rrently excludes motorcycle and prison gangs, stoners (groups of drug addicts), tagger crews, and skinheads (Klein, 1995, p. 218). Klein's position is that gangs are territorial and versatile in their criminal activity, which tends to be violent in nature.
In the 1970s, Walter Miller developed another working definition which has proved useful:
A gang is a group of recurrently association individuals with identifiable leadership and internal organization, identifying with or claiming control over territory in the community, and engaging either individually or collectively in violent or other forms of illegal behavior (Sanders, 1994, p. 11).
Miller requires an internal organization for a true gang. He also includes a more diverse group of types of gangs in his definition.
The differences in these definitions can mean that gang statistics are not consistent from one location to another. In some cases, a city can choose a definition of a gang which will mean that the city can deny the existence of gang membership within its borders for political or economic reasons (Sanders, 1994, p. 5-6). For the purpose of this paper, a gang will be a combination of Klein's and Miller's definitions. Self- identification as a gang, organization, and criminal activity will be required to define a gang.
In the past, gangs have typically formed along racial and ethnic lines. Recently, these lines have become blurred as neighborhoods become more integrated and gangs have formed branches throughout their state, region, and the nation. Ethnic homogeneity stems from two sources: racial and national antecedents, and neighborhood ties (Knox, 1991, p. 48).
Gangs typically form when a minority group feels oppressed and shut out by the majority. White gangs are not usually found on the West Coast because whites have not formed ethnic divisions among themselves. White gangs are found on the East Coast, especially in Boston, New York...