Siegel & Welsh Juvenile Delinquency Chapter 8 Peers and Delinquency

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drug distribution

A significant portion of all ___ ______ in the nation’s inner cities is believed to be gang controlled

2000

Gang violence accounts for more than ____ homicides each year

conventional, resistant, legitimate

Many gangs flourish in inner-city areas that offer lower-class youths few ______ opportunities, and members are _____ to offers of help that cannot deliver ______ economic hope.

aggressive, troubled

Both boys and girls who are influenced by _____ peers later have _____ passages through the life course

outweigh

There is evidence that peers may actually _______ the influence of parents in producing a delinquent way of life.

prevent

The effect of peers can ______ delinquency, even for high-risk youth

cliques

small groups of friends who share intimate knowledge and confidence

crowds

loosely organized groups who share interests and activities, such as sports, religion, or hobbies.

co-offending

committing delinquent acts in a group, rather than alone

co-offending, common

_______, rather than acting as a lone delinquent, seems to be more _____

popular, popular

_____ youth tend to be less delinquent than their less _____ counterparts. These youths have lots of friends and a variety of peer group networks.

easily, admired

Less popular youth are ____ swayed and will do anything to be ______

mature, offend

Boys and girls who _____ early are more likely to _____ because of their association with older, male, teen delinquents

social control

According to _____ theory, delinquents are as detached from their peers as they are from other elements of society. Delinquents often lack meaningful peer relationships and instead associate with similarly antisocial peers, not out of strong bonds, but because they share common delinquent interests.

labeling

According to _____ theory, deviant kids are forced to choose deviant peers. After being negatively labeled, adolescents have no choice but to flock to antisocial friends who encourage and amplify further antisocial activities.

social learning

According to ______ theory, associating with antisocial friends results in formerly law-abiding youth running afoul of the law. Kids who fall in with a bad crowd learn bad habits, attitudes, and behavior from their more experienced friends.

routine activities

According to _____ theory, kids who engage in unstructured socializing with like-minded peers, without parental controls, will have greater opportunities to get involved in delinquent behaviors than those who receive adult monitoring and control.

rational choice

According to ____ theory, kids choose to get involved with delinquent peers because they have high status in the youth culture. Participation in the party subculture has short-term costs but provides long-term gains in the form of social capital and popularity

gang

group of youths who collectively engage in delinquent behaviors

special vocab, clothing, signs,colors, graffiti, names

Members of gangs have self-recognition of their gang status and use: (6)

apart, separate

Members of gangs set themselves ______ from the community and are viewed as a ______ entity by others

accept, pride

Once groups get the label of gang, members eventually ____ and take _____ in their status

committment, noncriminal activities

In gangs, there is a _____ to criminal activity, although even the most criminal ganng members spend the bulk of their time in _____ _____.

three, 12 to 24

National Gang Centers Definition of gangs 1: The group has ____ or more members, generally ages ____ to ____.

identity, name, symbols

National Gang Centers Definition of gangs 2: Members share an ______, typically linked to a _____, and often other _____.

gang, gang

National Gang Centers Definition of gangs 3: Members view themselves as a _____, and they are recognized by others as a _____

permanence, organization

National Gang Centers Definition of gangs 4: the group has some ____ and a degree of ______

elevated, criminal

National Gang Centers Definition of gangs 5: The group is involved in an _____ level of ____ activity.

interstitial area

an area of the city that forms when there is a crack in the social fabric—such as weak family controls, poverty, and social disorganization—and in which deviant groups, cliques, and gangs form

50s, 60s, mid 60s

Gangs in the early ____ and ____ were promiment, but by the ___- _____, gangs seemed to have dissipated through various means.

early 70s

Interest in gang activity began anew in the ____ ____.

from high paying manufacturing to low wage service economy

One reason for the re-emergence of gangs was the economic and social dislocation that occured when the economy shifted:

activity, makeup, location, leadership style, age

Gangs cannot be viewed as a uniform or homogenous social concept. Gangs vary by: (5)

displaying, frequent contact, admitting

Agencies calculate gang membership based on criteria such as ______ gang symbols and colors, having ____ ______ with other gang members, and ______ to gang involvement

850,000

In all, ______ youths now belong to gangs.

transitional neighborhoods

Gangs have traditionally operated in disorganized neighborhoods experiencing rapid population change, called:

higher

Cities with greater social and economic deprivation experience ____ rates of gang homicide.

social controls, collective efficacy

Gangs are naturally occurring deviant social networks that engage in violence as a result of weakened ____ _____. These communities lack the ____ _____ to control gangs.

20, illegal, gang branch

Less than ___ % of gang members move to a new location solely in order to participate in _____ ventures or to start up a new ____ ____.

protection and support

The prison gang will offer newly incarcerated street gang members:

communication

The street gang connection (with prison gangs) eases _______ with the outside world.

income

Incarcerated gang members with lengthy sentences rely heavily on ______ provided by street gangs.

migration, transferred, followed

Gang ______ may be a function of the prison-street gang association, as gang members who are ______ to another part of the state are ______ by non-incarcerted members.

klikas

subgroups or cliques of same-aged youths in Latino gangs that remain together and have separate names and a unique identity in the gang

graffiti

inspections or drawings made on a wall structure and used by delinquents for gang messages and turf definition

close proximity, belonging

Most gang members live in ____ _____ to one another, and their sense of ______ extends only to their small area of the city.

small, transitory

Delinquent gangs tend to be ___ and ____

diverse, clear, shifting

In gangs, there appears to be _____ concepts of leadership depending on the structure of the gang. More organized gangs have a ____ chain of command. Less organized gangs have _____ leadership.

representing

gang communication involving signs quickly displayed with the fingers, hands, and body and have very specific meanings to gang members. Chicago gangs call this:

false flagging

when gang members flash a crowd with the hand signals of a rival gang hoping someone will respond with a rival hand sign so that they can be targeted for a verbal or physical confrontation

modified, ceased, displaying, radar

Law enforcement agents now report that some gang members are becoming more sophisticated and have _____ or _____ traditional or stereotypical gang action, for example no longer ______ their colors, tattoos, or hand signs, in order to remain under the _____

prepaid, discard

Members of street gangs use ____ cell phones that they ____ after conducting their drug trafficking operations.

dominant

Gangs have been categorized by their _____ activity

social gang

type of gang involved in few delinquent activities and little drug use other than alcohol and marijuana. Members are more interested in social activities

party gang

type of gang that concentrates on drug use and sales but forgoes most delinquent behavior. Drug sales are designed to finance members’ personal drug use

serious delinquent gang

type of gang that engages in serious delinquent behavior while avoiding drug dealing and usage. Drugs are used only on social occasions

organized gang

type of gang heavily involved in criminality. Drug use and sales are related to other criminal acts. Gang violence is used to establish control over drug sale territories. This gang is on the verge of becoming a formal criminal organization

near-groups

clusters of youth who outwardly seem unified, but actually have limited cohesion, impermanence, minimal consensus of norms, shifting membership, disturbed leadership, and limited definitions of membership expectations; typical gangs are described this way

barrio

a spanish word meaning “district”; used to refer to Latino neighborhood gangs

small core, larger, peripheral

Gangs maintain a _____ ____ of committed members, who work constantly to keep the gang going, and a much ____ group of affiliated youths, who particpate in gang activity only when the mood suits. These larger groups can be described as in the _____

less likely

The more embedded a boy becomes in the gang and its processes, the ___ ____ it is that he will leave

8, 55

The ages of gang members range widely, from as young as ____ to as old as ___.

age, widened

Because members are staying in gangs longer than in the past, the ____ spread between gang members has ______ considerably.

adults, low skilled jobs, safety nets, criminal records

As gang members age into _____, many remain in gangs due to the loss of ___-____ ___, weakened social ____ ___, and early ____ ____ that limit job opportunities—making gangs one of the few economic options left, especially in inner-city communities.

auxiliaries

feminized version of the male gang name, such as the the Lady Disciples rather than the Devil’s Disciples

one third

During early adolescence, roughly ___-____ of all gang members are female.

leave

Studies show that females ____ gangs at an earlier age than males

lowest, highest, all-male

Females in all-female or majority female gangs exhibit the _____ delinquency rates, while those in majority-male gangs exhibit the ____ delinquency rates, including higher rates than males in ___-___ gangs.

financial opportunity, identity, status, peer pressure, family dysfunction, protection

Why do girls join gangs? (6)

male gang members

Initial female gang participation is often forged by links to:

“social injury” view

suggests that female gang members are sexually exploited by male gang boys and are sometimes forced to exploit other females

“liberation” view

ganging can provide girls with a sense of sisterhood, independence, and solidarity, as well as a chance to earn profit through illegal activities

becoming crime victim, physical injuries, sexually assaulted by male members

Girls who join gangs at greater risk for (3):

protection from sexual assault by nongang members

benefits for girls who join gangs:

pregnancy, starting a family

Why do girls leave the gang?

half, one third, 10

Ethnic and Racial Composition of Gangs: ____ Hispanic/Latino, ___ African American, ___% european american, rest being other races, such as Asian

Black P. Stone Nation, Bloods, Crips

Three largest African American gangs

MS-13

a violent, international gang begun in southern California by immigrants from El Salvador. Engages in such crimes as buglaries, narcotic sales, weapons smuggling, murder, rape, and witness intimidation

organized, secretive, selective

Asian gangs tend to be more ____ and ____ than African American or Latin groups. They are also more ____ with their leaders.

white supremacy, skinhead

More than 100 white gangs are organized around ____ ____ and the ____ culture.

skinhead

member of a white supremacist gang, identified by a shaved skull and Nazi or Ku Klux Klan markings

hybrid gangs

recent phenomenon where gangs are devoted to making money through illegal activities such as drugs, robbery, and prostitution and are not territorial or homogenous in their makeup. Criminal enterprise being their sole objective, they recruit members from different racial/ethnic groups and even have openly gay members

more

Regardless of type, gang members typically commit ____ crimes than any other youths in the social environment.

two thirds (66%)

Data from the Rochester Youth Development Study: gang members account for a signifcant portion of all violent and drug crimes; ___-___ of the chronic violent offenders were gang members

selection hypothesis

kids with a history of crime and violence join gangs and maintain their persistent delinquency once they become members

facilitation hypothesis

Gang membership facilitates deviant behavior because it provides the structure and group support for antisocial activities

enhancement hypothesis

selection and facilitation work interactively, increasing the likelihood of enhanced criminality

financial

Some of the larger and more organized gangs are now expanding their repertoire of criminal involvement into ______ crimes.

10, 10

Rochester Youth Development Study: gang members in Rochester were about ____ times more likely to carry handguns than nongang juvenile offenders, and gun-toting gang members committed about ___ times more violent crimes than nonmembers.

95

For the past 20 years, nearly ___% of gang-related homicides have involved guns

Violence

____ is essential to the transformation of a peer group into a gang.

prestige crimes

stealing or assaulting someone to gain prestige in the neighborhood; often part of gang initiation rites

anthropological view

Gangs fulfill a psychological and cultural role for adolescents, similar to tribal rites of passage. Researchers Herbert Block and Arthur Niederhoffer argued that gang rituals—like initiations, tattoos, and symbolic names—help youth transition from childhood to adulthood, especially in lower-class urban areas. Joining a gang marks the end of childhood and the beginning of a new identity and way of life.

sociocultural

Sociologists have commonly viewed the destructive ______ forces in poor inner-city areas as the major cause of gang formation.

dysfunctional, destitute, role models

Malcolm Klein’s research of the late 1960s and 1970s found that typical gang members came from ____ and ____ families and lacked adequate ___ ____.

conventional, unwilling, unable, conventional

Youths who join gangs may hold ______ goals but are ______/______ to accomplish them through ______ means.

deteriorated

According to Cloward and Ohlin, the opportunity to become a successful gang member is limited in the most _______ areas.

anomie on cultural level

refers to a breakdown in social cohesion caused by rapid social, economic, or demographic change—such as immigration, population shifts, or cultural fragmentation—that disrupts community stability and encourages gang formation.

anomie on individual level

describes a personal sense of isolation and disconnection from family and mainstream society, often experienced by youth who are raised by the streets rather than traditional institutions, leading them to seek belonging and identity through gang membership

alienation

Once youths join gangs, feelings of _____ may be exacerbated.