Gangsters: 50 Years of Madness, Drugs, and Death on the Streets of America - Hardcover

Yablonsky, Lewis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814796796 ISBN 13: 9780814796795

Publisher: NYU Press, 1997

Synopsis

The effects of gang violence are witnessed every day on the streets, in the news, and on the movie screen. In all these forums, gangs of young adults are associated with drugs and violence. Yet what is it that prompts young people to participate in violent behavior? And what can be done to extract adolescents from the gangster world of crime, death, and incarceration once they have become involved?

In Gangsters: 50 Years of Madness, Drugs, and Death on the Streets of America, Lewis Yablonsky provides answers to the most baffling and crucial questions regarding gangs. Using information gathered from over forty years of experience working with gang members and based on hundreds of personal interviews, many conducted in prisons and in gang neighborhoods, Yablonsky explores the pathology of the gangsters' apparent addiction to incarceration and death.

Gangsters is divided into four parts, including a brief history of gangs, the characteristics of gangs, successful approaches for treating gangsters in prison and the community, and concluding with a review and analysis of notable behavioral and social scientific theories of gangs. While condemning their violent behavior in no uncertain terms, Yablonsky offers hope through his belief that, given a chance in an effective treatment program, youths trapped in violent behavior can change their lives in positive ways and, in turn, facilitate positive change in their communities and society at large.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In Gangsters: Fifty Years of Madness, Drugs, and Death on the Streets of America, Lewis Yablonsky provides answers to the most baffling and crucial questions regarding gangs. How has the American gang evolved into its current structure? What prompts young people to participate in violent behavior? What can be done to extract adolescents from the gangster world of crime, death, and incarceration once they have become involved? Using information gathered from over forty years of experience working with gang members and based on hundreds of personal interviews, conducted in prisons and gang neighborhoods, Yablonsky explores the pathology of the gangsters' apparent addiction to incarceration and death, presenting his sophisticated analysis in an engaging and personal style.

About the Author:

Lewis Yablonsky is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Criminology at California State University-Northridge. He is the author of 15 best-selling books, including The Violent Gang, The Hippie Trip, PsychodramaFathers and Sons.[Author Bio]

About this edition

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0814796796
• ISBN 13: 9780814796795
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 260