Can a member of a Salvadoran youth gang, locally known as “maras,” leave the gang and
start a new life away from crime and violence? To answer this question, the Kimberly Green …

Ask the average person to describe a location where youth gangs can be found, and he or
she will probably conjure up a gritty inner-city neighborhood. In recent years, though, gangs …

Contemporary Mexican American Youth Gangs 13 activity. Categories include social gangs
that are extensions of delinquent peer groups formed in ethnic communities, such as the …

Youth gangs are far from a new phenomenon in Guatemala: observers have reported gangs
there since the 1950s. 1 It is the gangs that appeared in some areas of the capital in the …

The presence of gangs in Nicaragua is not a new or unique phenomenon. Groups of
adolescents involved in activities tied to delinquency can be traced back to at least the …

Over the past two decades, Latin America has experienced an unprecedented growth in
violence and crime, which has been largely attributed to the emergence and proliferation of …

It is well known that street gangs flourish in low-income African-American ghettos and
Mexican barrios. There have been a moderate number of studies surrounding the reasons …

Most academic literature is based on experiences of gang members in developed countries.
This article explores the mechanisms of desistance among street gangs in El Salvador …

El Salvador's gang landscape, dominated by Mara Salvatrucha (MS) and Calle Dieciocho
(the 18th Street Gang, or simply “18th Street”), has grown increasingly complex in recent …

Honduras has some of the highest poverty rates in the Western Hemisphere. Of its estimated
7.5 million inhabitants, more than 50 percent live on an income below the poverty line. In …