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Stereotypes of Modern Youth Gangs Youth gang members have long been stereotyped as young, inner-city, lower-class, ghetto or barrio, minority, sociopathic males (Klein, 1995a; Spergel, 1995). Traditionally, gangs have been viewed as racially and ethnically segregated, somewhat organized, and authoritatively controlled fighting groups (Miller, 1992). The predominant popular stereotype of youth gangs was modified significantly by the findings of a California study (Skolnick et al., 1988) more than a decade ago (see Klein, 1995a). These researchers contended that the two major Los Angeles gangs, the Crips and Bloods, had become highly organized and entrepreneurial and were expanding their drug trafficking operations to markets in other cities. Where drug markets appeared, so did violent crime. The typical gang member came to be viewed as a violent "superpredator" who repeatedly engaged in random violence and could not be reformed (DiIulio, 1996). The distinguishing features of youth gangs and their members are still...

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