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Youth Gangs and Troublesome Youth Groups in the United States and the NetherlandsA Cross-National ComparisonUniversity of Missouri-St. Louis, USA, esbensen{at}umsl.edu
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, The Netherlands, weerman{at}nscr.nl A minority of adolescents are part of street-oriented groups in which illegal behaviour is common, groups that can be referred to as youth gangs or troublesome youth groups. Such groups are a well-known phenomenon in the United States and recently have been reported in a number of European nations. Relatively few researchers, however, have endeavoured to explore such youth gangs from a comparative perspective. In this article, we examine characteristics of American and Dutch gangs and gang members. These cross-national comparisons are based on two school samples of 11-16-year-old youths in the USA (N = 5935) and the Netherlands (N = 1978). The students completed anonymous, self-administered questionnaires containing similar questions, which allow for comparison of Dutch and American adolescent experiences with youth gangs.
Key Words: Comparative Research Delinquent Peers Gangs Juvenile Delinquency Youth Groups
European Journal of Criminology, Vol. 2, No. 1,
5-37 (2005) This article has been cited by other articles:
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