Study of the Spreading of Youth Gangs in North America
Study of the Spreading of Youth Gangs in North America
Structural Characterisitics
•
Members are typically young teenage males of similar ethnic or racial backgrounds (usually from disorganized families in the inner-city).
Loyalty and adherence to a strict gang code (i.e., the gang is more important than anything) is mandatory.
Cohesiveness among members increases as recognition from society increases.
Loyalty and camaraderie are solidified by participation in group activities that are often antisocial, illegal, violent, and criminal.
Goals, identified roles, and responsibilities are clearly established and defined (they are often unspoken but are understood by all members).
The chain of command is hierarchical.
Identification with a local territory.
Recruitment is an ongoing process, especially at school. Younger active members (some as young as eight- or nine-years-old).
Evidence of ethnic and racial crossover in multiethnic neighborhoods. An insurgence of female gangs. Established cliques or sets in suburban communities.
Acquisition of large sums of money from illegal drug markets and prostitution. Rampant use of drugs and alcohol. Violent membership.
•
Use of sophisticated communications devices and automatic weapons.
•
Employment of guerrilla warfare-like tactics. Total disregard for human life as evinced by the senseless deaths of innocent victims.
Induction into the Gang
Members proceed through four developmental stages in the evolutionary process: the wannabe (one who wants to be a member) or the gonnabe (one who is probably destined to be a member), which is a more recent term for wannabe; the peripheral (one who hangs around the gang, and may or may not engage in activities); the affiliate (an actual member also known as a "gang banger"); and the hard-core (one who lives only for the gang, is "down for the hood”. The activities of gang members determine their position in the evolutionary process. For example, members engage in minor gang activities, such as hanging around, flashing gang signs, graffiti writing and claiming territory, before they become involved in serious hard-core illegal infractions, such as assaults, drug trafficking, and murder. Some recruiting practices bypass these simple activities; in such cases, hard-core members emerge overnight.
It is no secret that gangs and their criminal activities have been increasing at alarming rates in communities and on school campuses nationwide. A comparison of data collected in two studies demonstrates the increase in gang membership in the U. S. over a ten-year period. According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice ( Needle & Stapleton, 1983), there...