All types of communities across the nation, youth gangs disrupt public life and deplete law enforcement resources. Efforts of local law enforcement agencies are at the heart of the nation's progress in responding to youth gang problems.

Local police protect their communities from gang-perpetrated crime and vio­lence, contribute to data-gathering pro­jects that guide the development of ef­fective strategies for addressing gang problems, and collaborate with other or­ganizations in their communities to iden­tify and address local problems.

The resources described in this article are available to support these efforts.

A Brief History of Youth Gangs

 The origins of youth gangs in the United States are uncertain. Their first recorded appearance may have been as early as 1783, at the end of the American Revolution. Gangs spread in New Eng­land in the early 1800s, as the Industrial Revolution gathered momentum in the first major cities (New York, Boston, and Philadelphia). They then began to flour­ish in Chicago and other large cities dur­ing the industrial era. The nation has wit­nessed four distinct periods of gang growth and peak activity: the late 1800s, the 1920s, the 1960s, and the 1990s.

Recent Trends

Modern-era youth gangs have been in­fluenced by a number of trends. During the 1970s and 1980s, greater mobility and access to more lethal weapons meant that many gangs became more danger­ous. The1980s and 1990s saw changes in the age composition of gangs - younger and older gang members both became more common. Modern-era gangs are characterized by more members with prison records or ties to prison inmates, more lethal weapons, less concern with territory, more use of alcohol and drugs, and greater involvement in drug traffick­ing. Gangs have recently become more prevalent in rural counties, small cities and towns.

Statistical Overview:

The National Youth Gang Survey

Each year since 1996, the National Youth Gang Center has surveyed a na­tionally representative sample of police and sheriff's departments about gang ac­tivity in their jurisdictions. In 1998 (the latest year for which survey results are available), 48 percent of the 2,688 re­spondents reported that youth gangs were active in their jurisdictions. Based on survey findings, it is estimated that a total of 4,464 jurisdictions nationwide experienced gang activity in 1998 and that 28,700 gangs and 780,000 gang members were active.

Since 1996, there has been a slight but steady decline in gang presence (see table). In 1998, however, 42 percent of Na­tional Youth Gang Survey (NYGS) re­spondents reported that the gang problem in their jurisdiction was staying about the same, 28 percent said it was getting worse, and 30 percent said it was getting better.

The NYGS reports gang activity by four area types: large cities, suburban counties, small cities and rural counties (see chat1). Between 1997 and 1998, the number of gangs decreased by 2 percent in large cities and suburban counties, 13 percent in small cities, and 9 percent in rural counties. The number of gang members remained virtu­ally unchanged in large cities, decreased by 3 percent in small cities and 16 percent in suburban counties, but increased by 3 percent in rural counties.

The NYGS also measures the demo­graphic composition of gangs. In 1998, an estimated 92 percent of gang members nationally were male and 8 percent were female; only 1.5 percent of gangs were female-dominated. The age distribution of gang members in 1998 was as follows: under age 15, II percent; ages 15-17, 29 percent; ages 18-24, 46 percent; and over age 24, 14 percent. The racial/ethnic dis­tribution was as follows: Hispanic/Lati­no, 46 percent; African American, 35 percent; Caucasian, 12 percent; Asian, 6 percent; and other, 2 percent. About 33 percent of gangs had a significant mix­ture of racial/ethnic groups.

The 1998 survey confirmed previous survey findings that gang members are often involved in a variety of serious and violent crimes. About half of the agencies that reported gang problems said they were involved in collaborative efforts with other law enforcement and criminal jus­tice agencies to address these problems.

Role of the OJJDP

Through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), the federal government provides nation­al leadership, coordination and resources to prevent and respond to juvenile delin­quency and child victimization. Located within the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, OJJDP spon­sors a broad array of research, program and training initiatives.

Addressing the youth gang problem is one of OJJDP's top priorities. An entire section ("Part D") of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended - the Federal law authoriz­ing OJJDP - is devoted to the definition and funding of gang-related programs. In fiscal year (FY) 2000, OJJDP dedicated $12 million to continue existing Part D programs and explore new ones.

OJJDP has developed a comprehen­sive, coordinated response to youth gang problems. The response encompasses a wide range of programs and projects, in­cluding research, prevention, intervention, suppression and information shar­ing. Among the initiatives funded for FY 2000 are the following:

• Comprehensive Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Inter­vention and Suppression Program (Comprehensive Gang Model): Begin­ning in FY 1995, OJJDP awarded funds to five jurisdictions to help them reduce gang violence by implementing the Comprehensive Gang Model. The model includes five key strategies: mobilizing communities, providing youth opportu­nities, suppressing gang violence, pro­viding social interventions and street 0ut­reach, and facilitating organizational change and development.

• National Youth Gang Center: OJJDP continues to fund the National Youth Gang Center (NYGC), in Tallahassee, Fla. The NYGC is a "one-stop shop" for information about gangs and effective re­sponses to them. Established in 1995, the NYGC analyzes state and local gang leg­islation and local anti-gang ordinances, re­views the literature on gangs, compiles and analyzes data about gangs, and iden­tifies effective gang program strategies. The NYGC also conducts the National Youth Gang Survey, cited above. The NYGC is also the principal technical as­sistance component for OJJDP-funded anti-gang programs. For information about the NYGC, phone (850) 385-0600 or visit www.iir.comlnygc.

• Rural Gang Initiative: OJJDP con­tinues to fund the adaptation of the Com­prehensive Gang Model at four rural sites and also funds evaluation, training and technical assistance for these efforts.

• Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach (Boys & Girls Clubs): The purpose of this program is to enable local Boys & Girls Clubs to prevent youth from entering gangs, intervene with gang members early in their involvement and divert youth from gang life into more constructive activities. The program re­flects an ongoing collaboration between OJJDP and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to reduce problems of juvenile delinquency and violence.

OJJDP Resources

• Publications: OJJDP offers a wide range of publications presenting au­thoritative information related to gangs, including a special series of bul­letins that address such key issues as gang migration, gang growth, female involvement with gangs, homicide, drugs and violence, and the needs of communities and youth that live in the presence of gangs. A list of selected publications appears at the end of this article. The publications may be or­dered through OJJDP's Juvenile Jus­tice Clearinghouse (see below).

• Funding opportunities: Among forth­coming funding opportunities from OJJDP are programs to replicate OJJDP's comprehensive Gang Model in addi­tional communities and to develop a school-focused en­hancement of the model. Law enforce­ment agencies wish­ing to develop a strategic and com­prehensive approach to local youth gang problems are encour­aged to consider this support. Information about funding oppor­tunities is available through the Juvenile Justice Clearing­house.

• Training and technical assistance:

In 1999, OJJDP sponsored the second national youth gang symposium, which was designed to help practitioners put re­search into practice; 1,200 practitioners (including many law enforcement offi­cials) attended. OJJDP also provides communities with training and technical assistance on youth gang issues through an agreement with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

• Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse: All OJJDP publications are available through the Juvenile Justice Clearing­house (JJC). JJC also answers informa­tion requests via phone, fax or e-mail.

Mail: Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849-6000.

Phone: (800)638-8736 (Monday-Fri­day, 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. ET).

Fax: (410) 792-4358 (publication or­ders), (301) 519-5600 (other assistance).

E-mail: puborder@ncjrs.org (publica­tion orders), askncjrs@ncjrs.org (other assistance).

JJC also supports OJJDP's Website, www.ojjdp.ncjrs.org, where users can download gang-related publications and access a comprehensive description of OJJDP's gang-related resources.

Other Federal Activities

The Department of Justice's commit­ment to addressing gang-related issues is also reflected in the work of two other Office of Justice Program bureaus: the research and evaluation activities of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the training and technical assistance ac­tivities of the Bureau of Justice Assis­tance (BJA). The OJJDP-sponsored Youth Gang Consortium works to coor­dinate gang program development and information exchange among numerous Federal agencies and Department of Jus­tice bureaus. A report on Consortium anti gang activities can be found at the NYGC Web site, www.iir.com/nygc.

Conclusion

Youth gangs have proliferated rapidly over the past two decades. Recent survey results sug­gest that the tide may be turning, but history demon­strates that gangs are unlikely to dis­appear. Progress is being made in identifying the risk factors that lead young people to join gangs and in de­veloping comprehensive programs that combine prevention, social intervention and rehabilitation, and suppression of gang violence. Local law enforcement agencies continue to be critical to this progress and to much of the work that lies ahead.

Lynn Marble is a senior writer-editor with the Juvenile Justice Clearing­house for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.