Race And Gang Affiliation Essay

Abstract

"Race and Gang Affiliation: An Examination of Multiple Marginality" is a study by Adrienne Freng and Finn-Aage Esbensen that was published in the Justice Quarterly in 2007. The study examines the relationship between race and gang affiliation among young people in the United States. The authors argue that young people who belong to both racial and ethnic minority groups and are gang-affiliated are subjected to multiple levels of marginalization, which can result in an increased risk of involvement in criminal behavior. The study found that race and gang affiliation are interconnected, with African American and Latino youth being more likely to join gangs than their white counterparts. The authors suggest that addressing the underlying

African American and Hispanic youth are more likely to join gangs than white youth (Bartollas & Miller, 2017). This is often attributed to a variety of factors such as poverty, lack of opportunities, and social exclusion. In addition, some scholars argue that gang membership may serve as a form of identity and a way to cope with feelings of alienation and marginalization (Freng & Esbensen, 2007). Moreover, it has been found that youth of color are more likely to be arrested and charged with gang-related offenses and may face harsher penalties than white youth for the same offense. This has led to concerns about racial disparities in the juvenile justice system. Overall, the connection between race and gang involvement is complex, and many different factors contribute to it. The book Juvenile Justice in America by Bartollas and Miller provides a more detailed analysis of this topic, as well as other issues related to juvenile

Block and Niederhoffer theorized that joining a gang was part of the male adolescents’ need to grow up into adulthood, so the gang provided the substitute for formalized puberty rights found in other societies (Bartolls & Miller, 2017). Cloward and Ohlin used the notion that lower-class boys interact with and gain support from other alienated individuals and they pursue illegitimate means to achieve the success that they cannot obtain through legitimate means. Cohen believed that gang delinquency represented the subcultural solution to the problems that the lower-class boys have when they are compared to middle-class values and the schools and Miller held that there is a definite lower-class culture and gang behavior is an expression of that culture (Bartollas and Miller pg. 284, 2017). Yablonsky believed that violent delinquent gangs arise out of certain conditions which are usually found in the urban slums and that encourages the development of sociopaths who later become leaders of the gangs. Finally, the underclass theory by Jeffrey Fagan and others has been widely used to explain the origins of gangs. In the urban area filled with poverty and deprivation, it is argued that gangs are a normal response to an abnormal setting such as exclusions from the labor markets (Bartollas & Miller,