On Good Authority

              – 1 –
An analysis of gang members
and non-gang members
discharged from probation
On Good Authority
Vol. 6, No. 2
September 2002
On Good Authority is a periodic
briefing on trends and issues in
criminal justice research and program
evaluation. This report was written by
Research Analyst Sharyn Adams and
David Olson, Ph.D., professor at
Loyola University and senior scientist
at the Authority. It is an analysis of data
collected in the 2000 Illinois
Probation Outcome Study conducted
by the Authority and the
Administrative Office of the Illinois
Courts’ Probation Division. Copies of
the probation study are available from
the Authority’s Research and Analysis
Unit.
The Illinois Criminal Justice
Information Authority is a state
agency dedicated to improving the
administration of criminal justice in
Illinois. The basic functions of the
Authority are criminal justice
research, federal and state grants
administration, and information
systems development and support.
For more information, or for copies
of this or other publications, contact
the Authority at (312) 793-8550, or
visit our Web site at
www.icjia.state.il.us.
The research was supported by grant #00-
DB-MU-0017 awarded by the Bureau of
Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs,
U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in
this document do not necessarily represent the
official position or policies of the U.S.
Department of Justice.
Printed by authority of the State of Illinois,
September 2001. Printing order #03-075;
6,500 copies.
George H. Ryan
Governor
Peter B. Bensinger
Chairman
Candice M. Kane
Executive Director
Although the prevalence of gang
members on probation in Illinois is
relatively low, these probationers tend to
have characteristics that place them at a
higher risk for recidivism than probation-ers
who are not affiliated with a gang.
This analysis compares gang members
and non-gang members sentenced to
probation by looking at differences in
their demographic and socioeconomic
conditions, conviction offenses, sub-stance
abuse and criminal histories, as
well as probation conditions and out-comes.
The data used in the analysis were
collected through the 2000 Illinois
Probation Outcome Study, which in-volved
the collection of detailed data from
a sample of more than 3,300 adult
probationers in Illinois. Future analyses
will examine other specific probation
populations and issues, including
domestic violence offenders.
Based on information reported by
probation officers in Illinois, an estimated
6 percent of adults discharged from
probation in 2000 were identified as gang
members. That means nearly 5,000 of the
more than 88,000 adult probationers
discharged that year had gang affiliations.
For approximately 16 percent of the
sample in the Probation Outcome Study,
probation officers reported not knowing if
the probationer was a gang member or
not.
Offender characteristics
In general, gang members on probation in
Illinois were different from non-gang
members in the following ways:
• They tended to be younger.
• They were more likely to be racial
minority.
• They were more likely to be male.
• They were more likely to have never
been married.
• They were less likely to have
completed high school.
• They were less likely to be employed
when sentenced to probation.
• They were less likely to have
parented a child.
• They were more likely to have a
history of illegal drug use/abuse.
More specifically, in terms of
education, 45 percent of the gang
members had completed high school or
received a GED, while nearly 75 percent of
the non-gang members had done so.
Similarly, 80 percent of gang members
were identified as having abused illegal
substances, while 53 percent of the non-gang
members were so identified.
Most of these differences between
gang members and non-gang members
also have been found in criminological
By Sharyn Adams and
David Olson, Ph.D.
ILLINOIS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
INFORMATION AUTHORITY