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When Americans hear of child soldiers , they may imagine tragic images of children wielding rifles on distant battlefields.

But the conditions that help warlords recruit children into armed conflict abroad also help gang leaders draw young people into violent organizations in the U.S.

In cities across the country, gang violence continues to claim lives and fracture communities. A September 2025 FBI report recorded 69,273 incidents involving gang activity—most often assaults—between 2021 and 2024. Young people ages 13 to 16 were the most frequently reported offenders.

Policy responses to this crisis have largely focused on policing, prosecution and tougher penalties. Those responses cost federal, state and local governments billions of dollars annually.

Far less attention is paid to why violence offers some young people a sense of purpose, belonging and identity in the first place.

Gang-involved youth in the U.S.…