NCJ Number
86862
Journal
Urban Life Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (April 1982) Pages: 3-26
Date Published
1982
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Contrary to previous assumptions, juvenile gangs do not necessarily disperse when their members reach adulthood.
Abstract
Most studies have indicated that juvenile gangs terminate with adult status, adult community members' pressure, or increasing socioeconomic benefits. However this followup participant-observation study of an inner-city Chicano community found that previously observed gangs survived as their members matured into their twenties and fulfilled their adult roles and responsibilities. This phenomenon is due to those young men's marginal economic status, their commitment to an honor-based subculture, their friendship and dependency, and their need to mask that dependency by remaining in a gang. The gang provides a culturally safe way for such intimate relations to exist, while the members can publicly maintain their identity as independent men of honor. Notes and 34 references are appended. (Author abstract modified)