Girls' Involvement in Youth Gangs

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at why girls are attracted to gang life, the effects gang life has on their adulthood, and in particular, how gang life contributes to their disenfranchisement and eventually brings them into contact with adult criminal justice system. The likelihood that a girl would leave gang life is also discussed.

From the Paper:

"In 2001, ninety percent of America's largest cities reported youth gang problems, a figure that represents a fifty percent increase since 1983. Estimates put the number of gangs at 4,881, and the number of members at 249,324. Estimates of membership of girls in those gangs ranges from ten to thirty percent, (Laidler and Hunt, 2001) meaning anywhere from about 25,000 to 75,000 girls are involved in gangs. This number also means each of those cities has an average of 277 to 831 girls who are beyond "at risk", and have entered an arena of behavior minor to major crime that some experts believe is increasing faster in the youth population than in the adult population. (Esbensen and Winfree, 1998) More interesting, perhaps, is material presented by Miller and Brunson regarding the reporting of girl gang incidents. "Law enforcement data is widely known to underreport girls' gang involvement, in part because the data weights heavily toward older members and members involved in more serious crimes", they report. (p. 425) Since girls are generally considered by parents and teachers to be more "mature" young than boys, what is the reason for female involvement in gangs, either girl gangs or as members (like the VFW auxiliary) of male gangs?"

More papers on Girls' Involvement in Youth Gangs:

• Research Paper # 99932 : "Girl Gangs"
• Analytical Essay # 132164 : "Youth Gangs, Rationales and 'Moral Panic'"
• Research Paper # 26277 : "Youth Gangs in Schools: A Literature Review"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: