The Rise in Female Gang Members

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Many people recognize that gangs have been around for what seems like forever. What they don't realize is that the numbers are increasing to amazing proportions, there were 28,000 youth gangs with 780,200 members in the United States (in 2000) and 20% to 46% of those members are female (Evans). And what is even more shocking is, in Chicago alone there are 16,000 to 20,000 female gang members (Eghigian). These girls start out as ?groupies?, become members, and sometimes even leaders of all-girl gangs because of troubles in the home, a need for money, for the social scene, or just because it is all they know. Allison Abner, who wrote Gangsta girls, sat down and spoke with three girls who have all been in gangs while, two still are. These girls speak of themselves and many others that live in isolated neighborhoods, where the high school drop-out rates are high, as well as unemployment rates (Abner). They are ready to work hard, and to achieve, but are not given the opportunities to do so. They often come from troubled and violent homes and just need something to ?fill the void...

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