This timely, insightful, and data-led book fills a gap in gang scholarship by examining gangs in rural areas, specifically focusing on youth gang activity.

Incorporating information from interviews with 96 active youth gang members and associates in three of the rural counties of California’s Central Valley, this book provides an in-depth look at youth involvement in gang life in rural settings and addresses the underlying factors leading to the socialization of rural youths into gang life. The book documents the family and school life of youths living in rural communities and examines the process by which they are initiated into gang activity. It discusses their roles in various street gang organizations and their gang-related and non- gang-related illegal activities. It traces their experiences within the criminal justice system, from initial contacts with the police to juvenile court and juvenile corrections. Besides extensive interviews with the youths and official records collected from local criminal justice agencies, data from more than 300 surveys of community members, accompanied by extensive field research in local communities, provides groundbreaking insights into a wide spectrum of issues related to gangs in rural settings. While the Central Valley of California serves as the research site for this extensive work, its findings are equally relevant to other rural areas in the United States and in the larger global context.

This volume will be of pivotal interest to students, scholars, and academics in the fields of criminology, criminal justice, sociology, law, social sciences, and political sciences, as well as policymakers, criminal justice practitioners, community leaders, and advocates for gang prevention and intervention programs.

Huan Gao is Professor of Criminal Justice at California State University, Stanislaus. She is the author of Women and Heroin Addiction in China’s Changing Society (2011) and was an academic visitor at the Center for Criminology at Oxford University in 2022.