The Social Outcomes of Street Gang Involvement. JCPR Working Paper.

This study examined links between early adolescent exposure to entrepreneurial gang activity and later criminal justice, economic, and social outcomes, comparing the social and behavioral outcomes of young people with active gang involvement and their non-gang affiliated counterparts. Participants came from a concentrated poor, predominantly African American community with a long history of street gang presence. In 1990, researchers began gathering information on the activities of all households in this a large, very poor, Chicago public housing community. In 1991, they documented 118 male youth living in the community, of whom 38 were active gang participants. These youth were followed over time. In 2000, researchers were able to contact 90 surviving members of the original sample and reconstruct their economic and social histories. Data on economic, criminal justice, and social justice outcomes came primarily from self-reports provided in structured interviews conducted in 2000. Results indicated that gang involvement had a negative impact on adolescent and young adult development, particularly in terms of years of education, employment, and social mobility. Gang members had greater exposure to the criminal justice system, and their future income tended to derive disproportionately from illegal sources as compared with their non-gang counterparts who tended to be involved in socially legitimated work. (Contains 16 references.) (SM)