Youth gang migration
The proliferation of gangs in the United States has heightened the interest in gang migration in recent years. Migration has often been mentioned as a factor contributing to the spread of gangs in State legislative task force reports, government-sponsored conference presentations, and law enforcement reports at the local, State, and Federal levels (Maxson, Woods, and Klein, 1996). The conclusions of many of these reports, however, have been at odds with those of empirically based studies (Maxson, Woods, and Klein, 1996; Maxson, 1998). A recent study of more than 1,100 cities concluded that migrant gang members have had less of an effect on the proliferation of gangs throughout the country than previously believed (Maxson, Woods, and Klein, 1996; Maxson, 1998).
The 1997 survey also included questions regarding gang migration so that the data could be compared with the 1996 survey results. Respondents were asked to identify the proportion of youth gang members in their jurisdictions who were migrants. Eighty-nine percent of respondents with active youth gangs reported that they experienced some gang migration in 1997, compared with 84 percent in 1996. After weighting the percentages to account for the number of youth gang members in each jurisdiction, it was estimated that 23 percent of all youth gang members in the United States had migrated from some other jurisdiction to the one in which they currently reside. This figure reveals that the number of gang migrants increased slightly (2 percent) between 1996 and 1997.
To evaluate trends across area types, regions, and population categories, unweighted percentages of gang migrants were also evaluated. Figure 13 illustrates the unweighted average percentage of gang migrants, by area type. The average percentage of gang migrants in 1997 was highest (37 percent) in small cities, which is consistent with data reported in the 1996 survey. The average percentage for the remainder of the area types varied somewhat but revealed no clear trends. These variations were not found to be statistically significant.
Respondents were also given a list of possible reasons for gang migration and asked to identify those that explained most of the migration to their jurisdictions. The following reasons were included in the list:
The vast majority (70 percent) of respondents cited social factors as the reason why youth gang members migrated to their jurisdictions (see figure 16). Establishing drug markets was the second most cited reason (15 percent), followed by avoiding law enforcement crackdowns (14 percent), participating in illegal ventures other than those related to drugs (12 percent), getting away from the gang life (9 percent), and other reasons (6 percent). Only 54 respondents indicated a reason for the gang migration in their jurisdictions other than those provided in the survey. Reasons that fell into this category varied widely, but most of them qualified as social factors.
Regionally, there was slightly more variation for two of the reasons for migration: establishing drug markets and avoiding law enforcement crackdowns (see table 25). The percentage of respondents who indicated that youth gang members migrated to their jurisdictions to establish drug markets ranged from 22 percent in the Midwest to 11 percent in the West. The Northeast had the highest percentage (22 percent) of respondents who reported that youth gang members migrated to their jurisdictions to avoid law enforcement crackdowns, and the South had the lowest percentage (11 percent). These variations were found to be statistically significant.
|
