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Research on Youth Gangs in Indian CountryThe Situation of Youth Gangs in Indian CountryUntil recently the literature on gangs, crime, and delinquency made no mention of Native American youth gangs. This may be due to the usual oversight by researchers to incorporate any discussion of Indian justice issues into the national dialogue or may speak to the newness of this problem. In either case, since about 1995 widespread and growing accounts about the scale and severity of youth gangs in Indian Country have indicated a pressing need for serious, well designed, and scientifically sound research into this phenomenon. Information is growing about an extensive and intensifying problem in Indian Country around the appearance and growth of youth gangs engaged in a broad range of criminal activities. In addition to articles in the popular press and anecdotal accounts from tribal justice and social agencies on many reservations, the primary source of reliable information about youth gangs across Indian Country comes from four surveys of tribal law enforcement conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a university-based graduate student as part of a master's thesis requirement, and the National Youth Gang Center. In addition, an in-depth study of gangs on the Navajo Nation was completed in 1999. Surveys of Youth Gangs in Indian CountrySurvey efforts to document youth gangs throughout Indian Country include two federal studies completed in 1998. The FBI survey, “SIAU Intelligence Report: Gangs on Indian Reservations” (M.K. Conway, 1999), is a brief assessment of problems associated with gangs and an examination of tribal solutions to gang-related criminal activity. Findings are based on telephone interviews with tribal law enforcement on 40 reservations experiencing severe gang problems. The FBI report suggests reservation youth gangs are at an early stage of development without a hierarchy of leadership yet but with potential for rapid growth, criminal consolidation, and intensification of activities. The BIA survey, “1998 Annual Report: Gangs in Indian Country” (S.K. Juneau, U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian Police Academy, Artesia, NM) presents findings based upon a mailed questionnaire. The report provides reservation-specific numbers and names of both male and female gangs, range of referring offenses, and whether tribes had taken steps to create a gang task force, enact gang legislation, or develop community prevention programs. The most important finding is substantiation of a nationwide distribution of youth gangs on reservations; 75 tribes reported some level of gang activity. A more in-depth survey exploring youth gangs in Indian Country was conducted by graduate student, Julie Hailer (“A Loss of Traditions: The Emergence of American Indian Youth Gangs,” Masters Thesis, Administration of Justice Department, San Jose State University, San Jose CA, 1998). The 43-item mail survey was sent to all tribal police departments and offices of the BIA, Law Enforcement Division in the lower 48 states. Of 67 agencies that responded, 34 reservations reported identified gangs and 31 cited increased violent juvenile crime due to gangs. Her results include a profile of gang organization and activities, as well as recommended responses from tribal law enforcement agencies and the conclusion that youth gangs started to appear in Indian Country in the early 1990s. The National Youth Gang Center (NYGC) was funded by OJJDP to conduct a comprehensive survey during 2001 in all of Indian Country along the same lines as the multi-year National Youth Gang Survey, which is collected from a representative sample of communities throughout the US. Findings from this recent survey are available on the NYGC website (http://www.iir.com/nygc/publications/2000_survey_indian_country.pdf). The summary states that 23% percent of responding tribal communities reported experiencing a youth gang problem in 2000. The extent of the gang problem varied quite a bit among communities, with many reporting few youth gangs and gang members. Gang members were 80% male juveniles and involvement in crime most often included graffiti and vandalism. The NYGC suggests that recognizing that the majority of gang members in Indian country are young and many are female (20%); gang prevention efforts should target all youth during late childhood and early adolescence. Policy recommendations are for a range of programs that address prevention, control, and reduction of youth crime in Indian Country. Furthermore, as the gang problem in Indian Country appears to be an extension of more serious community problems, policies aimed at improving overall conditions most likely will have a concurrent positive impact on the community’s gang problem. The Navajo Gang Study (link)The only in-depth, on-site study of youth gangs in Indian Country is a project funded in 1995 to the Judicial Branch of the Navajo Nation by OJJDP. "Field Initiated Gang Research: Finding and Knowing the Gang Nayéé (monster) In The Navajo Nation" is an intensive examination of gang-involved youth, agency staff working with these youth, and community members. Funding was in response to concerns of Navajo judges, law enforcement officials, social service agencies, schools, and other reservation residents that disruptive youth gangs had appeared in the early 1990s and were responsible for an escalating level of youth violence. The Navajo gang study had two primary goals: 1) description of reservation gangs, and distribution, prevalence, and reasons underlying these gangs emergence, and 2) possible responses identified by tribal stakeholders. Two on-reservation staff were hired full-time to interview gang members, stakeholder agencies, and other community residents. In addition to the gang member and stakeholder data, information was obtained in border towns and larger cities from law enforcement personnel who were knowledgeable about Navajo gang activities in these settings. The result was 103 gang member interviews, 192 stakeholder interviews, and approximately 25 interviews with off-reservation law enforcement. The Navajo Gang Study generated a number of important findings on gang members and gang activities on that reservation. Gang members are drawn from a highly troubled segment of youth on the reservation, come from dysfunctional families in many cases, and have lost contact for the most part with traditional culture (they are non-Navajo speakers, often without knowledge of clan affiliation and minimally participate in traditional rituals or ceremonies). Gang identity is primarily derived from off-reservation urban Hispanic and African-American gangs and there is regular association with these groups. Gang-involved youths’ residence patterns show high rates of mobility between the reservation and surrounding population centers. Peer relationships and friendship were intertwined with gang involvement – sometimes as a result of missing family relationships due to parental neglect. Many of the Navajo youth said they grew up in the neighborhood (sometimes urban, sometimes reservation neighborhoods) with their fellow gang members. Friendship and the sense of belonging to something, of being part of a cohesive group or a “family” that sticks together and protects each other, and of being a person who mattered to their “homies” was a motivating factor for gang involvement. Most of these youth are heavily involved in the regular consumption of alcohol and drugs, experiencing severe problems with schools, and engaged in drug trafficking and violent crime on a selective and situational basis. Navajo gangs represent a new type of social grouping on the reservation unlike anything reported prior to the early 1990s. They appear to be an example in the trajectory of gang evolution referred to as recently emergent gangs. Stakeholder interviews in the Navajo Gang Study included staff from the courts and juvenile justice, education, public housing, mental health services, substance abuse treatment, youth recreation programs, local business owners, tribal politicians, spiritual advisors, media outlets, and community organizers. Navajo stakeholders thought that gangs on the Navajo Nation were an expanding problem that could most effectively be addressed by tribal members in the community. They suggested that solutions should focus on two primary areas: 1) family interventions – the need for parent skill training, programs for parents’ substance abuse and domestic violence, and for joint involvement of parents and youth in addressing gang problems, and 2) community interventions – the need for community education and mobilization about the nature of gangs, areas for community involvement, constructive activities for youth, and teaching traditional knowledge and values to youth. A New In-Depth StudyMany of the characteristics that were documented for Navajo youth gangs were also noted in the gang surveys cited above. The presence of common factors and features among youth gangs across Indian Country calls for research to explore these patterns in greater depth to determine which characteristics of origin, proliferation, identity and criminal activity are generalized across tribal gangs and which are reservation-specific and linked to circumstances of individual tribes. For these reasons, in 2001, OJJDP funded Dr. Troy Armstrong at the Center for Delinquency and Crime Policy Studies at California State University, Sacramento to complete a new study looking at the involvement of Indian youth in gangs in a number of urban and reservation communities throughout the U.S. The specific questions that guide this project and underline the data collection effort are:
Research TeamThis project is being conducted by researchers who have extensive practical experience with crime and delinquency in Indian Country and who will work in collaboration with local tribal members. OJJDP adheres to three principles as the foundation of research efforts in Indian Country. Projects must: provide practical results that are locally relevant; include local community members in the decision making and implementation of the projects; and acknowledge and respect local customs, traditions, values, and history. In this study we draw upon the skills and expertise of Indian researchers who have prominent roles in the project. These individuals bring an indigenous perspective to the team, provide research expertise in Indian Country, and the ability to work with Native American networks. They assure connection to critical elements of tribal communities, especially gang-involved youth and community service providers, whose participation will be needed to achieve the goals of this project. The two non-Indian team members, Troy Armstrong and Barbara Mendenhall, bring prior hands-on experience doing research within Indian Country and in urban communities near Indian Country. The research team members work closely with local tribal members to identify local goals of the research effort and to include local community members in carrying out the project. Research MethodThis new study is a modified replication of the Navajo Youth Gang Study on an expanded geographic scale. The study is developing more extensive, well-documented findings about Native American youth gangs’ origins, organization, activities and effective prevention and intervention responses. The new project involves tribal members (both gang members and stakeholders) in the design and implementation of the research and assure the incorporation of findings that are reflective of and sensitive to local customs and values. Much of the research involves collection of qualitative data about the daily lives of gang members. More limited time includes observation and interaction on an informal basis with tribal members who are being interviewed as stakeholders. With regard to the structured aspect of the study, all project staff are helping develop and administer survey instruments (adapted from the Navajo study; the "Gang Member Questionnaire" and "Stakeholder Questionnaire"). The contracted Native American consultants have primary responsibility in the collection of data generated with these two tools by directly administering the instruments. Armstrong and Mendenhall are also interviewing off-reservation law enforcement and social service professionals. The study will build upon findings from the Navajo study, which were important to understand the Navajo gang situation. These focal points for the current study are:
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