This book presents papers from some leading social scientists and scholars who examine the contemporary contours of America's gang problem. New material is provided on wilding (i.e., running amok for no specific reason) gangs, migration and drug trafficking, and public education disruption. Other topics involve organization of gangs, their social function, their relation to conventional society, and the social and psychological factors that contribute to involvement in them. Papers and their authors are as follows: "Origins and Problems of Gang Research in the United States" (Daniel J. Monti); "Gangs, Drugs, and Violence" (Joan Moore); "Anatomy of a Wilding Gang" (Scott Cummings); " Down With the Program': Racial Attitudes and Group Violence Among Youth in Bensonhurst and Gravesend" (Howard Pinderhughes); "The Established Gang" (Diego Vigil); "Hispanic Street Gangs in Chicago's Public Schools" (Ray Hutchison and Charles Kyle); "Blazon Nouveau: Gang Graffiti in the Barrios of Los Angeles and Chicago" (Ray Hutchison); "The Working Gang" (Felix Padilla); "Gang Organization and Migration" (Jerome H. Skolnick, Ricky Bluthenthal, and Theodore Correl); "Gangs in More- and Less-Settled Communities" (Daniel J. Monti); Moral Panic and the Response to Gangs in California' (Pat Jackson with Cary Rudman); "Gangs and Civil Rights" (Robert A. Destro); and "Public Policy and Gangs: Social Science and the Urban Underclass" (Scott Cummings and Daniel J. Monti). Contains an index and a bibliography of more than 500 items. (GLR)