NCJ Number
134531
Date Published
1991
Length
189 pages
Annotation
This book provides case studies of two Chicano gangs in East Los Angeles -- "Maravilla" and "White Fence" -- with attention to changes and continuities among 3 generations of the gangs.
Abstract
This is a sequel to the author's study entitled "Homeboys: Gangs, Drugs, and Prison in the Barrios of Los Angeles" (1978). This study returns to the same neighborhoods to trace and analyze the development of gang behavior, especially in terms of violence and drug use. The experiences of male and female gang members are compared. Lifestyle and attitude changes among gangs are identified since the first "moral panic" of the 1940's, when common gang stereotypes were created by the media and law enforcement agencies. By using excerpts from individual interviews with gang members, the study depicts more about the gangs and their members than just their life together as a unit. Gang members discuss their personal reactions to violence, the sale and use of drugs, family relations, and intra-gang dating. They express varying levels of loyalty to and dependency on their gang affiliation, which often substitutes for the family. The overall patter of change in the gangs over the generations has been toward entrenchment in the community and toward greater deviance, particularly as regards drug use and violence and isolation from normative community life. Appended data on sampling and interviewing, chapter notes, 128-item bibliography, and subject index