Publisher Description

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the White House announced with great fanfare that 100 FBI counterintelligence agents would be reassigned. Their new target: street gangs. Americans--filled with fear of crack-dealing gangs--cheered the decision, as did many big-city police departments. But this highly publicized move could be an experience in futility, suggests Malcolm Klein: for one thing, most street gangs have little to do with the drug trade. TheAmerican Street Gang provides the finest portrait of this subject ever produced--a detailed accounting, through statistics, interviews, and personal experience, of what street gangs are, how they havechanged, their involvement in drug sales, and why we have not been able to stop them. Klein has been studying street gangs for more than thirty years, and he brings a sophisticated understanding of the problem to bear in this often surprising book. In contrast to the image of rigid organization and military-style leadership we see in the press, he writes, street gangs are usually loose bodies of associates, with informal and multiple leadership. Street gangs, he makes clear, are quite distinctfrom drug gangs--though they may share individual members. In a drug-selling operation tight discipline is required--the members are more like employees--whereas street gangs are held together byaffiliation and common rivalries, with far less discipline. With statistics and revealing anecdotes, Klein offers a strong critique of the approach of many law enforcement agencies, which have demonized street gangs while ignoring the fact that they are the worst possible bodies for running disciplined criminal operations--let alone colonizing other cities. On the other hand, he shows that street gangs do spur criminal activity, and he demonstrates the shocking rise in ganghomicides and the proliferation of gangs across America. Ironically, he writes, the liberal approach to gangs advocated by many (assigning a social worker to a gang, organizing non-violent gang activities) can actuallyincrease group cohesion, which leads to still more criminal activity. And programs to erode that cohesion, Klein tells us from personal experience, can work--but they require intensive, exhausting effort. Street gangs are a real and growing problem in America--but the media and many law enforcement officials continue to dispense misleading ideas about what they are and what they do. In The American Street Gang, Malcolm Klein challenges these assumptions with startling newevidence that must be understood if we are to come to grips with this perceived crisis.

Author Biography

Malcolm W. Klein is Director of the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Southern California. A leading international authority on street gangs, he is the author of a number of books on crime and criminal justice.

Review

"Klein is probably the best known, most persevering, and expert gang researcher practising today....Klein demonstrates in this book that he knows more about gang scholarship that anyone else in the world."--Irving Spergel, University of Chicago"[An] excellent book."--James B. Jones, American University"Handily reviews the latest thinking on gang culture and then offers a neatly summarized (and insistently argues) series of correctives....We would do well to pay attention."--Journal of American Ethnic History"What is a critic supposed to say about the most important book on gangs since Thrasher's The Gang was published seventy years ago? [This is] a celebration of the capstone book in the career of one of America's most important criminologists....This book should be read by every criminologist, not only for what it says about gangs, but for what is says about the evolution of one of the field's most important careers. Gang researchers, on the other hand,should be ready to quote from it chapter and verse."--Scott Decker, Chair of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri at St. Louis"[Klein] makes trenchant observations about academic gang research and about the formulation and implementation of gang policy....Far from a dry academic recitation...this is an interesting, provocative, and sometimes delightfully personal book....For anyone with an interest in the American gang problem, and particularly for anyone with an interest in gang policy, this book is both informative and enjoyable--and it should be taken very, very seriously."--ScottMenard, University of Colorado at Boulder, in the Criminal Justice Review"Klein is probably the best known, most perservering, and expert gang researcher practicing today....Klein demonstrates in this book that he knows more about gang scholarship than anyone else in the world."--Irving Spergel, University of Chicago"America's leading authority on delinquent gangs has given us his personal voice based on some thirty years in street gang research. He not only describes; he prescribes without pessimism or optimism. There is wholesome honesty and integrity in this remarkable, informative volume." --Marvin E. Wolfgang, Professor of Criminology and Law, University of Pennsylvania"This book represents an outstanding contribution to modern knowledge about American street gangs by the world's leading researcher on the topic. It also includes critical evaluations of methods of dealing with gangs and a courageous attempt to study gang phenomena in other countries." --David P. Farrington, Professor of Psychological Criminology, University of Cambridge"The dean of gang researchers has spoken, and he has a lot to say. No one who is concerned with gangs, with crime, with youth, or with urban life in this country (and in many others) can afford not to read this book. It is a masterpiece."--James F. Short, Jr., Professor of Sociology, Washington State University and former president, American Sociological Association

Promotional

"A masterpiece."--James F. Short, Jr., former president, American Sociological Association

Long Description

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the White House announced with great fanfare that 100 FBI counterintelligence agents would be reassigned. Their new target: street gangs. Americans--filled with fear of crack-dealing gangs--cheered the decision, as did many big-city police departments. But this highly publicized move could be an experience in futility, suggests Malcolm Klein: for one thing, most street gangs have little to do with the drug trade. The
American Street Gang provides the finest portrait of this subject ever produced--a detailed accounting, through statistics, interviews, and personal experience, of what street gangs are, how they have changed, their involvement in drug sales, and why we have not been able to stop them. Klein has been
studying street gangs for more than thirty years, and he brings a sophisticated understanding of the problem to bear in this often surprising book. In contrast to the image of rigid organization and military-style leadership we see in the press, he writes, street gangs are usually loose bodies of associates, with informal and multiple leadership. Street gangs, he makes clear, are quite distinct from drug gangs--though they may share individual members. In a drug-selling operation tight
discipline is required--the members are more like employees--whereas street gangs are held together by affiliation and common rivalries, with far less discipline. With statistics and revealing anecdotes, Klein offers a strong critique of the approach of many law enforcement agencies, which have demonized
street gangs while ignoring the fact that they are the worst possible bodies for running disciplined criminal operations--let alone colonizing other cities. On the other hand, he shows that street gangs do spur criminal activity, and he demonstrates the shocking rise in gang homicides and the proliferation of gangs across America. Ironically, he writes, the liberal approach to gangs advocated by many (assigning a social worker to a gang, organizing non-violent gang activities) can
actually increase group cohesion, which leads to still more criminal activity. And programs to erode that cohesion, Klein tells us from personal experience, can work--but they require intensive, exhausting effort. Street gangs are a real and growing problem in America--but the media and many law
enforcement officials continue to dispense misleading ideas about what they are and what they do. In The American Street Gang, Malcolm Klein challenges these assumptions with startling new evidence that must be understood if we are to come to grips with this perceived crisis.

Review Text

"Klein is probably the best known, most persevering, and expert gang researcher practising today....Klein demonstrates in this book that he knows more about gang scholarship that anyone else in the world."--Irving Spergel, University of Chicago
"[An] excellent book."--James B. Jones, American University
"Handily reviews the latest thinking on gang culture and then offers a neatly summarized (and insistently argues) series of correctives....We would do well to pay attention."--Journal of American Ethnic History
"What is a critic supposed to say about the most important book on gangs since Thrasher's The Gang was published seventy years ago? [This is] a celebration of the capstone book in the career of one of America's most important criminologists....This book should be read by every criminologist, not only for what it says about gangs, but for what is says about the evolution of one of the field's most important careers. Gang researchers, on the other hand,
should be ready to quote from it chapter and verse."--Scott Decker, Chair of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri at St. Louis
"[Klein] makes trenchant observations about academic gang research and about the formulation and implementation of gang policy....Far from a dry academic recitation...this is an interesting, provocative, and sometimes delightfully personal book....For anyone with an interest in the American gang problem, and particularly for anyone with an interest in gang policy, this book is both informative and enjoyable--and it should be taken very, very seriously."--Scott
Menard, University of Colorado at Boulder, in the Criminal Justice Review
"Klein is probably the best known, most perservering, and expert gang researcher practicing today....Klein demonstrates in this book that he knows more about gang scholarship than anyone else in the world."--Irving Spergel, University of Chicago
"America's leading authority on delinquent gangs has given us his personal voice based on some thirty years in street gang research. He not only describes; he prescribes without pessimism or optimism. There is wholesome honesty and integrity in this remarkable, informative volume." --Marvin E. Wolfgang, Professor of Criminology and Law, University of Pennsylvania
"This book represents an outstanding contribution to modern knowledge about American street gangs by the world's leading researcher on the topic. It also includes critical evaluations of methods of dealing with gangs and a courageous attempt to study gang phenomena in other countries." --David P. Farrington, Professor of Psychological Criminology, University of Cambridge
"The dean of gang researchers has spoken, and he has a lot to say. No one who is concerned with gangs, with crime, with youth, or with urban life in this country (and in many others) can afford not to read this book. It is a masterpiece."--James F. Short, Jr., Professor of Sociology, Washington State University and former president, American Sociological Association

Review Quote

"What is a critic supposed to say about the most important book on gangssince Thrasher's The Gang was published seventy years ago? [This is] acelebration of the capstone book in the career of one of America's mostimportant criminologists....This book should be read by every criminologist, notonly for what it says about gangs, but for what is says about the evolution ofone of the field's most important careers. Gang researchers, on the other hand,should be ready to quote from it chapter and verse."--Scott Decker, Chair ofCriminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri at St. Louis

Feature

"A masterpiece."--James F. Short, Jr., former president, American Sociological Association
A surprising, detailed account of steet gangs by America's leading expert
Examines what exactly street gangs are, what forms they take, and what they do
Shows the stark difference between street gangs and drug gangs
Provides evidence and anecdotes drawn from thirty years of research and personal experience
"A masterpiece....The dean of gang researchers has spoken, and he has a lot to say. No one who is concerned with gangs, with crime, with youth, or with urban life in this country...can affort not to read this book."--James F. Short, Jr., former president, American Sociological Association
"Klein is probably the best known, most persevering, and expert gang researcher practicing today....Klein demonstrates in this book that he knows more about gang scholarship than anyone else in the world."--Irving Sperzef, University of Chicago

Details