DELINQUENT YOUTH SUBCULTURES 1

Delinquent Youth Subcultures (Gangs) Sellers Excelsior College

DELINQUENT YOUTH SUBCULTURES 2 Subcultures origins and history Urban youth gangs have been in existence since Colonial times; but in the 1800 gangs grew to notoriety during Prohibition. However, it was the Five Points Gang, led by Italian immigrant, Paolo Antonini Vaccarelli, which was the first street gang composed mostly of youths and young adults. (Owens, 2006) Urban industrial development in the latter part of the nineteenth century brought a large influx of European immigrants into American cities. The children and adolescents of these immigrants became members of groups identified as gangs. In the late 1800s, youth gangs emerged in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh. In those decades, Italians and Irish immigrants were overrepresented in the ranks of gang members. These gangs roamed the streets of their neighborhoods engaging in petty forms of property crime and conflict with members of rival gangs. As with todays gang members, these youth represented what were regarded as the lowest levels of the economic strata of their communities. The twentieth century, the term gang was associated with groups in socially disorganized and deteriorated inner- city neighborhoods: It was applied to juveniles who engaged in a variety of delinquencies, ranging from truancy, street brawls, and beer running to race riots, robberies, and other serious crimes. (Regoli, Hewitt, & DeLisi, 2011) Gangs today are influenced by the media's reports, television programs, and movies of gang and gangland activity, street gangs have flourished in America, including gangs related to both the dominant White culture, as well as minority subcultures such as Asians, Hispanics and African-Americans. (Encyclopedia of Violence, 2008)

DELINQUENT YOUTH SUBCULTURES 3 Delinquency and Illegal behavior of gangs In a report for the Justice Policy Institute and Greene and Pranis the organization, association, of gangs engaged in criminal activities. The authors note that the typical criminal activities engaged in by gangs include assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, homicide or manslaughter, the sale, possession for sale, transportation, manufacture and/or offer to manufacture controlled substances, shooting an inhabited dwelling or occupied motor vehicle, arson, the intimidation of witnesses and victims, and grand theft of any vehicle, trailer or vessel. They also note that the gang is often associated with an identifying sign or symbol and those criminal activities can be engaged in by the gang as a whole or by individual members. (Greene & Pranis, 2007) Indeed, today's gangs have so dramatically increased in number and in scope of activities, that law enforcement is now targeting the estimated one million people engaged in street gang activity as one of the nation's largest criminal problems. (OJJDP's Comprehensive Gang Model, 2008)

Gang activity is all about money, territory and popularity; the key to understanding gang behavior lies in properly identifying the gangs primary objectives and leadership structure. Generally, most youth gangs fall into one of three distinct categories: corporate, territorial and scavenger. First you have corporate gangs that focus their attention on making money, and have a clearly defined division of labor. The activities that gang members engage in are almost exclusively for profit. Corporate gangs tend to have a well-entrenched vertical hierarchy, and are likely to participate in a group rather than individual violence. Since these gangs tend to focus on making money, violence is usually administered in carefully prescribed situations. The vertical hierarchy tends to limit the visibility of these gangs to law enforcement, and it also makes it exceedingly difficult to leave the gang if one wishes to leave. These gangs also care less about

DELINQUENT YOUTH SUBCULTURES 4 turf than they do profit, and are highly mobile. Of all the active U.S. gangs, Chinese gangs tend to be the most. (Justice, May 1998)

Second you have territorial gangs that tend to focus on the possession of turf, and gang members are very quick to use violence to secure and protect what they see as theirs. There is some level of organization in territorial gangs, but it is much less developed than in corporate gangs. These gangs have a flatter hierarchy, which results in less control over individual members and a higher rate of gratuitous violence. Since they are tied to their turf, territorial gangs are much easier to keep track of, contain, and leave if a member so desires to do so. Hispanic gangs tend to be the most territorial (Justice, May 1998)

Third you have scavenger gangs that have very little organizational structure, and gang membership is motivated more by a need to belong to a group than anything else. The crimes that they commit are usually impulsive and often senseless. There are no objectives and goals for the gang, and leadership is very fluid often depending on who is the most violent that day. The gang members tend to be low achievers who are prone to violence and erratic behavior (Justice, May 1998)

There are lots of factors that influence youth to join gangs; however, there are identifiable risk factors and motivations that encourage youth gang involvement. These include individual factors such as peer pressure, family conditions, lack of school achievement, and community turmoil. These factors follow the Psychological and Sociological theories of youth Gangs involvement. The involvement come from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds where there

DELINQUENT YOUTH SUBCULTURES 5 is a breakdown in family and community cohesiveness. Youth see the gang as a way to fill the psychological, social, physical and economic needs that the family and community at large have failed to fill. Gangs provide friendship, security, a sense of purpose and identity, along with an opportunity to gain wealth. (Regoli, Hewitt, & DeLisi, 2011) analyzing a number of theories of why gangs develop, among them Social Disorganization Theory, Strain and Cultural-Deviance Theory, Social Bond/Control Theory, and labeling play a very important role. They find that these theories have certain features which link them, such as the idea of the importance of the external socioeconomic environment in explaining gangs. For example with social disorganization these theories link gangs to such environmental factors as poverty, social inequality, lack of community integration, and lack of meaningful employment and educational opportunities, along with the larger economic picture of a changing labor market and the corresponding emergence of a more or less permanent low- class communities. (Shelden, 2002)

Also drug abuse has been cited as a reason for the growth in teenage gangs, and public and professional attention in recent years has been directed toward adolescents as a group for several reasons. The public believes that young people are experiencing a temporary phase of growing up and that risky behavior is a natural outgrowth of being a teenager, especially for boys. The gang becomes an alternative family, one which plays to certain self images and satisfies certain needs on the part of young people to fit an image of the adult world or to express needs they cannot meet in the normal way because the larger society does not give them the opportunity to do so. There may be many reasons why young people respond to gangs and the research points to a number of possible dynamics but it all fall down to money and acceptance. (Justice & Prevention, 1998)

DELINQUENT YOUTH SUBCULTURES 6 Gang Prevention Recommendations

Although many young gang members often speak of the positive aspects of gang life, the negative consequences far outweigh any perceived benefits. Former gang members have shared a number of reasons for wanting to leave a gang, including fear of personal injury, imprisonment, or death; anticipation of sibling involvement; and the birth of a child. There are things we can do to assist a young person who wants to escape a gang and begin living a positive lifestyle. Children who are on a trajectory of worsening displays antisocial behaviors, including child delinquency, are on a crash course to becoming gang member. The best ways to turn around these individuals are to address their social and economic needs. (Ambert, 2001) members of the community to include police officers would have to come together to provide an assessment of their communities youth gang activities. Once this has been done they would have identified individual juveniles that are high risk of joining the gangs and start addressing their issues as a community. (Prevention, 2010) communities have mentor programs that can address some of the parental social problems that adolescents have become broken homes. The overall assessment of the community and the development of programs can prevent or even help individuals get out of gangs and prevent them from joined altogether.

DELINQUENT YOUTH SUBCULTURES 7 Conclusion

In conclusion, I have discussed some of the history and origin of gangs in the United States from colonial times to present. I identified some risk factors on why youth become involved in gang activity. A substantial number of juvenile offenders are born to dysfunctional families; live in poverty; suffer from a variety of social problems, including poor physical and mental health; may be victims of abuse or neglect; and may be at risk for academic failure. Young people who move into gang life or criminal behavior represent a substantial number of the total arrestees in the United States each year. (Howell, 2012) I also discussed many different strategies how community involvement can help youth gang members get out of that lifestyle. Identify the social and economic issues involved, the community can tailor programs just for their individual community. Youth joining gangs is a very important issue one that we can solve overnight.

DELINQUENT YOUTH SUBCULTURES 8 References Ambert, A.-M. (2001). Family in the New Millennium. Nottingham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Curry, G. D., & Decker, S. H. (2002). Confronting gangs: Crime and community, (2nd edn.). . Los Angeles: Roxbury . Encyclopedia of Violence, P. a. (2008). Gangs in History The Magnitude of Contemporary Gang Problems Theories of Gang. St. Louis: Elsevier Science & Technology. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com.vlib.excelsior.edu/entry/estpeace/gangs. Greene, J., & Pranis, K. (2007). Gang Wars: The Failure of Enforcement Tactics and the Need for Effective Public Safety Strategies . A Justice Policy Institute Report . Howell, J. C. (2012). National Gang Center. Washington DC.: U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/ Justice, B. o. (May 1998). Addressing Community. Gang Problems: A Practical Guide. Washington, DC: NCJ 164273. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/164273.pdf Justice, U. D., & Prevention, O. o. (1998). Gang Membership, Delinquent Peers Behavior. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/171119.pdf Model, O. C. (2008). Best Practices To Address Community Gang Problems:. Washington, DC: National Report. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/222799.pdf Owens, A. (2006, December 13). Evolution of Street Gangs. kennesaw.edu, 1. Retrieved from http://students.kennesaw.edu/~aowens20/Gangs.htm

DELINQUENT YOUTH SUBCULTURES 9 Prevention, O. o. (2010). Juvenile Justice Bulletin; Gang Prevention. Washington DC.: US Department of Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/171119.pdf Regoli, R. M., Hewitt, J. D., & DeLisi, M. (2011). Delinquency in Society: The Essentials. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Shelden, R. S. (2002). Youth gangs in American society. New York: Wadsworth Publishing. Retrieved from http://yas.sagepub.com/content/34/1/31.abstract