Youth Gangs in American Society

John D. Hewitt ； Robert M. Regoli

《犯罪學期刊》 7卷1期 (2004/06) Pp. 1-29

https://doi.org/10.29607/ZHWHGX.200406.0001

並列摘要

This paper provides an overview of the history, nature and extent, and efforts to control youth gangs in the United States. In the process of reporting this information we raise and answer important questions related to the creation, maintenance, and regulation of youth gangs in Taiwan and elsewhere. For example, regardless of what country they live in: (1) Are children more likely to violate norms and laws when they are with their friends? (2) Are juvenile gangs simply more formal and violent expressions of more normal school and neighborhood peer groups? (3) Why do juveniles form gangs in the first place? (4) How do the cultural experiences of different and competing racial and ethnic groups affect the development and transmission of juvenile gangs within and between cultures?
In society, juvenile gangs are distinguishable from other groupings of children. For instance, while youth gangs in America have varied widely over time, from city to city, and even within cities, characteristic of gangs is an organizational structure that controls the flow of information, a clearly defined hierarchy of leadership, a turf or area of the city a gang has assumed ownership of, a solid, strong sense of cohesion among the members, and a purpose, such as selling illegal drugs or operating a prostitution ring. While these characteristics have remained constant over time, there are two significant differences between American gangs today and gangs in the past.
Contemporary gangs in the United States are (1) much more violent than gangs of earlier decades and (2) much of the violence occurs within school settings.
We conclude the paper with a discussion of the variety of different strategies that have been employed in the United States for responding to the problem of youth gangs over the past seven decades. Some of these include neighborhood mobilization approaches, social intervention programs, creating social and economic opportunities for estranged youth, the emergence of suppression efforts, and a variety of intervention and treatment strategies. Our hope is that others will learn from our failures.

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