The Development of the Street Gang

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the Chicago school theory, a legacy in the field of criminology, hypothesized in the 1920s and 1930s, states that where social institutions, norms and values are no longer functioning, high rates of violence, drug abuse, poverty and disease occur. The author points out pitfalls in this theory such as (1) gangs do not only exist in communities with few personal binds between residents and, even within ghettos, there are dependable residency patterns and strong community member ties and (2) the theory is based on spherical reasoning that is, social disorganization is the reason of criminal behavior, and crime is an indicator of social disorganization. The paper relates that the Chicago School theory fails to grasp that the contemporary street gang is planned as a business usually a drug-dealing business; therefore, this theory can no longer be used to understand these gangs.

From the Paper:

"A number of the initial work in the crime appeared from the University of Chicago in the 1920's. The job done at this school recognized long traditions of theories to help explain why crime occurs, and what to do regarding it. It incorporated the work of Robert Park, Ernest Burgess, Frederick Thrasher, and in later years the Chicago School theory of Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay. The crime deterrence plans appeared from this work, such as the Chicago Area Projects which ran for over half a century, were based on a simple notion: the finest unit of analysis to study crime was the neighborhood and the interrelationships of diverse groups within the neighborhood, such as the street gang. The ecology of crime approach used the neighborhood as the level of analysis, and it conceptualizes the neighborhood as a communal ecosystem."

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