The Answered Questions

  Along my research I stumbled upon a bit of interesting information which almost directly helped me answer my questions; "How many juveniles associated themselves with gangs?", and "What was the percentage of the ethnic backgrounds that made up these gangs?" The National Gang Center produced some very in depth research when it came to these two questions as recent as the year 2011. National Youth Gang Survey Analysis produced this chart which informs us of what was the age of gang members from the year 1996 to the year 2011. The results are surprising to me in the aspect that juvenile gang membership dipped so low in the 2001, but the slowly began to rise again. I believe that now in the year 2014 the number of juveniles would rise back to fifty percent or even high, due to what I have experienced working with juveniles in the past year, and the music they are listening to that promotes nothing but gang violence, gang paraphernalia, and drug/alcohol use.The National Youth Gang Survey offered their analysis of the research they found:

• In virtually every survey year, law enforcement agencies report a greater percentage of adult (18 and over) gang members compared with juvenile (under 18) gang members.
• The most recent figures provided by law enforcement indicate that more than three out of every five gang members are adults. 

     The National Youth Gang Survey answered another one of my questions. "What was the percentage of the ethnic backgrounds that made up these gangs?" Their research show a pure dominance of the Hispanic or Latino group being the high majority of the gang members, but not far behind were the Black or African American gang members. As I noted before with the major gangs across the country being the Bloods, the Crips, and the Latin Kings being made up of predominately Black and Hispanic. These statistics were not as surprising to me after the prior research I had looked into. The White and Other races involved must be some of the Outlaw Motor Cycle Gangs and the fill in members that joined in on some of the well-known gangs or others. The National Youth Gang Survey offered analysis for this chart as well:

• Law enforcement agencies report a greater percentage of Hispanic/Latino and African-American/black gang members compared with other race/ethnicities.

• The most recent figures provided by law enforcement are 46 percent Hispanic/Latino gang members, 35 percent African-American/black gang members, more than 11 percent white gang members, and 7 percent other race/ethnicity of gang members. 

    The United States Department of Justice put out an article describing some ethnic diversity in today's gang world. It describes how there are some gangs are mixed within their races, as well with the demographics have a lot to do with the racial diversity. Their research also involved some of the research that was found within these two surveys, and the National Youth Gang Survey. In 2001, David Starbuck, James C. Howell,and Donna J. Lindquist  stated, "Although many gangs continue to be based on race or ethnicity, gangs are increasingly diverse in racial/ethnic composition. Law enforcement agencies responding to the 1998 National Youth Gang Survey estimated that more than one-third (36 percent) of youth gangs had a significant mixture of two or more racial/ethnic groups; Small cities had the largest proportion of gangs with mixed race/ethnicity. The Midwest had a larger proportion of mixed gangs than any other region.Gangs in suburban areas, small towns, and rural areas show more membership diversity than gangs in large cities. Gangs in these areas have more racially/ethnically mixed membership  and include Caucasians, and younger members than gangs in larger cities (Starbuck, Howell, and Lindquist, 2001).

References 

National Youth Gang Survey Analysis. (2011, October 1). Retrieved February 2, 2015, from http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/survey-analysis/demographics

Starbuck, D., Howell, J., & Lindquist, D. (2001, December 1). Hybrid and Other Modern Gangs. Juvenile Justice Bulletin, 8-8.