Robert J. Durán is associate professor of sociology at Texas A&M University. He is the author of Gang Life in Two Cities: An Insider’s Journey (Columbia, 2013).

The Gang Paradox tells a story about the Mexican American experience on the border, including gangs and institutional reactions to them. In clear, descriptive, and refreshingly reflexive language Durán argues that the reality of gangs is far from its media image, and provides ample data to make his point. This book is educational in the best sense and should be welcomed.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: A Revisionist History1. The Context for the Origination of Gangs: Double Colonization2. The Formation of Gangs in El Chuco3. Moral Panic Under a Research Microscope: The Organizational Scene Prior to ArrivalPart II: An Ethnographic Foundation4. How Youth of Mexican Descent Encounter Criminalization5. Contradictions in Law Enforcement6. Participatory Action Research Teams at a Minority-Serving Institution7. Empirical Miracles and Where Do We Go from Here?ConclusionAppendix 1: MethodsAppendix 2: Development of Gangs Timeline in the New Mexico/Texas RegionNotesReferencesIndex

Robert J. Durán is associate professor of sociology at Texas A&M University. He is the author of Gang Life in Two Cities: An Insider’s Journey (Columbia, 2013).

The Gang Paradox tells a story about the Mexican American experience on the border, including gangs and institutional reactions to them. In clear, descriptive, and refreshingly reflexive language Durán argues that the reality of gangs is far from its media image, and provides ample data to make his point. This book is educational in the best sense and should be welcomed.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: A Revisionist History1. The Context for the Origination of Gangs: Double Colonization2. The Formation of Gangs in El Chuco3. Moral Panic Under a Research Microscope: The Organizational Scene Prior to ArrivalPart II: An Ethnographic Foundation4. How Youth of Mexican Descent Encounter Criminalization5. Contradictions in Law Enforcement6. Participatory Action Research Teams at a Minority-Serving Institution7. Empirical Miracles and Where Do We Go from Here?ConclusionAppendix 1: MethodsAppendix 2: Development of Gangs Timeline in the New Mexico/Texas RegionNotesReferencesIndex

Robert J. Durán is associate professor of sociology at Texas A&M University. He is the author of Gang Life in Two Cities: An Insider’s Journey (Columbia, 2013).

The Gang Paradox tells a story about the Mexican American experience on the border, including gangs and institutional reactions to them. In clear, descriptive, and refreshingly reflexive language Durán argues that the reality of gangs is far from its media image, and provides ample data to make his point. This book is educational in the best sense and should be welcomed.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroductionPart I: A Revisionist History1. The Context for the Origination of Gangs: Double Colonization2. The Formation of Gangs in El Chuco3. Moral Panic Under a Research Microscope: The Organizational Scene Prior to ArrivalPart II: An Ethnographic Foundation4. How Youth of Mexican Descent Encounter Criminalization5. Contradictions in Law Enforcement6. Participatory Action Research Teams at a Minority-Serving Institution7. Empirical Miracles and Where Do We Go from Here?ConclusionAppendix 1: MethodsAppendix 2: Development of Gangs Timeline in the New Mexico/Texas RegionNotesReferencesIndex