“For Me, They Were the Good Old Days”: Retrospective Narratives of Childhood Experiences in ‘the Gang’

Much of the existing scholarship on gang membership predominantly focuses on adolescence as being the formative time period for the development of gang identities; however, there has thus far been more limited attention towards the childhood experiences of gang members, (i.e., pre-adolescence). The organising principle of this paper is to articulate the retrospective accounts of gang members’ childhoods, and how these recollections form a central role to the emergence of gang identities. The data presented in this paper were collected during fieldwork in two adult, men’s prisons in England; interviews were conducted with 60 active and former prison gang members, identified through prison databases; a small number (n = 9) of interviews were conducted with ‘street’ participants, such as ex-offenders, outreach workers and gang researchers. This paper aims to show that many gang members romanticise accounts of their childhoods, in spite of often having experienced adverse childhood experiences:, so too do many gang members view their childhood experiences as part of their mythologised narrative of life in ‘the gang’. Nevertheless, a tension exists between how gang members seek to portray their childhood experiences around gangs and the negative labelling and strain they experienced during their childhood; often, romanticised accounts seek to retrospectively neutralise these harms. In so doing, the lens through which childhood gang membership is viewed is one which conceptualises childhood gang involvement as being something non-deleterious, thus acting as a lens that attempts to neutralise the harms and vicissitudes of gang affiliation.

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Seeking a secure base: Gangs as attachment figures

Qualitative Social Work ◽

10.1177/1473325019852659 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (4) ◽

pp. 754-769

Author(s):

Katherine De Vito

Keyword(s):

Research Study ◽

Qualitative Interviews ◽

Gang Membership ◽

Street Gangs ◽

Secure Base ◽

Gang Members ◽

Childhood Experiences ◽

Qualitative Research Study ◽

Gang Involvement ◽

Gang Prevention

Street gangs are problematic throughout the world. Youth involved with street gangs are at a higher risk for winding up seriously physically injured, dead, or incarcerated. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine (a) how the childhood experiences of former gang members shape their decision to join a gang and (b) the factors that contribute to former gang members’ decision to disengage from gang membership. This study will promote the use of attachment theory to analyze motivating/disengagement factors for gang involvement. The voices of 14 former gang members are heard through qualitative interviews. Thematic analysis was used to identify the following themes: Lack of Family Consistency, Brotherhood, Sisterhood, Unity: Gang as Replacement Family, “No other Option,” and “Jail, Death, or a Turnaround:” Making the Decision to Disengage. Findings could be used to aid in youth gang prevention and intervention.

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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Gang Involvement Among Juvenile Offenders: Assessing the Mediation Effects of Substance Use and Temperament Deficits

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice ◽

10.1177/1541204019854799 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 24-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Kevin T. Wolff ◽

Michael T. Baglivio ◽

Hannah J. Klein ◽

Alex R. Piquero ◽

Matt DeLisi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Substance Use ◽

Juvenile Offenders ◽

Adverse Childhood Experiences ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Childhood Experiences ◽

Mediation Effects ◽

Gang Involvement ◽

Adverse Childhood

A growing body of research has demonstrated the deleterious effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Less understood is the role of ACEs in gang involvement among juvenile offenders. The current longitudinal study employs a sample of 104,267 juvenile offenders (mean age of 16, 76% male, 46% Black non-Hispanic, 15.7% Hispanic) to examine the effect of ACE exposure on two different measures of gang involvement by age 18. We use structural equation modeling to test whether higher ACE exposure at Time 1 predicts gang involvement and whether current substance use and/or difficult temperament mediates the ACE-gang involvement relationship. Results indicate ACE exposure at Time 1 predicts gang involvement by age 18, but that much of the effect of ACEs on later gang involvement can be explained by their impact on current substance abuse and difficult temperament. Implications for juvenile justice systems are discussed.

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Policing American Gangs and Gang Members

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice ◽

10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.445 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Madeleine Novich

Keyword(s):

Law Enforcement ◽

Nonprofit Organizations ◽

Task Force ◽

Geographic Location ◽

Gang Membership ◽

Gang Members ◽

Drug Dealing ◽

Community Based ◽

Gang Involvement ◽

Men Of Color

Gangs have been subjects of extensive empirical research since the 1920s. Scholarly interest in gangs was largely due to gang members’ increased likelihood of engaging in delinquent behavior. Gang members have been involved in criminal activities ranging from drug dealing to theft, property offenses, gun violence, and homicide. In the 1980s, there was nationwide concern about gangs as violent gang-related crimes increased and drew media attention. As a result, important legislation was implemented that made gang membership illegal. These policies were designed to curb gang involvement and de-escalate gang violence. The legislation included civil gang injunctions, the development of gang databases, and the formation and strengthening of gang task force units. Indeed, the policies resulted in an increase of gang unit officers focused on mitigating gang involvement and gang crime. Officer strategies focused on stopping, detaining, and arresting individuals who often fit certain stereotypes. Specifically, officers routinely based gang-related encounters on suspects’ race, age, clothing, gender, and geographic location, focusing mostly on young men of color in economically depressed neighborhoods. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a number of problems and concerns related to aggressive and biased police behavior surfaced, resulting in questionable outcomes of gang suppression. Research suggests that directed patrols and removing leadership might not be effective. Instead, alternate policies should include policing in conjunction with support from community-based nonprofit organizations and research that accounts for gang members’ experiences of law enforcement strategies.

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Opening the Time Capsule of ACEs: Reflections on How we Conceptualise Children’s Experiences of Adversity and the Issue of Temporality

The British Journal of Social Work ◽

10.1093/bjsw/bcaa126 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

John Devaney ◽

John Frederick ◽

Trevor Spratt

Keyword(s):

Community Violence ◽

Children And Families ◽

Subsequent Work ◽

Cumulative Impact ◽

Childhood Experiences ◽

Time Period ◽

Adverse Childhood ◽

Short Period ◽

Time Capsule ◽

Good Support

Abstract In this article, we engage with some of the fundamental concepts underpinning the original adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) study and subsequent work, whilst recognising that the terminology of ACEs has in some ways become reductionist and problematic. Although an imperfect concept covering a range of childhood adversities at a personal, intrapersonal and community level, ACEs have utility in bridging scientific and lay communities. The evidence clearly identifies that ‘numbers matter’ and that whereas children may be able to cope with a little adversity over a short period of time when they have good support networks, too much adversity over too long a time period, even with good support, will be problematic for the child and their family. Alongside exploring the cumulative impact of adversity, social workers and other professionals need to engage with the temporal component of when adversity is experienced, and for how long, together with the consequences for helping services in deciding when to intervene and for what period of time. This opens the discussion of who is best placed to support children and families experiencing certain types of adversity and how we think about structural issues such as poverty and community violence within the ACEs discourse.

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Childhood exposure to physical and emotional violence over a 57-year period in Sweden

Scandinavian Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1177/14034948211023634 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 140349482110236

Author(s):

Steven Lucas ◽

Staffan Janson

Keyword(s):

Adverse Childhood Experiences ◽

Physical Violence ◽

Significant Group ◽

Childhood Experiences ◽

Childhood Exposure ◽

Current Health ◽

Time Period ◽

Adverse Childhood ◽

Changes Over Time ◽

Children’S Exposure

Aims: The aim of the present study was to examine the prevalence of childhood experiences of physical violence (CPV) and emotional violence (CEV) at the hands of parents over a 57-year period among adults born between 1937 and 1993. Methods: In 2012, a survey among women and men aged 18–74 years in Sweden was undertaken to examine the lifetime prevalence of physical, psychological and sexual violence and associations with current health in adulthood. Questionnaires were based on the Adverse Childhood Experiences study and a previous national survey of violence exposure. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the frequency of exposure to CPV and CEV, and changes over time were analysed using analysis of variance and logistic regression. Results: A total of 10,337 individuals participated (response rates: 56% for women and 48% for men). CPV decreased significantly over the time period studied, particularly for those born after 1983. This decrease was more evident for male respondents. Throughout the time period studied, the proportion of women reporting CEV was higher than for men. Among both genders there was a steady rise in CEV rates from those born in the late 1930s to those born in the mid-1980s, after which there was a decline that was more marked for men. Conclusions: A significant group of children in Sweden experience violence at the hands of parents. However, our data corroborate previous national studies that children’s exposure to violence has decreased. Clear gender differences indicate that these changes have affected girls and boys differently.

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Gang Members, Gang Affiliates, and Violent Men: Perpetration of Social Harms, Violence-Related Beliefs, Victim Types, and Locations

Journal of Interpersonal Violence ◽

10.1177/0886260520922371 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 088626052092237

Author(s):

Jane L. Wood ◽

Constantinos Kallis ◽

Jeremy W. Coid

Keyword(s):

National Survey ◽

Gang Membership ◽

Adult Males ◽

Gang Members ◽

Key Factors ◽

Gang Involvement ◽

Violent Men ◽

At Home

Adult gang involvement attracts little empirical attention, so little is known about how they compare to nongang violent men in social harms beyond gang contexts. This study, based on unpublished data of 1,539 adult males, aged 19 to 34, from the Coid et al. national survey, compared gang members’ (embedded in a gang; n = 108), affiliates’ (less embedded in a gang; n = 119), and violent men’s (no gang association; n = 1,312) perpetration of social harms by assessing their violence-related dispositions and beliefs, victim types, and locations of violence. Results showed that compared with violent men, gang members and affiliates were equally more likely to: cause social harms to a wider range of victims, including family and friends; seek violence; be excited by violence; and carry weapons. Gang members and affiliates were equally more likely than violent men to be violent at home, in friends’ homes, and at work; they also thought about hurting people, but felt regret for some of their violence. A decreasing gradient was identified in gang members’ (highest), affiliates’ (next highest) and violent men’s (lowest) beliefs in violent retaliation when disrespected, the use of violence instrumentally and when angry, and worry about being violently victimized. Implications of findings are that interventions need to address anger issues across all levels of adult gang membership. Importantly, adult gang members’ regrets regarding violence and anxiety about being violently victimized could be key factors that interventions could use to help them relinquish their gang involvement.

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Cross-Group Investigations: Youth Gangs in Medellin, Colombia

Youth & Society ◽

10.1177/0044118x16662536 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 73-100

Author(s):

Holli Drummond ◽

John Dizgun ◽

David Keeling

Keyword(s):

Survey Data ◽

North American ◽

Behavioral Outcomes ◽

Selection Model ◽

Gang Membership ◽

Gang Members ◽

Youth Gangs ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Gang Involvement

The present study evaluates adolescent gang involvement using cross-sectional survey data from 1,475 adolescents living in a disadvantaged Comuna in Medellin, Colombia. Specifically, we examine the prevalence of former and current gang membership, affiliation with gang members, and lives untouched by any gang association. Once these groups are established, we identify variation in membership on the basis of demographic and theoretical variables, and determine whether such variation can be described by using the selection, facilitation, and enhancement models developed by Thornberry et al. While our results, consistent with many prior findings using North American samples, support the selection model for most theoretical variables and enhancement for behavioral outcomes, our strongest contribution is our study’s ability to demonstrate the temporal impact of gang involvement.

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