Gang busters: states respond to rising gang violence.

• Author: Hammond, Sarah

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Early this year in Los Angeles, 17-year-old Jamiel Andre Shaw, a high school football star, was walking down the street and talking on his cell phone to his girlfriend when someone came up and asked what gang he was in. When he didn't answer, he was shot to death.

Shaw's death is just one example of the thousands of victims killed each year in gang-related crimes across the county. From Boston to Los Angeles, across the Midwest and down to Georgia and Florida, gang activity and violence is on the rise. It's also deadlier than ever, thanks to drugs and guns.

While it was once only an inner-city problem, today gangs have spread nationwide to suburbs, small towns and Native American reservations. And they draw new members from all walks of life.

According to the FBI, there are now more than 30,000 different gangs across America with some 800,000 members. They're in all 50 states and the U.S. territories.

WHY DO KIDS JOIN?

The FBI defines a gang as "a group of three or more individuals bonded together by race, national origin, culture or territory, who associate on a continual basis for the purpose of committing criminal acts." Many gangs are a product of a specific neighborhood or locale, but some gangs have established national franchises far from their home base.

Kids join gangs for protection and emotional and social support. Mostly, gangs start up in unstable, poor neighborhoods. Broken homes, violent parents and family members, and access to drugs all play a part. At-risk and delinquent youths are usually the same kids who end up in gangs. Sometimes, membership in a certain gang is a family tradition. Kids join the gang that their father, brother or cousins joined before them.

Gangs have more money and power than in recent decades, making them attractive to younger children who see powerful members driving fancy cars and sporting fancy guns. The richer gangs become, the more competitive they are in their recruitment.

There's no denying that the thriving meth trade has accounted for some of the recent increase in gang activity. For decades, homemade methamphetamine was a small-time drug. Meth "cooks" worked in home kitchens, making a few ounces for themselves or to sell through motorcycle gangs. But tough legislation passed in recent years made pseudoephedrine harder to get and shut down numerous meth labs. With meth cooks out of the way, Mexican drug cartels are targeting street gangs, especially on the West Coast...