December 2018 - Page 2 of 3 - searchfortruth.info

Youth Gangs And Their Families: Effect Of Gang Membership On Family’s Subjective Well-being

December 27, 2018 by admin

ABSTRACT

Using a quasi-experimental design and self report methodology, this paper examines the effects of youth gang membership on families’ subjective well-being. Two groups of families consisting of 57 families with children in gangs or at risk of being in gangs and 57families with children not involved in gangs and not identified as at-risk of joining gangs are compared to (1) analyze differences in the levels of satisfaction and subjective well-being of families with and without children in gangs and (2) investigate the effect of the number of children in gangs on parental well-being. The families are matched on variables of (1) responding parents age (+/− 2 years); (2) the number of children a family had; (3) ages of children (+/− 1 year); (4) child's grade in school (+/− 1 grade); (5) family's socioeconomic status measured by total annual income (+/− $3000); (6) family structure; (7) church attendance; and (8) gender of the child in the program. The findings showed that parents with

Youth Gangs: Problem and Response

February 4, 2019December 27, 2018 by admin

ABSTRACT

This draft report represents the result of an extensive review of the research literature available on the youth-gang phenomenon conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Chicago, headed by Irving Spergel and sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), u. S. Department of Justice. The report explores the research on such topics as definitions of youth gang and related terms, the nature and causes of the gang phenomenon, and the effectiveness of various respons'es from law enforcement, the judicial system, social welfare agencies, schools, and communities. It concludes with a summary and conclusions regarding the nature of the problem, the responses offering the most hope, and the possible courses for further research. An extensive bibliography is also provided. with bibliography, the report numbers 301 pages.

INTRODUCTION

Youth gangs are not unique to contemporary urban America. They have existed across time and cultures. Youth gangs tend to develop during times of rapid social change and political instability.

The Lives of Female Gang Members: A Review of The Literature

December 27, 2018 by admin

Abstract

Although female gang membership was overlooked for several years, recent work by feminist criminologists has provided a much more complex picture of female youth involved in gang life. This literature demonstrates that gender shapes the risk factors and consequences of gang involvement for female youth in several ways. In the current review, four main areas are discussed: 1) risk factors for female youths’ gang involvement, 2) the extent and characteristics of female gang members’ violence and crime, 3) the influence of gender on victimization experiences resulting from gang membership, and 4) female gang members’ desistance from gang life. In each section, work specifically focusing on female gang members as well as work comparing the experiences of male and female gang members are presented. Finally, directions for future research are offered

1. Introduction

For many years, researchers largely neglected to study female gang membership. Studies that were undertaken tended to focus on girls as sex objects or auxiliary members, and researchers assumed there were

The Non-Criminal Consequences of Gang Membership: Impacts on Education and Employment in the Life-Course

January 29, 2019December 27, 2018 by admin

ABSTRACT

Research on the consequences of gang membership is limited mainly to the study of crime and victimization. This gives the narrow impression that the effects of gang membership do not cascade into other life domains. This dissertation conceptualized gang membership as a snare in the life-course that disrupts progression in conventional life domains. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Cohort of 1997 (NLSY97) data were used to examine the effects of adolescent gang membership on the nature and patterns of educational attainment and employment over a 12-year period in the life-course. Variants of propensity score weighting were used to assess the effects of gang joining on a range of outcomes pertaining to educational attainment and employment. The key findings in this dissertation include: (1) selection adjustments partially or fully confounded the effects of gang joining; despite this (2) gang joiners had 70 percent the odds of earning a high school diploma and 42 percent the odds of earning a 4-year college

Gangs – Family, Gangs, And The Gang As Family

December 27, 2018 by admin

The term gang often provokes images of violence, drug use and dealing, and crime. However, youth gangs also have other consequences. Gangs can provide youths with a sense of belonging and identity, social support, and solidarity. Gang youths often compare their gangs to family, and in some respects gangs resemble families.

In some neighborhoods, many members of a family have belonged to the same gang. These multigenerational gangs develop in different settings, but have been most often observed among Hispanics. Sanchez-Jankowski (1991) reported that many gang members told him that their families had a long history of gang involvement that included older brothers, and in a considerable number of cases, fathers and grandfathers. Thirty-two percent of the Los Angeles fathers he interviewed said that they had been members of the same gang to which their children now belonged, while 11 percent reported that four generations of their family had membership in the

Sexuality and Gang Involvement

December 27, 2018 by admin

Recent gang research has explored various dimensions of diversity including sexuality and has provided important insights regarding sexual identity and sexual behavior within the context of youth street gang involvement. Insights include the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (LGBTQ) gang members such as their prevalence rates, reasons for joining, gang activities, homophobia within youth street gangs, and how gang structure and composition affect their ability to be open about their sexuality within the gang context. These insights were preceded by scholars’ descriptions of the “homosexual activities” of gang members, particularly in mid-20th-century works, but early-21st-century works include empirical research and documentaries that explore the lived experiences of self-identified LGBTQ gang members. Another major area of study explores the ways that young women are subjected to various forms of sexual violence within gangs, partially because female gang members are often viewed as sex objects. Girls may be “sexed in” to a gang, targeted for sexual

History of Gangs in the United States

December 27, 2018 by admin

Introduction

A widely respected chronicler of British crime, Luke Pike (1873), reported the first active gangs in Western civilization. While Pike documented the existence of gangs of highway robbers in England during the 17th century, it does not appear that these gangs had the features of modern-day, serious street gangs. Later in the 1600s, London was “terrorized by a series of organized gangs calling themselves the Mims, Hectors, Bugles, Dead Boys [and they] fought pitched battles among themselves dressed with colored ribbons to distinguish the different factions” (Pearson, 1983, p. 188). According to Sante (1991), the history of street gangs in the United States began with their emergence on the East Coast around 1783, as the American Revolution ended. These gangs emerged in rapidly growing eastern U.S. cities, out of the conditions created in large part by multiple waves of large-scale immigration and urban overcrowding. This chapter examines the emergence of gang activity in four major U.S. regions,

Deterring Gangs from Your Neighborhood Turf

December 27, 2018 by admin

Coast to coast, crime prevention and government work to curb gang-related crime.

Yakima, Washington: “Innocent 6 year old girl shot outside home during possible gang shooting” (KAPP TV)

Washington, DC: “Police: Gang member killed for trying to quit MS-13” (The Washington Examiner)

Marion, South Carolina: “Two churches defaced with gang graffiti” (CarolinaLive)

Long gone are the Jets and Sharks of Hollywood lore. The headlines above ust three of hundreds from this past July alone—speak volumes about gangs and society. Gang-related crime and violence has evolved over the years in America, while no community is “immune” to the emergence of gangs. Most communities have no reported gang problem. According to the National Gang Center’s 2009 National Youth Gang Survey, an estimated 28,100 gangs with 731,000 members are active in the United States.

No longer focused solely on battling local rivals, some gangs have involvement in international drug cartels, prostitution and human trafficking, and other illicit activities. Yet, even homegrown groups threaten

The Wisdom of Defense Mechanisms

December 27, 2018 by admin

Like all living systems, we human beings have evolved multiple mechanisms for defending against threats to our survival and physical integrity. The immune system is one example; blood clotting another; the fight-or-flight mechanism embedded in our nervous system yet another. It, therefore, is intuitive to assume that similar defensive mechanisms have evolved in human beings to protect and promote the integrity of our psychological architecture—our sense of self, identity, and esteem.

Working at the turn of the 20th century, Sigmund Freud was first to describe a psychological defense system as part of the human psychic architecture. To understand Freud’s notion of ‘defense mechanisms,’ a quick primer on Freudian theory is in order. For Freud, the human personality emerged from the interplay of three psychic structures: id, ego, and superego. The id is the source of life energy (libido). The newborn is all id, wishing only to embrace sensory pleasure and reject painful, unpleasant stimuli. The problem is that ids lack a capacity for

Defining Features Of Personality Disorders: Impulse Control Problems

December 27, 2018 by admin

People with personality disorders tend to exhibit problems with impulse control. These problems can manifest as either over-controlled or under-controlled impulses. (Under-controlled impulse control is commonly called a "lack of impulse control". In the same manner that people with personality disorders may have problems with over- or under-controlled affective (emotional) regulation, they also tend to have problems regulating their impulses. Here, too, we can think of impulse regulation along a continuum ranging from over-control to under-control, with healthy personalities falling somewhere in the middle between these two extreme poles.

Consider the issue of self-control and the need for a healthy balance between overcontrol and under-control. On the one hand, we need to control our impulses and to consider the consequences of acting upon an impulse. Having considered the consequences, we then decide how to act accordingly. We determine whether to allow ourselves to indulge the impulse, or whether to inhibit it. The inhibition of certain impulses enables us to behave in ways that

Confrontational Homicide A Final Report To The Criminology Research Council

February 4, 2019December 27, 2018 by admin

SUMMARY

This report is an analysis of forms of male-on-male homicide. It is a follow-up to an earlier study which, consistent with research elsewhere, found that males not only constitute a vast majority of homicide offenders, but further that slightly over half of all homicides involve males taking the lives of other males. The purpose of the present research is to establish, if possible, the patterns which characterize these distinctively male homicides. The data for the research are drawn from the files of the Office of the Coroner of Victoria, and include all homicides reported to the Coroner for the years 1985-1989. The files consist of an initial report of the attending police regarding the death, the brief prepared by the police for presentation at the Coroner's Inquest, the autopsy report regarding the cause of death, any relevant toxicology reports, and the report of the Inquest itself. For each of the 376 homicides reported in the five year period, a case study

The Myth of the Street Gang as a “Family Substitute”

December 26, 2018 by admin

Consumers of popular lore and many adherents to contemporary sociological thinking believe that affiliation with a street gang is psychologically motivated, at least in part, by a desire to belong to the family the individual never had while growing up. Ostensibly, the gang offers support, sustenance, acceptance, and a structure that the youngster lacked at home. Gangs offer a hierarchy of leadership and a path to gain approval and achieve success. In a highly structured gang, one can "earn" one's way and gain a sense of belonging, status, and power. Sociological determinists have contended that gang membership constitutes an understandable, even "normal," means of adapting to circumstances that are bleak, if not seemingly hopeless. If this were true, everyone who lives in an impoverished, decaying, and otherwise brutal environment would join gangs.

In nearly forty years of research and clinical practice, what has impressed me far more than the environment from which people come is how they choose to deal with whatever their circumstances are.

Labeling and Deviance: Fraternities and Gangs

December 26, 2018 by admin

Gangs: Society and The Labeling Theory

There is a dichotomy that exists in today’s society between the privileged and the poor. Those who are wealthy seem to be able to commit violations and avoid punishment for it, while the poor bear the brunt of law enforcement. When you hear the word gang, what do you think of? Most likely, you do not think of a group of college students who belong to a fraternity. You think of a group of hoodlums who tote guns, sell drugs, and ruin neighborhoods. This is why it is necessary to understand the labels that society places on certain people and the effects that it has on behavior. Why are some people labeled as deviants? Who makes the labels? The Labeling Theory asks two questions: what is defined as deviance? and what is defined as a deviant? Different behaviors mean different things in certain areas, which makes deviance very difficult to define. Research has tried

Homicidal Events Among Mexican American Street Gangs

December 26, 2018 by admin

Abstract

This article examines the complexity of street gang homicides and focuses on situational factors that lead to gang members’ susceptibility to this violent behavior within the context of a disadvantaged minority community. This study is based on an analysis of 28 homicides involving Mexican American gang members. The absence of immigrant youth involvement in these types of violent crimes is discussed. Findings demonstrate how locally embedded social processes associated with specific gang types, ecology, drugs, circumstances, and motives unfold into homicidal events. These findings may contribute to the development of street-based social programs focused on gang mediation, dispute resolution, and crisis intervention.

Concerns have emerged about the association of United States (U.S.) Latinos and crime, especially because of the increased presence of street gangs among this population. However, many crime indicators for Latinos, including homicide, are often lower than for other socioeconomically comparable U.S. groups (Martinez, 2002; Sampson, 2008). This is often explained by the large proportion of immigrants compared with native-

Definition And Classification Of Gangs Executive … – Oas

February 5, 2019December 26, 2018 by admin

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Introduction

In response to the growing concern among the member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS), the General Secretariat of the Organization has been engaged for more than one year in a systematic study of the issue of gangs and their various violent and criminal manifestations. The Department of Public Security (DPS) of the OAS has been assigned the mandate and responsibility to propose hemispheric measures on this problem, on the understanding that violence in general, and that generated by gangs in particular, has become a topic that resonates deeply in the inter-American system. The resolutions and mandates of the Organization urge the adoption of crosscutting and regional measures for prevention and control of violence in order to protect the political and democratic stability of member states. It soon became clear in the course of the General Secretariat’s work on this issue that a great deal of information exists, as well as a large amount of

Gang Organization and Gang Types

December 26, 2018 by admin

Gang organization has been an aspect of research that is often explored and debated. The concept of organization is intertwined with questions of whether gangs have leaders, whether gangs can be considered organized crime, which groups are actually street gangs, and other related questions. Though there are some crossover categories, street gangs are viewed as distinctly different than organized crime groups, prison gangs, outlaw motorcycle clubs, skinheads, stoners, and taggers.

Gang structures are widely varied, with a few being highly organized and most being loose networks of associates. The organization of a gang may change over time. There is an array of membership types that range from core members who might maintain affiliation well into adulthood to temporary members who only spend a short time in the gang. Gangs may have sub-group clique structures based on age-graded cohorts, neighborhoods, or criminal activity. Leadership roles in gangs rarely take the form of a recognizable figurehead.

These variations have led to a plethora of gang