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Journal Article 1: Maxson, C. L., Matsuda, K. N., & Hennigan, K. (2009). “Deterrability” among gang and nongang juvenile offenders: Are gang members more (or less) deterrable than other juvenile offenders? Crime & Delinquency, 57, 516–543. 

Abstract: This study investigates the effect of the threat of legal sanctions on intentions to commit three types of offenses with a representative sample of 744 officially adjudicated youth with varying histories of offenses and gang involvement. In a departure from previous research, the authors find small severity effects for property crimes that are not negated by past offending experience, morality, or anticipated loss of respect from adults or peers. Gang members appear to be vulnerable to the effects of certainty of punishment for vehicle theft. These results challenge the current crime policy of increased reliance on punishment to deter gang crime but suggest that increasing gang members’ certainty of apprehension might hold some promise for reduction of some gang crime.

Journal Article 2: Yiu, H. L., & Gottfredson, G. (2013). Gang participation. Crime & Delinquency, 60, 619–642.

Abstract: Schools that require the most help are often those that have difficulty staffing qualified teachers. Data suggest that many teachers who leave their schools or the profession cite student misbehavior and an unsafe work environment as reasons. Although public attention is not at present focused on problems of gang delinquency in schools—focusing instead on educational funding, teacher quality, and achievement levels—there is every reason to anticipate that gangs, school disorder, and teaching quality are closely linked. This research involves a large probability sample of secondary schools surveyed in 1998 merged with U.S. census data on community characteristics. Multilevel models imply that community demographic influences on individual gang involvement (GI) are largely mediated by school and personal variables. School safety and students’ personal sense of safety emerged as important variables that predicted GI.