What factors contributed to the proliferation of youth gang activity in the 1980s and 1990s?
While many factors have been suggested, three of the most widely discussed are (1) communitywide social and economic conditions, including such interrelated factors as deindustrialization, the loss of employment opportunities, and poverty, racism, and the growth of the urban underclass; (2) diffusion of the gang culture into the general population, particularly through the popular media; and (3) involvement in the crack cocaine market (further discussed below) (Klein, 2002). It is important to keep in mind that most youth gangs are homegrown and that the factors which contribute to the emergence of gang activity in a community are not necessarily the same as those which contribute to its persistence (Klein, 1995b).
