The Utah Standard Examiner interviewed Robert Durán for this story about the nuanced purposes and memberships of gangs.
In the story, Durán takes issue with broadly assuming gangs exist to commit crimes. As a teenager, he joined a gang but went on to get a steady job and graduate from university. He now studies gangs and spends considerable time with street gangs and law enforcement. He published his research in his book, Gang Life in Two Cities.
“One of the biggest things with my work, that I was trying to do, was challenge that ‘crime’ notion associated with gangs,” he told the newspaper. Continue reading online.
Durán is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology.