The proliferation of youth gangs since 1980 has fueled the public’s fear and magnified possible misconceptions about youth gangs. To address the mounting concern about youth gangs, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has initiated the Youth Gang Series to delve into many of the key issues related to youth gangs. These issues include gang migration, gang growth, female involvement with gangs, homicide, drugs and violence, and the needs of communities and youth who live in the presence of youth gangs. This Bulletin, the first in the series, provides an overview of the problems that youth gangs pose, pinpoints the differences between youth gangs and adult criminal organizations, examines the risk factors that lead to youth gang membership, and presents promising strategies being used to curb youth gang involvement.

The United States has seen rapid proliferation of youth gangs since 1980. During this period, the number of cities with gang problems increased from an estimated 286 jurisdictions with more than 2,000 gangs and nearly 100,000 gang members in 1980 to about 4,800 jurisdictions with more than 31,000 gangs and approximately 846,000 gang members in 1996.An 11-city survey of eighth graders found that 9 percent were currently gang members, and 17 percent said they had belonged to a gang at some point in their lives.

Youth gangs may have first appeared in Europe (Klein, 1996) or Mexico (Redfield, 1941; Rubel, 1965). No one is sure when or why they emerged in the United States. The earliest record of their appearance in the United States may have been as early as 1783, as the American Revolution ended (Sante, 1991; Sheldon, 1898). They may have emerged spontaneously from adolescent play groups or as a collective response to urban conditions in this country. Some suggest they first emerged following the Mexican migration to the Southwest after the Mexican Revolution in 1813. They may have grown out of difficulties Mexican youth encountered with social and cultural adjustment to the American way of life under extremely poor conditions in the Southwest. Gangs appear to have spread in New England in the early 1800’s as the Industrial Revolution gained momentum in the first large cities in the United States: New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.

In the modern era, youth gangs have been influenced by several trends. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, because of increased mobility and access to more lethal weapons, many gangs became more dangerous. Gang fights previously involving fists or brass knuckles increasingly involved guns. The growing availability of automobiles, coupled with the use of more lethal weapons, fueled the growth of drive-by shootings, a tactic that previously took the form of on-foot hit-and-run forays (Miller, 1966).

Some youth gangs appear to have been transformed into entrepreneurial organizations by the crack cocaine epidemic that began in the mid-1980’s (Sanchez-Jankowski, 1991; Skolnick et al., 1988; Taylor, 1989). However, the extent to which they have become drug-trafficking organizations is unclear (Howell and Decker, in press). Some youth groups, many of which are not considered bona fide gangs, are not seriously involved in illegal activities and provide mainly social opportunities for their membership (Fagan, 1989; Vigil, 1988). Some gangs seldom use drugs and alcohol, and some have close community ties (Fagan, 1989; Sanchez-Jankowski, 1991; Vigil, 1988).

A major source of variation in youth gang violence is found in relationships between the gang and the community. J.F. Short, Jr., contends that the concept of gangs used in gang research is too narrow, in that it does not take into account the relevance of gangs and gang membership in other social settings. First, the gang’s relevance goes beyond its relationship to individual gang members. For example, gangs serve as carriers of community traditions and culture. Second, a youth’s identification with a gang affects how others react to him or her. To illustrate, Esbensen and Huizinga (1993) found that negative labeling of gang members is linked to elevated offenses.

Much remains to be learned about the relationship between gangs and their neighborhoods or communities. Sanchez-Jankowski (1991) identified four factors that motivate gangs to make concerted efforts to establish ties with the community.

First, the gang needs a “safe haven.” Second, it needs a recruitment pool from which to draw its membership. Third, the community provides the gang with important information (e.g., on gangs in other parts of the city). Fourth, the gang needs the community ties for psychological reasons: “A bonding occurs between the gang and the community that builds a social adhesive that often takes a significant amount of time to completely dissolve”. These are important features of youth gangs. Sanchez-Jankowski (1991) has argued that community ambivalence toward gangs exists because many of the gang members are children of residents, the gangs often provide protection for residents, residents identify with gangs because of their own or relatives’ prior involvement, and the gangs in some instances have become community institutions; personal interests (fear of too much policing, fear of too much gang activity) also figure in community erceptions of gangs.

Gang Specialization

Certain offenses are related to different racial/ethnic youth gangs. African-American gangs are relatively more involved in drug offenses; Hispanic gangs, in “turf-related” violence; Asian and white gangs, in property crimes. Numerous ethnographic studies have provided excellent descriptions of Hispanic gangs in Los Angeles. They tend to be structured around age-based cohorts, based in a specific territory (barrio), and characterized by fighting. The gang provides family-like relationships for adolescents who feel isolated, drifting between their native and adopted cultures and feeling alienated from both. Hispanic gangs have strong links to the neighborhood, or barrio, which tie them to the larger culture (Moore, 1978); much of their violence is related to defense of neighborhood turf. In contrast, African-American gangs in large cities tend to replace traditional social networks that linked youth with legitimate work opportunities. Thus, these gangs tend to be involved in entrepreneurial activities more than other ethnic/racial gangs and may evolve from “scavenger” groups to turf gangs and drug-trafficking gangs.

Numerous ways of classifying gangs other than by ethnicity have been devised (Spergel, 1995), although the gangs’ complexity, variations, and changing structure

Practically defy static categories. One way of viewing gangs is along a continuum of degree of organization (Gordon, 1994), from youth groups who hang out together in shopping malls and other places; to criminal groups, small clusters of friends who band together to commit crimes such as fencing operations; to street gangs composed of groups of adolescents and young adults who form a semi structured operation and engage in delinquent and criminal behavior; to adult criminal organizations that engage in criminal activity primarily for economic reasons. The latter, also called criminal gangs, are not considered youth gangs. Distinguishing among these various forms of gangs is often not easy; in some areas, groups may evolve from less formal to more formal organizations along this continuum.

Why do Youth join Gangs?

Youth are initiated into a gang usually at the age of 14. Males are typically beaten into the gang by other members as part of an initiation ritual. They may also participate in violent crimes such as drive-by shootings. Females are initiated by being gang raped by male members of an affiliated gang. Some females who are considered stronger are beaten into a gang. Money, power and protection are all reasons why young people join gangs. Gangs have existed throughout history as people organized along ethnic lines to support one another and adjust to new environments.

Today, the term "gang" refers to a group that is involved in violence and criminal activities. Members are between the ages of 11 and 23. Gangs have recognizable leadership and purpose, as well as an unhealthy need for recognition and consistent use of violence. Gangs aren't just a concern in the inner city; they are in the suburbs and even rural communities. Also, gangs are not just a concern for minority youth; they are a concern for all youth. Congregational youth ministry is one place to address the dangers of gang activity. After all, violence is the second leading cause of death among males between the ages of 14 to 21.

There are different reasons that why youths join gangs:

• Money: Many youth join gangs to make fast money. Financially disadvantaged young people look for ways to buy expensive starter jackets, tennis shoes or electronic equipment. They'd rather participate in one drug deal and make enough money to buy something that would take a full month's earnings from a fast food restaurant.

• Identity: Many youth are desperately searching for a place to belong. Gangs accept youth who don't feel loved or accepted by parents, adults or school. Gang identity also offers members guidelines on how to act and dress.

• Protection: Many youth feel forced to join a gang for protection from other gangs, especially in the inner city. Once involved in illegal gang activity, the gang provides a false sense of protection from the law.

• Fun: Gangs provide activities and a social life. Many youth enjoy living on the edge and participating in dangerous activities. Often, what at first appears to be fun has serious consequences.

• Shock: If young people aren't getting positive attention from parents, joining a gang certainly provides lots of negative attention. Youth who are angry at a parent may join a gang to shock or be defiant toward the parent.

• Academic Problems: Young people who are not finding success at school may see no hope or future for themselves through the path of education. Many don't believe they could ever get a good job or go to college, so they look for other alternatives.

• Romance: Many young people don't know what gangs are really about and have a misguided sense of romance about gangs. They might think they can join the gang for fun and get out whenever they wish. They might also believe that joining a gang will not involve them in violence and criminal activities.

• Family Involvement: Family members in gangs often recruit other family members. Young people who grow up with a parent involved in a gang are extremely at-risk for joining a gang. Gang involvement becomes a way of life for some families. A lot of times when a kid’s family is messed up, they end up spending more time on the streets, and the gang becomes like their second family. Maybe they only have a mom and she has drug problems or is never around or is around too much. Maybe they have a dad that is never around or is on drugs. Some kids suffer through home life with parents who are always drunk on alcohol and they don’t really know their parents. So they meet older gang members that give them money and make them feel like a lil bra or even lil son. Or, they might not even have a family in the U.S. and the gang might be the closest family this person has. There are hella gang members who come from other countries by themselves without their family and they are on their own out here.

• Low Self-Esteem: Youth who don't feel good about themselves are more vulnerable to joining a gang. They will seek out ways to feel accepted, and if healthy options aren't available, they may look to gangs for support.

Another reason is that youth love this life cuz they feel powerful, rich and respected at a young age. They think they are going to become rich and gang famous. The real OGs know the opposite. Most of them talk about regretting everything and about the choices they made getting into the gang in the first place back in the day. A lot of OG’s have spent their whole lives in and out of the pen, and are out on the street asking for money cuz the gang life took away a lot of opportunities they could have had when they were younger. The younger OG’s in their twenties are still deep in the game and busy recruiting new members so their gang can get stronger and stay alive out on these streets. And that’s where they go looking for new booties to keep it alive.

Decker and Van Winkle (1996) view joining youth gangs as consisting of both pulls and pushes. Pulls pertain to the attractive ness of the gang. Gang membership can enhance prestige or status among friends, especially girls (for boys) (Decker and Van Winkle, 1996), and provide opportunities to be with them. Gangs provide other attractive opportunities such as the chance for excitement by selling drugs and making money (Decker and Van Winkle, 1996). Thus, many youth see themselves as making a rational choice in deciding to join a gang: They see personal advantages to gang membership.

Social, economic, and cultural forces push many adolescents in the direction of gangs. Protection from other gangs and perceived general well-being are key factors. As noted above, some researchers contend that the “underclass” (Wilson, 1987) status of minority youth serves to push them into gangs. Feeling marginal, adolescents join gangs for social relationships that give them a sense of identity. For some youth, gangs provide a way of solving social adjustment problems, particularly the trials and tribulations of adolescence. In some communities, youth are intensively recruited or coerced into gangs. They seemingly have no choice. A few are virtually born into gangs as a result of neighborhood traditions and their parents’ earlier (and perhaps continuing) gang participation or involvement in criminal activity.