Gun Ownership and Gang Membership

Abstract

The problem of gang-related violence is not a new phenomenon, yet public concern over the rising violence perpetrated by juveniles has led to a renewed interest in the study ofjuvenile gangs.Whereas gangs used to be predominantly confined to large urban centers such as Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York City, today's gangs appear to be increasingly present in medium and small-sized cities previously believed to be immune to gang activity.'The increased visibility of gangs, coupled with the growing fear of juvenile crime, has led researchers and others to conclude that there is an association between gangs and crime.While researchers have been studying gangs since the turn of the century, criminologists are once again placing a greater emphasis on understanding the prevalence and dynamics of gang-related crime.This recent research overwhelmingly concludes that gang members tend to be more violent than those who are not gang members.Recently, researchers discovered some alarming trends in the gangs they have studied: the gangs of today appear to be more violent in nature than the gangs of the first half of the century. 2 The activities that gangs participate in appear to be changing; gang members now engage more frequently in serious crimes, drug-related behavior, and firearms use. 3 While all these changes are of great concern to policy-I See, e.