Gangs

Gang researchers have suggested several definitions of gangs. Thrasher (1927, p. 46) defined a gang as

an interstitial group originally formed spontaneously and then integrated through conflict. It is characterized by the following types of behavior: meeting face to face, milling, movement through space as a unit, conflict, and planning. The result of this collective behavior is the development of tradition, unreflective internal structure, esprit de corps, solidarity, morale, group awareness, and attachment to a local territory.

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According to Thrasher, all childhood playgroups are potential gangs. The transformation from playgroup to gang occurs when youths encounter others who oppose or display disapproval for their group. This disapproval may or may not stem from delinquent activities, and Thrasher was careful not to include delinquency in his definition of gangs. Instead, Thrasher argued that gangs facilitate delinquency.

In contrast, other scholars distinguish gangs as delinquent groups. Malcolm Klein (1995) defines a gang as a group that recognizes itself as a gang, is recognized by the community as a gang, and is committed to a criminal orientation. Finn-Aage Esbensen (2000) offers a more precise definition, arguing that a gang has all of the following features: contains more than two members who fall within a specific range of age (commonly, older than eleven and younger than twenty-five); members have some common identity (often accomplished through gang names, symbols, colors, hand signs, and graffiti); the group exhibits stability over time (a year or more); and the group members are involved in criminal activity. Esbensen suggests that the requirement of illegal activity is necessary to distinguish gangs from groups such as school and church clubs.

Other researchers have turned to the individuals who deal with gangs for a definition. Walter Miller (1975) administered a survey to workers in 121 youth-serving agencies in twenty-six areas of the United States. Eighty-five percent of the 309 respondents indicated that six items describe a gang. Miller used these six items to compose the following definition of a gang (see Bursik and Grasmick 1993):

a self-formed association of peers, bound together by mutual interests, with identifiable leadership, well-developed lines of authority, and other organizational features, who act in concert to achieve a specific purpose or purposes, which generally include . . . illegal activity and control over a particular territory, facility or type of enterprise.

The lack of a consensus about the defining features of a gang has made it difficult to generate consistent findings and generalizations. Central to the debate is the issue of criminal activity. The criminality of gangs varies greatly and using criminality to distinguish groups as gangs may be problematic; however, ignoring criminal activity makes it difficult to distinguish gangs from school, church, and youth activity groups.