Essay On Gang Delinquency

The temptation and influence of gang activity is as prominent in females as it is in males. Before exploring the topic of gang delinquency one must first understand what a gang is. Most often, definitions of gang membership or affiliation mirror the organization rather than empirical realities of gang membership through self-selection (Huff, 1990). At the state level a gang consists of three or more people that share a common and identifying sign, symbol, or name. Whether individually or collectively, said members participate in constant criminal or delinquent behavior. The research conducted in this paper explores the various reasons why female adolescents join gangs, their respective roles, female participation versus male participation and
The first few risk factors that she acknowledged were living in an area with high levels of gang activity, drug and alcohol use, readily available firearms, the lack of a positive support system, violence amongst family members, and the exposure to glorified violence on television shows, movies, music, and video games. Youth also become at risk when there is a lack of extracurricular activities or role models, patterns of low self-esteem, a sense of hopelessness, poor performance in school, poor decision-making, communication and coping skills, a troubled relationship between the parent and child, a resistance to authority, and the exposure to family members associated with gangs (Gordon,
Being predisposed to negative peer influences has an effect on the juvenile’s individual offending level, however, individual offending decreases considerably once the youth stops associating with the gang (Esbensen & Huizinga, 1993). Juvenile gang members are more likely to engage in the commitment of both serious and violent crimes in comparison to juveniles that are not involved in gangs (Howell, 2000). Howell (2000) discovered at one point that gang members committed up to three times as many serious and violent offenses as their counterparts that were not involved with gangs.
Jaggers et al. (2013) analyzed first hand witnesses that detailed what an average female may experience during her gang initiation. They determined that the initiation is meant to be both painful and embarrassing and aims to avoid rival gangs from spying and to ensure that the person will be an asset to the group (Jagger et al. 2013). The most common initiation rites include a beating, forced sexual activity, getting a tattoo, and participating in a robbery or drive by (Jaggers et al,