Peers and Gangs

Gangs

How do Gangs develop?

1. Frederic Trasher's theory of gang formation

"Gangs develop from spontaneous play groups when threats from youthful enemies lead them to protect their territory through mutual support"

Peter and Lucille Dunn Kratcoski. 1995. Juvenile Delinquency. Fourth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, p. 95

2. Cohen: Gangs develop in a lower class.

Lower class youth have failed to gain status through achieving goals set by the middle class

and turn to delinquent behavior to achieve these goals.

Cohen, Albert. 1955. Delinquent Boys. New York: Free Press, 24-31.

Structural problem of goal achievement

(accepted norms, rejected means)

Remember Merton's Strain Theory: Why can’t we simply follow the norms?

Answer: Social Structure is in our way.

Culture: determines norms about goals and means determines expectations or aspiration levels

Structure: restricts goal achievement and access to means

Frustration: If social structure hinders us to achieve cultural goals

Anomie: Erosion of norms due to the inability to follow them

Crime is caused by frustration and anomie

overhead

Modes of Adaptation		Cultural Goals	Institutionalized Means
Conformity	Accepted		Accepted
Innovation	Accepted		Rejected
Ritualism	Rejected		Accepted
Retreatism	Rejected		Rejected
Rebellion	Rejected & Replaced		Rejected & Replaced

3. Miller: Juvenile delinquency is a natural outgrowth of being socialized in the lower-class culture.

Gangs develop as a subculture of lower-class value.

Avoid trouble.

Be tough, smart and autonomous.

Miller, Walter. 1958. "Lower Class Culture as a generating Milieu of Gang Delinquency." The Journal of Social Issues 14, 3, 10.

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Lower class	Middle class
Avoid trouble	Shoot trouble
Be tough	Be flexible to achieve your goal
Be smart and autonomous	Use institutional help

Question: Is it Cohen's idea of alternative means of goal achievement or Miller's idea of different values or goals that is responsible for the formation of youth gangs?

What is a Gang?

1. Social gang

2. Party gang

3. Serious delinquent gang: middle class and lower class, typically juveniles

Chambliss, William. 2000. "The Saints and the Roughnecks". In Readings for Sociology. Third Edition. Garth Massey. New York: W.W. Norton. Chapter 18.

4. Organized gang: Juveniles and adults

Some statistics

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Gangs in large Jurisdictions (Adopted from Siegel& Senna 1997 p.331)

Type of Gang	Violent %	Drug traffic %	Use drugs %
Ethnic: black	81	94	Cocaine 99 Heroin 27 Marijuana 54 Other
Ethnic: Hispanic	97	88	Cocaine 89 Heroin 48 Marijuana 67 Other 24
Ethnic: Asian	92	46	Cocaine 82 Heroin 64 Marijuana 32 Other 14
Ethnic: White Also: hate gangs KKK, Aryan Nation	74	10	Cocaine 33 Heroin 17 Marijuana 67 Other 33
Motorcycle	71	90	Cocaine 59 Heroin 26 Marijuana 58 Other 72

Today only 13% of the gang members are Caucasian (Siegel, Welsh & Senna 2002, p. 248)

Welcome to the Biker "Gangs" in Lubbock:

On the colors I have read statements like:

"Bikers Against Child Abuse"

"Clean and Sober"

Unorganized bikers:

Is the Threat of Gangs Overblown?

Empirical case: The Cortina Ice Café Corner

juveniles show up with their new customizations on their bikes => café racers
chat about bikes, relationships, drug experiences...
someone brings a sixpack and people have a drink
arrange deals of illegal goods
stop by and hire people for odd jobs (unloading a truck, towing a car...

Peer Alternatives to Juvenile Gangs

American reality:

Boyscouts, girlscouts, church clubs...

Highly regulated, partly segregated, controlled activities.
Experiments with slightly deviant behavior (especially with alcohol, drugs) are officially sanctioned (double moral standards are common).
Some groups might enforce authoritarian moral codes. The majority of groups focus on kids with middle class background.
Some groups have the purpose to impose their very specific (and in most cases conservative) value system on the kids.

Result: only a small proportion of kids will be served with these activities.

Alternative: Discretionary Deviance (Schneider's term and concept [thank you Cameron Hazelhurst for your encouragement])

dis·cre·tion·ar·y [di skrésh’n èrree] adjective

1. giving somebody authority to decide: giving somebody the freedom to make a decision according to individual circumstances

2. given or refused according to circumstances: given according to the merits of an individual case, rather than being provided or awarded automatically

Society should use discretion in the judgment of deviance of minors.

allow minor deviations from the norms, so kids can experiment and learn
- => kids learn to be self responsible
let kids learn how to govern their own group
- self government in which adults only assist
- => kids learn to be self responsible

Empirical Case: Youth club (Jugendzentrum) "Kiste"

City run youth clubs (jugendzentren) were an outcome of liberal policies in the 1970s in Germany.
Socialist concepts of self government
help by part time social worker
permissive beer or wine distribution (no hard liqueur)
tolerance of tobacco smoking
organization of activities: parties, invitation of bands, street fests,...
undercover informants were used to control dangerous deviations, especially trafficking of heroin.

Problems: members of the political opposition (conservative party) used their influence to close youth centers.

they used support of local neighborhood organizations complaints about noise.
they used legal arguments if drug trafficking, fights, or curfew violations occurred on the premises.

Result: most of these centers closed as the political climate was more conservative in the mid 1980s. The "Kiste" is one that survived:

Why did it survive?

Liberal city government. The Christian Party (republicans) did not gain power in the city government, and the program received financial support.
Peers regulate behavior (e.g. stop a fight) themselves
Kids of city officials were involved in the self government.
Self involvement: They made renovations and improvements to the building themselves.
Insightful police department that realized that they get more important information form their inside source that by arresting people for minor offences.
Orientation on treatment and integration of offenders.
Strong social cohesion of the youth club visitors.

What happened within the 24 year history?

Kids of the 1970s are now approaching their forties
Split into an affiliated culture oriented group "Die Pflastermühle"
The city is proud of its cultural events: theater groups, rock and blues groups
Numerous social activities were conducted
The younger kids received positive role models
The tolerant atmosphere kept up
Alternative hate groups or other gangs just could not compete against the youth club
Kids, who are now adults are in relatively powerful positions and show their support. Even political change could not terminate the existence of these two centers.
Adults that had this positive experience will carry the message and support similar organizations.

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