Vice Queens: An Ethnographic Study of Black Female Gang Behavior (From Modern Gang Reader, P 83-92, 1995, Malcolm W. Klein, Cheryl L. Maxson, et al., eds. - See NCJ-173280)

• NCJ Number: 173287
• Author(s): L T Fishman
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 10 pages
• Sale Source: Roxbury Publishing Co.
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Female participation in the Vice Queens, a female auxiliary to the male gang the Vice Kings was described ethnographically, based on a reanalysis of information collected from varied sources by the Youth Studies Program of the University of Chicago during the early 1960s.

Abstract

The reanalyzed data revealed that the Vice Queens have a high participation in conflict situations and in other norm-violating activities. Findings indicate that the female gang members look to other Vice Queens for recognition and status. Status is conferred on the basis of the youths' participation in conflict situations, in the mating-dating complex, and in other norm-violating activities. Findings indicated no significant changes in black female gang behavior since the emergence of the women's movement. Findings also indicate that violence in female gangs is not a new phenomenon. The structural constrains experienced by inner-city females in the contemporary era are more grim than those experienced by females in the 1960s; it is likely that more will turn to gang affiliation as a means of adaptation to circumstances of racism, poverty, and violence. Notes and 47 references (Author abstract modified)