Juvenile Gangs and Strain Theory

Juvenile Gangs and Strain Theory: Policy Proposal

In the United States, close to 48,000 youth under 18 are incarcerated in juvenile prisons and jail daily (ACLU, 2022). Other estimates from the Child Crime Prevention & Safety Center (CCPSC) indicate that 80% of these youth were either under alcohol and drugs at the time of arrest or related to a drug-related problem. Of the 48,000, 16,000 are in detention centers, 10,777 in long-term secure facilities, 10,256 in residential treatment, over 4,500 in adult jails and prisons, and a further 3,375 in group homes (Sawyer, 2019). A 2019 Juvenile Justice Statistics Report by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (NCJJ, 2018) suggests that almost 40% of youth currently interacting with the criminal justice system are connected to a youth gang out of which 80% are drugs-related. In other words, youth gangs are the single most crucial factor that increases the possibility of youth facing the criminal justice system. Solutions or policies that address youth gangs and the factors that fuel them can have a long-term impact on reducing youth incarceration.

            Therefore, the current paper aims to produce a comprehensive literature review that informs a potentially new policy that can be used to address the problems of youth gangs and the abuse of drugs and alcohol. Research shows (Esposito, Lee, Hicken, Porter, & Herting, 2017) that interacting with the Criminal Justice System at an early age has long-term implications that may persist into adulthood and manifest in key areas like health and education and employment outcomes. Thus, the current topic is significant because it aims, based on Strain Theory, to prevent such ramifications that may spoil the life of the enthusiastic and energetic youth population and reduce the number of youths who end up in prison or jail due to involvement in gang-related activities.

Literature Review

A youth gang is commonly thought of as an association of peers that has a gang name, recognizable symbols, a designated leadership, a defined territory, a regular meeting pattern, and most importantly, a collective action to carry out illegal activities like selling or abusing drugs (Wallace, 2019). Considering this, the current literature review focuses on the causes of youth gangs vis-a-vis the Strain Theory, the links between these gangs or their criminal activities with drugs, and the long-term impact of such gangs on American society.  

Causes of Youth Gangs – Strain Theory

            A poignant verse in Tupac's 1995 single "Dear Mama" goes as follows: I hung around with the thugs…and even though they sold drugs…they showed a young brother's love. According to Aprahamian (2019), the hip and gangs in America are inseparable, but within hip hop itself, strong messages show why youth end up in gangs. The song Dear Mama is just an example because factors beyond the hip-hop culture influence youth gangs. It is in this view that the Strain Theory is essential to consider. Different scholars have argued that the Strain Theory is the best theoretical explanation of juvenile gang criminal activity within the United States. According to Eitle and Eitle (2016), the theory posits that crime results from the strain placed on an individual who cannot achieve middle-class norms through legitimate means. Examples of such strains, as Tupac sings, is the lack of love at home which is offered by gangs since they provide a sense of belonging and mission.

            In their study, Eitle and Eitle (2016) premised that American Indian adolescents are disproportionately involved in criminal and delinquent behavior. There is scant research that has correlated crime among this population. Thus, the authors conducted a National Longitudinal Study of adolescent health to interrogate the tenets of Strain Theory. Outcomes indicated that there is core support for ST. According to the authors, gang members are often confronted by barriers and a lack of social and economic opportunities. These findings are supported by Aprahamian (2019), who concluded that the criminalization of hip hop, gangs, and other related American cultures is a result of the criminal justice system's ignorance of the broader societal forces, including governance, systemic discrimination, and inequality, or strains that cause youth to join gangs. Other researchers have also arrived at similar conclusions.

            For instance, Antunes and Manasse (2022) posited that community violence reflects a social disorganization perspective. Their study found that neighborhood characteristics affect crime through informal social control mechanisms. In this study, Antunes and Manasse (2022) utilized data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods and relied on multilevel models. Findings from the study show that neighborhood characteristics like a concentrated disadvantage are the primary cause of strains that drive youth to find refuge in gangs. Aprahamian (2019) highlighted that if these disadvantages are not solved and if youth do not get the attention they deserve at home, they will be attracted to criminal activities. But this does not mean that homes or the disintegration of the family are the key underlying issue.

            In a different study, Gilman et al. (2014) established the patterns and predictors of gang membership by examining the developmental dynamics that push or attract youth into gangs. Like Antunes and Manasse (2022), who relied on data from Project on Human Development (Chicago), Gilman et al. (2014) utilized data from the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP) following a sample of 808 youth. A key finding is that by the age of 19, 173 of the participants had joined gangs. However, the authors concluded that family, school, peer, neighborhood environment, and social policies contribute to the strains that push youth into gangs.

Relationship between Drugs and Youth Gang &Youth Crimes

            Across the three research articles, Gilman et al. (2014), Eitle and Eitle (2016), and Antunes and Manasse (2022), there is a consensus that the Strain Theory best explains the link between gangs and youth. However, there is no indication of the role of drugs, for instance, in the dynamic developmental process discussed by Gilman et al. (2014). To this end, however, some authors have conducted studies because of this relation.

            For example, Steinberg, Kral, and Sumstine (2019), incorporating Strain and Social Development Theories, concluded that drugs play a two-facet role in pushing and pulling youth into gangs. In their study, Steinberg and colleagues interviewed 438 individuals in California to establish the relationship between drugs and youth gang membership. On the one hand, the use of drugs prior to joining a gang provides a push effect because gangs use the drugs. On the other hand, the need to use more drugs implies the youth must find a job, an opportunity only found in gangs. Extrapolating on this finding, Aprahamian (2019) emphasized that drugs are not just a strain that leads to gang membership but also a pull factor for youth members who are not necessarily interested in the money but the sense of belonging. Drugs form part of this new identity and also fuel gang criminal activities.

            According to the CCPSC, over 80% of youth inca...