NCJ Number
226152
Date Published
January 2009
Length
48 pages
Annotation
Results are presented from an assessment by the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) and the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) on the prevalence of gangs in the United States.
Abstract
Highlights of key findings include: (1) approximately 1 million gang members belonging to more than 20,000 gangs were criminally active within all 50 States and the District of Columbia as of September 2008; (2) local street gangs, or neighborhood-based street gangs, remain a significant threat because they continue to account for the largest number of gangs nationwide; (3) according to National Drug Threat Survey (NDTS) data, 58 percent of State and local law enforcement agencies reported that criminal gangs were active in their jurisdiction in 2008 compared to 45 percent in 2004; (4) gang members are migrating from urban areas to suburban and rural communities, expanding the gangs’ influence in most regions; (5) criminal gangs commit as much as 80 percent of the crime in many communities; (6) gang members were the primary retail-level distributors of most illicit drugs; (7) some gangs traffic illicit drugs at the regional and national levels; (8) United States-based gang members illegally cross the United States-Mexico border for the express purpose of smuggling illicit drugs and illegal aliens from Mexico to the United States; (9) many gangs actively use the Internet to recruit new members and to communicate with members in other areas of the United States and in foreign countries; and (10) street gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs pose a growing threat to law enforcement along the United States-Canada border. Gangs pose a serious threat to public safety in many communities throughout the United States. Tables, figures, and appendixes A-E