Juvenile Crime & Gangs It is generally believed that police are more l

It is generally believed that police are more likely to treat minority juveniles more harshly than whites. This suggests police may be influenced by race in their decision-making. There is also evidence to suggest minority juveniles commit more serious delinquency more frequently than white juveniles and have more negative attitudes toward the police.

A 1995 survey by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) reported a total of 23,388 gangs and 664,906 gang members in the United States. Forty nine percent of the law enforcement agencies reporting gang activity reported that the gang problem was "getting worse," while only ten percent reported that the problem was improving. Around the country, there is an increased awareness of the worsening of the juvenile crime problem, especially in the area of juvenile gangs (Lahey, et al, 1999, 261).

According to a National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) 1995 Survey, all 50 states reported the existence of youth gangs, with most large cities reporting a gang presence. On the national level there has been a push to effectively handle the problem with the introduction of legislation such as the "Anti-Gang and Youth Violence Control Act of 1996." More recently, the President and the Congress have struggled with the passage of a Juvenile Justice bill, which effects both deterrence and punishment for the juvenile offender (Riley, 1997, 133).

Prevailing attitudes about the problem of juvenile cri

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d ethnic backgrounds, are being raised by their mothers in single-parent households, where there is no strong role model for a young boy just at the time he is most in need of one as he begins making the decisions that will mold his life (Monti, 1995, 1180). Often, membership in a neighborhood gang can take the place of both a strong male role model and a feeling of belonging to a "family." This is additionally true for girls, who will have a mother absent at work, and who may be subject to child abuse in one form or another (Molidor, 1996, 253-55). Although there is no stated policy with respect to gang affiliation, gang members will typically be dealt with more severely by the system. This is primarily due to the fact that many of these kids are the ones with prior records or are the ones involved in the more hard core crimes (Bjerregaard, Lizotte, 1995, 47). Gang membership is sometimes used to try to build criminal conspiracy cases. For instance, if three or more gang members are involved, a charge may be filed as engaging in organized crime, in an effort to increase the severity. Gang membership may also be used at detention, in that it may be harder for a gang member to achieve a higher detention level with more priv

Category: Government - J