PEERS

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PEERS DELINQUENCYJUVENILE GANGS GROUPS

• Dr. Dorothy S. McClellan

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Adolescent Peer Relations

• cliques - small groups of friends who share
  activities confidences
• crowds - loosely organized groups of children who
  share interests and activities
• youth gangs - groups of youth who collectively
  engage in delinquent behaviors

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What do cliques provide?

• Support
• Assurance
• Protection
• Direction

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Peer Group Membership allows them to

• Devalue enemies
• Achieve status
• Develop self-assurance

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Co-Offending

• Delinquent acts tend to be committed in small
  groups

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The Structure of Peer Relations

• Delinquent friends cause law-abiding youth to get
  into trouble
• As kids move through the life course, anti-social
  friends help them maintain delinquent careers and
  obstruct the aging-out process

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Peer Relations

• Are a significant aspect of maturation
• Exert a powerful influence
• Pressure them to conform to group values
• May be more important than parental nurturance in
  the development of long-term behavior
• Allow them to discuss feelings they would not
  dare bring up at home

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THE STUDY OF GANGS

• Began in the 1920s by famous sociologists at the
  University of Chicago
• Frederick Thrasher
• Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay

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Thrashers book, The Gang, was published in 1927

• Studied more than 1300 youth groups in Chicago
• Slums present opportunities for conflict
• As conflict continues, the groups become more
  solidified
• Gangs provide opportunities for success too.
• The gang offers what society fails to provide.

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What are Gangs?

• Groups of youth who collectively engage in
  delinquent behavior.
• Many different opinions about the precise
  definition.
• Thrashers concept of insterstitial groups is
  key.

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INTERSTITIAL AREAS

• cracks in the normal fabric of society
• In nature foreign matter tends to collect and
  cake in every crack, crevice, and cranny...there
  are breaks in the structure of social
  organizations
• gangs are an interstitial region in the layout of
  the city

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GANGS Key Factors

• Members have self-recognition of their gang
  status and use special vocabulary, clothing,
  signs, colors, graffiti and names.
• There is commitment to criminal activity, but
  bulk of time is spent in non-criminal activities.

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GANGS - Key Factors

• Members set themselves apart from the community
  and are viewed as a separate entity by others.
• Once they get the label, gang members accept and
  take pride in their status.

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Are youth gangs an American phenomenon?

• No. Theyve been reported in England, Germany,
  Italy, New Zealand, Australia and other nations.

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Are youth gangs a recent phenomenon?

• No.
• In the 1600s, London was terrorized by Hectors,
  Bugles, Dead Boys and more.
• In the 17th 18th centuries, English gangs wore
  belts and pins marked with serpents, animals,
  stars and so on.

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GANGS FORM TO MEET CHILDHOOD NEEDS

• play, fun, and adventure
• status and success

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GANGS ARE A SUBSTITUTE FOR UNOBTAINABLE
MIDDLE-CLASS REWARDS Frederick Thrasher
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THE GANG IS NOT A HAVEN FOR DISTURBED YOUTHS,
BUT RATHER AN ALTERNATIVE LIFE-STYLE FOR NORMAL
BOYS Frederick Thrasher
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HISTORY OF GANGS

• 1950s 1960s - gangs came into their own
• late 1960s - political activism and community
  organization lead to disappearance of gangs
• mid 1970s - reemergence

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1950s and early 1960s

• Threat of gangs and gang violence swept the
  public consciousness.
• Egyptian Kings, Vice Lords, Blackstone Ranger.
• Movies The Wild Ones, Blackboard Jungle, West
  Side Story

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Mid-1960s Why did Gangs Disappear?

• Successful gang-control programs?
• Increase in political awareness.
• Involvement in social and political activities of
  ethnic pride, civil rights, anti-war movement,
  radical movement

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Gangs Re-emerge in 1970s

• All was quiet on the gang front for almost 10
  years. Then, suddenly and without advance
  warning, the gangs reappeared
• By 1975 275 police-verified gangs with 11,000
  membersmore lethal than their predecessorsheavil
  y armed, incited and directed by
  violence-hardened older men.
• Walter
  Miller

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Gangs Today

• Active in more than 2,300 cities with a
  population of 2,500 or more and in more than 550
  rural/suburban jurisdictions.
• 731,500 kids are active gang members in 21,500
  gangs.

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Gang Membership Declining!

• Estimated number of gang members decreased 14
  between 1996-2002
• Estimated number of jurisdictions with gang
  problems decreased 32

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Gang-problem Concentration

• In counties with high populations
• Cook County, Illinois (Chicago)
• LA, Riverside and Orange Counties, CA

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WHY DID GANG ACTIVITY INCREASE FOR A TIME?

• worsening economic conditions
• the family in crisis

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WHY DO YOUTH JOIN GANGS?

• anthropological view
• social disorganization/sociocultural view
• psychological view
• rational choice view
• personal safety
• fun and support

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Anthropological View

• Appeal to youths deep-seated longing for tribal
  group process that sustained and nurtured their
  ancestors.
• Many gang kids have family members who are or
  were in gangs.

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Social Disorganization/Sociocultural View

• Shattering, destructive forces in socially
  disorganized inner-city slums
• Gangs are natural and normal response to
  privations of lower-class life
• Gangs are a status-generating medium for boys
  whose aspirations cannot be realized by
  legitimate means

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• Gangs are sustained by anomie-producing trends in
  modern society

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Psychological View Held by few

• Gangs serve as outlet for psychologically
  diseased youth

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Rational Choice View

• The gang boy joins up to improve his illegal
  productivity
• Gangs provide criminal opportunities
• Some join as a rational calculation to achieve
  personal safety rather than profit
• Some join to have fun and party or for
  family-like atmosphere

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GROUP THINK - 5 characteristics

• a feeling of invulnerability
• group belief in rightness
• discrediting information opposed to the groups
  decisions
• pressures to conform
• stereotyping of members of the outgroup

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Contemporary Gangs
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Gang Types

• Categorized by Activity Retreatists, Violent,
  Profit
• Fagans 4 categories Social Gangs, Party Gangs,
  Serious Delinquent Gangs, Organized Gangs

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Age

• Varies widely 8 55
• Half of all gang members aged 18-24
• Members are getting older

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Gender

• Traditionally male-oriented
• Females are involved as
• Auxiliaries of male gangs
• Part of sexually mixed gangs
• Autonomous gangs

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Ethnic and Racial Composition

• Half of all gang members are Hispanic/Latino
• Hispanic gangs have strong sense of territory or
  turf
• Asisan gangs victimize members of their own
  ethnic group
• Anglo gangs are organized as derivatives of
  skinhead movement

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4 categories of gangs in Corpus Christi

• Delinquent Youth Hangout
• Few arrests, minor acts of mischief
• Turf-based Gangs
• 95 in this city
• Loosely structured, mark turf,
• Prevalent in school, mall, parking lot
• Gain Gangs
• Felony theft, narcotic trafficking, economic
  gain, loosely structured
• Hate Crime Gangs Ideological or religious
  rationale
• Random, senseless violence, KKK, Aryan
  Brotherhood, Skinheads

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What can be done to control gang activity?What
can be done to make adolescence a great period in
life?