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Les gangs et la violence dans leur quartier tels que perçus par les jeunes
Abstract
La violence des gangs est un probleme de societe en pleine croissance. La presente etude a pour but de se pencher sur la perception qu’ont les adolescents, non membres de gangs, a propos des gangs, de la violence qui y est associee et de l’influence qu’elle exerce, selon eux, sur leur quartier. Vingt adolescents ont participe a des groupes de discussion sous forme d’entretiens semi-diriges, ce qui a permis de degager quatre themes principaux : 1) un sentiment d’appartenance ; 2) un prix a payer ; 3) l’incomprehension ; et 4) l’evitement actif. Les perceptions a propos des gangs et de la violence different d’un adolescent a l’autre. Comprendre leurs points de vue pourrait aider a la conception de programmes de sante publique visant a eduquer les jeunes sur les gangs et sur les consequences d’une implication dans de tels groupes.
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Gang membership has long been understood to have a disruptive influence on adolescent development and to contribute disproportionately to the rate of delinquent crime. The nature of the impact, and the long-term effects on individuals, have not been well understood. This book uses longitudinal data to examine the developmental consequences of gang membership, and its longer term influence on the life course. This longitudinal approach is made possible by data from a study of antisocial behavior, The Rochester Youth Development Study, which followed one thousand adolescents through their early adult years. The subjects include delinquents who were gang members and others who were not, allowing the authors to compare motives, patterns of behavior, and recurring problems with caregivers and the law, education, peer relations, and career paths. The findings indicate that multiple developmental deficits lead to gang membership and that membership leads to an increase in delinquency.
Controversies around definitions and perceptions of gangs are heightened by the scarcity of research on crews. In an open-ended interview, 77 Latino 10th graders from a random longitudinal sample provided information about gangs and crews. Although less than 10% reported having been in gangs or crews, 84% reported having personal contact with them. Sixty three percent reported that gangs were more negative than crews. Crews tag and claim territory but do not have initiation rituals or engage in extreme violence. Although there were no significant gender differences, very low achievers had closer interactions and were more often asked to join gangs and crews. This study informs educators, juvenile justice personnel, and intervention programs how to distinguish and better serve these peer groups.
This study examined children's understanding of the danger and potential harm they face while traveling to and from school in two urban neighborhoods with high crime and violence rates. A qualitative methodology was used to explore how students negotiate danger or potential harm within the context of their routes to and from school.Structured interviews with three hundred seventy-seven second, fourth, sixth, and eighth graders (and 106 of their parents) were analyzed utilizing an inductive coding process (emergent themes). When students were asked to discuss the safety of their school routes, emergent themes included student's fear/awareness of death, fear of violence/victimization, and fear of gangs. Students also mentioned getting driven to school and better monitoring as ways that their school routes could be made safer. Parents discussed similar fears and concerns as their children. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Background: Gang violence is an escalating public health problem in our society. Gang violence has affected many people in the United States (US); however, it may have the greatest effect on adolescents. The purpose of the study was to explore the influence of gangs and gang violence on adolescent boys. The specific aim of this study was to describe adolescent boys' perceptions of gangs and gang violence.
Method: A qualitative method research design was used to explore adolescent boys' perceptions of gangs and gang violence. Adolescents, their parents or primary care givers and community center employees were asked to participate in this research study.
Results: Ten adolescents and parents or primary care givers and six community center employees participated in this study. Several factors (respect, the need for acceptance, fear) can motivate adolescents to participate in gangs and gang violence. There were different perceptions about the use of safe havens or community centers. Further, parents or primary care givers and community center employees shared different perceptions about gangs, gang violence, and adolescents' experiences with gangs.
Conclusion: These adolescents were exposed to gang violence in their neighborhood. Gangs and gang violence were a constant presence in their lives. Exploring the experiences that adolescents have with gangs and gang violence can aid in decreasing their exposure to gangs and gang violence.
This study examined the role of adaptation in the first year of middle school (Grade 6, age 11) to affiliation with gangs by the last year of middle school (Grade 8, age 13). The sample consisted of 714 European American (EA) and African American (AA) boys and girls. Specifically, academic grades, reports of antisocial behavior, and peer relations in 6th grade were used to predict multiple measures of gang involvement by 8th grade. The multiple measures of gang involvement included self-, peer, teacher, and counselor reports. Unexpectedly, self-report measures of gang involvement did not correlate highly with peer and school staff reports. The results, however, were similar for other and self-report measures of gang involvement. Mean level analyses revealed statistically reliable differences in 8th-grade gang involvement as a function of the youth gender and ethnicity. Structural equation prediction models revealed that peer nominations of rejection, acceptance, academic failure, and antisocial behavior were predictive of gang involvement for most youth. These findings suggest that the youth level of problem behavior and the school ecology (e.g., peer rejection, school failure) require attention in the design of interventions to prevent the formation of gangs among high-risk young adolescents.
This study is based on three years of field work with 99 active gang members and 24 family members. The book describes the attractiveness of gangs, the process of joining, their chaotic and loose organisation, and their members' predominant activities - mostly hanging out, drinking, and using drugs. The authors also discuss gang members' rather slapdash involvement in major property crime and their disorganised participation in drug traffic, as well as the often fatal consequences of their violent life-style. Although the book focuses on the individual, organisational, and institutional aspects of gang membership, it also explores gang members' involvement with other school and neighborhood structures. Extensive interviews with family members provide groundbreaking insights into the gang members' lives. As much as possible, however, the story is told in the gang members' own words.
In the past two decades, many prevention and suppression programs have been initiated on a national and local level to combat street gangs-but what do we really know about them? Why do youths join them? Why do they proliferate? This book is a crucial update and critical examination of our understanding of gangs and major gang-control programs across the nation. Often perceived solely as an urban issue, street gangs are also a suburban and rural dilemma. The chapters focus on gang proliferation, migration, and crime patterns, and highlight known risk factors that lead youths to form and join gangs within communities. Dispelling the long-standing assumptions that the public, the media, and law enforcement have about street gangs, they present a comprehensive overview of how gangs are organized and structured. They assess the major gang programs across the nation and argue that existing prevention, intervention, and suppression methods targeting individuals, groups, and communities, have been largely ineffective. They then close by offering valuable policy guidelines for practitioners on how to intervene and control gangs more successfully. The book fills an important gap in the literature on street gangs and social control.
Structured interviews with 165 adolescent black males investigated the differences between gang and nongang youth. Bivariate analyses identified 46 variables that distinguished the two groups within five domains of interest-individual, family, peer, school, and neighborhood. Logistic regression analyses reduced the number of significant differences to 14. We suggest several directions for programs to prevent youth from joining street gangs and emphasize the importance of gang prevention or very early intervention.
In recent years, both the media and the research literature have noted an increased presence of street gangs in non-metropolitan and rural communities. This study was conducted in a small community in the south which was identified by its police force as having a sizable gang population.
Individuals from three groups within the community who have frequent, direct contact with gang members participated in the study. Participants completed questionnaires designed to measure their general perceptions of the gangs, the actors associated with gang development, and the community's
response to the gang presence. The participants perceive a number of factors as having influenced the growth of gang activity. The results showed striking perceptual differences between the groups, as well as a number of similarities.
Adolescents are exposed to various forms of gang violence, and such exposure has led them to feel unsafe in their neighborhood and have differing interactions with their parents and peers. This qualitative study explored adolescents', parents', and community center employees' perceptions of adolescents' interaction with their neighborhood, family, and peers. Three themes emerged from the data: Most adolescents reported that the community center provided a safe environment for them; parental engagement influenced adolescents' experiences with gangs; and adolescents were subjected to peer pressure in order to belong. Exposure to gang violence can leave an impression on adolescents and affect their mental health, but neighborhood safety and relationships with parents and peers can influence adolescents' exposure to gang violence. Recommendations regarding the use of health care professionals at community centers are proposed.
This study examined the psychological consequences to adolescents' exposure to gang violence in their neighborhood. This descriptive pilot study was conducted through personal interviews of youths from a community center. Five youth participated in interviews. Most were males, living in single parent homes. Three different categories emerged (emotional implications, personal experiences, and activities and socialization). These youth had different experiences with gang violence that affected their emotions. Their personal experiences influenced their socialization with others. Understanding the influence gang violence has on youth 'development necessitates further research.
Objective:
The primary objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between exposure to community violence (neighborhood, school, police, and gang violence) and psychological distress in a sample of children living in the Cape Town, South Africa area. Another objective was to identify variables that moderate and mediate the relationship between exposure to community violence and psychological distress.
Methods:
Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 185 children between the age of 8 and 13 from five Cape Town Township schools. Structured scales were used to measure exposure to several forms of community violence, family functioning, social support, perceptions of safety, and "unknown" locus of control.
Results:
Exposure to all forms of violence was extremely high and resulted in substantial psychological distress. Perceived safety functioned as a mediating variable for all forms of violence. Unknown locus of control, social support, family organization, and family control moderated the effects of exposure to certain kinds of violence. Surprisingly, exposure to murder was not related to psychological distress, suggesting a possible "numbing" effect of extreme forms of violence. Hearing about violence from others had almost the same effect as actually witnessing it. Older children had witnessed more violence and were experiencing more distress, suggesting an "exposure accumulation" effect.
Conclusions:
The findings suggest the importance of a child's ability to feel safe in reducing the distress that occurs as a result to exposure to violence. Parents and schools can help children cope, but there appear to be limits. Early intervention, before maladaptive coping mechanisms have developed, also appears to be important.
This study examined the relative influence of peer and parenting behavior on changes in adolescent gang involvement and gang-related delinquency. An ethnically diverse sample of 300 ninth-grade students was recruited and assessed on eight occasions during the school year. Analyses were conducted using hierarchical linear modeling. Results indicated that, in general, adolescents decreased their level of gang involvement over the course of the school year, whereas the average level of gang delinquency remained constant over time. As predicted, adolescent gang involvement and gang-related delinquency were most strongly predicted by peer gang involvement and peer gang delinquency, respectively. Nevertheless, parenting behavior continued to significantly predict change in both gang involvement and gang delinquency, even after controlling for peer behavior. A significant interaction between parenting and ethnic and cultural heritage found the effect of parenting to be particularly salient for Black students, for whom higher levels of behavioral control and lower levels of lax parental control were related to better behavioral outcomes over time, whereas higher levels of psychological control predicted worse behavioral outcomes.
To investigate appraisal processes and coping strategies initiated by urban adolescents relative to violence exposure.
Thirty-seven African American youth completed semistructured interviews, including assessment of means-ends problem-solving competence (MEPS).
Although perceptions of safety varied according to weapon-carrying/fighting status, staying locked inside one's home and maintaining a vigilance when dealing with others were identified as primary protective strategies. MEPS scores were not predictive of appraisal or coping processes. Youth were not expressive about emotional distress aroused by exposure.
Further examination of how appraisal and coping efforts relate to prevention of violence and its negative psychosocial sequelae is needed.