Why young people participate in violent gang behavior The effects of gang violence are witnessed every day on the streets, in the news, and on the movie screen. In all these forums, gangs of young adults are associated with drugs and violence. Yet what is it that prompts young people to participate in violent behavior? And what can be done to extract adolescents from the gangster world of crime, death, and incarceration once they have become involved? In Gangsters: 50 Years of Madness, Drugs, and Death on the Streets of America, Lewis Yablonsky provides answers to the most baffling and crucial questions regarding gangs. Using information gathered from over forty years of experience working with gang members and based on hundreds of personal interviews, many conducted in prisons and in gang neighborhoods, Yablonsky explores the pathology of the gangsters' apparent addiction to incarceration and death. Gangsters is divided into four parts, including a brief history of gangs, the characteristics of gangs, successful approaches for treating gangsters in prison and the community, and concluding with a review and analysis of notable behavioral and social scientific theories of gangs. While condemning their violent behavior in no uncertain terms, Yablonsky offers hope through his belief that, given a chance in an effective treatment program, youths trapped in violent behavior can change their lives in positive ways and, in turn, facilitate positive change in their communities and society at large.

Why young people participate in violent gang behavior The effects of gang violence are witnessed every day on the streets, in the news, and on the movie screen. In all these forums, gangs of young adults are associated with drugs and violence. Yet what is it that prompts young people to participate in violent behavior? And what can be done to extract adolescents from the gangster world of crime, death, and incarceration once they have become involved? In Gangsters: 50 Years of Madness, Drugs, and Death on the Streets of America, Lewis Yablonsky provides answers to the most baffling and crucial questions regarding gangs. Using information gathered from over forty years of experience working with gang members and based on hundreds of personal interviews, many conducted in prisons and in gang neighborhoods, Yablonsky explores the pathology of the gangsters' apparent addiction to incarceration and death. Gangsters is divided into four parts, including a brief history of gangs, the characteristics of gangs, successful approaches for treating gangsters in prison and the community, and concluding with a review and analysis of notable behavioral and social scientific theories of gangs. While condemning their violent behavior in no uncertain terms, Yablonsky offers hope through his belief that, given a chance in an effective treatment program, youths trapped in violent behavior can change their lives in positive ways and, in turn, facilitate positive change in their communities and society at large.

Lew Yablonsky's story is about a youth who was involved in various delinquent activities as a teenager, and later in life, after serving in the Navy, went through a dramatic change to become a noted Professor of Criminology. His favorite commentary about his life change on various national TV programs and in news media about his professional life was: "In my early years some of my best friends were criminal sociopaths, and I learned more about crime from them than I learned from acquiring my Ph.D. at NYU." His autobiography details his early years, and how his personal life entwines with the 20 books he has researched and written about crime, drug addiction, and other social issues. The following quote from a review of his first book "The Violent Gang" in the Los Angeles Times describes his writing style ..".a powerful and incisive writing in the field of sociology...an important and imensely useful work.

The robopaths are the people who pull the triggers at My Lai, Kent State, and Attica, make policy in Washington, and live next door. Dehumanized by regimentation, bureaucratization, and indiscriminate violence, they are growing more numerous in today's society. In this searing book, Lewis Yablonsky sees them as the outcome of the struggle between humanity and its technological servants-whether computers, automobiles, or H-bombs. Like Charles Reich and Alvin Toffler, Yablonsky doesn't claim to have any ultimate answers. But he does believe that clues have been offered by various group approaches to human interaction, such as Synanon, psychodrama, and the hippie counterculture. These clues may point the way to the refashioning of our plastic society-a refashioning that will make people both more human and more humane.

"Extramarital sex has long defied serious examination." Kinsey was unable to get his subjects to fully cooperate on this critical aspect of their sexual life. Noted sociologist Dr. Lewis Yablonsky has conducted the first major survey, in which he probes the intimate feelings, motivations and reactions of over 1000 men to establish the many provocative questions raised by and about "extra-sex." The vivid, in-depth case histories in The Extra-Sex Factor detail in the men's own words why they decide to have affairs, how they conduct them, and how they relate them to their marriage. The candor of the men is matched by Yablonsky's startling conclusions, which reveal the degree to which society has ignored the realities of male sexuality.

A newly revised and expanded edition of Dr. Lewis Yablonsky's classic study of violent urban gangs. Drawing on "live research" gathered while he was director of community crime-prevention program Yablonsky traces the "natural history" of two infamous New York City gangs. In their own words gang members tell why they murdered a fifteen-year-old polio victim and describe patterns of gang organization, leadership, alliances, warfare, and violence. Yablonsky also discusses programs for dealing with such groups and offers a new plan for gang control.

In his introduction to his new edition, Dr. Yablonsky outlines significant parallels between the activities of teen-age gangs and the rebellious behavior of many of today's young people. There is also a new and vital chapter in the "patters of violence" that plague contemporary society.

..". a model of powerful and incisive writing in the field of sociology.... An important and immensely useful work."
- Los Angeles Times