Mexican American Street Gangs

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-