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Youth Gang Structures and Collective Violence

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Handbook on Crime and Deviance

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Abstract

The author first traces the history of gang formation in the United States and the nationwide scope of gang activity. Gang structures are described next, along with special attention given to the wide variety of gang structures. Developmental gang theories are encapsulated along with important insights that came from these in accounting for gang structures. Next, a brief review of programs that prevent gang joining or reduce gang activity is provided. The chapter concludes with illustration of a practical approach to forming a comprehensive gang prevention, intervention, and suppression program in communities that are experiencing gang activity.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, Superseding Federal Indictment. Retrieved April 21, 2017, from https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/press-release/file/944141/download.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Gang Center, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    James C. Howell

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  1. James C. Howell
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Correspondence to James C. Howell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Marvin D. Krohn

  2. Department of Criminal Justice, Radford University, Radford, VA, USA

    Nicole Hendrix

  3. School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, Albany, NY, USA

    Gina Penly Hall

  4. School of Criminal Justice, University at Albany, Albany, NY, USA

    Alan J. Lizotte

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Howell, J.C. (2019). Youth Gang Structures and Collective Violence. In: Krohn, M., Hendrix, N., Penly Hall, G., Lizotte, A. (eds) Handbook on Crime and Deviance. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20779-3_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20779-3_25

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