Gang Membership and Gang Crime in New Zealand: A National Study Identifying Spatial Risk Factors

In this exploratory study, we identify the spatial risk factors associated with gang membership and gang crime in New Zealand using social disorganization as a theoretical framework. Gang membership data from the Gang Intelligence Center and gang crime data from New Zealand Police are included in spatial regression models to identify risk factors. Overall marginal support was found for the use of social disorganization constructs to explain gang membership and gang crime in New Zealand. Higher deprivation and higher diversity were both found to be associated with gang membership and gang crime, respectively. Some similarities and notable differences were observed between our results and the mainly U.S.-centric results of past spatial gang research. This study allows for a greater understanding of the generalizability of the social disorganization theory to explain gang membership and gang crime in areas with markedly different cultural perspectives and ethnocentricities to the United States.

Gang Homicide: The Road so Far and a Map for the Future

Gang research has spanned nearly a century. In that time, we have learned that gang membership increases the chances of involvement in homicide as a victim or offender. The violence that embroils gang life, both instrumental and symbolic, often has consequences. In this paper we review the gang homicide literature covering topics such as definitional issues, available data, correlates and characteristics, and theoretical explanations. The review examines individual, group, and structural contexts for gang homicide. We conclude with a discussion of future needs in theory, data, and methods, to improve our understanding of gang homicide.

Gangs, Drug Use, and Drug Selling in the United States

Gangs and drugs are two major criminological issues that come together in the United States. On the one hand, gang members use more drugs than non-gang youth, so much so that gang membership itself is an indicator that an individual will have a significant drug use profile. Compared with non-gang youth, gang members also begin to use drugs at earlier ages, use a greater variety of drugs, use them with greater frequency, and participate in other risk behaviors (e.g., violence, unsafe sexual behaviors) while intoxicated. Alcohol and marijuana feature prominently within the drug use repertoires of gang members, and the latter is considered normalized within gang cultures. Gang members also use other “hard” drugs, such as crystal methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and heroin, despite the fact that the use of such drugs is stigmatized among them. Gang membership is also characterized by polysubstance use—the simultaneous or sequential use of a variety of drugs, as well as nonmedical prescription drug misuse. As a result, gang members are at great risk of many negative social and health consequences related to drug use. On the other hand, gang members sell drugs. A wealth of academic data contradicts the legal and public perceptions about this relationship. First, a commonly held view is that gangs control a majority of the sales of illegal drugs within any one area. However, this clashes with research specifically on gangs, which reveals that few members within any one gang sell drugs and that few gangs are specifically focused on selling drugs. Another area where academic research conflicts with widely held perceptions is the idea that drug selling is a lucrative endeavor for gang members. While the public and law enforcement agencies may believe gang members are making significant amounts of money selling drugs, research indicates that the majority of gang members who do sell drugs do not appear to earn significantly more money than they could earn working the same number of hours at a job paying minimum wage. Such findings further argue that such amounts hardly seem worth the risk given the large numbers of gang members killed or imprisoned in relation to selling drugs.

Prison gangs in Iran: Between violence and safety

This article aims to bridge the gap in our knowledge about Iranian prisons and the sociodynamic relations that animate them by illuminating the characteristics and activities of prison gangs in Iran. The interaction between gang affiliation and drug networks, security and violence will be discussed in detail. The in-depth qualitative research, which is informed by grounded theory, serves as the first academic study of gangs in Iranian prisons. Research participants included 38 males and 52 females aged 10–65 years. They were recruited in several different settings, both governmental and non-governmental organizations. The study employed theoretical sampling and in-depth, semi-structured interviewing. Results show that gang-affiliated inmates in Iranian prisons gain monopoly over the drugs market inside prison networks, which leads to inevitable extortion of both prisoners and correctional officers. Gang affiliation blurs the lines between violence and safety, while providing a sense of identity, belonging and financial and emotional support. Prison gang membership also offers some benefits to prisoners and staff, as their existence underpins an informal social order that can be used to govern prisoners. The article discusses this less well-known and unexplored dimension of the topic.

Pathways to Deviance: Exploring the Relationship between Peer Affiliation, Gang Membership and Youth Misconduct

Deviant peer affiliation and gang membership often act as a catalyst for maladaptive behaviour, as individuals in the late adolescent phase of lifespan development typically share stronger attachment to their peers than to their caregivers. An interrelationship also exists between delinquency and factors such as peer approval of deviance and peer pressure to transgress. This is particularly prevalent when exposed to challenges in the family or school, which typically perpetuate feelings of rejection, leading to a greater likelihood to seek out peers to gain a sense of belonging, support and camaraderie. Despite the importance of these interactions, exposure to antisocial peers or gangs exponentially increase the propensity to transgress, as maladaptive behaviour would be reinforced, thereby decreasing the efficacy of primary and secondary socialisation agents. Moreover, youths may become desensitised to violence, learn to rationalise unlawful behaviour and gain opportunities for crime. Accordingly, a qualitative study was conducted in South Africa to explore peer affiliation and gang membership as a pathway to deviance, based on the unique experiences of 20 detained male youths. The data were obtained through purposive sampling and analysed by frequency or percentage distributions, and also through narrative accounts from the participants. The findings identified deviant peer affiliation (75%) and gang involvement (65%) as key factors which motivated the participants to transgress. Furthermore, the association between peer affiliation, substance abuse, academic failure and truancy was apparent. It is thus envisaged that these findings will stimulate further research, contribute to the existing literature and aid in the development of strategies to manage deviant peer association and gang membership.

Gangs: Spatialities and Socialities in South Africa

The “making” of gang relationships has remained at the periphery of research, yet it is critical in understanding the continuity and sustainability of gangsterism in different contexts. This paper examines the ways in which young men involved in gang violence forge and sustain their relationships in the streets of a black township in South Africa. I argue that the “making” of gang relationships is never easy; rather, it is characterised by violence within and outside gang membership. The article asserts that, within gangs, violence is a technique which sustains their relationships, as it acts as a source of social and emotional support—especially in a context characterised by fractured families as well as social and economic marginalisation. The paper draws from an ethnography of walking the township streets, being in gang streets, talking to gang members, engaging with and observing young men involved in gang violence.