Citation

Etter GW, Swymeler WG. J. Gang Res. 2008; 16(1): 1-12.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, National Gang Crime Research Center)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examined the demography of street gangs in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Results found that even though gangs have consolidated membership which makes gang sets appear lower, the actual number of memberships in gangs continues to grow. A substantial number of gang members (34.87 percent) remained active in gangs for over 10 years. The antigang strategies adopted by the Wichita Police Department, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, and local boards of education during 1996 to 2006 appeared to be working up to the middle school level. However, at the high school level, the strategies began to have much less effect on youth joining gangs; new antigang strategies should be examined for the high school levels. The fight against gangs and gang crime can only be successful with continued cooperation and open communication between all of the agencies involved. Adding additional School Resource Officers (SROs) in high schools as well as adopting programs such as GREAT should be considered. With the high percentage of gang members (34.87 percent) remaining active for 10 years or more, it appears evident that these older members are providing adult leadership to what many have viewed as a youth problem. After 10 years of criminality, a large number of older gang members would have the prerequisite felony convictions to warrant attention; therefore, law enforcement should also consider targeting older gang members by both gang and career criminal units. Data were collected from master gang lists of identified gang members compiled by the Wichita Police Department and the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office for the years 1996 and 2006.