In William Bohannon’s neighborhood, gang members get respect. He says, “They never have a problem with jumping you because if you mess with this one kid, the whole group is coming after you, if not today then one day.”

William says he thought about it every day, but he never joined a gang, mostly because his mom made her expectations clear. “It’s like my mom, she sees so much potential in me. She just looks at you like ‘How could you?’ She just expects me to make good decisions, and you know all my life I’ve just been making ‘em.”

There was another reason he stayed out of a gang: He had some place to go after school.

Frank Sanchez, a senior director with the Boys & Girls Club of America says: “It’s important for parents to really consider, after 3 o’clock, when that bell rings, where their child is going. It’s really important that they are involved in an activity that has professionals working with them, where they are supervised.”

William started going to the local Boys & Girls Club. The staff helped him apply to college. They even recorded some of his rap songs. William says: “I’m here all the time, all the time. I get off the bus over here. And I go home at night. I come over here, do my homework, and then I go home. I’m not like out in the street anymore. I’m not hanging out with the kids whose parents sell crack. I’m not hanging out at the crack houses.”

William once had friends in the neighborhood gangs but not anymore. “At one point it turned from a friendship to a jealousy. They saw that I was making these good decisions, and every year I’d go to the next grade. And they’d be getting held back, or they’d be dropping out. And now I’m fittin’ (sic) to graduate, and they are like, ‘Oh, he’s fittin’ (sic) to go to college somewhere. He think he (sic) better than me.’”

By 1950 the United States had the worst juvenile crime statistics in the Western world. Three years later, New York enacted the first youth curfew. In several cities, young men formed social organizations, and rivalries among these groups quickly became apparent. These factions became the seedlings for some of the nation’s most notorious gangs. In the mid-1960s, as the civil rights movement commenced, gang-related violence increased to unprecedented levels. Many of the gangs formed during this time are still in existence today.

Gangs are the new mafia, and their organization systems resemble traditional Cosa Nostra operations. Gang crime runs the spectrum of offences including: underage drinking, extortion, prostitution, drug manufacturing and distribution, and murder. National gang organizations, with infamous names like Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings, often send trusted lieutenants to cities across the country to establish local chapters, called “sets.” Consider the following:

• Gang violence is not an urban problem or a rural problem, nor is it a problem for any one economic class. In reality, it is a communitywide problem.
• In 2002, youth gangs were active in over 2,300 cities with populations over 2,500.
• Over 90 percent of large cities (population over 100,000) in the United States reported gang activity between 1996 and 2001.
• There are more than 750,000 gang members nationwide.
• Ninety-five percent of hard-core gang members drop out of high school, and most range in age from 12 to 24.
• The media’s dissemination of gang culture and a restructuring of the economy (unemployment, increases in the urban underclass) are cited as major factors in the rise of gangs during the ‘90s.

A street gang occurs when t hree or more people share a unique name or display identifiable marks or symbols (e.g. tattoos, clothing styles, colors, hairstyles, graffiti) and associate together on a regular basis, often claiming a specific location or territory. A gang will have an identifiable organization or hierarchy. The typical gang will engage in antisocial, unlawful or criminal activity in an effort to further the gang’s social or economic status. Such behavior can be carried out either individually or collectively.

Risk factors for gang membership include: individual characteristics, family conditions, problematic parent-child relations, low school attachment and academic achievement, peer group influences, prior and/or early involvement in delinquency (especially violence and drug use), association with peers who engage in delinquency, community context, and disorganized neighborhoods where many youth are in trouble. Often, a gang provides young members with the creature comforts society and/or family fails to give them. A gang can morph into the child’s parental unit and also his or her sibling. Gangs can provide a sense of belonging, security and economic opportunity. Unfortunately any monies are generally attained through crime.

Gender-mixed gangs are becoming more common. Years ago, females were considered property of gang members. Today, some gangs are initiating females as full-fledged members. Estimates indicate between 25 and 33 percent of all youth gang members are female. Consider the following:

• Police see gang recruitment directed toward students as early as elementary school.
• A survey of nearly 6,000 eighth-graders in 11 cities found that 11 percent were currently gang members, and 17 percent said they had belonged to a gang at some point in their life.
• Gang members are far more likely than other delinquents to carry guns and, perhaps more importantly, to use them.
• Research has consistently shown that adolescents are significantly more criminally active during periods of active gang membership.
• Gangs are showing increased sophistication. For example, hard-core gang members are shying away from wearing gang colors or getting symbolic tattoos, knowing school and police authorities will recognize such signs.

Atlanta Journal Constitution
Gang Resistance Education And Training
Know Gangs
The National Youth Gang Center