With many sources that attempt to explain why youth join gangs, studies based on empirical research are optimal to reveal the critical factors. This paper will focus on combining these sources that are based on empirical methodologies with Robert Merton's strain theory to explain why youth join gangs from an analytical perspective. The empirical studies reveal a trend that youth join gangs because of a troublesome economy and coming from a low-socioeconomic status, creating a strong connection with Merton's strain theory.
It is not uncommon that in today's world, there are societal expectations and standards of the ideal lifestyle. In the US, the 'American Dream' constitutes the ideal life that is based on achieving wealth, status, and fame in a successful manner. Merton's strain theory explains how the mainstream promotes the American Dream while disregarding the fact that not all communities have equal opportunities to achieve it in a legitimate fashion (Parnaby and Sacco 2004). Essentially, people can conform to this universal standard, but when they realize that they are severely limited the result is anomie because there is too much emphasis on becoming prosperous, while the socio-economic imbalance is ignored.
This leads to Merton's various forms of adaptations: innovation, where the person accepts the goals, but rejects the means; retreating, where the person rejects both the goals and the means; ritualism, where the person rejects the goals, but accepts the means and; rebellion, where the person creates alternative goals via alternative means. Merton basically suggests that when a person is limited to achieve the mainstream goal, they adapt via alternative structures that can consequently be illegitimate...
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... American dream.
Works Cited
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Lilly, J. Robert, Francis T. Cullen and Richard A. Ball. 2011. "Crime in American Society" Pp 61-87 in Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences (5th Edition) Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
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Gangs can be classified as a group of adolescents who are perceived to be a threat to society, are mostly recognized by their name and territorial power, and have been involved in numerous acts that violate criminal law procedures in North America. (Esbensen, Winfree, He and Taylor, 2001). The first theme that was present in the pieces of literature collected was the lack of opportunities. As previously stated before, becoming involved in a gang starts at a young age. An article titled “Youth Gangs and Definitional Issues: ‘When is a Gang a Gang, and Why Does It Matter?’” explicates what exactly constitutes a gang, starting with young adolescents. Using a survey conducted in the United States, Finn-Aage Esbensen, L. Thomas Winfree, Jr., Ni He, and Terrance J. Taylor (2001) surveyed over 5,000 students. The questions asked were based on how and why they chose to be in a gang (whether they were a part of it currently or before the survey was conducted). The authors concluded their research in deciding unanimously that there was a connection between a social learning theory, and the commencement of gangs. Correspondingly, Herbert C. Covey (2003) created an academic book entitled, Street Gangs Throughout the World, which gave an in-depth look at the different types of gangs across the world. Throughout several chapters, Covey looks at the root causes of how any why gangs are formed. The author noticed that there was a significant trend among young, deprived adolescents and gang membership. (Covey, 2003). Covey (2003) indicated that the more underprivileged a youth was, the more likely the chances would be of them joining a gang, which is a major concern.
Labeling theory in criminal justice, tries to describe the connection between being labeled as a deviant and becoming the very thing the stereotypes suggest “deviant”. Labeling theorist argue that deviant behaviors can be a result of the way one view themselves in society (Bernburg, J. G., & Krohn, M. D., 2003). For instance, being label as a social misfit can contribute to individual believing that he/she must engage in misfit behaviors. Arguing that stereotypes can changes self-perception.
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Gang involvement has been quite higher than past years. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey estimates that about 32.4 percent of all cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural counties had a gang problem (Egley et al., 2010). This represented a 15 percent increase from the year 2002. The total number of gangs has also increased by 28 percent and total gang members have increased by 6 percent (Egley et al., 2010). This shows how relevant gang related activity is in today’s society. More locations are beginning to experience gang activity for the first time. Gang crime has also been on the rise in the past...
Lilly, J. R., Ball, R. A., & Cullen, F. T. (2011). Criminological theory: Context and consequences. Los Angeles, CA US: Sage.
With an average of one murder per hour, El Salvador, a relatively small country of about six million people, is on its way of becoming the country with highest homicide rate in the world. The violence that has become a Salvadoran social norm derives from many different factors, with the main factor being the high rate of gangs. With over 60,000 gang members actively involved in gangs, the nation has been taken under a sort of violence and mass death only caused by wars (Vice News, ‘Gangs of El Salvador’). Yet, I argue that this war does not continue on because of the high position gangs hold in Salvadoran society today, but is found in its impoverished youth. It is in the impoverished youth that violence is found, not because they partake in
3. Maclure, Richard, and Melvin Sotelo. 2004. "Youth Gangs in Nicaragua: Gang Membership as Structured Individualization." Journal of Youth Studies 7:417-432.
Winfree, T., & Abadinsky, H. (2nd Ed.). (2003). Understanding Crime: Theory and Practice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth publishers.
Wilson, James and Herrnstein, Richard. "Crime & Human Nature: The Definitive Study of the Causes of Crime" New York: Free Press, 1998.
In the 1920’s there was a study conducted by Fredric M. Thrasher. Thrasher studied 1,313 gangs in Chicago and revealed the issue of gangs. He considered the poor in poverty as the area increasing in gangs. This area was known as the “zone in transition” and was referred as in his studies. Thrasher has many law reinforcement and social workers helping him bring a stop to this madness. According to Thrashers studies “Important variables such as the age of gang members or the organizational features of the gangs were not related in a straightforward way to differences in the behavior of gangs” (Cummings 6). Thrasher has analyzed these gangs in many ways to the extent or romantic life in gangs. He helped us distinguish the difference in stereotype gangs and then the actual facts involving them.
One of the reasons young people join street gangs is because of neighborhood disadvantages. A theory that can contribute to why young people might join street gangs is Social Disorganization Theory. Social Disorganization theory assumes that “delinquency emerges in neighborhoods where neighborhood relation and social institutions have broken down and can no longer maintain effective social controls (Bell, 2007).” Social Disorganization contributes to residential instability and poverty, which affects interpersonal relationships within the community and opens opportunities for crimes to be committed. The break down of neighborhood relation and social institutions create a higher likely hood that young people will affiliate with deviant peers and get involved in gangs. When there is lack of social controls within a neighborhood the opportunity to commit deviance increases and the exposure to deviant groups such as street gangs increase. Which causes an increase in the chances of young people joining street gangs. If social controls are strong remain strong within a neighborhood and/or community the chances of young people committing crime and joining gangs decreases.
Introduction Crime rates are on the rise in the world today, particularly in the urban centers but even more in other places. The issue of youth mobs is increasingly emerging to be of serious concern in many nations, specifically for law enforcers. Many of these crimes such as theft, robbery, rape and terrorism are just but a few of the crimes conducted by youths. Many of the youths are led into crime by unemployment, poverty and the need for a sense of belonging. It is the duty of every state to ensure that enough opportunities are created for youth for them to earn a living through employment.
Williams, F., & McShane, M. (2010). Criminological Theory, (5th Edition). New Brunswick, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Akers, R. L., & Sellers, C. S. (2013) Criminological theories: Introduction, evaluation, and application (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Gang violence is a major problem in our society today. If nothing is done soon, gang violence could take place in our neighborhoods. MW Klein, a gang researcher, says that gangs are an aggregation of youths who perceive themselves as distinct, and that are viewed as distinct by the community. Klein also states that the gangs call forth a consistently negative image of themselves through their actions (Klein). To those involved in gangs however, gang membership provided a youth means of attempting to consolidate their gender identities (Douglas). Most of the early American street gangs have historically been ethnically based. Early gangs were mainly Irish, Polish, or Italian (Klein).