Many Street Gangs Are Not Dangerous Criminal Enterprises (From Gangs: Opposing Viewpoints, P 70-76, 1996, David Bender and Bruno Leone, eds. -- See NCJ-159928)

• NCJ Number: 159937
• Author(s): J J Mayer
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 7 pages
• Sale Source: Greenhaven Press
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Opposing Viewpoints Series

Annotation

Street gangs may not be as criminally oriented or well organized as they are often perceived, even though many journalists, prosecutors, and others tend to incorrectly label all street gangs as tight-knit criminal enterprises.

Abstract

Many youth in inner cities associate for a variety of reasons unrelated to crime, yet the media tends to treat all gangs as violent. Youth activities, whether criminal or otherwise, are also about pleasure. If the motivation for joining a gang is pleasure and not criminal gain, social ties and criminal purpose diverge. In many cases, criminal activity is secondary to the pleasure of friendship and criminal activity itself is often carried out for pleasure rather than for criminal gain. Gang identity and criminal purpose also diverge, since outward symbols of gang identity often mask unrelated units and are sometimes adopted for reasons of self-preservation or fashion. Motives for gang association are discussed, examples of black and Asian street gang activities are cited, and the significance of individuals and gang membership is examined.