DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02626
title: Criminal Behavior of Gangs in Aurora and Denver, Colorado, and Broward County, Florida: 1993-1994
title: Archival Version

description: This study was undertaken to measure the criminal behavior
 of gangs, including their involvement in delinquent behavior such as
 drug use and drug trafficking activities, and to compare gang behavior
 with that of youth who were at risk, but who had not yet become active
 in gangs. The project assessed the role that gangs play in the lives
 of youth whose living conditions are otherwise comparable. In order to
 study the criminal behavior of gangs, investigators sought to
 interview 50 gang members and 50 non-gang, at-risk youth at two sites
 in Colorado and one site in Florida. A large portion of the interview
 questions asked in both the gang member interview and the at-risk
 youth interview were parallel. The following variables appear in both
 the gang member and at-risk youth files (Parts 1 and 2 respectively)
 created for this data collection: gang popularity variables
 (respondents' perceptions of the positive and negative attributes of a
 gang, and why gangs endure over time), drug involvement variables
 (whether respondents or fellow members/friends sold various types of
 drugs, why selling drugs increases a person's "juice", the drug source
 organization, and where they traveled to get the drugs), criminal
 history variables (the reasons why respondents believed they were able
 to get away with crimes, their first arrest age, and their most
 serious arrest charge), personal activity variables (whether
 respondents or fellow members/friends participated in dances, sporting
 events, fighting, drug use or selling, shoplifting, assaulting people,
 or burglarizing homes), variables concerning the future (whether
 respondents would join a gang again/join a gang today, why some gangs
 survive and others don't, and how respondents see their future), and
 demographic variables (respondents' age, sex, race, city,
 neighborhood, school, school status, type of work, marital status, and
 relationship with parent(s)). In addition, Part 1, the Gang Member
 Data, contains gang status variables (gang symbols, gang nickname,
 gang turf, and how members define a gang) and gang membership
 variables (roles of the respondents within the gang, why members join
 a gang, what the most important gang rule is, and what happens to
 those who refuse the gang). Part 2, At-Risk Youth Data, contains
 additional variables on gang contact (the names of gangs who had
 approached the respondents, methods used to try to get the youths to
 join, how the youths refused the gang, and what happened as a result
 of refusing) and prevention (how at-risk youth would advise a young
 person to react if approached by a gang, and what the youths felt was
the best way to prepare children to deal with gangs).
description: Many communities throughout the nation have
 attempted to address the emergence of gangs and their related criminal
 behavior since the mid-1980s. This study was designed to assist these
 communities and the government in formulating and implementing
 policies and programs designed to prevent and control the criminal
 behavior of gangs. The study sought to measure the criminal behavior
 of gangs, including their involvement in drug use and drug trafficking
 activities, and to compare gang behavior with that of youth who were
 at risk, but who had not yet become active in gangs. The project
 assessed the role that gangs play in the lives of youth whose living
 conditions are otherwise comparable. The study focused on three
 critical research questions: (1) What is the nature and extent of
 criminal behavior committed by youth gangs? (2) What is the nature and
 extent of criminal behavior committed by non-gang, at-risk youth? and
 (3) What is the marginal contribution of gang involvement to criminal
behavior, comparing gang youth with at-risk youth?
description: In order to study the criminal behavior of gangs,
 investigators sought to interview 50 gang members and 50 non-gang,
 at-risk youth in three sites. Interviewers at each site were selected
 and trained by the principal investigator using an interview
 instrument developed for this study. All respondents were paid for
 their time with either movie coupons or McDonald's coupons. In
 addition to the coupons, those individuals who had been ordered to
 complete community service time were given the opportunity to request
 that the researchers contact the court to ask that the interview be
 counted toward the youth's community service requirement. Interview
 scheduling was established so that the safety of all human subjects
 was protected -- for example, members of rival gangs were never
 scheduled for sequential interviews. Each of the 285 interviews
 completed during the study required approximately one and one-half to
 two hours to complete. Interviews were audiotaped for later
 transcription, and all responses were subsequently coded for
computerized data analyses.
description: A large portion of the interview questions asked in
 both the gang member interview and the at-risk youth interview were
 parallel. The following variables appear in both the gang member and
 at-risk youth files (Parts 1 and 2 respectively) created for this data
 collection: gang popularity variables (respondents' perceptions of
 positive and negative attributes of a gang, and why gangs endure over
 time), drug involvement variables (whether respondents or fellow
 members/friends sold various types of drugs, why selling drugs
 increases a person's "juice", the drug source organization, and where
 they traveled to get the drugs), criminal history variables (the
 reasons why respondents believed they were able to get away with
 crimes, their first arrest age, and their most serious arrest charge),
 personal activity variables (whether respondents or fellow
 members/friends participated in dances, sporting events, fighting,
 drug use or selling, shoplifting, assaulting people, or burglarizing
 homes), variables concerning the future (whether respondents would
 join a gang again/join a gang today, why some gangs survive and others
 don't, and how respondents see their future), and demographic
 variables (respondents' age, sex, race, city, neighborhood, school,
 school status, type of work, marital status, and relationship with
 parent(s)). In addition, Part 1, the Gang Member Data, contains gang
 status variables (gang symbols, gang nickname, gang turf, and how
 members define a gang) and gang membership variables (roles of the
 respondents within the gang, why members join a gang, what the most
 important gang rule is, and what happens to those who refuse the
 gang). Part 2, At-Risk Youth Data, contains additional variables on
 gang contact (the names of gangs who had approached the respondents,
 methods used to try to get the youths to join, how the youths refused
 the gang, and what happened as a result of refusing) and prevention
 (how at-risk youth would advise a young person to react if approached
 by a gang, and what the youths felt was the best way to prepare
children to deal with gangs).
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: Stratified reputational sampling.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Gang Member Data
DS2: At-Risk Youth Data
description: All gang members and at-risk youth in Aurora and Denver,
Colorado, and Broward County, Florida.
description: (1) The original data collection instruments include
 references to Ohio sites. Data collected in Ohio were not part of this
 grant and therefore are not part of this data collection. (2) The user
 guide, codebook, and data collection instruments are provided as
 Portable Document Format (PDF) files. The PDF file was developed by
 Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader
 software, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a
 copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided through the ICPSR Website on
the Internet.