This book includes original research on issues related to gang membership, its causes, its consequences, and intervention efforts to reduce its effects. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Crime and Justice.

Marvin D. Krohn is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida, Gainsville, USA. He is primarily interested in developmental and life-course approaches to the explanation of delinquency, drug use, and crime. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology.

James C. Howell is a Senior Research Associate with the National Gang Center, Tallahassee, USA. He is author of The History of Street Gangs in the United States (2015), and a textbook, Gangs in America's Communities (2019). His numerous other works on youth gangs include a developmental theory of gang involvement.

Introduction 1. Exploring intergenerational continuity in gang membership 2. Developmental pathways of youth gang membership: a structural test of the social development model 3. Differentiating between delinquent groups and gangs: moving beyond offending consequences 4. School transitions as a turning point for gang status 5. Leveraging the pushes and pulls of gang disengagement to improve gang intervention: findings from three multi-site studies and a review of relevant gang programs 6. Toward a multiracial feminist framework for understanding females' gang involvement 7. The practical utility of a life-course gang theory for intervention 8. The labor market and gang membership in adulthood: is the availability, quality, and nature of legal work associated with adult gang involvement?