Title: Understanding Youth Gangs: Resources for Schools | Texas School Safety Center
Headings: Understanding Youth Gangs: Resources for Schools
Understanding Youth Gangs: Resources for Schools
August 2015
Defining Gangs
Unstable Behavior of Youth and Gang Structure
Gang Violence and Drugs in Schools
Risk Factors
Gang Programs
Additional Resources
Notes
References

Content: Youth behavior is often unstable, sometimes even changing from week to week. A child may have one group of friends this week, and a new group the next. Considering gangs, a youth who decides to join a gang today may not be a member next month. Research suggests that juvenile gangs have high rates of turnover, as members are typically only part of the gang for about one year. 14, 17 This demonstrates the need to clarify gang membership. It is difficult to measure and understand gangs when they are constantly changing composition. With new members come new ideas, new goals, and new ways of doing things. This belief about the dynamic nature of youth gangs is known as far back as the 1950s. Yablonsky 37 suggested that gangs are more like “near-groups” characterized by shifting membership, loosely defined roles, and limited cohesion. This could be why fitting a definition of gangs and determining gang membership is so difficult.