Gangs and Delinquency in Developmental Perspective

by Terence P. Thornberry, Marvin D. Krohn, Alan J. Lizotte, Carolyn A. Smith, Kimberly Tobin

Overview

To reveal how membership in adolescent street gangs influences human development, the authors examine the origins of gang membership and the social and psychological factors that lead to joining. After demonstrating that gang members are responsible for the major share of serious and violent delinquency, they indicate how membership facilitates delinquent behavior and other developmental problems such as teen pregnancy and school dropout.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521814393
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	01/13/2003
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Criminology
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

1. A life-course orientation to the study of gang membership; 2. Research procedures: the sample and the data; 3. Characteristics of gang members; 4. The antecedents of gang membership; 5. The origins of gang membership; 6. Gangs as a facilitating context for delinquent behavior; 7. Gangs, guns, and crime; 8. Gangs and other law violating youth groups; 9. Long-term consequences of gang membership; 10. Gangs in life-course perspective.

Editorial Reviews

"This book makes a major contribution...[and] this study succeeds very well in doing what it set out to do." The Prevention Researcher

From the Publisher