Gang Membership

For many youths, gang membership is a way of life. Deviance and delinquency, often attributed to gang membership, are certain. Most gang members join ranks as young teenagers, and the prevalence of females in gangs is rising. One study looks at the gang mentality of prison inmates who purposely (and without remorse) attacked law enforcement officials. As part of an attempt to combat gang activity, the U.S. Department of Justice has several commissions to identify gang members and to prevent new members from joining. Law enforcement officials and school administrators are also trained to identify gang tattoos in and outside of school.

Keywords Aggregation; Antisocial Behavior; At-risk; Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); Conduct Disorder; Deviance; Gang; Juvenile Delinquency; Oppositional Defiant Disorder; Recidivism

Gang Membership

Overview

West Side Story (1957) is a tragic love story depicted through a turf war between two rival gangs—the Jets and the Sharks. Both the film and the Broadway production are based on fictional events starring fictional characters. However, neither Tony nor Maria saw the realistic ending of their romance before it happened. Gang activity often involves violence, and violence often results in death. While Tony did not anticipate his impending demise, school administrators, criminalists, and the federal government realize the danger of gang membership and try to prevent it whenever they note new affiliates being pursued.

A gang is generally a group of individuals—often adolescents or young adults—who unite as an organized collection in a set territory, often to engage in illegal or deviant behaviors. In most instances, an allegiance forms, and the gang members become loyal to each other and the gang as an entity. Another part is swearing allegiance to the other members of the group, vowing to protect and stand by each of them. This allegiance is what identifies members of the Ku Klux Klan and other cult-like organizations. In this vein, gang activity crosses education, racial, socioeconomic, and geographic boundaries.

Juvenile Delinquency

Primarily, though, gangs in America contain male youth, adolescents generally ranging in age from ten to twenty. In many instances, the members of a gang are considered juvenile delinquents, as they tend to behave in ways that are defined as offenses of deviance. A general definition of a juvenile delinquent includes people who are under the age of eighteen committing one or more acts that violate the law. Violating the law for a juvenile can include not attending school, running away from home, or drinking alcohol, as well as many of the same offenses committed by adults, like theft or assault (Smith, 2008).

Smith (2008) also notes that juvenile delinquency has been identified with other youth behavior issues, like antisocial behavior, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder. Sadly, these disorders are often "seen in combination with other mental health disorders and conditions such as Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder" (Smith, 2008, p. 4). Young men who feel like they behave differently than their peers may see the community of gang membership as a positive move toward social integration, not to mention a status builder. Peers who never noticed these young men will surely take note when the social misfits become the school drug dealers or the bullies on the playground. What is critical to note here is that most youth will decide to enter a gang by the time they reach the age of fifteen. Any adolescent who violates the law should receive immediate intervention, especially if they are a young teenager.

Youth in Montreal, Canada. In the study, gang members between the ages of fourteen and sixteen were evaluated based on self-reported activity as well as court documents. Gatto et al. (2005) focused on the frequency of several behaviors they considered to be delinquent. Drug use, property damage, theft, and violent offenses were the concentration (p. 1178). Of the several hundred youth in the study, those affiliated with a gang were the most likely to act delinquently (p. 1178), so much so that once the data was correlated, membership in a gang was noted as an actual predictor for delinquency (p. 1186). This is a circular reference: those who behave delinquently tend to be gang members and gang members—as the study notes—will be delinquent. This is not to say that good kids do not do bad things, because they do. However, in this study, those adolescents who used drugs, destroyed property, or behaved violently were members of gangs.

Further Insights

Gang Mentality

Pinizzotto, Davis & Miller III, (2007), conducted over twenty-years of research interviewing gang members in prison regarding their violent behaviors toward members of law enforcement. During their interviews, Pinizzotto et al. (2007) learned that "gang members either attempted to or inflicted injuries of greater severity than appeared warranted under the circumstances. They exhibited no remorse for their actions but, rather, appeared to take pride in attacking sworn law enforcement professionals" (p. 3).

For example, attacking a police officer is a high-status endeavor.

What is not surprising is that Pinizotto et al. (2007) noted similarities among the inmates.

• First, all the gang members they interviewed had no male role models when growing up;

• Second, none of the gang members graduated from high school;

• Third, the average age for the first criminal offense of the interviewees was nine;

• Fourth, all the inmates interviewed "experienced some form of verbal or physical abuse within the family setting. Outside this unit, all became the victim of at least one physical assault during their early childhoods;"

• Fifth, similarity involves work; none of the gang members had a non-gang affiliated job when they were arrested;

• Finally, each of the inmates identified their neighborhoods as being an integral part of their lives (Pinizotto et al., 2007, p. 3-6).

Summarizing their findings, the researchers identify a gang mentality that should cause alarm—"The goal of every gang member was to achieve status and respect within their gangs. Respected only when feared, gang members achieved this through repeated acts of physical violence against others … Once perceived as willing to use violence without conscience, especially when directed toward law enforcement officers, gang members obtained status" (p. 7).

Girls in Gangs

According to Wes McBride, a retired L. A. County Sheriff's investigator and an authority on street gangs, "a lot of gang fighting is about girlfriends. It's really a turf dispute. The woman is a man's property, and if she's insulted, he's insulted … There used to be fistfights, but now shooting the other guy is the only means of problem solving" (as cited in Junod, 2008, p. 100). Someone may wonder why a young woman would join a gang. Eghigian & Kirby (2006) note that "girls join gangs for the same reason most boys do—multiple factors and circumstances that have existed throughout their lives: financial opportunity, identity and status, peer pressure, family dysfunction and protection. However, some girls readily admit that they join because they are bored and look to gangs for a social life; they are looking for fun and excitement and a means to find parties and meet boys. Regrettably for those who naively join expecting harmless social rewards, they may find out too late about the actual violent nature of street gang existence. Still, others join simply because gangs are there in the neighborhood and are viewed as an everyday way of life" (Eghigian & Kirby, 2006, p. 48).

Even if it is a way of life, young women need to endure initiation before gaining member status within a gang. In some gangs, the practice of initiation would be dictated, like in a hazing or pledging situation. In other cases, however, the person who will endure the circumstances can choose by what method she is welcomed into the gang (Eghigian & Kirby, 2006). In general, most initiation types fall into one of the following categories:

• "Violated" or "jumped in" refers to a physical beating the candidate must absorb to prove toughness, loyalty and commitment to the gang;

• The mission method simply requires the girl to commit a criminal act, perhaps ride along on a drive-by shooting or even be dropped off deep in enemy territory and forced to get out alive;

• "Sexed in" is not the most common, but certainly the least respected initiation, in which a female may elect to participate in sex with a gang member. However, both girls and boys alike look down on this initiation, and those who elect this course are usually typecast and have extremely low status; and

• "Walked in" or "blessed in" is reserved only for those girls who have had generations of family as gang members, who have a family member in good gang standing, or who have grown up in the neighborhood, are well known, respected and have proved their loyalty beyond question (Eghigian & Kirby 2006, p. 49).

One of the roles that young women have within a gang community is to transport contraband like drugs and guns in and outside of a prison. The theory behind this job is that criminalists are less likely to search women. Young women also tend to find employment within the law enforcement system, perhaps in a clerk's office to gather information regarding gang members or witnesses of crimes committed by gang members. Another role is much more dangerous and requires dependability. Some young women act as lures, turning the tables on rival gang members to gather information or to set up the rivals for an ambush. Some young women also sell drugs and participate in other criminal activities in support of the gang, while others take care of the children of gang members and sometimes find steady work to assist in gaining a regular income (Eghigian & Kirby, 2006). Others have the responsibility of recruiting other young women to become part of and serve the gang (Havard, 2022).

In addition to taking on different roles within a gang, young women also take on different positions of power. For example, "girls range from hardcore members to "groupies" looking for a good time and someplace to hang out. Law enforcement has documented their participation in all forms of violence, and today they are appearing in "girls only" gangs. These gangs form from direct recruits or from the ranks of dissatisfied former members of male gangs looking for more opportunity" (Eghigian & Kirby 2006, p. 48).

It is important to note that to build and sustain a "girls only" gang, the power structure would have to be that of any other gang, with people in power calling the shots (i.e., ordering the commission of crimes like drug dealing, theft, and violent offenses). Within these gangs, there would also need to be young women with a lower power status who will commit the crimes as well as youth in the lowest position to keep lookout and recruit new members. What may be shocking is that the delinquent behaviors within the gangs—theft, intimidation, drug dealing, and violent offenses—will be similar regardless of a leader's gender. Indeed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, violent crime arrest rates for girls aged 10 to 24 declined from 139.6 arrests per 100,000 in 1995, to 99.7 arrests per 100,000 in 2011. Arrest rates in general, however, were higher for males than for females during this period.

Getting Out of the Gang

For gang members of either gender, getting out of a gang offers hope for a normal life, free of criminal activity and violence. Leaving a gang can be more difficult than joining, as gang members are considered the property of the gang itself. Also, it is important to note that as much as parents and school officials want a youth to walk away from the gang life, if the young man or woman does not truly want to leave, a half-hearted attempt could be dangerous for the whole family. However, with the careful consideration of the following things, a safe exit is possible if a person truly wants to leave.

• Seeking help from non-gang members is crucial to a safe exit. Trusted adults like counselors at school, law enforcement, or clergy can help create an effective exit plan (Eghigian & Kirby, 2006).

• It is essential that anyone wanting to leave a gang understands the rules of conduct for the gang. For instance, is there a clear guide to what will happen if someone tries to leave? Understanding these rules can help create a plan for leaving (Eghigian & Kirby, 2006).

• Fading away by gradually becoming less active in a gang is a typical method for getting away from the illegal activity of a gang (Preventing Gang Involvement, 2006).

• Creating distance from the gang by being less available for gang activities is a way to fade away. Having a job, participating in supervised and organized recreational programs, or volunteering for a local church are ways to occupy the time that used to be spent with gang members (Preventing Gang Involvement, 2006).

• Finally, relocating the entire family to a community that does not have heavy gang activity may be necessary. This is an extreme way to sever ties with a gang, but in some cases, it is the only way (Preventing Gang Involvement, 2006).

What is important here is that "getting out" is always a possibility as the connection and loyalty felt toward the members of a gang can be redirected toward family and non-deviant friends. However, the reason(s) that youth rejected family and friends in exchange for the community of a gang will still be present once they make the move to reenter their old lives. Going back to the issues and possible conflicts they left will be a difficult adjustment, and the entire family unit should be involved in the transition process, which could be lengthy.

Gang Tattoos

While a lot of people think tattoos are cool and get them to be identified as such, gang members get them as a form of branding, a way to outwardly show the loyalty expected of gang membership. Tattoos are an interesting form of culture with various implications. In some cases, teenagers get tattoos as an act of defiance toward parents or the mainstream culture. In others, getting a tattoo is a sign of loyalty toward a community of people within a gang. In others still, within prisons for instance, tattoos can advertise the crimes committed by those wearing them. The commonality in all these situations is that the ink on the end of the needle is permanent.

Piley (2006) notes that tattoos are not only representative of gang membership or criminal activity, they represent a mode of communication among and between gang members. For example, gang tattoos can be in the form of numbers, letters, and/or symbols, and the characters mean something different, perhaps a geographical location of the gang's home-base or the numbers of members it has lost to death (Piley, 2006). In any event, one gang member can determine who is friend or foe depending on the tattoo of the person.

It should also be noted that "the tattoo is a symbol of membership in the gang and, thus, is 'gang property.' Removal of a gang tattoo may be an outward nonverbal method demonstrating termination of gang membership" (Piley, 2006, p. 46). Furthermore, for criminalists, identifying a tattoo on an offender can help determine if a gang has moved home bases or increased in number, not to mention leaving the offender with no choice but to admit association with the gang whose name is tattooed across the chest.

Viewpoints

What to do with Deviant Youth: Prevention & Treatment Programs

When children misbehave in day care settings, a time-out is rendered; the child is removed from the situation in which they did something wrong and isolated from games, fun, and other children. They are not taken from the place where they misbehaved and put into a room with other misbehaving children as a form of punishment. Most people would think that putting two naughty kids together when they cannot behave by themselves would do little with respect to helping them behave correctly. However, as Dishion, Dodge, & Lansford (2008) note, many communities respond to youthful offenders in just such a way: the offender is taken out of the community and locked in a facility with other youthful offenders (p. 8).

Warr (1996) identified that much of the illegal/deviant activities of youthful offenders are committed when they are in groups, as peer culture is a priority in their lives (as cited in Dishion et al., 2008, p. 8). Furthermore, Elliot & Menard (1996) have noted that "deviant peer affiliation is a stronger predictor of delinquent behavior than such variables as family, school, and community characteristics" (as cited in Dishion et al., 2008, p. 8). This is a thought-provoking idea in that when defining at-risk youth, family life, attendance in school, and the socioeconomic status of a child's neighborhood are primary tools of identification. However, according to Warr's research, hanging out with the wrong crowd leads to a significant possibility of gang membership. And in turn, when the wrong crowd gets caught behaving badly, they are confined—with little adult supervision—to hanging out with more of the wrong crowd. Dishion et al. (2008) note the irony and effect of this resolution:

"… when the reason that deviant youth are placed with each other is because they are deviant, their identity and common ground become deviance … high exposure to deviant peers and minimal adult interaction fail to reduce recidivism and in some cases, may exacerbate it" (pp. 8-9).

Indeed, the 2002 Commission on Deviant Peer Influences studied several programs and means of intervention for youth within a three-year period. Dishion et al. (2008) note that the Commission discovered specific instances in which deviant peer influences are the strongest on youth (p. 9). Using these criteria, it is important to understand that gang membership and negative influences can be combated by providing meaningful experiences for youth in the following situations:

• First, youth in early adolescence are primary targets for gang affiliation. The Department of Justice (2000) narrows down this period: "[F]or many children, gang influences begin in elementary school. By the fifth grade, many students are already at the affiliate level, meaning they are making their way into initiation" (as cited in Struyk, 2006, p. 13).

• Second, young people who have perhaps experimented with behavior of a deviant nature but have not yet become delinquent are more at risk to cross over to deviance than youth who have not experimented.

• Third, young people who are exposed to and interact with other youth of a more deviant stature—especially in unsupervised settings are-are also more likely to fall into a deviant lifestyle.

• Finally, substance abuse, violent behaviors, and delinquency are social activities, and at this young age those activities rarely occur in isolation. As such, the activities can be used secondarily to create a social construct of deviance (Dishion et al., 2008, p. 9).

It seems impossible that children this young would consider gang membership to be enticing. However, if they are primarily left alone—before and after school—and if their friends, older siblings, or older neighbors are already affiliated, it would make sense to join the ranks of the only community involvement they may know. If one's friends are making money carrying drugs for an older buddy, carrying drugs may seem like a way to be included, to prove and to feel loyalty. "Gang membership creates a unique bond between its members that is exclusive to all other individuals … loyalty is to the gang above all else, including family, school, or community" (Struyk, 2006, p. 11). Furthermore, carrying enough cash to purchase the things poor parents cannot provide is incentive to remain in this community.

Discussion

In February 2006, an initiative to stop gang violence was created by the U.S. Department of Justice. The initiative proposed to "prioritize prevention programs to provide America's youth and offenders … with opportunities that help them resist gang involvement … [and also to] ensure robust enforcement policies when gang-related violence does occur" (Department of Justice's Youth Gang Prevention Initiative, n.d.). The initiative was created based on information collected in 2004. According to the data, "760,000 gang members and 24,000 gangs were active in more than 2,900 U.S. jurisdictions in 2004, representing all fifty states and all cities with a population over 250,000. As most gang members join between the ages of twelve and fifteen, prevention is a critical strategy within a comprehensive response to gangs that includes law enforcement, prosecution, and reentry" (Department of Justice's Youth Gang Prevention Initiative, n.d.).

Gangs are everywhere and their members do anything from underage drinking to killing police officers to gain respect. Most gang members are in their teenage years when peer pressure and social status are two primary concerns. When lashing out at a person who threatens their friends and community is all that one knows, changing a young person's behavior is not easy. Put a gun in their hand, and lashing out turns to murder for the sake of turf maintenance. According to the 2004 Teen Gun Survey, "in 2000, 40 percent of teens [surveyed] said they could get a handgun if they needed to" (Vanden Berk, cited in "2004 Teen Gun Survey," 2004). With odds like that, who wants to disagree with anyone? From the time of this survey, the prevalence of adolescents who carried guns increased, particularly between 2015 and 2019, when the rate of adolescents who carried guns increased by 41 percent compared to 2006 rates (Bendix, 2022).

In 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported the existence of more than 1.4 million active gang members in cities, prisons, and outdoor motorcycle clubs—making up over 33,000 gangs. Street gangs are often made up of youth and urban criminal organizations. Prison gangs operate within the penal system and prison institutions. Outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMG) are made up of individuals who conduct activities using motorcycle clubs; a subset of OMGs are called “One Percenters,” which is a stricter and more formal criminal group. Gangs can also be associated with organized crime, where the term “gangster” originated. In terms of ethnicity, Hispanic gangs are particularly significant as they are closely related to issues of illegal immigration; Hispanics made up nearly 50 percent of gang members in the U.S. (Milenkovic, 2023).

These various gangs were responsible for a percentage of violent crime that ranged from 48 to 90 percent, depending on the region. Crimes range from violence and drug trafficking to things such as prostitution, White-collar crime, weapons trade, and human trafficking. Gang membership tends to be concentrated most strongly in larger cities like Los Angeles, which, in 2019, experienced an average of 16.3 percent gang-related crimes each day. However, in 2022, even suburban cities and smaller towns had gang violence rates higher than 25 percent (Milenkovic, 2023).

Terms & Concepts

Aggregation: Putting similar people together as a form of isolation and/or punishment.

Antisocial Behavior: A disorder in which a person's behavior is hostile or indifferent to the needs of those around them.

At-risk (youth): A general term meant to identify children who are in danger of failing school, committing criminal acts, or physical violence.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): A condition in which a person has difficulty sitting still or focusing on specific tasks.

Conduct Disorder: Refers to a disorder in which a person behaves (conducts themselves) inappropriately.

Deviance: Behavior that is different from society's standard.

Gang: A group of people (usually youth) who form a network to work together for some criminal or antisocial purpose.

Juvenile Delinquents: People under the age of eighteen committing acts that violate the law.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder: Refers to behaviors that are inappropriate at a specific age; behaviors can range from simple irritability to defiance to outward opposition to authority figures.

Recidivism: Generally, a criminal term referring to repeating negative behavior or reoffending a crime.

Bibliography

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Suggested Reading

Agnew, R. (2023). Juvenile delinquency: Causes and control (7th ed.). Oxford University Press.

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Cooper L., & Bowden, M. (2006). Working with women associated with bike gangs: Practice Dilemmas. Australian Social Work, 59, 309-321. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from EBSCO online database SocINDEX with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=23219467&site=ehost-live

Decker, S. H. & Curry, D. (2002). Gangs, gang homicides, and gang loyalty: Organized crimes of disorganized criminals. Journal of Criminal Justice, 30(4), 343-352. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(02)00134-4

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Dishion, T. J., McCord, J., & Poulin, F. (1999). When interventions harm: Peer groups and problem behavior. American Psychologist, 5(9), 755–764. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.54.9.755

Dishion, T. J., & Medici Skaggs, N. (2000). An ecological analysis of monthly 'bursts' in early adolescent substance use. Applied Developmental Science, 4, 89-97. Retrieved April 17, 2008, from EBSCO online database Academic Search Complete: http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=3179977&site=ehost-live

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