U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

who reported that the majority of gang-related violent crime was

committed against persons not involved in gangs ranged from 59

percent in smaller areas to 21 percent in larger areas. Additionally,

84 percent of respondents reported at least one occurrence in

which one or more gang members used a firearm in an assault

crime. Sixty percent of respondents reported that individual gang

members acting alone or with a few other gang members committed the majority of gang-related violent crime, and 46 percent of

respondents reported that the majority of gang-related violent

crime was committed on the street. These latter two findings

varied little across population sizes.

Respondents were asked to identify any gang subgroups within

their jurisdictions. Forty-nine percent of respondents reported

at least one subgroup based on area or location, followed by 45

percent based on age and 32 percent on gender. A large majority

(i.e., more than 75 percent) of respondents indicated that each

subgroup has a special name.

Among respondents reporting gang activity in 2000, 95 percent

identified activity within one or more high schools in their jurisdictions. Ninety-one percent of respondents reported gang activity

within one or more intermediate schools in their jurisdictions.

Seventy-two percent of respondents reported that gang members

who returned to the community from prison had a negative impact

on youth gang problems, whereas 7 percent reported no impact

and 21 percent reported that they could not make a determination.3

Among agencies that reported an impact, 30 percent reported that

returning gang members greatly contributed to the growth of drug

trafficking, 19 percent reported that they greatly contributed to an

increase in violence among local gangs, and 12 percent reported

that they greatly increased local gang access to weapons.

Highlights of the 2000 National

Youth Gang Survey

by Arlen Egley, Jr., and Mehala Arjunan

The 2000 National Youth Gang Survey is the sixth annual gang

survey conducted since 1995 by the National Youth Gang Center

(NYGC). The 2000 survey used the same sample as the surveys

conducted from 1996 through 1999, which consisted of the

following:

◆ A total of 1,216 police departments serving all larger cities

(with populations of 25,000 or more).

◆ A total of 661 suburban county police and sheriff’s departments (all suburban counties).

◆ A randomly selected sample (n=398) of police departments

serving cities with populations between 2,500 and 24,999

(smaller cities).

◆ A randomly selected sample (n=743) of rural county police

and sheriff’s departments (rural counties).

Respondents to the 2000 survey were requested to report information only for youth gangs, defined as “a group of youths or

young adults in your jurisdiction that you or other responsible

persons in your agency or community are willing to identify or

classify as a ‘gang.’” Motorcycle gangs, hate or ideology groups,

prison gangs, and adult gangs were excluded from the survey.

Survey Findings

Of 3,018 survey recipients, 2,542 (84 percent) responded to the

2000 survey. Forty percent of the sampled law enforcement agencies reported active youth gangs in their jurisdictions, 4 percent

less than in 1999. Based on survey results, NYGC researchers

estimate that more than 24,500 gangs and 772,500 gang members were active in more than 3,330 jurisdictions across the

United States in 2000.

Respondents1 were asked to provide information on the characteristics of gang-related violent crime in their jurisdictions. The

percentage of respondents who reported that the majority of

gang-related violent crime was committed against members of

another gang ranged from 23 percent in smaller areas to 54 percent in larger areas.2 Conversely, the percentage of respondents

February 2002 #04

1 For the remainder of this Fact Sheet, “respondents” refers only to those agencies reporting

youth gang activity in 2000.

2 In this Fact Sheet, “smaller areas” refers to agencies serving jurisdictions with a population

of less than 25,000 and “larger areas” refers to agencies serving jurisdictions with a population

of more than 100,000.

3 Agencies reporting “do not know” are presented here because of their appreciable number.

Elsewhere in this Fact Sheet, “do not know” responses are excluded from analysis.
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Witness intimidation by gang members was reported as a common

occurrence by 66 percent of respondents, ranging from 44 percent

of respondents in smaller areas to 83 percent of respondents in

larger areas. Eighty-two percent reported that measures are currently being taken to remedy the problem of witness intimidation.

Thirty-seven percent of respondents experiencing gang activity

in 2000 operated a specialized unit with two or more officers assigned primarily to deal with youth gang matters. More than half

of these agencies reported that two to four full-time officers are

currently assigned to a gang unit. For a large majority of respondents (83 percent), the activities of patrol/enforcement, intelligence

gathering, and investigation accounted for three-fourths or more

of gang unit time.

Fifty percent of respondents indicated that, when compared to

1999, their youth gang problems in 2000 remained about the

same, whereas 28 percent reported that they had improved and

22 percent reported that they had worsened.

Summary

Results from the 2000 National Youth Gang Survey indicate that

the characteristics of gang-related violent crime varied according

to jurisdictional size. More than half of the larger areas reported

that the majority of their gang-related violent crime was committed against members of other gangs, whereas more than half of

the smaller areas reported that the majority of their gang-related

violent crime was committed against individuals not involved in

gangs. More than half of all agencies reported that individual

members acting alone or with a few other gang members committed the majority of the gang-related violent crime, and gang members returning from prison were reported to have affected local

gang problems in a large number of areas. These findings highlight the importance of continuing systematic assessment and

response in combating youth gang problems.

For Further Information

Extensive analysis of the 2000 survey and the 1999 and forthcoming 2001 surveys will be combined in a comprehensive report

examining trends related to youth gangs. For additional information about youth gangs, call the Office of Juvenile Justice and

Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) Juvenile Justice Clearinghouse at 800–638–8736 or contact NYGC at 800–446–0912 or

www.iir.com/nygc/.

Arlen Egley, Jr., is a Research Associate and Mehala Arjunan is a former

Research Assistant with NYGC, which is operated for OJJDP by the

Institute for Intergovernmental Research in Tallahassee, FL.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component 

of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice

Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice,

and the Office for Victims of Crime.

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