Youth gangs and adolescent development: New findings, new challenges, and new directions: Introduction to the special section

Street gangs with youth membership have been present in American society for decades, and there is growing acknowledgment through local and national observations that contemporary gang activity is more entrenched and more widespread than in years past. Although there is a wealth of data on youth gangs available from criminological research, there is a relatively small empirical and theoretical developmental literature on youth gangs. Indeed, only a handful of studies have addressed critical developmental issues on youth gangs. This special section presents five new studies approaching the study of youth gangs from a broad developmental perspective, underscoring the need for ongoing inquiry linking the heretofore separate literatures on youth gangs and antisocial peer influence from criminology and developmental science.