NCJ Number
146814
Journal
Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1989) Pages: 27-44
Date Published
1989
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This analysis of Chicano gangs and adult criminality among Mexican Americans in the southwest concludes that longstanding efforts to understand Chicano criminal deviance in terms of gang influence are misdirected.
Abstract
Ten years of interviews and field observations in the Los Angeles area support that conclusion that comparatively few gang members actually adopt a lifelong deviant or criminal lifestyle. Therefore, gangs do not serve the sole function of generating crime. While many gang members do separate themselves from the gang on reaching a particular level of adult responsibility, this result is quite separate from the question of individual member deviance or criminality. In fact, the gang cannot be characterized as criminal. Gang members do not consider the gang to be a deviant group. Gang activities revolve primarily around the normal adolescent concerns of peer respect and approval, security and protection, group support and acceptance, and age and sex role identification. Many young adults who sever their gang relationships as they take on adult family and work roles have probably never been tempted to become involved in delinquency. Therefore, it would be more useful to consider the gang as tropho-criminal in that it is permissive or supportive of individual deviance. Reference notes