European Street Gangs And Troublesome Youth Groups

Street gangs and studies of street gangs have been part of the architecture of American urban and suburban life for decades. Only fairly recently have scholars analyzed the structures and operations of European gangs and, of course, compared them to their US cohorts. The qualitative, quantitative and integrated approaches of these 12 essays reflect this new interest, and include commentary on integration, immigration and ethnicity, urbanization, and the influence of national and local attitudes toward gangs. Topics include the connections and metaphors as defined within gang structures, the role of criminality, and studies of specific groups and situations in an old-fashioned gang in Genoa, immigrants to Germany who are of German descent but born in Eastern Europe, and gang members from various locales who join to acquire self-identity or simply team up to commit crimes. Two essays review prevention and intervention schemes. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Scott H. Decker is Curator's Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He has been involved in research about gangs and gang intervention programs since 1988. He is the author of Policing Gangs and Youth Violence (2002), co-author with G. David Curry of Confronting Gangs: Crime and Community (2002) and co-author with Richard T. Wright of Armed Robbers in Action: Stickups and Street Culture, and Burglars on the Job: Streetlife and Residential Break-ins. Frank M. Weerman is researcher at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement in Leiden. He has been involved in several research projects in youth crime, and has written extensively about explanations for delinquent behavior and co-offending. He is currently conducting a large longitudinal research project on the role of delinquent peers and peer networks.