Executive Summary
Last year the North Carolina Criminal Justice Analysis Center replicated its 1999 gang
study in an effort to ascertain how youth gangs have changed over the course of the last
five years. Trend data indicates a 16.6 percent increase in the number of reported gangs
with 387 distinct groups being reported in 2004. Likewise, an increase occurred in gang
membership with the number of reported gang members growing from 5,068 in 1999 to
8,517 five years later. This equates to an increase of 68 percent over the five year period
or an average annual growth rate of 13.6 percent in gang membership (Hayes, 2005).
Comparative analyses, between the 1999 and 2004 data, suggest that the greatest rate of
growth in North Carolina’s youth gang population has occurred within the Hispanic and
Latino communities. Results of the 1999 study revealed that Hispanic/Latino gangs only
comprised 6.5 percent of the 332 gangs which were identified. Five years later this same
group accounted for 22.5 percent of the recognized 387 youth gangs.
This monograph seeks to assess the nature and extent of Hispanic/Latino gangs within
North Carolina’s communities with an emphasis on identifying recent criminal activities,
geographic dispersion, the magnitude of relationships with other national Hispanic/Latino
criminal groups and how local gangs differ from gangs that demonstrate national
affiliations. Regional comparisons and comparisons between urban and rural gangs were
also drawn in an effort to determine if Hispanic/Latino gangs differ on these factors.
A two part survey instrument was designed with Part One assessing the basic and general
attributes of Hispanic/Latino gangs across the state. Questions addressed such issues as
the presence of these gangs in the respondents’ respective jurisdictions, the length of time
these gangs have been active and how prepared law enforcement is for managing gang
activity. Other items addressed gangs in the schools, the extent of female involvement in
these gangs, the contextual aspects of gang violence and the related causative factors for
this violence. Part Two focused on the identified Hispanic/Latino gangs to assess the
level of criminal activity, the size and composition of gang membership and the
magnitude of the gangs’ involvement in drugs and violence. Survey items also included
an examination of gang mobility, organization and the extent to which these gangs
maintain, and protect, a unique territory or turf.
A random sample, proportionate to city and county populations, of both municipal police
departments and county sheriffs’ offices was drawn with surveys being mailed to these
agencies. A total of 164 surveys were returned producing a response rate of 58.2 percent.
Fifty-one, or 31.1%, were received from the county sheriffs’ offices with the remaining
113, or 68.9%, being received from the municipal police departments. Surveys were
returned by agencies located in 82 of the state’s 100 counties.
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