Most of the empirical research and practically all of the fieldwork conducted on gangs has been devoted to street gangs. In this article, Bureau of Prisons automated data were used to evaluate the contribution of prison gang affiliation to violence and other forms of misconduct within prisons. The authors also examined a measure of gang embeddedness to see if, similar to street gang research, it can be shown that core members of a prison gang were more likely to commit violent and other kinds of misconduct than were more peripheral members. Both specific and more generic gang indicators were related to violence and other forms of official prison misconduct. A composite measure of gang misconduct represents the threat that particular gangs pose to prison order. The “threat index” is model based and provides a graphical representation of the relative magnitude and heterogeneity of the threat posed by different gang affiliations.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Agresti, A. (1990). Categorical data analysis. New York: John Wiley.
2.
American Correctional Association. (1993). Gangs in correctional facilities: A national assessment. Laurel, MD.
3.
Battin, S. R., Hill, K. G., Abbott, R. D., Catalano, R. F., & Hawkins, J. D. (1998). The contribution of gang membership to delinquency beyond delinquent friends. Criminology, 36, 93-115.
4.
Berk, R. A., & de Leeuw, J. (1999). An evaluation of California's inmate classification system using a generalized regression discontinuity design. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 94(448), 1045-1052.
5.
Bottoms, A. E. (1999). Interpersonal violence and social order in prisons. In M. Tonry & J. Petersilia (Eds.), Prisons, crime and justice: An annual review (Vol. 26, pp. 437-513). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
6.
Camp, G. M., & Camp, C. G. (1985). Prison gangs: Their extent, nature, and impact on prisons. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
7.
Crouch, B., & Marquart, J. W. (1989). An appeal to justice: Litigated reform of Texas prisons. Austin: University of Texas Press.
8.
Curry, G. D. (2001). Self-reported gang involvement and officially recorded delinquency. Criminology, 38, 1253-1274.
9.
Decker, S. H., & Van Winkle, B. (1996). Life in the gang: Family, friends, and violence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
10.
Esbensen, F.-A., & Huizinga, D. (1993). Gangs, drugs, and delinquency in a survey of delinquent youth. Criminology, 31, 565-589
11.
Fagan, J. (1989). The social organization of drug use and drug dealing among urban gangs. Criminology, 27, 633-639.
12.
Fong, R. S., Vogel, R. E., & Buentello, S. (1992). Prison gang dynamics: A look inside the Texas Department of Corrections. In P. J. Benekos & A. V. Merlo (Eds.), Corrections: Dilemmas and directions (pp. 57-58). Cincinnati, OH: Anderson.
13.
Harer, M. D., & Langan, N. P. (2000). Gender differences in predictors of prison violence: Assessing the predictive validity of a risk classification system. Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Prisons.
14.
Huff, C. R., & Meyer, M. (1997). Managing prison gangs and other security threat groups. Corrections Management Quarterly, 1(4), 10-18.
15.
Irwin, J. (1980). Prisons in turmoil. Boston: Little, Brown.
16.
Jacobs, J. B. (1977). Stateville: The penitentiary in mass society. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
17.
Klein, M. (1995). The American street gang: Its nature, prevalence, and control. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
18.
Klein, M. (1998). Street gangs. In M. Tonry (Ed.), The handbook of crime and punishment (pp. 111-132). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
19.
Knox, G. W. (2000). An introduction to gangs, revised and expanded (5th ed.). Peotone, IL: New Chicago School Press.
20.
Long, J. S. (1997). Regression models for categorical and limited dependent variables. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
21.
McFadden, D. (1973). Conditional logit analysis of qualitative choice behavior. In P. Zarembka (Ed.), Frontiers of econometrics (pp. 105-142). San Diego: Academic Press.
22.
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. (1998, November 11-14). Gang membership as an indicator of prison misbehavior. Paper presented at the American Society of Criminology Meetings, Washington, DC.
23.
Ralph, P., & Marquart, J. W. (1991). Gang violence in Texas prisons. The Prison Journal, 71(2), 38-49.
24.
Ruiz v. Estelle 503 F.Supp. 1265 (S.D. Tex.1980); stay granted and denied 650 F.2d. 555 (5th Cir. 1981); stay granted and denied 679 F.2d. 1115 (5th Cir. 1982).
25.
Sampson, R. J. (1986, December). Effects of socioeconomic context on official reaction to juvenile delinquency. American Sociological Review, 5, 876-885.
26.
Shelden, R. G. (1991). A comparison of gang members and non-gang members in a prison setting. The Prison Journal, 71(2), 50-60.
27.
Spergel, I. A. (1990). Youth gangs: Continuity and change. In M. Tonry & N. Morris (Eds.), Crime and justice: An annual review (Vol. 12, pp. 171-267). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
28.
Spergel, I. A. (1995). The youth gang problem: A community approach. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
29.
STATA Reference Manual, Release 6. (Volume 1 A-G). (1999a). College Station, TX: STATA Press.
30.
STATA Reference Manual, Release 6 (Volume 2 H-O). (1999b). College Station, TX: STATA Press.
31.
Thornberry, T. P., Krohn, M. D., Lizotte, A. J., & Chard-Wierschem, D. (1993). The role of juvenile gangs in facilitating delinquent behavior. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30, 55-87.
32.
Toch, H., & Adams, K. (1988). Coping, maladaptation in prison. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
