National Youth Gang Intervention and Suppression Survey, 1980-1987 (ICPSR 9792)
Version Date: Jan 12, 2006 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Irving A. Spergel;
G. David Curry
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09792.v2
Version V2
Summary View help for Summary
This survey was conducted by the National Youth Gang Intervention and Suppression Program. The primary goals of the program were to assess the national scope of the gang crime problem, to identify promising programs and approaches for dealing with the problem, to develop prototypes from the information gained about the most promising programs, and to provide technical assistance for the development of gang intervention and suppression programs nationwide. The survey was designed to encompass every agency in the country that was engaged in or had recently engaged in organized responses specifically intended to deal with gang crime problems. Cities were screened with selection criteria including the presence and recognition of a youth gang problem and the presence of a youth gang program as an organized response to the problem. Respondents were classified into several major categories and subcategories: law enforcement (mainly police, prosecutors, judges, probation, corrections, and parole), schools (subdivided into security and academic personnel), community, county, or state planners, other, and community/service (subdivided into youth service, youth and family service/treatment, comprehensive crisis intervention, and grassroots groups). These data include variables coded from respondents' definitions of the gang, gang member, and gang incident. Also included are respondents' historical accounts of the gang problems in their areas. Information on the size and scope of the gang problem and response was also solicited.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
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Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Sample View help for Sample
Of the 45 cities and sites meeting the selection criteria, 21 were classified as "chronic" and 24 as "emerging" youth gang problem cities. After a city or jurisdiction was included in the survey, a snowball sampling technique was employed. The initial respondent was asked for a list of other key agencies involved in the community's organized gang response. Each of the identified people at these agencies was subsequently contacted and also asked for such a list, and the interviewer assigned to the city continued to contact actors until all actors' lists were exhausted. Data were collected on 254 respondents.
Universe View help for Universe
The population includes all participants in community-based gang intervention and suppression programs in the continental United States that could be identified in 1987.
Data Source View help for Data Source
personal interviews
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HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
1992-10-31
Version History View help for Version History
2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
- Spergel, Irving A., and G. David Curry. National Youth Gang Intervention and Suppression Survey, 1980-1987. ICPSR09792-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1997. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09792.v2
2006-01-12 All files were removed from dataset 6 and flagged as study-level files, so that they will accompany all downloads.
1997-08-15 SAS and SPSS data definition statements are now available for Part 1 only of this collection.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.