Gang Membership, Essay Example

The purpose of this paper is to understand how race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic, reasons for joining, and other factors affect the likelihood of gang membership. This paper develops from interaction with The National Youth Gang Center web page, its Gang Journal, and other resources on gang membership. Questions answered include the following: Who is most likely to become a gang member and why? What benefits does membership provide gang members? What are the dangers? It also includes two additional, important factors for consideration –factors that are relevant to living the life of a gang member. These deal with gang similarities and differences across geographic boundaries and gang profiling.

Factor of Race/Ethnicity

From 1996 to 2006, African Americans represented about 35% of the known gang members in America. This percentage did not fluctuate much at all during that decade. During the same period, a slight rise occurred in the number of Latino gang members, moving from about 45% to 49%. White gang membership dropped from 11% to 8%. All other races combined held, moving from 7% to only 6%.  Hispanics are the most likely gang members that people will know about or hear about.

Factor of Gender

Gangs are overwhelmingly male. During the years from 1998 to 2007, male gangs grew from 92% to 93% while female gang members dropped from 7% to 6% of total gang members. Coed gangs appear either not to exist or not to be significant in number.

Factor of Socioeconomic Conditions

Gangs seem to thrive in socially deprived neighborhoods. Gangs step in when families, schools, and community resources collapse. The absence of adult supervision, the presence of too much free time, the limited access to appealing career choices (jobs); and, the ability to congregate all set an atmosphere where gangs can flourish. Vigil (2001) identifies the sources at work that contribute to gang association as being ecological and socio-cultural which lead to social, psychological, and socioeconomic. These result in what he calls macrohistorical (racism, cultural repression, and fragmented institutions) and mirostructural (immigration/migration, enclave settlement, and ghetto/barrio). Further, he deems that fitting into society in marginal ways produce a dynamic that encourages street identities and the need to protect what they feel to be their zone or turf.

Factors for Joining

A longitudinal study that came out in the late 1990s found that about 8% of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16 had had some type of gang identification during that period. Factors that appear to have contributed to a rise in gang activity are: the increased mobility brought about by a proliferation of automobiles and roads; More gang activity in suburban areas and in smaller cities; and, family migration resulting in the spread of gangs to places where it had never been before. The percentage of youths in urban centers report that 17% of youth will identify with a gang at some point between ages 12 and 16.

Factors (Other)

One of the most obvious differences between gangs today and the gangs of yesteryear is the presence of illegal firearms. This is a major cause of their intimidation of others and even their own. Weapons give gangs feelings of superiority. The irony is that, while they possess guns for protection, they usually wind up wounded or wounding, killed or killing.

Who is Most Likely to Join?

Those most prone to link with gangs exhibit predictable traits. There are pushes and pulls as young people contemplate identification with gangs. The pushes, members will say, include respect (gaining the respect of others), social opportunities (being surrounded by friends), protection (having people around who say, “I’ve got your back”), and money (making money through crime). The pushes include having the availability of firearms, running from a life of poverty, leaving school environments, hanging out with delinquent peers, and engaging in antisocial beliefs.

What Are the Benefits?                                                                  

From a recent survey, here is a list of perceived gang benefits as reported by the participants. These are listed here in the order of importance (high to low) as provided by the respondents: loyalty, enjoyment, family, respect, sense of belonging, opportunity to make money, feeling of importance, and feeling of purpose. An environment conducive to gang participation stems from broken family relationships and poor school performance.

What Are the Dangers?                                                                              

Members will do things as a group that they would not do alone. Gangs pose unique dangers to society. Group behavior lowers inhibitions. When groups plan a crime, the odds of the crime actually being perpetrated goes up exponentially. Many hands make light work. Immature levels of judgment and social abilities are common among teen gangs. Gangs have an extremely high level of crime activity and delinquency. Rejecting middle class values, gangs are antisocial, have oppositional mindsets, and drop out of school.

Gang Similarities and Differences                                                                          

Gangs have changes a lot over the years. A gang may operate for years under the same name, but the gang’s purposes change. Today there is a national rise in what is known as hybrid gang activity. These gangs may boast more than one race from among their membership. Additionally, hybrid members may affiliate with more than one gang at a time. Hybrids often collaborate, linking rival groups at times where there is mutual concern for crime or intimidation. Hybrids mix the use of symbols and colors and vague rules in ways that would never been imagined by gangs of old. The changing nature and loose organization of modern gangs make it difficult for law enforcement officers to stay current in their efforts to track gang behaviors.

Gang Profiling

Highlights from a recent national study reveal that 56% of gang members come from cities, 25% come from suburban counties, 17% come from smaller cities, and 2% come from rural counties. It reported that 27,000 gangs are active in the United States and that 788,000 people are active in them. Gangs are migrating from cities to rural areas. A gang will have three or more members who are between the ages of 12-24. Gangs choose to communicate through hand signs and graffiti. The largest racial group reporting gang involvement is from among our Native American population, where 15% of youths join gangs.

Conclusion

The number of gangs and the number of gang members is staggering. Continuing efforts to study gangs need to stay in force to support an increased understanding of gang activities. Improved efforts at gang prevention and monitoring are needed to discourage young people from gang allegiance and inducement.

References

Esbensen, F., Peterson, D., Taylor, T., & Freng, A. (2009). Similarities and differences in risk factors for violent offending and gang membership. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 42(3), 310-335.

Johnson, S., & Muhlhausen, D. (2005). North American transnational youth gangs: Breaking the chain of violence. Trends in Organized Crime, 9(1), 38-54.

National Gang Center. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Updated 24 Feb 2010. Retrieved March 2, 2010 from http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/

Supreme Court Debates (1999). Criminal gangs in America. Question-and-Answer Review of Gang-Related Activities, 2(2), 37-38.

Vigil, J. (2001). Urban violence and street gangs. Annual Review of Anthropology, 32(1), 225-242.