Do Gangs Cause Violence, or Do Gangs Form in Already Violent Areas to Protect People? We tested this 'which came first, the chicken or the egg' idea, and the paper is below.

Youth Gangs as Pseudo-Governments: Implications for Violent Crime

by Russell S. Sobel and Brian J. Osoba

This paper is forthcoming in the Southern Economic Journal

Department of Economics

P.O. Box 6025

West Virginia University

Morgantown, WV 26506

Abstract: We hypothesize the failure of government to protect the rights of individuals from violence committed by youths has led to the formation of youth gangs as protective agencies.  Our theory predicts an opposite direction of causality between gang activity and violent crime than is widely accepted.  While areas with more gang activity also have more violence, our theory suggests gangs form as protection agencies precisely in areas with high violent crime rates.  While gangs, like governments, use violence to enforce rules, the net impact of gangs is to lower violent crime.  We test this hypothesis and offer significant policy implications.

Click here for the PDF version of the paper.