Juvenile Participation in Gangs



Juvenile Participation in Gangs

Introduction

Juvenile offenders are made up of young people in a specific place or "territory" in the U.S. The age of gang members ranges from just 12 years to mid-twenties. There is no single definition of gang and such terms as "gang", "juvenile gangs" are used interchangeably. The bands can form anywhere, but most are in larger metropolitan areas. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention United States, gangs emerge from a need for power and strength in an environment without power. The juvenile responds by forming social groups and these bands become foster families, providing a sense of belonging linked by location, the symbols and name. Often, members are "presented" to gangs through friends or older siblings already participating (Pound, 2007).

Trends

Majority of gang members are usually male. As mentioned above, the survey found that nearly eight out of ten surveyed are men, while the rest are women. While not known accurately the proportion of juvenile gang members of each sex, we can say that the actual ratio would be close to the estimate achieved by the survey. In addition, gang members, most are very young. According to survey results, 72 percent of them were between 16 and 21 years, with an average age of 18.7 years (Jones, 2004). However, it is possible to make a distinction that is interesting: most people who have ever been in the United States is a little larger than the rest, in fact, the average age of this group is 22.08 years and is concentrated among those of 19 years or more (Jackson, 1994).

If we talk about the juvenile structures, one thing was unexpected and it was related to the level of education of juveniles in the United States. The results showed that almost all (96.3 ...