GANGS AND DELINQUENCY - EXPLORING POLICE ESTIMATES OF GANG MEMBERSHIP

This study explores the meaning of police estimates of gang membership , by reviewing the characteristics of youth labeled as gang members in one western state, Hawaii, during 1991. Arrest patterns of these yout h do not support the notion that they constitute a seriously violent s ubset of criminals. Indeed, nearly a third had not been arrested in th e previous three years; notable too is the absence of a large number o f weapon or drug arrests. These findings are amplified by data from a comparison of youth who were not labeled as gang members; these indica te that youth (in the City and County of Honolulu) who are delinquent differ little from those youth suspected of gang membership in terms o f the frequency or severity of their offenses. Finally, the groups mos t commonly labeled by police as gang members are Filipino and Samoan m ales, but self-report data on gang membership indicate a somewhat diff erent ethnic composition. The policy implications of these findings ar e also discussed.