Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Role Of Violence Within And Across Self-Identified Gang Youth, J. Michael Vecchio

Criminal Justice & Criminology: Faculty Publications & Other Works

Within the field of criminology, increased attention has been afforded to the influence and importance of individual exposure to violence and victimization. Research has demonstrated that violence – whether actual or anticipated – is not distributed evenly across individuals, but is amplified during the period of adolescence and is strongly influenced by individual risky behavior. Perhaps for no other group has the role of violence been more pronounced than in the lives of gang affiliated youth. Whether actual (i.e., direct and vicarious victimization) or anticipated (i.e., fear of crime and perceived risk of victimization) violence, gang youth commonly discuss violence …