From Rubies to Blossoms
A Portrait of American Girlhood: The New Gangs of New York

Facts about female gang members: • Female gangs are more prevalent than assumed. Neighborhood studies usually find that about one-third of gangs are female. • Female gangs are nearly all adolescent gangs -- there are few, if any, adult female gangs, and very few female gangs in prison. • Adult women, however, play major roles in gangs -- particularly when male gang member go to prison, and as support in dealing drugs. • "Gang girls" are prone to fighting, but the fighting almost always stops short of using firearms and homicide. • Gang girls most often come from troubled families, just like male gang members. But research indicates female gang members deal with more issues of abuse in the home than males. • Gang girls, on the other hand, do not appear to come from families with significantly higher levels of sexual abuse and incest than other families in their neighborhoods. Source: John Hagedorn, University of Illinois at Chicago

Experts and Web Resources

• GangResearch.net -- Maintained by John Hagedorn, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago, GangResearch.net is an authoritative resource for information about Chicago gangs and other gang groups across the nation. The site's section devoted to female gangs features a wealth of online resources and links to other Web sites focusing on the issue of female gangs.

• GirlsBlossom.org -- Learn more about the Blossom program in Brooklyn, including details of its mentoring program and schedule. Sponsored by the Youth Empowerment Mission, Inc.

• The National Council for Unity -- Learn more about this national non-profit organization, which runs programs in 55 New York City-area schools promoting inter-group relations and methods to reduce violence in schools.

• National Criminal Justice Reference Service -- Online resources for studies on gang violence and juvenile crime.

• National Alliance of Gang Investigators Associations

• East Coast Gang Investigators Association


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