GANGS, DRUGS, AND DELINQUENCY IN A SURVEY OF URBAN YOUTH

Youth delinquent gangs have been given considerable academic and media attention during the past decade. Much of the attention has focused o n the violence and drug dealing in which gang members are assumed to b e involved Recent knowledge about gangs has relied primarily on data o btained from police gang units and from observational or case studies. Very little information has been derived from surveys or interviews w ith a more general sample of youths. In this paper, data from the Denv er Youth Suryey, a longitudinal study of families, are used to examine : (1) the prevalence and demographic composition of gangs; (2) the deg ree to which gang members are involved in illegal activities; and (3) the temporal relationship between criminal offending and gang membersh ip.