National Gang Center

Jakeem Everett was 11 years old when members of a Fort Pierce, Florida, gang began to ensnare him.  An A student who attended church faithfully with his mom and six siblings, he was an unlikely candidate for gang involvement.

"I got tired of being picked on," Jakeem, now 21, says.  "So I started hanging out with these kids in a gang known as the...

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...