Asian Gangs

Abstract

This article presents some recent research findings about Asian gang members. Some of the noteworthy findings are (a) the Asian gang problem is small in comparison with the overall national gang problem; (b) in terms of human developmental or lifespan variables, social variables, and psychological variables, there really is little that can be said to be unique about Asian gang members; (c) in terms of organizational qualities, features, and processes, there is little that is unique to Asian gangs outside of the obvious symbol and language variations; and (d) evidence suggests that a strong integrative influence affects Asian gang members as well; in particular, the finding that when we look at those Asian gang members who come to the attention of the U.S. criminal justice system, most of these Asian gang members do not belong to gangs that are exclusively “Asian.”