Criminal street gangs have become one of the most serious crime problems in California. Gang violence--particularly assaults, drive-by shootings, homicides, and brutal home-invasion robberies--accounts for one of the largest, single, personal threats to public safety in this state.

The Department of Justice estimates there may be as many as 175,000 to 200,000 gang members in California. These figures are approximations only since there is no statewide, centralized repository of gang-related information to accurately measure the num ber of gang members in California. However, these figures represent an approximate 230 to 280 percent increase over the past 11 years when former Attorney General George Deukmejian's Youth Gang Task Force estimated 52,400 gang members in the state during 1981. The Youth Gang Task Force figures were based on a series of hearings held throughout the state in 1981.

The current estimates are based on:

A 1991 telephone survey by the Department of Justice of California law enforcement gang units, with the exception of those in Los Angeles County. The survey indicated approximately 50,000 gang members in California, exclusive of Los Angeles County.

A May 1992 report by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. The report indicated "there are 125-130,000 gang members on file in the combined databases for Los Angeles County," which included "roughly 5,000 duplicate names." They also reported "2 0-25,000 gang members active in LA County who have not yet shown up in any gang database."

For the purpose of this report, gangs are defined as "any ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having as one of its primary activities the commission of one or more of the criminal acts enumerat ed in paragraphs (1) to (8), which has a common name or common identifying sign or symbol, whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity." (California Penal Code Section 186.22[f])

The following criminal acts are enumerated in paragraphs (1) to (8):

Assault with a deadly weapon or by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury
Robbery
Unlawful homicide or manslaughter
The sale, possession for sale, transportation, manufacture, offer for sale, or offer to manufacture controlled substances
Shooting at an inhabited dwelling or occupied motor vehicle
Arson
The intimidation of witnesses and victims
Grand theft of any vehicle, trailer, or vessel A gang member is defined as "any person who actively participates in any gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal cond uct by members of that gang." (California Penal Code Section 186.22[a])
Both definitions are restrictive. Not all gangs have names, identifying signs, or symbols; and gang members may include associates affiliated with the gang for purposes of criminal activity. Hardcore gang members devote their lives to the gang, but crim inal associates do not. This report takes these elusive circumstances into consideration and includes them--along with Penal Code Section 186.22 (a) and (f)--as gangs and gang members throughout the document.
The gangs, which comprise the majority of the violent gangs in California, include Hispanic gangs; African American gangs, particularly the Crips and Bloods; Asian gangs; and white gangs, especially the Skinheads.
Hispanic gangs comprise the majority of the gang population in California. They are involved in a variety of criminal activities, and their arsenals are expanding to large-caliber. handguns and automatic weapons.
The Crips and Bloods have become the most well-known of California's African American gangs, They are involved in robberies, burglaries, assaults, drive-by shootings, murders, and narcotics trafficking throughout California and the United States.
Asian gangs--especially Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian gangs--are becoming one of the fastest growing gang-related crime problems in this state. Their members terrorize their own community, and most of their home-invasion robberies include threats or bodily harm to the victims. Some of the robberies have resulted in the torture and death of the victims.
White gangs, particularly the Skinheads, are involved in hate crimes. Murders and assaults attributed to Skinheads are on the increase, and most of their crimes are racially motivated. The connections between the Skinheads and other established white-sup remacist groups--like the Ku Klux Klan and the White Aryan Resistance--are increasing.