The effects of gang membership on deviance in two populations: Secondary school students and adolescent serious habitual offenders

Abstract

The effect of gang membership on deviance was examined in two populations: students (N=13,949) and youthful serious habitual offenders (N=171 ). Among students, 14 percent were gang members, former members or wannabes. The serious offenders averaged twenty arrests, and 47 percent were gang members. Among students, gang members were between three and twenty-one times more likely to use drugs, be delinquent, injure someone, become injured, and carry a weapon. Among the students deviance was more strongly associated with gang membership than it was among the serious offenders.