A Comparative Study of Violent Extremism and Gangs, United States, 1948-2018

The study assesses the extent of commonalities between individuals who become involved in violent extremist groups and criminal gangs, and the processes by which individuals engage in each group. Following this comparison, the extent to which the empirical results support the potential for anti-gang programs to bolster the resilience of communities against violent extremism and other forms of crime is assessed. Quantitative assessment was conducted by comparing individuals included in the Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) dataset with a subset of individuals drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) along a number of demographic, social, and socioeconomic characteristics. Supplementary survey data was also collected from 45 former and current gang members in the United States concurrently with long-form interviews, covering a range of variables including background characteristics, demographic information, and attitudes among the respondents.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel restricted public
aiCategory Not AI-ready
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identifier 3916
internalContactPoint {"@type": "vcard:Contact", "fn": "Jennifer Scherer", "hasEmail": "mailto:Jennifer.Scherer@usdoj.gov"}
issued 2021-01-27T10:40:19
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language {eng}
license http://www.usa.gov/publicdomain/label/1.0/
metadataModified 9/2/2022 6:22:00 PM
modified 2021-01-27T10:44:40
programCode {011:060}
publisher National Institute of Justice
publisher_hierarchy Office of Justice Programs > National Institute of Justice
resource-type Dataset
rights These data are restricted due to the increased risk of violation of confidentiality of respondent and subject data.
sourceIdentifier https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37386
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Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • AmeriGEO
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • CKAN
  • GEO
  • GEOSS
  • National
  • North America
  • United States
  • crime-patterns
  • criminality-prediction
  • extremism
  • gang-members
  • gangs
  • offender-profiles
  • radicalism
  • terrorism
isopen False
license_id us-pd
license_title us-pd
maintainer Open Data Office of Justice Programs (USDOJ)
maintainer_email opendata@usdoj.gov
metadata_created 2025-09-23T15:33:51.153747
metadata_modified 2025-09-23T15:33:51.153753
notes The study assesses the extent of commonalities between individuals who become involved in violent extremist groups and criminal gangs, and the processes by which individuals engage in each group. Following this comparison, the extent to which the empirical results support the potential for anti-gang programs to bolster the resilience of communities against violent extremism and other forms of crime is assessed. Quantitative assessment was conducted by comparing individuals included in the Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) dataset with a subset of individuals drawn from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) along a number of demographic, social, and socioeconomic characteristics. Supplementary survey data was also collected from 45 former and current gang members in the United States concurrently with long-form interviews, covering a range of variables including background characteristics, demographic information, and attitudes among the respondents.
num_resources 1
num_tags 16
title A Comparative Study of Violent Extremism and Gangs, United States, 1948-2018