The Youth Gang Task Force figures were based on a series of hearings held throughout the state in 1981. The survey indicated approximately 50,000 gang members in California, exclusive of Los Angeles County. A May 1992 report by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. Both definitions are restrictive. Hardcore gang members devote their lives to the gang, but crim inal associates do not.
Hispanic gangs comprise the majority of the gang population in California.
They are involved in a variety of criminal activities, and their arsenals are expanding to large-caliber. Their members terrorize their own community, and most of their home-invasion robberies include threats or bodily harm to the victims. Some of the robberies have resulted in the torture and death of the victims. White gangs, particularly the Skinheads, are involved in hate crimes. Murders and assaults attributed to Skinheads are on the increase, and most of their crimes are racially motivated.