Menacing or Mimicking? Realities of Youth Gangs

• Author: JAMES C. HOWELL
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-6988.2007.tb00137.x
• Date: 01 April 2007
• Published date: 01 April 2007

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Spring 2007 • Vol. 58, No 2 • Juvenile and Family Court Journal

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Menacing or Mimicking?

Realities of Youth Gangs

BY JAMES C. HOWELL

James C. Howell, Ph.D., is a Senior Res earch Associate w ith the National Yout h Gang Center, Tallahasse e, Florida. The researc h on which this arti cle

is based was conduct ed under G rant #95-JD-MU-K001, awarded to the Insti tute for In tergovernmental Research, NYGC, from the O ffice of Ju venile Justice and

Delinquenc y Prevention. Points of vie w or opinions expressed herein are those of t he author a nd do not necessarily represent t he official position or policies of

the NYGC or its funding a gencies.

INTRODUCTION

For the past several decades,

youth gangs1 have played

a prominent role in urban

youth culture—feared by

citizens, admired and emu-

lated by many young peo-

ple, and followed closely by

the media. Although youth

gangs have an extended

presence in the United

States (Howell, 1998), they

remain largely an enigma in public perceptions. No two

gangs are alike and no two communities’ gang problems

have the same dimensions; this variance frustrates the

media and others, who find it more convenient to sim-

plify gangs with broad-brush descriptions (Esbensen &

Tusinski, 2007).

Research suggests that cities, towns, and rural coun-

ties can be grouped into three categories with respect

to their experience with youth gangs. The overwhelming

majority of these localities are in the first category: Either

they have never experienced a youth gang problem or, if

they have, it is not a per sistent problem that endangers

residents’ safety (Howell & Egley, 2005a). These com-

munities tend to be rural areas and small towns with

populations under 25,000. The second group of com-

munities—cities and suburbs with populations between

25,000 and 100,000—are the most difficult to classify

with certainty, because many of them will experience

a youth gang problem at some point, but it may not

be a permanent or serious

condition. Finally, the more

persistent and serious gang

problems exist in cities and

suburban areas with popula-

tions greater than 100,000.

In fact, all cities with popula-

tions greater than 250,000

report gang problems year

after year (Egley, Howell, &

Major, 2004).

Menacing or Mimicking?

Without close scrutiny, it is often difficult to assess

the dangerousness of the typical youth gang in less popu-

lated areas. Two sources in particular have a tendency to

misrepresent the characteristics and activities of youth

gangs: the gangs themselves and the media.2 These are

common sources of popular images of youth gangs in

the United States. However, most youth gangs are not as

formidable as these sources would have us believe.3

Felson (2006) offers an insight that calls into ques-

tion several popular perceptions of youth gangs. He

argues that the gangs themselves create myths4 as part

of what he calls their “Big Gang Theor y.” The process

often transpires as follows: Youths sometimes feel that

they need protection on the streets in their communi-

ties; the gang provides this service; however, few gangs

are nasty enough to be particularly effective in protect-

ing youths; hence they need to appear more dangerous

than they actually are to provide maximum protection.

ABSTRACT

Since the 1980s, youth gangs in the United States have been a high

priority for law enforcement and the subject of a great deal of media

attention, particularly in urban areas. Despite all the attention given to

them, youth gangs remain poorly defined and vaguely characterized,

and in many less populated communities, myths about youth gangs com-

plicate the determination of appropriate community responses. To assist

communities in combating gangs, this article illuminates numerous gang

myths and contrasts them with research-based realities. It concludes with

implications and recommendations for community—including juvenile

court—responses to gangs.