In 1995, the National Youth Gang Center conducted the first ever nationwide survey of gang activity. Conducted under the direction of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the survey disclosed:
Communities in all 50 states reported that approximately 652,000 gang members are part of 25,000 gangs nationwide.
Gang problems are reportedly worsening in 48 percent of communities, and improving in 10 percent.
Of 3,4447 responding police and sheriff agencies, 1,974 reported youth gang activity in their cities and counties.
Young people join or associate with gangs for a variety of reasons, whether they join the Boy Scouts, the 4-H Club, or the Bloods or Crypts. A search for love, structure and discipline, a sense of belonging and commitment, the need for recognition and power, a sense of self-worth and status, a place of acceptance, and other needs are often fulfilled by gang membership. Research has disclosed a variety of risk factors for joining a gang that is centered around violence and other illegal or illicit activities. While no one cause appears to explain why youths join gangs, the following four risk factors make youth at-risk for membership: racism, poverty, lack of a support network, media influence (Research, 1994, 2).
Whatever the risk factors may be, gang violence appears to be on the rise. A review of some gang-related violence statistics demonstrates the urgent need for society to try to understand gangs, gang formation, and the values gangs offer to members that they feel they are not getting in mainstream society. The following gang-related statistics demonstrate the scope and urgency of the problem:
Over a ten-year period, from 1980 to 1990, the number of gang-related deaths rose from 350 to 795 in Los Angeles County.
One survey of Chicago public schools reported that 40,000 school children had b
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