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Race and Ethnicity: What Are Their Roles in Gang Membership?

Date Published
September 15, 2013

The roles of race and ethnicity in gang membership are becoming increasingly complicated; more gangs are becoming multiracial, which affects the role of race and ethnicity, especially with respect to conflicts between gangs. Research-based evidence on how race and ethnicity should influence gang membership prevention strategies is still limited. That said, gang-joining prevention strategies should address common factors that cut across racial and ethnic lines, such as poverty and immigration, social isolation and discrimination, drug use, limited educational opportunities, and low parental monitoring.

Read the Changing Course chapter “Race and Ethnicity: What Are Their Roles in Gang Membership?” by Adrienne Freng and Terrance J. Taylor (pdf, 15 pages).

About This Article

This article presents a chapter summary from the joint National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication Changing Course: Preventing Gang Membership (pdf, 166 pages). Changing Course features chapters written by some of the nation’s top criminal justice and public health researchers. The volume was edited by Thomas R. Simon, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nancy M. Ritter, National Institute of Justice, Reshma R. Mahendra, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Date Published: September 15, 2013