Details

Related name

• Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [Browse]

Series

• ICPSR (Series) ; 2626. [More in this series]
• ICPSR 2626

Restrictions note

Use of these data are restricted to Princeton University students, faculty, and staff for non-commercial statistical analysis and research purposes only.

Summary note

This study was undertaken to measure the criminal behavior of gangs, including their involvement in delinquent behavior such as drug use and drug trafficking activities, and to compare gang behavior with that of youth who were at risk, but who had not yet become active in gangs. The project assessed the role that gangs play in the lives of youth whose living conditions are otherwise comparable. In order to study the criminal behavior of gangs, investigators sought to interview 50 gang members and 50 non-gang, at-risk youth at two sites in Colorado and one site in Florida. A large portion of the interview questions asked in both the gang member interview and the at-risk youth interview were parallel. The following variables appear in both the gang member and at-risk youth files (Parts 1 and 2 respectively) created for this data collection: gang popularity variables (respondents' perceptions of the positive and negative attributes of a gang, and why gangs endure over time), drug involvement variables (whether respondents or fellow members/friends sold various types of drugs, why selling drugs increases a person's "juice", the drug source organization, and where they traveled to get the drugs), criminal history variables (the reasons why respondents believed they were able to get away with crimes, their first arrest age, and their most serious arrest charge), personal activity variables (whether respondents or fellow members/friends participated in dances, sporting events, fighting, drug use or selling, shoplifting, assaulting people, or burglarizing homes), variables concerning the future (whether respondents would join a gang again/join a gang today, why some gangs survive and others don't, and how respondents see their future), and demographic variables (respondents' age, sex, race, city, neighborhood, school, school status, type of work, marital status, and relations... Cf.: http://webapp.icpsr.umich.edu/cocoon/ICPSR-STUDY/02626.xml

Notes

Title from ICPSR DDI metadata of 2006-09-15.

Type of data

2 data files + machine-readable documentation (PDF) + SAS setup file(s) + SPSS setup file(s) + Stata setup file(s) + SAS transport + SPSS portable + Stata system

Time and place of event

Start: 1993; and end: 1994.

Geographic coverage

Aurora, Colorado, Denver, Florida, United States

Funding information

United States Department of Justice. NationalInstitute of Justice. 91-IJ-CX-K013

System details

Mode of access: Internet.

Methodology note

• Data source: Data were collected through personal interviews with both gang members and at-risk youth.
• Universe: All gang members and at-risk youth in Aurora and Denver, Colorado, and Broward County, Florida.

Contents

Part 1: Gang Member Data; Part 2: At-Risk Youth Data

Other format(s)

Also available as downloadable files.

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