Gangs, groups, and crime

Gangs, Groups and Crime addresses the collective youth problem in North Carolina, a state that has received very little attention in previous research on youth gangs and youth groups. The central theme throughout this book involves comparing and contrasting the characteristics of youth gangs and groups, their activities, and the organization responses to the problem. It is not only important to identify the locations that were experiencing perceived or actual collective youth crime problems, but also to discern the form in which the problems are manifested. Youth gangs, which may have crossed a "tipping point" in the evolutionary stages of a group, operate under different group processes and may be differentially amenable to certain prevention and intervention strategies. The book's findings highlight the perceived scope and nature of the problem, organizational responses to the problem, the effectiveness of prevention and intervention strategies, and the perceived causes of the problem.