, are forming drugs, organized crime, and a more endemic, and show a better po- wide range of predatory and assaultive tential for change through planned ' crimes commonly referred to as "street programs, are neglected. .. crime." The multipliCity of crime prob- The problem of violence perpetrated lems, and the limited resources availa- by members of youth gangs and youth .. ble to the enterprise of crime preven- groups is one of the host of crime tion and control make it imperative problems currently affecting American that priorities be set by policy-makers. communities. But the process by which What are the best patterns of allocation botll the general public and policy of available resources to current crime makers have acquired information as .. ~ problems? / to the contemporary character of this Setting of such priorities must of phenomenon has been peculiarly necessity involve a wide range of con- erratic, oblique, and misleading. There siderations-including the degree of are a variety of reasons for this. One is thr.eat posed by various forms of crime the dominant role played by New York to the domestic security of the nation, City in the origination and dissemina- their susceptibility to change through tion of media information. Looking at explicitly-developed programs, the the nation from
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