SHARP, BROAD RISE SEEN IN GANG PROBLEMS

Since The Early 1970s, States That Reported Trouble Rose From 19,
Mostly In The Northeast, To All 50.

WASHINGTON - Thousands of young Americans in all 50 states are joining
gangs, according to a Justice Department study released yesterday that
blamed profits from drug trafficking, new immigrant groups trying to
assimilate, and a growing number of households without male role models.

As a result, gangs and gang-related problems have increased dramatically
nationwide, but especially in the South, according to the 93-page study
"The Growth of Youth Gang Problems in the U.S.: 1970-1998."

The number of cities reporting youth gang problems rose from six in the
early 1970s to more than 25,000 in the late 1990s. During the same time
period, the states reporting gang problems rose from 19, mostly in the
Northeast, to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the survey found.

California (363), Illinois (261), Texas (156), Florida (125) and Ohio (86)
reported the largest number of cities with gang problems in 1998. Florida
cities had the largest increase in gang problems from 1970 to 1998: 33.5
percent. Only two Florida cities reported problems in the early 1970s. By
1995, 67 did, according to the report.

High profits from the sale of street drugs such as crack cocaine, which
became popular in the 1980s, are first among reasons that young people join
gangs, the study said. It compared the phenomenon to the way the illegal
liquor trade fueled gangland activity in New York and Chicago during
Prohibition.

The arrival of people from China, Colombia, Thailand, Vietnam, Mexico,
Puerto Rico and other Latin American areas provided recruits who tried to
adjust to their new environment by joining gangs, according to the study.

Gangs also are appealing to children from broken homes, the study said. The
absence of a stable male role model in many low-income households created
identity problems for young males, some of whom turned to gangs because of
their emphasis on male bonding and masculinity.

Meanwhile, media attention to gangsta rap in the 1980s romanticized youth
gangs, the study concluded.

"For a lot of kids, gangsta rappers became major role models," said Walter
B. Miller, a Harvard-trained anthropologist who researched and wrote the
study for the National Youth Gang Center in Tallahassee, Fla. "They
replaced pimps and drug dealers and symbolized a kind of genre."

Miller, 80, said he had been studying youth gangs for more than 50 years.
He began the most recent study in 1994 and finished it four years later,
drawing mostly from newspaper reports of gang activity.

The biggest youth gangs include the Crips and the Bloods on the West Coast,
the Latin Kings centered on the East Coast, and the Chicago-style gangs
such as the Vice Lords and Black Gangster Disciples Nation in the Midwest,
according to John Moore, the National Youth Gang Center's director.

Moore said the way to stop gang memberships from growing was not just to
arrest gang members.

"It takes a community effort from educators, police, and anyone who can
help recognize who is at risk and to help those who are already in
trouble," Moore said.

Copies of the study can be ordered by calling 1-800-638-8736.