Gangs in America's Communities

“[Gangs in America's Communities] is one of the most comprehensive treatments of gangs in the marketplace. . I highly recommend its adoption as you will not be disappointed and, most importantly, neither will your students.”
—Elvira White-Lewis, Texas A&M University-Commerce

Gangs in America's Communities, Third Edition blends theory with current research to help readers identify essential features associated with youth violence and gangs, as well as apply strategies for gang control and prevention. Authors Dr. James C. Howell and Dr. Elizabeth Griffiths introduce readers to theories of gang formation, illustrate various ways of defining and classifying gangs, and discuss national trends in gang presence and gang-related violence across American cities. They also offer evidence-based strategies for positioning communities to prevent, intervene, and address gang activity.

New to the Third Edition:

- A series of new case studies document the evolution of numerous gangs in large cities, including the community aspect, evolutionary nature, and how cities influence levels of violence.
- New discussions highlighting the role of social media, insights into how gangs use it to recruit members, and the response from law enforcement.
- Current nationwide gang trends are discussed to encourage readers to analyze and interpret the most recent statistics for which representative data is available.
- Updated macro and micro gang theories enable readers to explore a recent encapsulation of leading developmental models.
- New discussions around female gang members offer readers potentially effective programs for discouraging females from joining gangs—along with highly regarded delinquency prevention and reduction programs that have the potency to be effective in reducing gang crimes among young women.
- A comprehensive gang prevention, intervention, and suppression program in Multnomah County, Oregon shows how theory was successfully applied to reduce gang activity in a local community.
- New research on “gang structures” and their rates of crime illustrate the connections between violent crimes and the amount of violent offenders within a gang.
- Additional discussion of distinguishing features (e.g., typologies) of major gangs, and numerous examples of gang symbols, tattoos, and graffiti has been added to help readers identify and differentiate various types of gangs.