Points of view or opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of OJJDP or the U.S. Department of Justice.

Responses to the 1996 National Youth Gang Survey were submitted voluntarily by law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Readers are cautioned against basing judgments on the nature or extent of the gang problem in a particular locality solely on the data presented here. Because of differing methodology, definitions, and sampling techniques, caution is also urged in making direct comparisons between these data and data obtained in other surveys.