ABSTRACT
In community and correctional settings, gang status is a robust predictor of offending. Unfortunately, relatively few studies have historically considered behavioral disorders of offenders and whether these disorders mediate the gang-offending relationship. This is surprising since selection effects likely explain that antisocial individuals and those with externalizing behavioral disorders would be drawn to gang life relative to those with more conventional behavioral functioning. This chapter reviews recent studies of community samples, adult correctional clients, and institutionalized youth that show evidence gang variables are sometimes rendered nonsignificant or are generally weak classifiers of severe offending once behavioral disorders are specified. We implore gang researchers and criminologists generally to consider behavioral disorders and other psychopathology of gang members and other serious offenders to inform theory and research.
