Gangs have received a significant amount of media attention in recent years. Fear of gang violence is prevalent throughout the United States. Communities, urban, rural, and suburban, are faced with finding solutions to gang activity. Street gangs are active in 94 percent of this country's major cities (Violence, 1994, p. 3). Thirty-five percent of these cities reported the number of gang members at between 100 and 500; an additional 42 percent reported gang membership at more than 500 members. There are at least 800 "gang cities" in the United States, and almost 10,000 different gangs, comprised of half a million gang members, are represented, (Klein, 1995, p. 217). The definition of a street gang can change from location to location and from one period to another. Different types of gangs exist, each with its own characteristics. Membership in gangs is growing. The causes of the increase in gang membership, the cycles of activity, and the definition of a gang member all need to be understood before solutions can be formulated and tested.
The first recognized definition of what a gang is was given by Frederick Thrasher in 1927 as "a group that forms spontaneously and without any special attachment to existing parts of society" (Ballinger, 1995, p. 5). His definition was based on the fact that he believed that individuals formed themselves into gangs because they provide for a common group identity and a common enemy. Group identities and enemies are important issues when an individual considers joining a gang.
Some of the most recent research on gangs has been conducted by Malcolm W. Klein. Klien's definition of a gang requires that the gang and the neighborhood of the gang must both recognize the gang as a separate organization apart from the rest of the neighborhood, and the gang must have been involved with a number of delinquent episodes which give the group a negative image (Sanders, 1994, p. 9). Klein cu...