Peace and Conflict Studies Commons^™

A Crucible Of Conflict: Third Generation Gang Studies Revisited, John P. Sullivan, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

This essay briefly recounts the evolution of the gangs that occupy failed communities and states, further discusses and updates the model of third generation street gangs discussed in an earlier Journal of Gang Research article—typically described simply as third generation gangs (3 GEN Gangs), and suggests strategies for coping with and mitigating this evolved form of gang violence. Of note is the lack of impact 3 GEN Gangs studies have had on domestically focused U.S. academic gang research while, at the same time, becoming a dominant model in use by defense analysis and scholars focusing on increasingly politicized non-state threat …