Why People Join Gangs In The United States

Initially gang activity could only be found in large metropolitan cities, but now gangs have invaded neighborhoods of all sizes across the country. Gangs introduce violence and fear to the communities they occupy, raise the level of drug activities, and destroy businesses and property which brings down the overall value of the whole area. Instead of going to school, many young people find themselves drawn in to the gang life which in most cases either leads to being locked up or death. There are various reasons why people would want to join a gang, but no matter what that reason might be one can only expect a life of violence and troubles.

Gangs have been a growing issue across the United States for many decades now. Youth gang violence may have started around the ‘50s, but did not become a serious issue until the ‘80s and from there went through a downward spiral in some cities like downtown Los Angeles, which was where the notorious Bloods and Crips gangs both started. First, let’s simply define a gang as a group of people, mostly men ranging for ages 14-30, who claim territory and use it to make money for themselves and their neighborhood through illegal activities such as trafficking drugs and weapons. There are many reasons and components that are factored in when conducting research to hypothesize “why do people join gangs?” That is why it is necessary to compare and contrast all the social, biological, psychological, developmental, and substance abuse aspects and relate it to joining a gang. It is also important to touch base on the differences between males and females that join gangs, such as power differentials, social learning differences and social stratification differences.

Gang involvement and its associated violent crime have become a rapidly growing problem for the United States. Generally, gangs consist of young people of the same ethnic, racial, and economic background. Usually of a low socio-economic status, these gangs engage in illegal money making activities and intimidate their neighborhoods and rival gangs with violent crimes and victimization. Gang members exemplify a high value for group loyalty and sacrifice.

Gangs originated naturally during the adolescent years of a child. They started from small play groups that eventually found themselves in conflict with other small groups of youth. Due to the conflict between the two small groups of youth it became a part of a child’s mind set to come together as a gang and protect their rights and satisfy the needs that their environment and families couldn’t provide. There are about 24,500 gangs in the U.S and out of those gangs 40% of them are juveniles (Hess, Orthmann, Wright, 2013). There are numerous reason why a child would join a gang, and the

Gang and non-gang comparisons, primarily of at-risk minority youth drawn from institutionalized and non- institutionalized settings, consistently reveal an association between admitted gang membership and self-reported crime or delinquency. Although female youth are shown to be relatively underrepresented in gangs and gang activity, they self-report gang membership at a rate up to 4½ times higher (20% to 46%) than typically indicated in surveys of law enforcement (Esbensen & Huizinga, 1993).

In this case joining a gang will qualify as the guidance within peers and themselves. However, there are many different types of gangs, but most gangs lead to destructive paths which includes negative impacts and influences. The term gang can be defined as a group of people with mutual interests who gather together for social reasons. Most people in a gang are of youth and adolescent age. Seeing how some youth can be emotionally unstable may feel the need of comfort with others who are just as the same. Negative unstable behavior with others can create destructive outcomes which will lead probably to a road of crime.

Gangs come into existence and flourish because the needs of the young people in a neighborhood or culture or family are not being met. The gang, in essence, fills the void, there are several gangs in the south, west and east sides of Chicago, with gang wars over territories that become disastrous. The gangs known in Chicago are the Latin Kings, Maniac Latin Disciples, King Cobras, Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, Black Disciples, but there are up to hundred or more street/folk gangs in the different neighborhoods of the sides of Chicago. Many consist of young children that may have dropped out of school or have family members affiliated with gangs, they are easier to persuade and control, they are more likely to search for somewhere where they could feel needed or apart of something, and that’s how gangs grow and recruit new

Drug routes are associated and may have originated with U.S. gangs in an effort for drug cartels to amp up and focus on their production, leaving the logistics to the gangs. The drug cartels have chosen to align with U.S. gangs based on similar philosophies of honor, allegiance, and loyalty combined with similar business practices and levels of hierarchy. The largest U.S. gangs are structured similarly to giant corporations that succeed with levels of management teams with the ultimate goal of profit, U.S. gangs are no different as they often legitimize themselves as profitable business. Asian gangs are common in California and on the east coast but locating scholarly articles about their operations is a daunting task that required a personal interview with a former gang member.

There are three different types of gangs. “Not all are dangerous. Some youths just band together, think up a name and try to act tough. But they are learning the art and power of intimidation.” The first type of gang is the hedonistic gang, which consists of primarily social groups where the main focus is partying and getting high. Members may commit property crimes, but not usually as gang activity. If they fight at all, it’s more often for the right to party than for turf. The second type of gang is the instrumental gang. These gangs are more likely to commit crimes against property (car theft, burglary, etc.) than crimes of violence against people. They may do drugs and deal it individually, but their main motivation is money, not power. The third type of gang, and the most serious, is the predatory gang. These social predators commit the violent crimes (drive by shooting, carjacking, murder and organized drug dealing). They are most often affiliated with smaller street gangs. This type of gang often engages in serious drug use, such as crack and crystal meth,

Gang membership. When adolescents join a gang, the social bonds of conventional society are disrupted, thus potentially changing future trajectories. Gangs typically produce an increase in delinquent behavior during membership, as a result “delinquency is indirectly related to future offending because it leads to school failure, incarceration, and weak bonds, which likely lead to further adult crime (Piquero, 2011, p. 765). Additionally, human and social capital are not properly instilled within the adolescents because a lack of prosocial associations. Thus, future trajectories can be affected even after exiting the gang if he or she remains in similar social worlds. “Experiences learned and reinforced through gang membership may continue to affect social interactions after adolescents no longer consider themselves gang

Joining a gang to some youth are very exciting (in their mind) the new recruit must be “jumped” in. Meaning they will have to fight one or more gang member to be accepted. Or they may want them to do a criminal act before they can get in. They feel as though they (the gang) can give them what they are lacking at home, from protection to security. Youth, mainly boys between the ages of 12 and 24, maybe from broken homes with no stability, lack of kids needs (food, clothing, and shelter).

Street gangs in this country can probably be traced back to the first wave of Europeans who migrated to the colonies for a better life for themselves and their families. Many of the first gangs were formed as a means of self protection, with the thinking that there is simply strength in numbers. The missions of gangs in today’s society have grown and emerged to include many violent criminal avenues, including drug trafficking, prostitution, money laundering, and extortion but the original thinking that there is strength in numbers remains true. Criminology experts believe that the number of teens involved in gangs or gang activity may be as high as 1 in every 5 people in most urban areas. Those number jump to 1 in every 3 people in

The Social Work Dictionary defines a social problem as “a condition among people leading to behaviors that violate some people’s values and norms and cause emotional or economic suffering”. The above definition accurately describes the social problem that gangs are, and their impact on a community. People who live in gang infested neighborhoods live daily with fears of losing their lives and the lives of loved ones. That fear, along with the fear that their family members will join the gang, or that they will be physically harmed in some way by the gang. They may exhibit many emotional, psychological and physical problems that people who don’t live in gang infested neighborhoods do not. Since before the 1940’s law enforcement and others have attempted to put a stop to gangs. These solutions usually hampered gang activity but didn’t eradicate it. Gangs evolve their practices over time to adjust to law enforcement tactics. Today gangs are involved in sex trafficking rather than drug dealing. Sex trafficking is easier to hide, more profitable and has less legal ramifications.

Abstract: This review studies in depth research done on street gangs. Social issues have social scientists turning away from including this in their research around this time. Sociological views have been changed dramatically in the past 40 years due to gender and racial studies. Also, women have started to join gangs since America has been changed with woman equality laws passing.

The term youth gangs refers to a group of three or more members, who are between the age of 12 and 24; they share an identity through the use of names or symbols; they see themselves as gang and are recognized by others as a gang; there is some amount of permanence and degree of organization; and the group is involved in an elevated amount of criminal activity (National Gang Center Staff, n.d.). Risk factors for gang involvement are based on factors such as individual, family, school, community. School risk factors include poor school performance, poor connectedness to schools, low degree of commitment to and involvement in school, and weak attachment to teachers (Howell, 2010). Community risk factors includes such things as greater level of criminal activity, neighborhood youth are involved in illegal behaviors, widespread access to and the use of firearms and drugs, and low level of neighborhood attachment (Howell, 2010). Additional factors that lead to gang involvement include learning disabilities and emotional disorders, school failure and truancy, no positive involvement outside of school, friends and peers are delinquent, low income, and early involvement in petty crimes and behavioral disorders in grade school (Hernandez, 2015). Reasons given for joining a gang as reported by youths includes for protection, for fun, for respect, for money, family members are part of the gang (and because a friend was in the gang (Howell, 2010).