Betwixt and Between Street and Prison Gangs: Defining Gangs and Structures in Youth Correctional Facilities

Abstract

An invitation to examine the scope and nature of gang violence within California’s youth correctional facilities has afforded the opportunity to explore gang issues that have not yet been addressed within the Eurogang Research Program.1 Do the basic tenets of the Eurogang Research Program apply to correctional settings? Does the research design and instrumentation developed by Eurogang provide a good fit to this context? Do gangs that appear to thrive in correctional institutions fall within the purview of the Eurogang definition? Finally, scholars and corrections practitioners have drawn sharp distinctions between street gangs and prison gangs. Can the Eurogang methodological tools help to determine whether gangs active in youth institutions look different from street gangs and more like prison gangs? This chapter makes the case that the answer to each of these questions is a resounding “yes.”