In the United States gang membership has exploded over the last twenty years. According to 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are approximately 1.4 million gang members, and they account for 48% of all violent crimes and an increase of non-violent crimes nationwide (Wong, Tohn, Hung & Ang, 2013). Participation within a gang increases the likelihood of delinquent behavior and could produce negative effects on future life trajectories. Several theories at present consider antisocial attitudes an underlying factor towards gang membership. Risk factors such as peer association and family have an underlying effect on whether an adolescent becomes a member of a gang. Peers may provide negative influences, including antisocial views and aggressiveness that encourages delinquent behavior if not previously present (Howell & Egley, 2005). Additionally, gangs are no longer thought of as requiring lifelong membership as adolescents frequently transition out of them after one or two years (Howell & Egley, 2005). Transitions are important because they signal that an individual is altering his or her trajectory. Elder (1997) stated that trajectories are age-graded patterns of development with respect to major social institutions such as family, school and work that link “social and psychological states over a substantial portion of the life course” (as cited in Krohn, Ward, Thornberry, Lizotte & Chu, 2011). Numerous risk factors play a significant part in the development of future trajectories.
Risk factors for gang membership have been identified at five major levels: individual, family, school, peers and community. For example, at the individual level early onset of delinquency and antisocial behavior among pre-adolescents could be a...
... middle of paper ...
...Lizotte, A. J., & Chu, R. (2011, November). The cascading effects of adolescent gang involvement across the life course. Criminology, 49(4), 991-1028. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00250.x
Melde, C., & Esbensen, F. (2011, May 25). Gang membership as a turning point in the life course. Criminology, 49(2), 513-552. doi:10.1111/j.1745-9125.2011.00227.x
Melde, C., & Esbensen, F. (2014, May). The relative impact of gang status transitions: Identifying the mechanism of change in delinquency. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 4(2), 349-376. doi:10.1177/0022427813507059
Pyrooz, D. C., Sweeten, G., & Piquero, A. R. (2013). Continuity and change in gang membership and gang embeddedness.Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 50(2), 239-271. doi: 10.1177/0022427811434830
Sweeten, G., Pyrooz, D. C., & Piquero, A. R. (2013). Disengaging from gangs and desistance
Morch, S., & Andersen, H. (2012). Becoming a Gang Member: Youth Life and Gang Youth. Online Submission
Gang violence is becoming a known threat in our country. Gang violence is defined as a group of people by repetitive socializing individuals or close friends with recognizable influence and inner coordination. These gangs will claim full control over a region in a community, town, or specific area which will lead to the involvement of violent crimes and unlawful behavior as a group or even by oneself. Since these gangs are increasing in size in communities, citizens of certain areas are beginning to move out or avoid going to these locations in order to avoid becoming the next victim to one of the community gangs waiting to engage in their next deviant act. These specific areas are located in communities that are at a poverty level, toxic areas, or environments where immigration is at it's highest. Law enforcement officials figure that these sorts of patterns bring out the characteristics of gang violence. It is known that an individual who wants to become a gang member must commit a violent crime in order to test their level of seriousness and faithfulness to their fellow brothers or, as they are known, "bloods". With the crime being committed by an individual, the physical features of a true gang member start to appear. Members or "brothers" are often easily recognized by their walk, tattoos, clothes, and colors of their clothes. Gangs are usually noted as groups of individuals who wear baggy jeans, long shirts, and bandana's of certain color. Another way to identify a gang member is by certain markings or tattoos on an individuals body. “"The modern street gang serves as an example par excellence of how geography and social networks converge to influence behavior." (Papachristos 2013). “Par excellence” is explained as ho...
In response to a growing gang problem in specific communities, the OJJDP has refined the Comprehensive Gang Model to better fit the issues related to today’s gangs. The GRP incorporates several new aspects into the pre-existing Comprehensive Gang Model. The revamped program was tested in four communities: East Los Angeles, CA; Milwaukee, W...
Issue: “The number of youths joining gangs in the inner city has doubled, while the number of gang leaders serving time in prison and being released after good conduct has increased. The crime rate for gang violence has risen 20% from last year” (American Intercontinental University, 2015).
Gang involvement has been quite higher than past years. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey estimates that about 32.4 percent of all cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural counties had a gang problem (Egley et al., 2010). This represented a 15 percent increase from the year 2002. The total number of gangs has also increased by 28 percent and total gang members have increased by 6 percent (Egley et al., 2010). This shows how relevant gang related activity is in today’s society. More locations are beginning to experience gang activity for the first time. Gang crime has also been on the rise in the past...
The enhancement model proposed by Thornberry et al. (1993) best represents the relationship between gang membership and offending. Curry et al. (2014) explain this model, “individuals with elevated criminal propensity select into gangs, which in turn correspond to even greater criminal involvement while in a gang” (p. 81). Essentially this explanation or rather perspective is a blend of the other two Thornberry et al. (1993) developed. The reason for choosing this particular perspective to represent the relationship between gang membership and offending is the other perspectives are too extreme. The facilitation explanation proposes a perspective that illustrates joining a gang with no criminal history and shooting up to a high delinquency
Tobin, Kimberly. Gangs: An Individual and Group Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
Among the crimes that gang members are often associated with, some of the most common are theft and drug sales. According to a bulletin posted by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the commission of crime, including non-violent crimes, is disproportionately high among youth gang members. In Seattle, Washington, the OJJDP performed a study in which “gang members (15 percent of the sample) self-reported committing 58 percent of general delinquent acts in the entire sample, 51 percent of minor assaults, 54 percent of felony thefts, 53 percent of minor thefts, 62 percent of drug-trafficking offenses, and more than 59 percent of property offenses” (Battin et al., 1998).
In the 1920’s there was a study conducted by Fredric M. Thrasher. Thrasher studied 1,313 gangs in Chicago and revealed the issue of gangs. He considered the poor in poverty as the area increasing in gangs. This area was known as the “zone in transition” and was referred as in his studies. Thrasher has many law reinforcement and social workers helping him bring a stop to this madness. According to Thrashers studies “Important variables such as the age of gang members or the organizational features of the gangs were not related in a straightforward way to differences in the behavior of gangs” (Cummings 6). Thrasher has analyzed these gangs in many ways to the extent or romantic life in gangs. He helped us distinguish the difference in stereotype gangs and then the actual facts involving them.
The presence of gang violence has been a long lasting problem in Philadelphia. Since the American Revolution, gangs have been overpopulating the streets of Philadelphia (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). Most gangs in history have been of lower class members of society, and they often are immigrants into the U.S (Teen Gangs, 1996). Gangs provided lower class teens to have an opportunity to bond with other lower class teens. However over time, the original motive of being in a gang has changed. In the past, gangs used to provide an escape for teens to express themselves, let out aggression, and to socialize with their peers. It was also an opportunity for teens to control their territory and fit in (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). In the past, authorities would only focus on symptoms of gang violence and not the root. They would focus on arresting crime members instead of preventing gang violence. Gangs are beginning to expand from inner-city blo...
Belliar, Paul E., and Thomas L. McNulty. 2009. “Gang Membership, Drug Selling, and Violence in Neighborhood Context.” JQ: Justice Quarterly 26 (4): 644-69. Web. 15 March 2014.
With the promise of a greater life by the gangs, the excited teens get attracted to the illegal activities of the mob (Bryman, 2008). Some of the teens are addicts of substances and they tend to believe that being in a gang will give them the freedom to continue using it. At home, the challenge can be bad since parents may not even have an idea of an addiction or ways of coping. Therefore, most teens are forced to join a mob because they have the desired freedom and access to the drugs. Some of the teens are pressured into joining a mob if their association will add to the mob’s criminal actions.
Hallswort, S. And Young, T. (2004) Getting Real About Gang. Criminal Justice Matters [online]. 55. (1), pp 12-13 [Accessed 10 December 2013]
Many stereotypes of gangs have been fabricated. The problem is that a majority of gang members do not fit these stereotypes, which, in turn, makes it hard for the to be caught (Klein). Traditionally they organize their group around a specific neighborhood, school or housing projec...
One of the reasons young people join street gangs is because of neighborhood disadvantages. A theory that can contribute to why young people might join street gangs is Social Disorganization Theory. Social Disorganization theory assumes that “delinquency emerges in neighborhoods where neighborhood relation and social institutions have broken down and can no longer maintain effective social controls (Bell, 2007).” Social Disorganization contributes to residential instability and poverty, which affects interpersonal relationships within the community and opens opportunities for crimes to be committed. The break down of neighborhood relation and social institutions create a higher likely hood that young people will affiliate with deviant peers and get involved in gangs. When there is lack of social controls within a neighborhood the opportunity to commit deviance increases and the exposure to deviant groups such as street gangs increase. Which causes an increase in the chances of young people joining street gangs. If social controls are strong remain strong within a neighborhood and/or community the chances of young people committing crime and joining gangs decreases.