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Discussion Chapter Seventeen: Discuss, in detail, gang involvement and the increased risk of offending.

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Chapter 17 Gang Involvement and Predatory Crime Jean Marie McGloin Overview • Recent decades have witnessed a large growth in street gang presence and activity (Curry & Decker, 2003; Howell, 1998) • *By 2004, the National Youth Gang Center estimated that there are approximately: – 760,000 street gang members – 26,000 street gangs across – 3,000 jurisdictions in the U.S. – As of 2017, the FBI estimates that there are 33,500 gangs (street gang, security threat groups, outlaw motorcycle gangs) accounting for approximately 1.3 million gang members. Overview • • • • Types of “Gangs”: – – – – – – – – – Troublesome youth groups Motorcycle gangs Youth subculture groups Delinquent groups Taggers Youth/street gangs Super-gangs or gang nations Transnational (?) gangs Prison gangs/Security Threat Groups Other Types of Street Gangs: – – – – Hedonistic gangs – use drugs, but do not sell drugs, almost never violent Drug gangs – deal in drugs but tend to avoid violent behavior Scavenger gangs – urban survivors Predatory gangs – the fewest in number but tend to be the most violent *70% of street gang members remain a member for one year or less – this does not apply to motorcycle gangs or prison gangs/security threat groups. *There is no one best description of a gang member and no one single definition that defines a gang or gang member. Overview • Street gangs have been in existence in the United States since 1783. • *The first gangs emerged after the American Revolution ended in 1783 among white European immigrants • *The largest number of gangs and gang members are in Los Angeles, Chicago has the second highest number of gangs and gang members. • *Two gangs in Los Angeles are considered to be transnational gang: the 18th Street Gang and MS-13. Overview • *In the research conducted by Klein in 1995 he found that watching gang members is boring because they sleep, get up late, hang around, brag a lot, eat, drink, and hang around some more. *Only a fraction of their time is dedicated to gang activity. • *Numerous female gangs exists and can be as violent as their male counterpart. The mere fact that females are in a gang (male or hybrid) does not diminish the potential for violence. Overview • • • • • Violence is a hallmark of gang life. *Youth enter gangs through a violent initiation ritual sometimes referred to as “beat in” or “v’ed in” or “jumped in.” During this ritual the prospective gang members is pummeled to prove heart and toughness. They also exit through violence. Gangs encourage members to engage in violence. Although innocent people have been harmed in gangrelated violence, more than anything else, members target and harm one another. Overview • • • • • Gangs have shown an expansion of members’ age, ethnicity, as well as an increase in female membership Membership in street gangs is not simply for young, minority males These apparent quantitative and qualitative shifts in the character of street gangs and gang membership are interesting, but they do not compel the attention of criminologist in isolation *As the prevalence of street gangs increased nationally, Chicago saw a 500% growth in gangmotivated homicides from 1987-1994 *The increase in homicides from 1999-2001 in California was fully attributable to an upswing in gang homicides in Los Angeles County Overview • Instead, it is the criminal element that invites our attention • *Research has long suggested that predatory crime is somehow part, if not a product, of gang life • Scholars and practitioners alike invest resources in understanding the relationship between gang involvement and offending behavior Overview • This chapter reviews these linkages between gang involvement and offending behavior • It pays particular attention to the theoretical mechanism that underlies it, as well as considers what may be uniquely criminogenic about gang membership • It also discusses the implications of this linkage, focusing on policy and intervention considerations Involvement & Increased Risk of Offending • *A number of studies have found that gang members tend to be more serious offenders than their non-gang counterparts and are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime • Battin et al. (1996) investigated this pattern within the Seattle Social Development Project • Among their findings, Battin et al. discovered three important points Involvement & Increased Risk of Offending • • • • *A number of studies have found that gang members tend to be more serious offenders than their non-gang counterparts and that they are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime. *Data from the Rochester Youth Development Study reveal that gang members are significantly more likely to report involvement in violence than non-gang members. *At the same time, 30% of youth in this sample selfreported gang membership, but they were responsible for 65% of the reported delinquent acts over a four-year period. *This disproportionate involvement emerged across levels of crime seriousness, as well as for violent and property crime. Involvement & Increased Risk of Offending • • • *Similarly, approximately 14% of the subjects in the Denver Youth Study over a four-year period reported being gang members but were responsible for 79% of the reported serious violence and 71% of the reported serious property crime. *At the same time, gang members in this sample selfreported approximately two to three times more delinquency than non-gang members. *Data from the Seattle Social Development Project revealed gang members comprised 15% of the sample, but were responsible for approximately 58% of delinquent acts reported over a four-year period. Involvement & Increased Risk of Offending • *Gang members consistently were more serious delinquents and were responsible for the lion’s share of crime • *These findings were based on self-reports – thus it’s not the case that this relationship simply reflects a systematic bias of official records being more likely to capture the behavior of gang members than that of non-gang members • *This trend cuts across types of predatory crime, which suggests a general connection between gang membership and offending behavior Involvement & Increased Risk of Offending • Interestingly, this “risk” of gang involvement for offending appears to exist on a continuum • Curry, Decker and Egley (2002) acknowledge that most gangs are loosely organized and that the process of affiliation or disaffiliation is rarely rapid or spontaneous • *The increased risk of delinquency is not specific to gang membership, but also extends to individuals who associate with street gangs Involvement & Increased Risk of Offending • *Just as the division between gang and nongang members is not always clear-cut, but rather exists on a spectrum, not all gang members are the same • *Research has long shown that gang members vary in the extent to which they are committed to/embedded in street gangs (Klein, 1995) • *The more involved and embedded members tend to be more criminally active when compared to peripheral, less embedded members Involvement & Increased Risk of Offending • *Core members – those who are involved in many gang activities and have more stable memberships • *Peripheral members – those who are relatively less involved and have more transient stays in the gang • Indeed, research has revealed that being a central member of a delinquent group serves to amplify one’s incidence of criminal behavior (Haynie, 2001) Involvement & Increased Risk of Offending • *The information provided, along with previous findings, underscores the robustness of the linkage between gang involvement and predatory crime • Some people may presume that this relationship suggests that gang involvement causes delinquent behavior, but this is not the only possible interpretation • Linkage reflects enduring individual-level differences in criminal propensity, not some detrimental impact of gang involvement Why is There a Relationship? • *Scholars have long debated the theoretical “meaning” of gang membership in much the same was as they have the relationship between having deviant peers and an increased likelihood of offending – – This linkage serves as a place of intersection between learning and control theories of crime, which adopt decidedly different viewpoints Other perspectives certainly have the ability to comment on the importance of deviant peers with regard to offending, but learning and control theories nonetheless have largely defined and structured this debate Why is There a Relationship? • *The facilitation or socialization model views gang involvement/membership as causally meaningful • *Based primarily on propositions from differential association and social learning theories, it assumes that the normative processes of the gang/delinquent peer group create and sustain delinquents • Simply, without this social-psychological context, the individual might not engage in delinquency – thus, the gang is criminogenically important and deserves our attention Figure 1. A schematic showing how the socialization/ facilitation and selection models view the linkage between gang involvement and offending Socialization/Facilitation Model Gang Membership Offending Behavior Selection Model Gang Membership Offending Behavior Social controls/self-control Why is There a Relationship? • *The selection model asserts that gang membership does not hold any causal significance with regard to delinquency • *This model argues that the relationship is spurious; a common factor explains both gang membership and delinquency – as Figure 1 demonstrates • *It proposes that an individual will offend when social controls or self-control are weak Why is There a Relationship? • *Under the premise of “birds flock together”, the gang simply reflects the already established tendencies of its members; it does not cause delinquency – Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) state: “adventuresome and reckless children who have difficulty making and keeping friends tend to end up in the company of one another, creating groups made up of individuals who tend to lack self-control…” o Thus Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) assert that low self-control underlies both involvement with street gangs and delinquency Why is There a Relationship? • *Some researchers believe that it’s more accurate to consider the possibility that controls, learning environments and delinquency influence each other in a reciprocal manner • *The enhancement model represents a middle-ground or compromise between the control and learning sides of this theoretical debate • *These perspectives all have conceptual merit and can potentially explain the linkage between gang involvement and a heightened risk of offending Why is There a Relationship? • In order to truly shed insight on which theoretical perspective has the most merit, researchers have turned to longitudinal data • Doing so allows a finer investigation of connection between the timing of gang membership and criminal behavior, about which the selection and socialization models offer divergent predictions Timing of Gang Membership & Delinquency • Esbensen and Huizinga (1993) investigated the temporal relationship between gang membership and delinquent behavior in order to shed insight on this theoretical debate – *Their findings revealed that offending prevalence among gang members was higher than non-gang subjects prior to their membership; which provides initial support for the selection model – The results also provided some support for the socialization model since the offending prevalence among gang members declined subsequent to leaving the gang Timing of Gang Membership & Delinquency • *Esbensen and Huizinga (1993) discovered, when looking at individual-level offending, that offending rates among gang members were particularly pronounced during the time of membership • *This aspect of their research found the most support and the strongest support for the enhancement model. • Although youth who are already more delinquent may gravitate towards gangs, there’s also something criminogenic about the gang that amplifies their behavior Timing of Gang Membership & Delinquency • *Gordon et al. (2004) discovered that boys who joined gangs were more delinquent than their non-gang counterparts before they were active members • They also found that criminal behavior increased significantly among gang members when they were actively part of the gang and diminished after leaving the gang • *Gangs do provide some facilitating effect with regard to delinquency, even if gang members were more criminally active prior to membership Timing of Gang Membership & Delinquency • The natural question that follows, therefore, is why gang membership acts as a facilitator • Is it that gang members are simply exposed to a greater number of more serious delinquent peers? • *If so, then there is not something uniquely criminogenic about the gang or gang membership, per se, but rather gangs are simply another form of a delinquent peer group Timing of Gang Membership & Delinquency • Gordon et al. (2004) found that exposure to delinquent peers was one socializing mechanism at work for gang members • Battin et al. (1998) also investigated whether delinquent peer associations were able to explain the effect gang membership has on criminal involvement • *They found that being a gang member exerted an effect on delinquency above and beyond having delinquent friends – and suggest that there’s something uniquely criminogenic about gang membership What’s Unique About Gang Membership? • The main focus is namely the interactive social processes that are part of gang life • *Although a street gang is arguably a type of delinquent peer group, it’s a particularly powerful social network that often embraces predatory and violent behavior • Individuals who gravitate towards gang involvement are often marginalized from acquiring status in general society via legitimate means What’s Unique About Gang Membership? • • • *The nature of gang life can structure certain expectations and support social processes that facilitate the offending behavior of gang-involved youth Decker (1996) reviewed interview data from 99 gang members in St. Louis and argued that gang violence was an expressive result of interactive social processes Offending behavior often becomes an intimate part of acquiring and maintaining social status within the gang, which might help us to understand the mechanism whereby gangs facilitate predatory behavior What’s Unique About Gang Membership? • Esbensen et al. (1993) discovered that gang members and non-gang members looked quite similar across an array of psycho-social variables • Accordingly, individuals involved in gangs might also be perceived expectations from those in larger society to act or behave in a predatory fashion • Under the premise of labeling theory, this may set a self-fulfilling prophesy in motion Policy Implications • *The fact that gang members are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime clearly warrants intervention strategies and resources • A vast array of gang prevention and intervention programs exist, though our sense of “what works” is fairly limited • The purpose of this chapter is to elaborate on implications for anti-gang programs in light of the previous discussion about the linkage between gang involvement and predatory crime Policy Implications • • • *Prevention programs are directed at the general population, which is in contrast to intervention strategies that are directed at at-risk populations or groups Only directing policies or programs at individuals who are already gang members or gang associates would miss the opportunity to prevent these linkages and reduce the risk of increased offending *It’s important to note that programs that attempt to prevent the development of linkages to gangs do and should exist Policy Implications • • • • *One relatively well-known prevention program is Gang Resistance and Education Training (GREAT). This is a school-based program in which law enforcement officers act as instructors. Although the efficacy of GREAT is not clear, it is important to note that programs that attempt to prevent the development of gangs and gang behavior do and should exist. The most successful programs incorporate prevention, intervention, and suppression strategies. Policy Implications • The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP’s) Model Programs Guide (MPG) contains information about evidence-based juvenile justice and youth prevention, intervention, and reentry programs. It is a resource for practitioners and communities about what works, what is promising, and what does not work in juvenile justice, delinquency prevention, and child protection and safety. • MPG uses expert study reviewers and CrimeSolutions.gov’s program review process, scoring instrument, and evidence ratings. The two sites also share a common database of juvenile-related programs. Policy Implications • This chapter also suggests that all individuals who are linked to the gang are equal in their connections • Levels of involvement in the gang may reflect gradations in the “dangerousness” posed to public safety, further suggesting a benefit to differentiating among the types and extent of linkages to street gangs • *Programs would be well-served by seeing gangs as social networks in which positions and the extent of “gang involvement” varies Policy Implications • • *A manner in which to do this is to appeal to a particular method during the problem analysis phase-network analysis *Primary purpose of network analysis is to reveal the presence of any regular patterns in social relationships – rather than focus on on attributes of individuals it focuses on the associations or linkages among people • Important to be cautious that intervention programs do not have the unintended consequences of strengthening an individual’s linkage to the gang Policy Implications • *Law enforcement attention to gangs, through arrest, patrol, surveillance, and other suppressive tactics, can serve as a powerful external source of cohesion • *When allocating resources for prevention strategies, it is likely that law enforcement will put more attention on core members of a gang because this stops a large proportion of crime and linkages to peripheral members. • *It provides the group with a common point of conflict and solidified identity, setting a self-fulfilling prophesy in motion • *Such a risk is not limited to suppressive tactics Policy Implications • *For example, the Los Angeles Group Guidance Project offered many positive activities to the local gangs in an attempt to integrate street gang members into the prosocial community – *Unfortunately, this program provided the gang members with more opportunities to socialize which produced a more cohesive gang that was involved in more crime – Therefore, it’s very important for policy-makers and those part of an intervention to consider the level of gang involvement when planning a strategy Conclusion • This chapter discussed the positive correlation between gang involvement and predatory crime • The socialization/facilitation model argues that gang membership plays a causal role in offending behavior • Whereas the selection model maintains that this relationship merely reflects more serious offenders self-selecting into gang membership Conclusion • *Evidence presented in this chapter suggests that gangs do have a facilitating effect on delinquency, above and beyond simply being exposed to delinquent peers • *The unique criminogenic nature of gang involvement compels us to carefully consider intervention strategies that are cognizant of the gradations that exist regarding gang involvement • *Some interventions may disproportionately affect the crime rates, as well as evidence greater success through the intelligent allocation of resources
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