Lets End Gang Culture And Senseless Youth Violence

Violence as a Characteristic of Gang Culture. The culture of the gang is often a culture of violence. It is a culture of physical assaults, guns, knives, bats, and anything that one can use to protect him- or herself or gain advantage over another person or situation.

Modern urban street gangs have evolved into tribal organizational structures. These new urban tribes have developed into a subculture in the streets of the urban jungle. They claim territory, are self-supporting, have their own language and customs, and establish their own rules and codes of conduct. Their customs are passed to new members by rites of passage from generation to generation, thus ensuring the continuance of the gang. Gang members identify themselves as a people that is separate from the rest of society.
he culture of the gang is often a culture of violence. It is a culture of physical assaults, guns, knives, bats, and anything that one can use to protect him- or herself or gain advantage over another person or situation. Gang members are less inhibited about using violence than non-gang members and confer status upon winners of violent confrontations. Given the setting in which many of the gang members I observed live, I am not surprised there is a great deal of violence.

Frustration resulting from a lack of opportunity for meaningful employment, poor quality schools, failing public services, incompetent parents, and discrimination from the larger society could drive someone to violence - against oneself (i.e., substance abuse, self-mutilation, suicide) or against others. In addition, anger resulting from child abuse and poor role modeling often leads to violence against oneself and others.

Field Note: A national educator on the subject of Hispanic gangs said "Among the rules Hispanic gang members impose upon their members are to never cooperate with the police, never leave an insult unattended and never snitch. If a gang member has violated one of these rules, it would not be unusual for the gang to respond by giving the violator a 'time violation' - physically beating the violator for 2 minutes, a 'numbered beating' - hitting the violator a specific number of times on the same spot on his or her body, or making them 'pee red' - the violator's kidneys are hit as many times as it takes to cause blood to appear in the his urine."

The Impact of Ex-Convicts on Gang Culture

Complicating the picture is the impact of ex-convicts on the gang culture in hundreds of communities throughout the United States. Among the 600,000 inmates being released from prison annually into American society are those who were gang members prior to their incarceration and those who joined a gang for the first time while in prison. Both have an impact on the gang culture in the community to which they return.

Survey respondents for 1998 were asked how much their jurisdiction's youth gang problem has been affected in the past few years by the return of gang-involved adults who have been in prison. Research suggests that involvement of ex-convicts in youth gangs increases the life of gangs and their level of violent crime, in part because of the ex-convicts' increased proclivity to violence following imprisonment and the visibility and history they contribute to youth gangs. (Howell and Decker, 1999, page)

Some of these ex-convicts bring with them a sense of gang loyalty and cooperation which may exceed that which is commonly found on the street. The prison environment has a tendency to cause an amalgamation of gangs in order to provide strength in numbers against other and more threatening groups in the prison. For example, I observed primarily African-American members of gangs such as the Crips, Bloods, and Black Gangster Disciples joining together to protect themselves against Hispanics and radical Caucasians in a federal prison. Members of different and normally conflicting Hispanic gangs had also formed a union. Where once they would conflict with one another, they now associated with one another to provide protection against the African-American and Anglo (Caucasian) inmates.

In Closing

Thinking of gangs as societies with cultures of their own aids in understanding them and their members more fully. A better understanding may aid in developing strategies for reducing gang activity and youth violence.

Every society offers its members something, whether it's a sense of belonging, power, affection, status, or something else of value to the recipient. What gang researchers have discovered is that, for many children in the United States, neighborhood and community social institutions which are supposed to provide these things are not ... gangs are. If we understand that, we can develop ways to provide these things to local youth legitimately so that joining a gang is not necessary.