“The past is gone, but...”: The consequences of gang membership in historical context

• In Event: Innovations in Gang Research: New Directions in Studying and Managing Gangs and Gang Members

Abstract

The past decade has seen a substantial growth in research integrating gang membership into the life-course perspective. Limited research has been directed at the life-course consequences of gang membership. Absent from this research has been a consideration of whether these consequences persist across time and space. Using the delinquent sample of the Glueck data (500 adolescent boys from the 1940s), the present study assesses whether gang members experienced the deleterious life outcomes common to contemporary gang youth. This research helps to better situate gang membership within historical and developmental perspectives.

Authors

• Richard K. Moule, Jr., Arizona State University

• Gary Sweeten, Arizona State University