Why Do People Join Gangs?

* Low Self Concept * Early Conduct Disorders * Defiance of parents * Difficulty in school * Inadequate social skills * Lack of Adult Male Role Models

Ethnic Differences

* The first gangs were or various white ethnic members such as Irish, Polish and Italian. * Today African American and Hispanic youths have the highest rate of gang affiliation. * There is a growing number of Asian gangs especially Chinese and Vietnamese, but these mostly operate as organized crime. * Asian gang members are usually older, more secretive and don't have a dress code or tattoos to identify themselves like other gangs. * It is estimated that female gang members compromise 10% of the gang membership.

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* The criminal activities committed by gang members are more severe and frequent than those committed by other youths.Click here to add 8 * Ex. IN a study conducted in Cleveland almost 50% of gang members have been involved in auto theft activity whereas among at-risk youths the number drops to 4 %. * 61% of gang members are likely to sell drugs outside of school whereas only 16% of non-gang members are reported to sell drugs. * Both groups reported not to spend the money they earned on drugs for themselves. * Drug dealing is said to be an individual activity rather than a group one. * 75% of gang members are likely to own a gun or lethal weapon whereas only 25-50% of non-gang members own guns.

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* Many youths who are not involved in gangs hang out at the same parties or parks as gang members but are not involved in their criminal activity. * Many non-gang members reported understanding gang activities and what they stand for. * Non-gang members do not necessarily feel pressured to fight when an incident occurs. * There have been cases where the symbolic segregation of gang members and non-gang members was merged and faced problems. * Ex. A young boy ended up joining the military due to pressures to join a gang.

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* Despite the wide range of differences among various gangs, honor is a key element of each individual in all gangs. * Rather than being a group issue, honor is a personal code which defines a gang member's manhood and the amount of respect he receives from people. * A gang member has to make a decision as to how to handle a situation wih has challenged his manhood in order to reconstruct his sense of honor. * A non-gang member might dismiss the threat as an accident or misunderstanding, yet a gang member would usually never think twice about reacting in an extreme way to the threat through physical or verbal retaliation. * Protecting his/her personal honor is number one priority no matter what the consequences are. * Ex.  One can admit that killing is morally wrong, but if it means defending one's honor than it has to be done.

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* Researchers believe that drug use, drug selling, and crime are strongly related especially in young people. * Some gangs use drugs to gain social status; in other gangs, drug use if forbidden especially if the gang sells drugs; while other gangs only forbid the use of the drugs they sell. * Gang members have reported making about $1000 a week by selling drugs to 30 customers as compared to non-gang drug dealers that report making about $675 per week while selling to 80 customers. * By selling more expensive and profitable drugs gang members can make more money than non-gang drug dealers.

Prevention Programs

* According to the National Youth Gang Survey, the primary focus in many jurisdictions is suppression. Suppression is:     * Aggressive curfew enforcement     * Saturation Patrol     * Aggressive truancy enforcement * Some law enforcement agencies have adopted a philosophy of total suppression in which any gang member or wanna-be has been targeted.

Criminal Behavior and Violence

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* The likelihood that young people will commit serious and violent crimes is increased by gang membership. * An Ohio study reports that the criminal careers of gang members start off with property offenses and within 1 1/2 to 2 years progress to drug-related and the violent crimes. * The National Institute of Justice study reports that almost 75% of gang members reported fellow members owning guns and 90% favored powerful lethal weapons. * Gang involvement increases a persons chances of being arrested, incarcerated, seriously injured or killed.