youth gangs
Teenage criminal groups
Youth gangs are groups of young people, typically adolescents and young adults, who band together with a shared identity—often marked by a name, territory, or symbols—and engage in criminal or antisocial activity.
The term carries strong negative connotations, implying violence, drug dealing, or territorial conflict: Police blamed the shooting on youth gangs.
Sociologists distinguish youth gangs from ordinary peer groups by their organization and involvement in illegal behavior.
- turf warsStruggles for domain control
- street cornerWhere two roads intersect
- drug traffickingIllegal distribution of controlled substances
- povertySevere lack of resources
- extortionObtaining through threats
systemic inequality · dead end · community outreach · recruitment · jumped in · rehabilitation programs · block party · unemployment · robbery · hierarchy · conflict resolution · social bonding · running with · vandalism · tattoos · hand signs · peer pressure · initiation rites
- juvenile justicejuvenile court, juvenile hall, juvenile detention, juvenile courts, juvenile delinquency
- youthchild, adolescents, kid, coming-of-age, teenagers
- adolescencepuberty, teenager, coming-of-age, growing up, teen
youth gangsyouth groups
Organizations for young people
Boy Scouts · Girl Scouts · youth clubs · church youth groups · YMCA
youth gangsorganized crime
Structured illegal enterprise
crime families · drug cartels · cartels · criminal enterprises · mob
youth gangspolice
Civil law enforcement
law enforcement · juvenile justice system · neighborhood associations · peacekeepers · social workers