Not So Reliable Facts About
Gangs

WARNING!!!

ANY STATISTICS YOU READ ABOUT HOW MANY GANGS
OR GANG MEMBERS THERE ARE IN THE US CAN'T BE TRUSTED!!

Why? Most statistics are estimates by police, and how they count gang members will change from one city to the next, and maybe even between different police officers in a city. For more discussion of the distortion of official data on gangs, click here.

So BE CAREFUL. Here are numbers from the 4th annual National Youth Gang Center Survey
of about 3000 law enforcement agencies. They found:

— A decline in the number of jurisdictions reporting gang activity, from 4824 in 1996 to 4464 in 1998. About half of all jurisdictions reported gang activity and half reported no gang activity

— Law enforcement officers estimated there were 28,700 gangs and 780,000 gang members in the US in 1998, both down from the previous year.

— Respondents reported that 92% of all gangs were male, and only 8% female. Only 1.5% of gangs were reported to be "female dominated."

— Officials reported 46% of all gangs were Hispanic/Latino, 34% African American, 12% Causcasian, and 6% Asian. A third of all gangs were reported as having significant numbers of more than one ethnic group.

— Those surveyed believed 28% of all gangs were "drug gangs," or gangs organized specifically to deal drugs.

 

I have reported these numbers even though I find them practically meaningless because "statistics" like this are used to shape policy. A few things should be noted, however.

  1. There is a decline in the reports of gang activity. This may have more to do with the
    perception of agencies than a measure of real decline. However, I think it's reasonable
    to assume the wealth of the new economy and gentrification are related to decreases in
    open gang activity.

  2. Gangs are more involved with the underground or "informal" economy than ever. While
    there's little reason to trust those who have decided which gang is a "drug gang," there is
    no doubt that gangs today look quite different from the fighting gangs of West Side Story.

  3. Gang activity varies by city. Gangs have a specific life-history within a city, and take their
    character from it. To understand a gang, one needs to understand its city and neighborhood.

  4. There probably are many more female gangs than law enforcement estimates.

It's not that the statistics lie, as much as they may tell us more about the
reporting agencies beliefs than they do about actual gang activity.

Here's some more not so reliable estimates, this time from a usually reliable source, David Curry.

"Reasonable" Estimates of National Gang Problem

From NIJ 1994 Extended Survey

Jurisdiction Size

Gangs: 1993

Members: 1993

Crimes: 1993

Cities over 200,000

4,722

246,431

51,155

Cities 150,000-200,000

788

19,478

46,616

Cities 25,000-150,000

8,964

122,508

89,232

Smaller cities

(1992)

251

31,498

3,156

Selected Counties

1,918

135,266

390,172

National total

16,643

555,181

580,331

Adapted from Curry, Ball, and Decker (1996, 31)

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More about distortion of official statistics