Youth Gang Members Research Articles

Relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Gang Participation Among Youth in Mombasa County, Kenya: From the Perspective of Household Challenges

Purpose: Gang participation has become a universal phenomenon attracting increasing attention in both developed and developing countries. Previous research denotes strong evidence that early life adverse traumas and events heighten the risk of delinquent behaviour among young people. This study aimed to find out whether there is a relationship between household challenges and gang participation among youth gang members in Mombasa County. This study was guided by the Interactional Theory by Terrence Thornberry (1987). Methods: This study employed a correlational research design within the context of Ex-post facto research. The study population consisted of alleged, convicted, and reforming gang members in Mombasa. They were drawn from a database accessed by the Nyali District Peace Committee (DPC) which has 358 members aged between 15-31 years. Purposive, and snowball sampling techniques were used to gather data from the sample. Descriptive statistics namely, frequencies, percentages, and measures of central tendency were used. Inferential statistics namely the Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient, linear, and regression was then employed to establish the relationship between household challenges and gang participation. Results: The findings revealed a strong positive correlation between gang participation and household challenges (r = 0.876, p < 0.01). Implication: The findings of this study will guide the formulation of programs and interventions for the rehabilitation and reintegration of these gang members. These can be of help to Civil Society Organizations, law enforcement agencies, and probation officers.

Is ethnic and racial identity a potentiating or protective factor in the association between youth victimization and gang-joining? Distinguishing between exploration and affirmation

Youth gang membership is a significant public health concern linked to violent victimization. However, not all victimized youth join gangs, highlighting the need to study mitigating factors. Ethnic and racial identity (ERI) is a potential factor, but research has shown mixed results. This study used longitudinal self-report data from the Pathways to Desistance project to examine ERI’s two facets – exploration and affirmation. Findings revealed that victimization increased both ERI aspects, but they had opposite effects on gang-joining. Higher affirmation reduced gang-joining odds and higher exploration increased them. These results highlight the importance of promoting ERI affirmation in gang involvement prevention.

The myth of Australia’s migrant youth gang: examining the perceived association between ethnicity and gangs

ABSTRACT In Australia, as with other countries around the world, migrant young people receive significant media and political attention as the alleged perpetrators of significant criminal activity. This has been a consistent feature over time, with ‘Asian gangs’ in the 1990s in the US, UK and Australia, ‘Middle-Eastern gangs’ around the time of 9/11, ‘Turkish gangs’ and ‘Albanian gangs’ in the UK and Europe, and ‘African gangs’ in Australia since the early 2000s. In this research, we investigate the risk factors associated with youth gang membership in Australia. Using data from the Australia Youth Safety Survey from 2,945 young people aged 14–25 years, we examine the importance of first- and second-generation migrant status on gang membership. After controlling for known risk factors, we find that migrant status was not a predictor of gang membership. Results offer important insights into the prominence of morality and self-control as protective factors against youth gang membership, and speak to the role of neighbourhood context in which the young person lives.

A latent profile analysis of child maltreatment among at-risk youth gang members: Associations with violent delinquency, non-violent delinquency, and gang organizational structures

BackgroundThe relationship between child maltreatment and later delinquency is an enduring concern worldwide. However, the maltreatment-delinquency relationship is relatively underexplored in youth gang populations. Consequently, to date, studies have not examined typologies of maltreatment and their associations with violent delinquency, non-violent delinquency, and gang organizational structures. ObjectiveFirst, to identify the characteristics of subgroups of youth gang members who varied in abuse type and severity within type. Second, to determine in what ways the profiles differed in terms of gang organizational structures, violent delinquency, and non-violent delinquency. Participants and settingsA sample of 161 youth gang members (mean age: 16.8; range: 12–24) were recruited and surveyed by outreach social workers in Hong Kong. MethodsLatent profile analysis was first used to examine heterogeneity in victimization experiences (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect). Thereafter, non-parametric tests and post-hoc analyses were conducted to examine associations between the yielded typologies of maltreatment and gang organizational structures, violent delinquency, and non-violent delinquency. ResultsPoly-victimization was prevalent in the sample, with 148 respondents (91.9 %) reporting at least two types of past abuses. Three profiles of maltreatment emerged, varying in abuse types and severity within types: ‘Minimally maltreated’, ‘Moderately maltreated, except sexual abuse’, and ‘Severely maltreated’. In comparison to the ‘Minimal’ maltreatment profile, the ‘Moderate’ and ‘Severe’ profiles were associated with greater delinquent behaviors and being in gangs that encouraged congregate illegal behaviors. ConclusionsThere was a relationship between typologies of maltreatment and gang organizational structures, violent delinquency, and non-violent delinquency in the sample of youth gang members. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Youth Gang Membership, Marginalized Identities, and Suicidality Disparities: Intersectional Implications for Research and Practice

Youth Gang Membership, Marginalized Identities, and Suicidality Disparities: Intersectional Implications for Research and Practice

Exploring sex differences between dimensions of psychopathy, executive functioning and youth gang membership

ABSTRACT Previous investigation has not considered potential sex differences for psychopathy facets and executive functioning related to gang membership. Although empirical inquiry has begun to focus on psychopathy’s role in youth gang membership, this research is male-focused. The present study uses the baseline of the Pathways to Desistance study to investigate the relationship between psychopathy facets, executive functioning and gang membership across sex. Logistic regression in all boys and girls samples is performed to examine the potential relationship between the constructs across sex. Following this, Long’s test of predicted probabilities is implemented to examine potential differences across sex for key variables robustly. The findings suggest the socially/deviant facet of psychopathy is associated with gang status in girls only; the effect was smaller than for both peer delinquency and violent victimization. Further executive functioning and the interpersonal facet were not significantly associated with gang status in boys and girls. The results of Long’s test show no robust differences that exist across sex for variables of interest. Although sex differences are not robustly found in the current study it is suggested intervention strategies should consider the needs of girls, because strategies do not make these considerations.

Understanding the Role of Violence and Conflict in the Stages of Gang Membership

This work uses social learning theory’s perspective on continuation and cessation of offending to explore the how rewards and punishments for violence change across the stages of gang membership. Qualitative interviews with a racially/ethnically diverse sample of 39 former gang members within two emergent gang cities in the American south are used to explore the role of violence across the stages of gang affiliation. Inductive analytic techniques are used to analyze gang members’ in-depth, semi-structured interviews to identify and further refine emergent themes through the use of modified ground theory. Results indicate that violence is expressed as central to the experiences of youth gang members across the life cycle of gang involvement and alters former members’ perceptions of the gang’s ability to provide a protective function. The extent to which the role of violence changes over time—as it interacts with youth decision-making specific to the balance of experienced and anticipated rewards and punishments of gang involvement—is integral in understanding its reinforcing effect on gang membership and association.

Banging while Believing: The Intersection of Religiosity, Gang Membership, and Violence

Abstract Religious groups and street gangs typically exhibit contrasting cultural systems that produce different behavioral consequences, especially relating to crime and violence. This study introduces and develops the isolated and integrated affiliation models to explain the potential intersection of gang membership and religious affiliation. The isolated affiliation model predicts that gang membership and personal religiosity are incompatible affiliations and will not overlap. The integrated affiliation model predicts that individuals can simultaneously embrace and negotiate gang and religious affiliations even when they seem opposed to each other. Using Add Health data, this study examines the intersection between religiosity, youth gang membership, and violence. Findings indicate that gang members do report being religious, although they are significantly less religious than non-gang peers on three of the four individual measures of religiosity, with a marginally significant difference on the overall religiosity scale. Among the full sample, religiosity is inversely associated with violence while gang membership is positively associated with violence. Among a gang-only subsample, personal religiosity is inversely related to the prevalence but not the extent of violence. These findings provide insight into potential role and identity conflicts experienced by religious youth gang members. Seemingly oppositional affiliations can overlap with religious life, influencing some forms of behavior.

What makes young people get involved with street gangs in London? A study of the perceived risk factors.

This study examined the perceived determinants of street gang-related antisocial behavior (ASB) and crime of young people (YP) in a deprived and ethnically diverse community in London. Twenty-sixparticipants were recruited from two youth centers (one sport and one art-based program) from the borough of Tower Hamlets. Participants took part in four focus groups (FGs) organized into two youth (N = 14) and two adults (N = 12) subgroups. The FG questions explored participants' understanding of their community and social environment, their social interaction with the local YP and youth gangs. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach and key factors associated with youth gang membership, ASB, and crime were identified. Participants highlighted a series of determinants, which were centered on social predispositions and psychological factors. Associated risk factors were heavily embedded in the racial and religious tensions within the borough. Therefore, context-specific to the individual communities' risk factors should be identified before the development and implementation of intervention strategies to enhance their potential for impact.

Gang members and extremists in Switzerland: Similarities and differences

Scholars rarely compare youth gangs members and extremists. Yet, studies of gangs can yield relevant information on extremist groups, and vice versa. This article compares youth gang members with left-wing, right-wing and Islamist extremists. The aims of this article are to determine the prevalence of gang members and extremists among young people in Switzerland, to determine the overlap, if any, between gang members and extremists, and to analyse the differences and similarities of individual characteristics among the gang members and extremists, their delinquency and victimization. Comparisons of such groups may provide important insights into the individual members of these groups. The similarities between gang members and extremists could give us information for the prevention programmes. The study was based on a self-report survey completed by 8317 students of non-compulsory school age (about 17 years old) and living in Switzerland. The results show greater numbers of young people affiliated with gangs (6.6 percent) and left-wing extremism (6.2 percent), and more similarities between the members of gangs and left-wing extremists, compared with the other forms of extremism.

Exploring Psychopathy’s Relationship with Youth Gang Membership in Males and Females

Recent investigations show that adolescent female criminality and gang membership is increasing nationwide. Although empirical investigation into the relationship between psychopathy and gang membership is burgeoning, all of the studies are male focused. The present study investigates juvenile psychopathy’s relationship with youth gang membership across males and females in order to better comprehend the etiology of gang membership across sex using the baseline sample of the Pathways to Desistance Study. The findings suggest that juvenile psychopathy predicts gang membership equally for both boys and girls. The study highlights the importance of investigating juvenile psychopathy in youth gang membership across sex and the implementation of intensive multilevel treatment programs tailored to the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral needs of gang members.

Individual, Familial, and Socio-Environmental Risk Factors of Gang Membership in a Community Sample of Adolescents in Southern Italy.

Despite the growing social alarm generated by the recurrent news concerning violent episodes involving youth gangs, systematic research in Italy in this field, especially within a psychological framework, is still limited. Following a social-ecological approach, the present study aimed at investigating the role of self-serving cognitive distortions (CDs), parental rejection, and community violence witnessing in youth gang membership (YGM). Furthermore, we examined the mediating and/or moderating role of YGM in the association between risk factors and involvement in antisocial behaviors (ASBs). A community sample of 817 adolescents attending middle and high schools in a high-risk urban area in Southern Italy (46.9% males; 53% middle school students; Mage = 14.67; SD = 1.65) were involved in the study. One hundred and fifty-seven participants (19.2%) were found to be gang members. Employing counterfactual-based mediation analysis, we found that CDs and community violence witnessing were directly associated with YGM and ASBs. The association between CDs and ASBs was mediated by YGM. Parental rejection was directly related to ASBs but not to YGM. A significant interaction effect between parental rejection and YGM was found, revealing that high levels of parental rejection, along with being a gang member, amplified the involvement in ASBs. These findings pointed out that distorted moral cognitions and the experience of violence witnessing within the community may represent a fertile ground for gang involvement. Both individual and contextual factors should be considered in order to implement interventions aimed to prevent adolescents’ risk of joining a gang.

Risk factors associated with youth gang involvement: An exploratory criminological case study analysis

This study explored risk factors for youth gang involvement in the South African setting. Participants were five youth male gang members (between 21 to 24 years) from Gauteng province, South Africa. We interviewed them on childhood experiences they perceived to predispose them to community gang membership, prison gang membership, and future reoffending behaviour. Four main themes emerged from the data analysis (i) push factors into gang activities, (ii) pull factors into community gang membership, (iii) prison gang membership factors, and (iv) risks for future criminality. These factors were overlapping in increasing risks for gang involvement and further offending for offenders with limited education, a life of crime and violence, substance abuse, criminal associations, disregard for conventional norms and values, and poor self-control. Findings are consistent with social control theory, which would predict risk for youth involvement and reoffending from youth gang members’ insecure and weakened bonds to conventional society, including family, peers, and the school.

Effect of firearms legislation on suicide and homicide in Canada from 1981 to 2016.

Canada implemented a series of laws regulating firearms including background and psychological screening, licensing, and training in the years 1991, 1994, and 2001. The effects of this legislation on suicide and homicide rates were examined over the years 1981 to 2016. Models were constructed using difference-in-difference analysis of firearms and non firearms death rates from 1981 to 2016. In addition, negative binomial regression was used to test for an association between rates of suicide by Canadian Province and firearms prevalence, using licensing rates as a proxy for prevalence. No associated benefit from firearms legislation on aggregate rates of male suicide was found. In men aged 45 to 59 an associated shift from firearms suicide after 1991 and 1994 to an increase in hanging resulted in overall rate ratios of 0.994 (95%CI, 0.978,1.010) and 0.993 (95%CI, 0.980,1.005) respectively. In men 60 and older a similar effect was seen after 1991, 1994, and 2001, that resulted in rate ratios of 0.989 (95%CI, 0.971,1.008), 0.994 (95%CI, 0.979,1.010), and 1.010 (95%CI, 0.998,1.022) respectively. In females a similar effect was only seen after 1991, rate ratio 0.983 (95%CI, 0.956,1.010). No beneficial association was found between legislation and female or male homicide rates. There was no association found with firearm prevalence rates per province and provincial suicide rates, but an increased association with suicide rates was found with rates of low income, increased unemployment, and the percentage of aboriginals in the population. In conclusion, firearms legislation had no associated beneficial effect on overall suicide and homicide rates. Prevalence of firearms ownership was not associated with suicide rates. Multifaceted strategies to reduce mortality associated with firearms may be required such as steps to reduce youth gang membership and violence, community-based suicide prevention programs, and outreach to groups for which access to care may be a particular issue, such as Aboriginals.

Vulnerable children: Protection and social reintegration of child soldiers and youth members of gangs

In the 30 years since the adoption of the United Nation’s Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC), international policy and research has continuously examined the impact of community violence exposure on child development. This article uses the framework of the CRC to review how the world has studied the involvement of child soldiers in armed conflict. We then apply Article 38 of the CRC (which prohibits the use of child soldiers) to parallel the literature regarding youth involvement in gangs. We argue that due to high similarities of these groups, including in regards to risk factors, traumatic experiences, and post-experience sequelae, youth gang members should be included as a protected group under the CRC as are child soldiers. We conclude with a discussion of programs that may be effective at preventing recruitment into armed conflict and gang memberships, and programs that reduce traumatic symptoms of children who experience and perpetrate violence.

Differences in Prevalence Rates of Hopelessness and Suicidal Ideation Among Adolescents by Gang Membership and Latinx Identity

Despite the ongoing challenge of preventing youth gang membership in diverse communities across the United States, and increasing recognition of associations between trauma and gang involvement, the nexus between hopelessness, suicide, and gang membership has largely been ignored. We created two random samples of 1000 participants, with 50% identifying as non-Latinx White, and 50% identifying as Latinx of any race from 91,265 participants of the 2014–2015 California Healthy Kids Survey. Four Chi square tests of independence tested differences in prevalence rates of chronic hopelessness and suicidal ideation for self-identified Latinx and non-Latinx White gang and non-gang member youth. Grounded in a systems responsiveness framework, we predicted that hopelessness and suicidal ideation would be higher for groups that are more marginalized, which was supported by our findings. Specifically, gang membership and ethnicity were both associated with suicide and hopelessness. An unexpected finding, not related to the research questions, was the high prevalence of gender and sexual minority (GSM) youth who identified as gang members. This study represents a unique contribution to the adolescent suicidal ideation literature base, as most studies focus on race or ethnicity and neglect gang membership when identifying disproportionalities in suicidal ideation. Implications for practitioners, researchers, and schools and communities are discussed.

"It's Not Being Racist, but ... "

This article explores the tacit endorsement of male youth gang members engaging in “race”-based conflict to gain localized levels of power. It examines the importance of belonging to an “in-group” for these young people via their connectedness to the broader residents, through cultural essentialism toward a Roma “out-group.” The young, male gang members, drawing on what they perceive to be their role, adopt physical and symbolic strategies to assert their control over their space and to concretize their sense of belonging with the wider community in-group. The article considers how a labeled and excluded group of male youth gang members from wider social structures find connection, commonality, and belonging in hardening their self-image through an othering process against those deemed inferior to them.

Social Learning, Social Disorganization, and Psychological Risk Factors for Criminal Gangs in a British Youth Context

ABSTRACTUsing longitudinal data from a British longitudinal cohort study (ALSPAC), the current study examines “developmental domains” from individual, peer, and community risk factors. Using four logistic regression models, we looked at 10 correlations between children’s experience with risk factors outlined by the literature and criminal gang association. Gang membership was associated with drug use, delinquent peers, and disorganized neighborhoods. Further, early diagnoses of childhood aggression, ADHD, depression, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, were not associated with later, adolescent youth gang membership. Our results suggest community based programs that stem from social learning policies and collective efficacy militate against gang growth.

Factors associated with youth gang membership in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

This Campbell systematic review examines the predictors of youth gang membership in low‐ and middle‐income countries. The review summarises findings from eight reports from five countries and the Caribbean region. The lack of available evidence limits the extent to which clear conclusions can be drawn about the factors associated with youth gang membership. The review is based on a very small number of studies, and has significant limitations in coverage. The limited evidence of the correlates of youth gang membership suggests factors that may drive gang membership and suggests areas where interventions may prove promising in the family, school, and community domains, as well as provide a starting point for future studies.

Dancing with danger: ethnographic safety, male bravado and gang research in Colombia

This article considers the dilemmas and challenges of conducting fieldwork with youth gang members in Medellín, Colombia. It draws upon the author’s experiences to develop the notion of ‘ethnographic safety’, where researchers learn to perceive and avert danger by gaining a ‘feel for the rules of the game’ (Bourdieu, 1992) in violent communities; it problematizes the role that the researcher’s gender and ‘male bravado’ played in accessing and interviewing gang members; considers the ethical conundrums of building rapport with criminal subjects; and discusses the challenges of working in complex, chronically violent communities where there are no simple dichotomies between victims and perpetrators of violence.