Book Review: On Gangs

• Published date: 01 August 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/08874034231167666
• Author: Doris Schartmueller
• Date: 01 August 2023
• Subject Matter: Book Review

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2023, Vol. 34(4) 411 –413

© The Author(s) 2023

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Book Review

Book Review

Scott H. Decker, David C. Pyrooz, and James A. Densley. (2022). On Gangs. Philadelphia, PA:

Temple University Press. 471 pp. ISBN: 9781439920640. US$ 49.95.

Reviewed by: Doris Schartmueller , California State University, Chico, USA

DOI: 10.1177/08874034231167666

In On Gangs (2022), Scott H. Decker, David C. Pyrooz, and James A. Densley respond

to the proliferation of research on gangs in the past few decades, with an integrated and

voluminous 14-chapter account of gang scholarship. The authors thoroughly review

the state of knowledge on gangs, highlight emerging issues within gang research, and

critically assess commonly used strategies to respond to gangs. While the book is

highly informative for academics, legal, and criminal justice professionals, its particu-

lar strengths lie in the integration of various theoretical perspectives on gang emer-

gence and life, its presentation of both mainstream and alternative approaches to gang

research, its attempt to unravel the many myths associated with gangs, and its thor-

ough and critical evaluation of the status of gang scholarship and interventions today.

Together, the three authors share a long history of working on gang research and

have published extensively in this area. On Gangs can be traced back to Confronting

Gangs, written by gang scholar G. David Curry and the first author, Decker, in 1997,

and then Confronting Gangs: Crime and Communities, which was published by Curry

and two of the current three authors (Decker and Pyrooz) in 2014. Decker and Pyrooz

have now invited Densley to join their writing team, and this book is the group’s first

combined effort. A thorough reading of the book reveals that all three authors have

conducted many studies on gangs in the United States and elsewhere, as well as have

been involved in scholarly conversations about gangs for many years. Their own stud-

ies, some of which were conducted together, are cited throughout the book, and the

extensive reference list that includes their own work further underscores their exper-

tise in this field. The authors have also conducted a large number of interviews with

individuals involved with gangs in different locations, and quotes from the interviews

are shared in the early chapters of the book. The comprehensive nature of this text is

directly addressed in the “acknowledgements” section, where the authors note that the

publisher, Temple University Press, still accepted the manuscript, even after it “came

in at nearly twice the number of contracted words” (p. xi).

What motivated Decker, Pyrooz, and Densley to write this book is the lack of a

“centralized body responsible for organizing knowledge” (p. 4), with no special-

ized journals or organizations collecting and preserving research on gangs. Studies

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