Rethinking the Mechanisms of Gang Desistance in a Developing Country

ABSTRACT

Most academic literature is based on experiences of gang members in developed countries. This article explores the mechanisms of desistance among street gangs in El Salvador. Gangs in this Central American nation, which include MS-13 and the 18^th Street gang, are known for complex structures and their transnational reach. Based on a survey with nearly 1,200 gang members and former gang members in El Salvador and 24 in-depth interviews with former gang members in rehabilitation programs, this study finds that the characteristics of the gang organization play a more significant role in the ways individuals exit the gangs in extremely violent contexts. It also shows that a religious experience is the most frequent mechanism to leave the group because it provides a safer alternative in those contexts.     

Youth gang affiliation,violence, and criminal activities: A review of motivational,risk, and protective factors

Youth gangs are a universal phenomenon attracting increasing attention; the criminal and antisocial behavior perpetuated by youth gangs has an adverse impact on local communities across the globe. Although there is an extensive body of research that has examined the problems posed by youth gangs in America (and more recently in other countries), there have been relatively fewer empirical studies that examined the factors and psychological processes that are related to youth joining and leaving gangs. This review compiles the international research on the nature of youth gangs and critically evaluates: (a) the factors that motivate engagement in and desistance from gang-related activities, (b) risk and protective factors that impact on youths' propensity for gang membership, delinquency, and violent behavior, and the adverse consequences associated with gang affiliation, and (c) the relationship between gang-affiliation, youth violence, and criminal behavior.     

A Qualitative Investigation of Gang Presence and Sexual Harassment in a Middle School

Our goal with this qualitative case study was to explore the relationship between gang membership/presence of gangs in a middle school on the experiences of sexual harassment from the perspectives of both bullies and victims. This study sought to explore the characteristics of sexual harassment taking place in one middle school with a gang presence, the relationship of gang membership/presence to the types of sexual harassment experienced or witnessed, and student perceptions of the influence of gangs on sexual harassment. Thompson Middle School enrolls approximately 440 students. The surrounding community has more than 20 gangs with 2000 known gang members. Data were collected from 10 student interviews and unstructured observations from researcher field notes to capture experiences from one middle school. Analysis was performed using a modified van Kaam approach. Resulting themes centered on what students knew about sexual harassment, the types of sexual harassment they witnessed at their school, and reasons why they thought sexual harassment was occurring with such frequency. Sexual harassment appears to be heightened when there is a gang presence and visible gang activity. Incidents appear to happen more in the ‘open’ rather than hidden. The pressure to give into sexual advances by gang members appears to be especially heightened for girls. The types of sexual harassment acts described by the students as highly invasive with many classified as same-sex acts as initiated by the gang members. Sexual harassment prevention programs in schools with a gang presence need to incorporate discussions related to gang influence.     

Glasgow’s Evolving Urban Landscape and Gang Formation

Glasgow has long been synonymous with gangs, yet literature remains limited. This article seeks to contribute twofold by first analyzing how the evolving urban landscape of Glasgow during, and immediately after industrialization, contributed to gang formation and reformation in the form of razor gangs, and then what McLean (2017) terms the Young Street Gang (YSG). Second, by examining both gang types, the author is able to demonstrate how in the corresponding wider urban context, gangs respond in kind and questions whether or not, situated within a new era of urbanization, we are witnessing the emerging new face of Glasgow gangs.     

Inter-partner violence in the context of gangs: A review

Gang youth are a concern to society because they are often associated with crime and acts of violence and are particularly at-risk for involvement in sexual victimization, relationship abuse, and inter-partner violence (IPV). The current study reviews the nature of the association between gang involvement and IPV. The study summarizes what is currently known about IPV and gangs, reviews risk factors that are connected to both gang membership and relationship violence, the manifestation of relationship abuse and violence among those affiliated or associate with gangs, and how factors such as gender roles and the social structure of gangs play a role in IPV risk. Eighteen articles met the criteria for the current study and are described in this review. Implications for the additive risk associated with gang involvement are discussed.     

Risk Behaviors Among Young Mexican American Gang-Associated Females: Sexual Relations, Partying, Substance Use, and Crime

This research focuses on young Mexican American girls who are not formal gang members yet participate in street-based activities of male gangs and engage in risk behaviors. These females comprise a larger proportion associated with male gangs in inner-city neighborhoods than actual female gang members. Using a qualitative design, the article presents a typology of Mexican American females that reveals a hierarchy based on exposure to four risk-related activities: sexual relations, partying, substance use, and crime. Findings illustrate how outcomes associated with these activities vary according to the girl's relationship to the male gang and status within the community. Also, regardless of their relationship to the gang, participation in these activities resulted in different degrees of negative outcomes. The study concludes that problems associated with these females must go beyond being viewed as individual problems but rather seen within the social, cultural, and economic conditions of their environment.     

Putting in Work: The Application of Identity Theory to Gang Violence and Commitment

ABSTRACT

Research has seldom examined how identity mechanisms facilitate violence among gang members. Relying on life history interviews with self-identified former gang members, we use identity theory to explore the relationship between commitment to the gang identity and violence. Results indicate that the relationship between commitment and violence is complex. Specifically, for individuals with a high degree of cognitive commitment to the gang identity, violence will be used to achieve positive and confirming reflected appraisals. However, once gang members have achieved congruence between reflected appraisals and identity standards, a threshold is reached where violence is no longer required.     

Gangs, Migration, and Crime: The Changing Landscape in Europe and the USA

The history of gangs is intertwined with migration. In America, a number of classic studies have reported on the possible causal link between immigration, socio-economic position, social disorganization, and gang formation. More recently in Europe, the impact of migration on gangs reflects a complex mix of factors that also includes cultural and media influences. In addition, there are other contextual factors such as immigration and population movement that have received less attention, yet condition the relationship between structural factors and the formation of gangs. Processes such as immigration, migration, and resettlement have had an important impact on the transmission of gangs on an international, national, and local scale, often enhanced by the impact of immigration. This article examines the relationship between immigration, culture, and gangs and contrasts European and US research.     

San Antonio’s Barrio Gangs: Size,Scope, and Other Characteristics

I analyze data gathered from a sample of men who were gang members in San Antonio in the 1950s. Using subject-generated lists of gangs and reputable members citywide, the work examines the size, scope, and other salient characteristics of the barrio gang phenomenon from that era. By extrapolating rough estimates from Census data, qualitative fieldwork, and a police database, I find that the proportion of young Chicano males involved in gang activity today is comparable to what it was in the 1950s. In both eras, nearly 10% of the total population of Chicano males ages 12–19 in San Antonio are and were gang involved. Implications of this finding, study limitations, and future research are discussed.     

Delinquency and Substance Use among Gang-Involved Youth: The Moderating Role of Parenting Practices

This study uses longitudinal data from an ethnically diverse sample of 300 ninth grade students to examine the moderating effect of parenting practices upon the relationship between gang involvement and adolescent problem behavior. Results of hierarchical linear modeling indicate that gang involvement is a highly significant positive predictor of each of three categories of problem behavior (minor delinquency, major delinquency, and substance use). Three of the four parenting variables (behavioral control, psychological control, parent–adolescent conflict, and warmth) are found to moderate the relationship between gang involvement and problem behavior, with the most consistent effects found for behavioral control and warmth. These findings indicate that intervention efforts aimed at reducing the impact of gang involvement on adolescent development should consider factors that may decrease the deleterious behavioral outcomes associated with youth gangs.     

A Systemic Analysis of the Dynamics and Organization of Urban Street Gangs

Street gangs function as ongoing, open social systems in relation to their surrounding sociocultural context. Fundamentally, gangs are comparable to some family systems. In fact, most gangs do consider themselves to be “families.” The same concepts used to describe family systems may also be applied to street gangs. Street gangs usually exhibit a highly complex organization, structure, process, and functionality. All of these aspects intertwine within and around the gang to form a web of interconnectedness and continuity. To better understand street gangs and provide effective intervention plans, they must be viewed from this systematic and holistic perspective.     

The Unravelling of Identities and Belonging: Criminal Gang Involvement of Youth from Immigrant Families

Grounded in the experiences of 30 gang-involved respondents in Calgary, this Canadian study examined criminal gang involvement of youth from immigrant families. Our analysis showed that gang-involved youth had experienced multiple, severe and prolonged personal and interpersonal challenges in all facets of their lives and that gradual disintegration of their relationships with family, school and community had resulted in the unravelling of self-concept, ethnic identity, sense of belonging and sense of citizenship and progressively propelled them towards membership in high-risk social cliques and criminal gangs. Our findings brought attention to the need for coordinated, comprehensive support for youth from immigrant families through family-based, school-based and community-based programs.     

An Evolving Gang Model in Contemporary Scotland

Young street gangs (YSGs) in Scotland are considered recreational youth outfits bound up in issues of territoriality and protest masculinities. While YSGs occasionally engage in territorial violence, they are nonetheless viewed as distinct entities from organized crime (OC). However, following qualitative interviews (n = 35) with offenders involved in OC, namely illegal drug supply, the author concludes otherwise and presents evidence which suggests that YSGs retain evolving capabilities. The author presents an evolving gang model in which the key sequential stages are outlined as recreational, criminal, and syndicate and argue that, aided by globalization, gang organization has become a means for gang business.     

Multivariate Analysis Of Gang Delinquency: I. Ecologic Influences

In continuity with delinquency area research, the study examined the neighborhood characteristics of 16 delinquent gangs in Chicago, 1960. Compared with city norms, gang neighborhoods were lower on Borgatta-Hadden census tract factors of Sodo-Economic Status and Stable Family; higher on Disorganization-deprivation; not different on the Suburb factor. Measures of gang behavior were taken from the Short-Tennyson-Howard rated behavior factors: Conflict, Stable Corner-Boy, Mature Sex, Retreatist, and Authority Protest. Significant positive correlations were found between the Suburb and the Stable Corner-Boy factors; and between the Socio-Economic Status and Authority Protest factors. These results seem to support two major parts of A. Cohen's theory of delinquent boys.     

Puerto Rican Gangs: A Historical Overview

This article presents the problem of gangs on the island of Puerto Rico from a historical, economical, and political perspective. Some Puerto Rican historians are convinced that the gang problem in Puerto Rico is due to the political ambiguity and human rights violations of prison inmates (F. Picò, 1998).     

Affiliation to Youth Gangs During Adolescence: The Interaction Between Childhood Psychopathic Tendencies and Neighborhood Disadvantage

Because youth gangs tend to cluster in disadvantaged neighborhoods, adolescents living in such neighborhoods are more likely to encounter opportunities to join youth gangs. However, in the face of these opportunities, not all adolescents respond in the same manner. Those with preexisting psychopathic tendencies might be especially likely to join. In this study, we tested whether a combination of individual propensity and facilitating neighborhood conditions amplifies the probabilities of youth gang affiliation. A subset of 3,522 adolescents was selected from a nationally representative, prospective sample of Canadian youth. Psychopathic tendencies (i.e., a combination of high hyperactivity, low anxiety, and low prosociality as compared to national norms) were assessed through parent reports, while neighborhood characteristics (i.e., concentrated economic disadvantage and residential instability) were derived from the 2001 Census of Canada. Our results indicated that neighborhood residential instability, but not neighborhood concentrated economic disadvantage, interacted with individual propensity to predict youth gang membership. Adolescents with preexisting psychopathic tendencies appeared especially vulnerable mainly if they were raised in residentially unstable neighborhoods.     

The family relations,peer relations,and criminal activities of Caucasian and Hispanic-American gang members

Juvenile gang members present serious problems to society, yet few empirical studies have examined their criminal activity, family relations, and peer relations in comparison with other highly antisocial youths. In a 2 (Gang Membership) × 2 (Ethnicity: Hispanic-American vs. Caucasian) design, 131 incarcerated male juvenile offenders were administered a battery assessing criminal activity, family relations, and peer relations. Results demonstrated (a) higher rates of criminal behavior (i.e., general delinquency, index offenses, school delinquency) among gang members than among offenders who did not belong to gangs, (b) higher rates of general delinquency and home delinquency among Caucasian offenders than among Hispanic-American offenders, and (c) greater aggression and less social maturity in the peer relations of gang members than in the peer relations of offenders who did not belong to gangs. In addition, gang membership mediated sociocultural differences in hard drug use. Findings are integrated with the extant literature.The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance and advice of Dr. Michael Schumacher, the Honorable C. Robert Jameson, Gwen Kurz, Don Hallstrom, Jane Carmichael, and Drs. Malcolm Klein, Rae Newton, and James Madero.     

Managing one's social identity: Successful and unsuccessful identity management

This work explores the motivational dynamics of social identity management. Following social identity theory, we hypothesized that a threat to a positive social identity elicits specific negative emotions (i.e., outgroup‐directed anger) and motivates identity management. Successful identity management restores a positive social identity and decreases outgroup‐directed anger. However, when a successful identity management is blocked (e.g., because of limited cognitive resources), identity management will be unsuccessful and outgroup‐directed anger will remain at a higher level. This effect of unsuccessful identity management on outgroup‐directed anger should be particularly strong for group members who highly value their group (i.e., high group‐based self‐esteem). A negative comparison outcome is discrepant with these group members' positive view of the ingroup, and therefore, unsuccessful identity management should especially elicit negative emotions (i.e., anger) towards the threatening outgroup. Two studies tested these predictions. Study 1 (N = 110) showed that participants' outgroup‐directed anger increased when threatened under cognitive load. Study 2 (N = 99) demonstrated that this was particularly true for participants high in group‐based self‐esteem. The results' implications for research on the motivational processes underlying social identity management are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Delinquency in gangs — Selection or socialization?

Thornberry, Krohn, Lizotte, and Chard-Wierschem's (1993) introduced three models to account for why gangs are associated with high levels of delinquency. Existing research using Thornberry et al.'s (1993) models to explain the gang-delinquency association has been inconclusive. This paper seeks to address this gap in research by incorporating Moffitt's (1993) developmental taxonomy of delinquency within Thornberry et al.'s (1993) explanatory models. A few proposals are put forth in this paper: (1) support for Thornberry et al.'s (1993) models depends on developmental stage of the individual, (2) the selection model explains delinquency of life-course-persistent gang members, while social facilitation model explains delinquency of adolescence-limited gang members, and (3) support for the enhancement model is an artifact of assuming a homogenous gang sample.     

Rule-based versus associative processes in derivational morphology.

The present article examines whether derivational morphology shows evidence of an associative memory structure. A distributional analysis of stems of attested derivational forms revealed evidence of clustering around phonological properties (gangs) for all nonneutral affixes but only a few neutral affixes. Subjects' acceptability ratings for novel complex words revealed sensitivity to the gang structure associated with the relevant derivational affixes. Results suggest that, like inflectional morphology, derivational morphology shows dissociations between rule-based and associative generalization mechanisms.