Respect, Friendship, and Racial Injustice: Justifying Gang Membership in a Canadian City (From Street Gangs, Migration and Ethnicity, P 192-208, 2008, Frank van Gemert, Dana Peterson, and Inger-Lise Lien, eds. -- See NCJ-225264)

• NCJ Number: 225276
• Author(s): Scot Wortley; Julian Tanner
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 17 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

After a brief review of previous Canadian research that examined whether immigrants and racial minorities were more involved in gang activity than native-born White youth, this paper analyzed data from a recent Toronto (Canada) study that investigated differences in reasons for gang involvement by race.

Abstract

Results from previous Canadian surveys regarding links between youth being immigrants and/or racial minorities and their involvement in gang activity indicate that there may be a strong relationship between experiences and perceptions of being discriminated against because of one’s race and the likelihood of gang involvement. The current data analysis from indepth interviews with known gang members from Toronto reinforces the argument that a youth’s perception of being discriminated against because of his/her race is significantly associated with gang involvement. In contrast, White respondents never indicated that experiences of racial discrimination were linked to their gang involvement. Other variables related to gang involvement regardless of race or immigrant status were the desires for money, respect, protection, and friendship. The fact that respondents often came from disadvantaged backgrounds and frequently joined gangs to attain money, respect, and protection is consistent with both rational-choice and strain theories of criminal behavior. These findings raise concern that minority youth who experience what they perceive as racial discrimination and all youth who experience socioeconomic disadvantage will continue to join gangs unless there is significant improvement in their access to the benefits offered them by the mainstream socioeconomic structure. The Toronto study involved face-to-face interviews with 125 gang-involved youth in the summer of 2006. The authors believe this to be the largest sample of “known gang members” to be produced by Canadian researchers. The chapter describes how this sample was recruited. 25 references