Gangs continue to pose a serious domestic threat to many communities within the United States. As of today, and based on FBI data, more than one million young people have joined dangerous gangs. Within the United States alone, there are more than 27,000 active gangs. Most of these gangs engage in drug-related activity and violence, including homicides. There exist different types of gangs based on gang structure, geographical location, and ethnic composition. Based on locality or area of coverage, gangs are divided into local, rural, urban, national and transnational street gangs. These gangs have a variety of salient differences, which are discussed in detail in this paper.
A range of differences exists between local, urban and rural gangs. The members of local gangs are usually local inhabitants of a region. Local gangs are not organized and aim to imitate larger and powerful gangs to intimidate their rivals. These gangs are regarded as less dangerous than their national and transnational counterparts are and can in most cases be handled by local law enforcements. Urban gangs, on the other hand, reside exclusively in big American cities such as Los Angeles, Buffalo, and New York. These gangs have contributed to the rising cases of homicides in big cities. They are more organized than rural and local gangs are. Being organized acts as a significant factor in controlling the drug marketplace in the cities where they reside. Urban gangs are often involved in a lot of violent activity. Example of urban gangs includes Boot Camp, 110 Gang and Highland Gang amongst several others (Delaney, 181).