Youth Gangs As Pseudo-Governments: Implications for Violent Crime‪.‬

1. Introduction In the early 1970s, fewer than 300 cities cited having problems with youth gangs. (1) Since then, gangs have been identified in all 50 states, with over 2500 cities reporting problems by the late 1990s. (2) Anecdotal evidence, along with casual empiricism, has led many people to hold a strong belief that youth gangs are a serious problem because areas with more gang activity also tend to have higher rates of violent crime committed by youths. Simply put, the commonly accepted wisdom is that gangs cause violence.