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Gang Statistics: how many, where are they, who they are and crime data
1. USA Today number of gangs and gang members 2009
2. National Gang Threat Assessment 2009 (stats on all gang activity across U.S.)
3. Fasten Gang crime statistics for the U.S (fast, easy to read statistics on gangs)
4.  National Youth Gang Survey 1996-2000 (stats on gender, ethnicity, number of gangs, age of gang members
and other break downs for year 2000)
5.  National Youth Gang Center (quick answers, facts and links)
6, "Gang Wars" Justice Department Report 2007: 1) police tactics not working 2) gang numbers going down 3) gang crime going down
Gang Crime Statistics for entire U.S.
6. Violent crimes by gang members
7. FBI website on crime statistics
Statistics on gangs in school and school gang prevention programs
8.  National Survey of Secondary Schools (research on school anti-gang programs)
Websites with general gang information
6. Streetgangs.com & gangstyles.com & knowgangs (pictures, gang culture, stats)
Learning Disabilities / Emotional Disorders among gang members:
7.  Learning disabilities among incarcerated juveniles (Best survey)
8.  Prevalence of Children with Disabilities in the Juvenile Corrections (also good)
9.  ERIC Review and Paradigm Magazine  (how to work with LD/ED gang members)
Indian Country/Native American Gangs
10.  2000 OJJDP Study of Gangs on Indian Country
11. Native American Youth in Gangs: Acculturation and Identity
12.  ERIC Review and Paradigm Magazine  (Info on Indian gangs and prevention)
General info on why gangs form and who joins them
13.  ERIC Review and Paradigm Magazine  (causes, prevention and intervention)
14.  Office of Juvenile Justice Review of Gang Literature (college level research)
Women & Girls in Gangs and Prison:
18. women in prison: crimes, conditions and backgrounds (powerpoint)
15. OJJDP Bulletin on female gangs (by Experts Moore and Hagedorn)
16. Female Gang Members in Canada
17. National Female Custody Data
18. 2 articles: "What puts Girls at Risk" and "Strategy of a Female Intervention Team"
19. What are the needs of delinquent adolescent girls
General prison statistics
20. State by State Juveniles in Custody (male and female)

Gang Statistics




5. HOW MANY CITIES HAVE GANG ACTIVITY?

  • Every city in the U.S. with at least 250,000 people has gang activity.

  • 86% of those with at least 100,000 people report gang activity (see article #3)

6. WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT LEAD TO GANG INVOLVEMENT?
  • Learning disabilities & emotional disorders: 60% - 78% of Incarcerated gang members - male and female - have emotional and learning disabilities.  (see article #7 below for this statistic)
  • School Failure and Truancy
  • No involvement in positive activities outside of school
  • Friends and peers who are delinquent
  • Early involvement in petty theft and behavioral disorders in grade school
  • Low Income

7. HOW MANY GIRLS ARE INVOLVED IN GANGS?
  • Threre are approximately 32,000 teenage female gang members
  • There are approximately 48,000 adult female gang members
  • 60% of gangs do not allow female members. (Girls hang around, go to parties, but are not considered "members."
  • 40% of gangs allow female members, but only 1 out of 10 members is a girl
  • There are very few all girl gangs. Only 2% of all gangs are female only.
  • Female gang members commit fewer crimes and violence: Their incarcerations tend to be for drug use, larceny, petty theft, status offenses or domestic issues (e.g.,fights with parents and runaway).
  • In the U.S., there are approximately 14,000 girls in correctional placement versus 90,000 boys. The majority of the 14,000 girls have some gang affiliation, but how many is not clear. .
  • 70% of girls in jail report having been sexually abused or victimized as children
  • 65% of girls in jail have a psychological issue such as clinical depression or generalized anxiety vs 30% for boys (although this number is increasing).
  • 26% of girls in jail have been in special education. Although there are far fewer girls than boys in special education, girls who do have learning problems are at very high risk for gang association.

8. WHAT ARE THE RISK FACTORS FOR GIRLS WHO JOIN GANGS?
  • School failure and learning disabilities: One out of three girls in gangs have been in special education
  • Lack of involvement in positive activities in or out of school
  • Sexual abuse and victimization
  • Family dysfunction
  • Low Income
  • Early drug use and sexual activity
  • Emotional disorders
  • Exposure to violence

9. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT GANG INVOLVEMENT ON iNDIAN RESERVATIONS?
  • 23% of reservations in a goverment study reported up to 40 active gangs.
  • 80% of gang members in this study were male, and 3 out of 4 were under 18 yrs.Reservation Gang members are mostly teenagers, not adults. The opposite of city gangs
  • 20% of gang members on Native reservations are girls versus 6%-11% off the reservation.10% of gangs reported that half their members were female. The Point: Girls who live on reservations join gangs at a higher rate than off-reservation
  • 78% of gang members on reservations were Native American, BUT 22% were non-Indian youths living on or near the reservation (Black, Hispanic, Caucasian).
  • A gang survey on the Navajo reservation found that gang members did not know their native language, were alienated from the culture; had no positive activities; had severe difficulty in school, early drug/alcohol use; and came from more dysfunctional homes with greater poverty than non-gang members.
  • If you look at the numbers, more youth join gangs on many reservations than do in cities. The reasons for this are obvious: On these reservations there is little employment for teens, lack of activities for youth, and extremely high poverty. Look at articles 10, 11 and 12 below for more info

10. How much crime is committed by gangs and gang members?

11. Statistics for number and percent of gang members by race/ethnicity:
  • Black/African-American Gang members: 31% or about 310,000
  • Hispanic Gang members: 47% or about 470,000
  • white/caucasian gang members: 13% or about 130,000 by police survey
  • white/caucasian gang members: 40% by self-reported youth survey (see article #6 below - they use a survey of youth rather than police records)
  • Asian gang members: 7% or about 70,000
  • Indian/Native American gang members: Not many by number, but an increasing problem on reservations
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4. HOW MANY JUVENILE GANG MEMBERS ARE IN PRISON?

  • 15% of juveniles in prison are female and 85% are male

  • 90,000 boys are in some kind of detention facility, work camp, residential placement or correctional facility. 9 out of 10 boys in detention have some level of gang affiliation
  • 14,000 girls (under 19 yrs.) are in some kind placement: detention, residential placement or correctional facility. It isn't clear how many have gang affiliation..
--PLEASE CHECK BACK -- WE ARE ADDING LINKS AND INFORMATION DAILY
1.  HOW MANY GANGS AND GANG MEMBERS IN THE U.S.?
  • 24,500 gangs in the U.S (article 4 at bottom of page).
  • 750,000 gang members in 2000 and 2007 (see articles 4 & 6)
  • One Million gang members in 2009 (see articles1 & 2-bottom of page)

2. HOW OLD ARE GANG MEMBERS?
  • 40% are juveniles (under 18) and 60% are adults, or about 400,000 teenage gang members and 600,000 adult gang members.

3. HOW MANY MALES AND FEMALES ARE IN GANGS?
  • Between 90% to 94% of gang members are male. Between 6% to 10% are female.
  • There are approximately 360,000 teenage boys and 32,000 teenage girls in gangs
  • There are approximately 560,000 adult males and 48,000 adult females in gangs