Street Gangs - Youth, Biker, and Prison Groups

• NCJ Number: 89301
• Author(s): J R Davis
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 157 pages
• Sale Source: Kendall/ Hunt Publishing Co
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Following an overview of street gangs, this book describes rites of passage for juvenile gangs, the nature of gang terrorism and the actors, gang weapons and artifacts, the nature and extent of the problems of terrorism and civil disorders, and countering actions.

Abstract

The overview of street gangs includes a brief history of Southern California street gangs (black and Mexican), the gang structure, who joins a gang and why, gang violence, and gang members' appearance, including illustrations of symbolic tattoos. The chapter on rites of passage describes how imprisoned juveniles must submit to homosexual attack as an initiation into prison gangs, and the degrading initiation practices of outlaw biker gangs are also depicted. In another section, gang violence is portrayed as terrorism, which is intended to create extreme fear for coercive purposes. The violent actors are indicated to have broken all ties with the socializing influences of normative society while developing an individual and group identity expressed in violent acts. Papers presented in this section cover the social meaning of fanaticism, the victimization of youth through juvenile street gangs, and approaches and alternatives to the aggressive behavior and violence of youth. The weapons of violence used by gangs are considered in another chapter, and the dynamics of the street war between gangs are examined, followed by papers on vandalism in the suburbs and how graffiti is expressive of the adolescent personality. The chapter on expectations and prognosis is a reprint from the Report of the Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism published by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1976. It shows the Federal Government's grasp of the terrorist problem and calls for the undertaking of a national effort to counter it. The book anticipates that by making citizens aware of the causes and consequences of violent street gangs, efforts of prevention and deterrence may be devised. Chapter references are provided.