Interagency Task Force On
Gangs And Youth Violence
~ Research on Girl Gangs (and Girls in Gangs) ~
| Please
consult these excellent resources:
From the National
Institute of Justice: From The Interagency Task Force on Gangs and Youth Violence: |
Additional Resources"Female Gangs: A Select Bibliography," a collection of article titles in which you may find something of use.
"Gangsta Girls" - "Although not as visible as their male counterparts, female gangs are on the streets, ready to fly their colors," by Sarah McNaught.
Eight Ball Chicks, by Gini Sikes. One of the most dynamic, real, and up-to-date studies done in the field that focuses exclusively on girls and gangs.
Female Gangs in America, by Mida Chesney-Lind and John M. Hagedorn, is one of the books that set the stage for the current interest among social researchers in the topic of girls and gangs.
Girls, Gangs, Women and Drugs, by Andrew Taylor.
1998 National Youth Gang Survey, produced by the National Institute of Justice (as found in the National Criminal Justice Reference Service) notes that current "research concludes that males dominate youth gang membership, but estimates of the proportions of female representation vary widely. Some researchers contend that law enforcement agencies tend to minimize female gang membership." Some researchers " suggest that law enforcement may be less likely to identify females as gang members than males because of females' lower levels of criminality. Respondents in 1998 reported that 92 percent of gang members in their jurisdictions were male. This is a small increase from the 90 percent reported by 1996 survey respondents."
Bibliography on Gangs: You can visit this site for a relatively updated bibliography on gangs which includes some literature on girls and gangs. For a more recent list of quality articles and books on girls and gangs, see the bibliography created for Female Gangs: A Focus on Research, as written by Joan Moore and John Hagedorn.
A Selection of On-Line Articles on Girls and Gangs
"Crusade to Curb Girl Gangs," by Alexandra Marks, staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor.
"Gangs find new recruits: Girls," an article by Rusty Dornin as posted on CNN.com on 22 August 1998.
"Teen-age girls in smaller cities becoming involved in gangs," by Deborah Mendez, Associated Press.
"Teen-age girls buying into gang violence: A Summary," by Christian E. Molidor of the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work.
"Troubled Girls Find Acceptance in Gangs," by Alex Winder, Montgomery Blair High School, Silver Springs, Md.
"Girls and Gangs", as found on Geocities.com.
"Girls and Violence," an article by Jeanne Weiler, Institute for Urban and Minority Education as posted in Digest, an on-line publication from ERIC (The Educational Resources Information Clearinghouse), Clearinghouse on Urban Education.