GANG MEMBERS, GANGBANGERS, Original Gangsters. The public's image of violent youth is, more often than not, the image of gangs. There is little doubt that a gang member lives with more real and threatened violence than an average teen, but just how much of the growth in teen violence is the result of gang activities? According to the U.S. Department of Justice, no one really knows.

The U.S. Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) reports that police records on what appear to be gang incidents do not provide enough data to distinguish gang-related violence from other youth violence. Even though many reports indicate that new gangs and "franchises" of established gangs are appearing in more and more cities and towns, and that violence attributed to gangs is increasing, it remains unclear how much of the growth in urban...