Gang Life

Refusing to cast gangs in solely criminal terms, Robert J. Durán, a former gang member turned scholar, recasts such groups as an adaptation to the racial oppression of colonization in the American Southwest. Developing a paradigm rooted in ethnographic research and almost two decades of direct experience with gangs, Durán completes the first-ever study to follow so many marginalized groups so intensely for so long, revealing their core characteristics, behavior, and activities within two unlikely American cities. Durán spent five years in Denver, Colorado, and Ogden, Utah, conducting 145 interviews with gang members, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and other related individuals. From his research, he constructs a comparative outline of the emergence and criminalization of Latino youth groups, the ideals and worlds they create, and the reasons for their persistence. He also underscores the failures of violent gang suppression tactics, which have only further entrenched these groups within the barrio. Encouraging cultural activists and current and former gang members to pursue grassroots empowerment, Durán proposes new solutions to racial oppression that challenge and truly alter the conditions of gang life.

Reluctantly a young boy becomes more and more involved in the activities of a local gang, until a tragic event involving his cousin forces him to make a choice about the course of his life.

Refusing to cast gangs in solely criminal terms, Robert J. Durán, a former gang member turned scholar, recasts such groups as an adaptation to the racial oppression of colonization in the American Southwest. Developing a paradigm rooted in ethnographic research and almost two decades of direct experience with gangs, Durán completes the first-ever study to follow so many marginalized groups so intensely for so long, revealing their core characteristics, behavior, and activities within two unlikely American cities. Durán spent five years in Denver, Colorado, and Ogden, Utah, conducting 145 interviews with gang members, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and other relevant individuals. From his research, he constructs a comparative outline of the emergence and criminalization of Latino youth groups, the ideals and worlds they create, and the reasons for their persistence. He also underscores the failures of violent gang suppression tactics, which have only further entrenched these groups within the barrio. Encouraging cultural activists and current and former gang members to pursue grassroots empowerment, Durán proposes new solutions to racial oppression that challenge and truly alter the conditions of gang life.

The Gang Life: Laugh Now, Cry Later examines the criminal gangster mindset and offers gang prevention strategies, using real-world examples to demonstrate a holistic approach toward combatting this surging societal problem. The text outlines the evolution of gang membership from a state of interest, to association, to hardcore "O.G." (Original Gangster) status, and explores the evolution of law enforcement’s multi-pronged approach to combating criminal street gang violence, from the catch-and-release mentality of the 1970s and 1980s to today’s collaboration with private organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs. In-depth profiles, case studies, and lengthy histories of gangs, gang members, and their transformations are provided to demonstrate the deleterious effect of gangs on society. Designed for criminal justice students and for practitioners in the field, this text offers readers a holistic approach toward gang prevention from three nationally awarded educators and gang investigators.

Gang Life is a multifaceted look into the origin and culture of the gang lifestyle. Criminal Justice students will be captivated as they explore this relevant topic and enrich their knowledge to get a clearer picture of the challenges they will face as law enforcement professionals. The subcultures, sociology and mentality associated with gangs are addressed in-depth by a current gang detective for a large law enforcement agency. Gang Life analyzes the duties and responsibilities law enforcement professionals face daily as they encounter gang life.

Mark Totten has spent fifteen years learning about youth gangs. He has interviewed over 500 gang members in cities across the country, tracing their lives from infancy to adulthood, and exploring the roots of their involvement in crime and their reliance on violence. This book offers a picture of the reality of youth gangs in Canada. Much of what Totten has to say is at odds with popular ideas. His research leads him to believe that breaking through the circumstances that produce young criminals is far more difficult than most people think. For individuals caught in gang life, exiting that world is next to impossible-in fact, the most common way out is an early death from violence or suicide.

Every day there are new stories of gang-related crime: from the proliferation of illegal weapons in the streets and children dealing drugs in their schools, to innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire of never-ending gang wars. Once considered an urban phenomenon, gang violence is permeating American life, spreading to the suburbs and bringing the problem closer to home for much of America. The government, schools, social agencies, and the justice system are conspicuous by their sporadic interest in the subject and have failed to develop effective policies and programs. Existing social support mechanisms and strategies for suppressing violence have often been unsuccessful. And, state and federal policy is largely nonexistent. In The Youth Gang Problem: A Community Approach, Irving Spergel provides a systematic analysis of youth gangs in the United States. Based on research, historical and comparative analysis, and agency documents and the author's extensive first-hand experience, the work explores the gang problem from the perspective of community disorganization, especially population movement, and the plight of the underclass. It examines the factors of gang member personality, gang dynamics, criminal organization, and the influence of family, school, prisons, and politics, as well as the response of criminal justice agencies and community groups. Spergel describes techniques used by social agencies, schools, employment programs, criminal justice agencies, and grass-roots organizations for dealing with gangs, and recommends strategies that emphasize the use of local resources, planning, and collaborative procedures. There is no single strategy and no easy solution to the youth gang problem in the United States. There are, however, substantial steps we can take, and they must be honestly and systematically tested. Offering a practical and alternative approach to a serious social problem, The Youth Gang Problem: A Community Approach is a major and long-awaited contribution to this dilemma. It is required reading for criminal justice personnel, school staff, social workers, policy makers, students and scholars of urban and organizational sociology, and the general reader concerned with the youth gang problem and how to control, intervene, and prevent it.

Examines the phenomenon of street gangs, the reasons people join them, the danger they can hold, and ways of avoiding getting involved with them.