The Importance Of Gang Delinquency

Gang affiliations have steadily increased each year, with the United States Department of Justice reporting approximately 731,500 gang members and 21,500 active gangs in the year 2002. Nine years later, in 2011, these numbers were estimated to have grown to 33,000 gangs with over 1.4 million members in total (United States Department of Justice). In the same year, it was found that 35% of gang members were under the age of 18 (National Gang Center). These gangs use a variety of strategies for recruiting new members, specifically the youth population. In fact, they often target youth who appear to have few friends, need money, or who have gotten in trouble with the law in the past. Among the things gangs promise these individuals are: money,

Although a standard definition does not exist, gang delinquency can be defined as law-violating behavior committed by groups of youth and adults, that are complexly organized and that have established leadership and membership rules (Curry & Spergel, 1988). Gangs engage in a range of different crimes, but most significantly in violent crimes, as a means of upholding norms and values in regards to: mutual support, conflict relations with other gangs, and tradition (Curry & Spergel, 1988). They are organizations concerned with territory, status, and the ability to control behavior. For disadvantaged youth, who lack the opportunities to succeed in a socially acceptable manner, gangs effectively provide meaningful social and even economic structures. In gang membership, there is the opportunity to create personal identity, but there are minimal standards of acceptable status (Curry & Spergel,

These pressures of being unable to obtain the economic means necessary to achieve a minimal standard of living have been show to lead to deviant behavior, particularly youth delinquency (Curry and Spergel, 1988). It can therefore be deduced that youth individuals are more likely to take part in these behaviors if they reside in these neighborhoods where gangs are already known to exist, as well as neighborhoods that are high in juvenile delinquency (Spergel, 1995). These issues are of utmost importance, gang membership does not only present an issue on an individual level, but on a societal level as well. Gangs are well-known for their proclivity for violence, even to those who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Youth gang crime is no longer limited to big cities; these problems have now spread beyond those boundaries into suburbs, small cities, and even rural areas (Spergel & Grossman, 1997). These organizations put us all at risk, and are a threat to public safety. Furthermore, these groups put our youth at risk and threaten to destroy their