Responding to gangs Comparing gang member, police, and task force perspectives

Abstract

Perceptions of four groups of actors—members of a gang task force, police officers, gang members, and nongang youth—involved in the St. Louis gang problem response were compared. The two groups of youths regarded gangs as a significantly more serious problem than did either of the adult groups. Youths were significantly more likely to view gangs as instrumentally delinquent, while the adult groups were significantly more likely to view gangs as social organizations. Applying the Spergel-Curry categorization of gang strategies to these data revealed that none of the groups offered consistent response strategies for dealing with gang problems.