Juvenile justice

As a police officer in the gang unit of the Dallas, Texas, Police Department, Christy Chamberlain sees young people caught in the grip of delinquency nearly every day. She has encountered juveniles as young as 12 who are involved in all types of crime. Even murder. One who stands out in her memory is a middle schooler who repeatedly broke into cars. Then one day...

There is no single definition of a gang, but there are a number of widely accepted criteria for classifying groups as gangs (Decker and Curry, 2003; Esbensen et al., 2001; Klein, 1995; Miller, 1992; Spergel, 1995). This review used the following criteria: (1) the group has three or more members, generally aged 12-24; (2) members share an identity, typically linked to a name and/or symbols...

A study of a national sample of American children found that over the past year 60 percent were exposed to violence, crime, or abuse in their homes, schools, and communities. Almost 40 percent of American children were direct victims of 2 or more violent acts, and 1 in 10 were victims of violence 5 or more times. Children are more likely to be exposed to...