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.     

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.     

Sugar,Spice, and Street Codes: The Influences of Gender and Family Attachment on Street Code Adoption

Elijah Anderson's (1999 Anderson , Elijah. 1999 . Code of the Street . New York : W.W. Norton . [Google Scholar]) Code of the Street thesis argues that joblessness, alienation, structural disadvantage, and black status converge to explain higher rates of violence among African-American, inner-city males. Few studies examine whether a similar phenomenon extends to females. Additionally, few studies investigate how family attachment affects belief in an oppositional culture that Anderson calls “street codes.” Using data from the National Youth Survey, the present study addresses these issues by examining whether boys actually embrace street codes more than girls, whether family attachment reduces the likelihood of street code adoption for both boys and girls, and whether the magnitude of the effect of family attachment on street code adoption differs between boys and girls. Ordinary least squares regression results indicate that boys embrace street codes more than girls, but a substantial number of females embrace them as well. Moreover, family attachment reduces street code adoption for both girls and boys.     

Alien Conspiracy Theory? Exploring Ethnicity and Drug Supply in Scotland

ABSTRACT

Scholars have identified associations between ethnicity and crime. The extent to which such correlations generalize to other national domiciles, and the nuances of neighborhood criminality is unclear. Drawing upon 67 interviews with practitioners and (ex)offenders involved in drug supply, and supplemented by data sets, the article tests the validity of the generalisation, by exploring a) whether ethnicity is perceived as advantageous in the movement of drugs, and b) how indigenous organized criminal gangs (OCGs) address the encroachment of foreign OCGs on their turf. Findings suggest ‘official’ suppositions aren’t wholly supported by evidence gained from street actors connected with criminogenic environments.     

Maturity Levels for Outlaw Groups: The Case of Criminal Street Gangs

The maturity of street gangs varies among groups as well as among countries where gangs are present. In this article, a four stage model for maturity is introduced to help define the threat represented by outlaw groups. Maturity models can serve several important purposes. First, a contingent approach to law enforcement implies that the police and other government agencies can apply appropriate measures. Second, law enforcement can distinguish approaches for fighting non-mature gangs versus mature gangs. Third, the evolution of gangs over time provides insights into the mechanisms that make gangs threatening to society.     

Media reviews

Abstract

Dr. H. James Lurie, reviewer of the videotape “Sybil's Plight” is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle. His expertise in the development of training and educational audio-visual materials, as well as his long teaching experience with both primary care physicians and family therapists, makes his assessment especially valuable. The importance of family concepts in the treatment and management of patients and families who must cope with chronically disabling medical illnesses has reached a new level of concern, and has resulted in renewed interest in the fields of consultation-liaison and family medicine.

—I.A.

Sibyl's Plight, black and white videotape, Library, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.     

describing sexual behavior in the era of the internet: a typology for empirical research

This article uses the Mobile Youth Survey (MYS) to quantitatively evaluate Elijah Anderson's seminal theory of African-American youth in Philadelphia, the Code of the Street. Using longitudinal data and Structural Equation Modeling, we identify characteristics that lead underclass youth to adopt or to reject a “street code” mentality. Like other studies of Anderson's Code of the Streets, we examine family and peer relationships, neighborhood control and stability, victimization and negative emotional reactions as predictors of adolescents' street code orientation. At the same time, we introduce for the first time, hopelessness, defined as a state of mind in which individuals have a negative perception of their future, into the intellectual and social equation. Results show that hopelessness plays an instrumental role in adopting street code beliefs. Specifically, adolescents reporting greater hopelessness in 2004 were more likely to identify with the street code in 2005; by extension, adolescents who identified with the street code in 2005 were also more involved in violence.     

Criminal Crews,Codes, and Contexts: Differences and Similarities across the Code of the Street,Convict Code,Street Gangs,and Prison Gangs

We use 16 characterizations of crews, codes, and contexts to determine if offender subcultures (code of the street, convict code, street and prison gangs) converge, complement, or are independent of one another. We find extensive overlap across offender subcultures with “belief” subcultures in street and prison settings mirroring the “group” subcultures in those respective settings. Findings generate a call for comparative research on the convergences and divergences across subcultures on the street and in prisons with a specific emphasis on the impact that importation, deprivation, and exportation have on policy and programming importation for both the street and prison settings.     

Disillusionment and Change: A Cognitive-Emotional Theory of Gang Exit

Exit from street gangs has received increased attention in recent years; however, a number of important questions regarding the process of leaving remain unanswered. Relying on identity theory, we present a cognitive-emotional theory of gang exit that emphasizes functional dimensions of anger in terms of motivating individuals to pursue identity change related to gang membership. Specifically, anger provides gang members with an opportunity to identify the gang as a major source of their problems. According to identity theory, anger is generated when there is an inability to meet an identity standard. This article argues that an inability to meet identity goals produces disillusionment and anger, which reduces the relative importance of the gang identity and facilitates exit from gangs.     

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.     

A comparative review of total family functioning measures

Abstract

Three categories of instruments or methods have been used to assess family functioning: unstandardized measures of total family functioning; instruments which measure family subsystems or unitary processes; and standardized total family assessment procedures. Six methods, comprising the standardized total family functioning category, are reviewed and compared. It is concluded that methods of total family assessment are nearing the formation of a family systems paradigm, although the psychometric qualities of the instruments lag behind theoretical development. Recommendations are made for further development of procedures to assess family systems.     

Of Materiality and Meaning: The Illegality Condition in Street Art

Street art is an art form that entails creating public works incorporating the street physically and in their meaning. That physical property is employed as an artistic resource in street art raises two questions. Are street artworks necessarily illegal? Does being illegal change the nature of production and aesthetic appreciation? First, I argue street artworks must be in the street. On my view, both the physical and sociocultural senses of the street can be constitutive of meaning. Second, I argue that illegality is a prototypical and paradigmatic feature of street art. While illegality alone does not make works better than sanctioned street art, it affects the production process and changes what is available to appreciate.     

Police Enforcement of Street Prostitution as a Quality-of-Life Offense: New York City,United States,and Frankfurt am Main,Germany

The present paper compares how police in Hunts Point, South Bronx, New York City and Frankfurt am Main Germany manage street prostitution as a quality-of-life offense. Methods utilized for this research include observation and “conversation” in public spaces with prostitutes, police, and community members. This paper deals with characteristics of street prostitutes, police enforcement, actual interaction between police and street actors, and impact of these methods on prostitutes. For decades, broken windows policing has been utilized to counter quality-of-life offenses in urban neighborhoods such as NYC, and evidence regarding its effectiveness has often been questioned. In attempts to address prostitution, two variant policing models were identified and examined through the framework of broken windows theory: Punitive/Criminalization Policing and Containment/Laissez-Faire Policing. Broken windows policing probably lowered the incidence of quality-of-life offenses including street prostitution. However, broken windows theory does not take into account socially constructed myths that persist about prostitution, nor the realities that counter them. This paper addresses these myths and how they may inform policing practices, resulting in negative corollary effects which must be eliminated.     

The family therapist as a change agent: Using principles and strategies of organization development in family therapy

Abstract

Families are compared to work organizations from a systems perspective, establishing parallels in needs for change and growth. The theoretical underpinnings of Organization Development (O.D.) are reviewed and discussed in light of their use in conceptualizing family therapy. From this systems viewpoint, the consultant role, systems diagnosis and a variety of O.D. interventions are proposed to the family therapist.     

The Journal of Couples Therapy Entelechy Institute CEU Quiz

SUMMARY

The majority of gay male couples are not monogamous. Relationship clinicians can help gay male couples to have a healthy sexually open relationship by working from a family systems perspective. This approach requires the therapist to have an understanding of family systems theory, the Enneagram (a personality topology), gay male sexual culture, as well as being clear of negative countertransference. Assessment of functionality of sexually open gay male relationships is described.     

A Risk-Amplification Model of Victimization and Depressive Symptoms Among Runaway and Homeless Adolescents

This report is an examination of a theoretical model of risk amplification within a sample of 255 homeless and runaway adolescents. The young people were interviewed on the streets and in shelters in urban centers of four Midwestern states. Separate models were examined for males (n = 102) and females (n = 153). Results indicated that street experiences such as affiliation with deviant peers, deviant subsistence strategies, risky sexual behaviors, and drug and/or alcohol use amplified the effects of early family abuse on victimization and depressive symptoms for young women. These street adaptations significantly increased the likelihood of serious victimization over and above the effects of early family history for both young men and women. Similarly, street behaviors and experiences increased the likelihood of depressive symptoms for young women over the effects of early family abuse, but not for young men. The risk-amplification model from the life course theoretical perspective is discussed as an example of the cumulative continuity of maladaptive behaviors.     

Children’s street crossing performance when auditory information about traffic is lacking

PurposeThe current study examined the impact on children’s street crossing behaviors of not having auditory-based information about traffic when crossing streets.MethodUsing a fully-immersive virtual reality system, numerous indices of children’s street crossing behaviors were measured both when they had auditory-based information about traffic and when this was lacking.ResultsThe lack of traffic sounds did not influence the inter-vehicle gap size that children crossed into but it did result in slower initiations and, ultimately, more high-risk outcomes (close calls and hits).ConclusionTraffic sounds significantly contribute to enhance children’s safety when crossing streets. Cars with reduced sounds (e.g., electric) and anything that interferes with children accessing auditory-based traffic information (e.g., wearing headphones) could increase their risk of pedestrian injury.     

Mothers and Children Together

Summary

Treatment groups for both mothers and children together who have experienced mother assault is a unique therapeutic milieu which has been underutilized in the treatment field. This article presents a 10-week feminist-informed family systems group model as part of a treatment approach for children exposed to family violence and can be used with families of children from pre-school to adolescence. This model provides a context in which the experience of family violence can be debriefed, and issues related to trauma, safety, secrecy, and post-abuse family restructuring can be addressed by family members together. In addition, play and art therapy based interventions are presented and are tailored for the beginning, middle, and end of the group process.