Gangs

The 1998 National Youth Gang Survey (2000) asked a representative sample of U.S. law enforcement agencies about youth gang crime. According to police, gangs are often involved in entrepreneurial crime, the most common of which are drug sales, theft, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and robbery. Several researchers have identified gangs that are organized around drug sales or other illegal enterprises (Fleisher 1998; Howell and Gleason 2001; Sullivan 1989); however, others doubt that gangs have the organizational structure necessary to conduct drug sales on the scale often described (Klein 1995; Spergel 1995). At the same time, research suggests that most gang members do not reap large profits from drug selling or other illegal activities (Venkatesh 2000).

Although gang members commit more criminal acts than the general population, many gang members report considerable involvement in crime before joining gangs. Thus, it is not clear if gang members' higher rates of offending are a result of belonging to a gang, or because individuals who join gangs are predisposed to crime. Two studies that use longitudinal data from Rochester youths demonstrate that both processes likely contribute to gang crime. Terence Thornberry (2001) noted that although many gang members use violence before joining a gang, gang membership and not prior offending is the better predictor of subsequent involvement in violent crime. However, Beth Bjerregaard and Alan Lizotte (2001) found that youths who owned a gun for protection were more likely to join gangs than were youths who did not own a weapon. These findings suggest that youths who are involved in crime find gangs attractive, and that gangs prefer to recruit seasoned offenders.