Update on Gang Crime and Law Enforcement Recordkeeping: Report of the 1994 NIJ Extended National Assessment Survey of Law Enforcement Anti-Gang Information Resources, Final Report

• NCJ Number: 161476
• Date Published: 1994
• Author(s): G D Curry; R A Ball; S H Decker
• Length: 23 pages
• Grant Number(s): 93-IJ-CX-0040; 94-IJ-CX-0066
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

A national survey of law enforcement information on gang- related crime in 1993 and 1994 are reported that extend a 1992 survey in two ways: (1) updates information on 122 municipalities and eight counties included in the 1992 survey; and (2) extends the 1992 survey geographically to include data on all U.S. cities ranging in population from 150,000 to 200,000 and a random sample of 284 municipalities ranging in population from 25,000 to 150,000. Data set archived by the NIJ Data Resources Program at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, located at URL http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/nacjd.

Abstract

The 1992 survey gathered information from the 79 largest U.S. cities and 43 smaller cities. In 1994, for the largest U.S. municipal jurisdictions, 89.5 percent of law enforcement agencies reported gang-related crime problems. Of cities with a population of more than 25,000, 57.8 percent reported the presence of gang-related crime problems. The national gang problem based on law enforcement reports was estimated conservatively at 8,625 gangs, 378,807 gang members, and 437,066 gang-related crimes in 1993. A more reasonable estimate of the national gang problem based on law enforcement reports indicated 16,643 gangs, 55,181 gang members, and 580,331 gang-related crimes in 1993. Between 1988 and 1992, the number of cities reporting gang-related crime problems increased by 23.8 percent. Sources of error in the collection of survey information are noted, and recommendations to improve the collection of gang-related crime information are offered. 18 references, 2 tables, and 9 figures