Factors that Drive Asian-American Youth Toward Gang Activities

Factors that drive Asian-American youth toward gang activities
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Factors that drive Asian-American youth toward gang activities
On 16th April 2007, the entire United States was stunned by the carnage in Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. A total of 32 people were killed and many others wounded by Seung-Hui Cho, a Korean American student at the university. This incident was the deadliest school shooting in the entire history of the United States. Less than 12 months later, Daniel Kim, another Korean-American studying at Virginia Tech killed himself by shooting himself on the head (Portes, 2010). For a very long time, the myth of Asian-American youths as the model minority in the United States has prevailed. Consequently, Asian-Americans continue to be ruled out from funding priorities, policy discussions and research studies. This paper discusses the main reasons that cause young Asian-Americans to engage in criminal and violent gang activities.
Youth violence is a mounting problem in Asian-American communities. Youth violence is not just a community problem, but also a public health issue. Every year, violence claims the lives of over 3,500 kids below the age of 19 years (Wing, 2010). Youth-at-risk for antisocial or violent behaviour are vulnerable to gang membership and recruitment. It is worth mentioning that gang membership is very much linked to an increase in violent behaviour, either as perpetrator or victim. Hughes and Short (2011) reported that youth gangs are today a major public policy issue because of the growth of gang violence as well as the proliferation of youth gangs across America, spreading further than major big cities to smaller cities and rural and suburban areas. Asian gangs are one of the fastest growing street gangs in America. Youth gangs in America represent a diverse range of Asian backgrounds and affiliations. According to Straka (2013), there are Asian gangs which are affiliated with the Crips and Bloods and many independent entities such as the Vietnamese, Cambodian, Filipino, Korean and the Chinese Wah-Ching gangs. Other Asian gangs basing upon ethnic ties include Japanese, South Pacific Islanders, Samoan, Laotian, and Hmong (Kim, Zone & Sehee, 2012).
For a group to be considered as a youth gang, it has to be involved in a pattern of illegal, criminal activities. It is notable that the criminal activities, acts of violence in particular, serve to strengthen the group together (Hughes & Short, 2011). Infrequent activities of group violence reinforce or create group identities, define group boundaries, and bind members of the group together in a common cause. Members of a gang do not only take part in violent behaviour. Gang members also hang out and take part in other usual adolescent social activities, but drug trafficking, drug use and drinking are common (Straka, 2013). The usual age range for an Asian youth gang is 12 years to 24 years, and the average age is 17 years to 18 years. In cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles however, the average age is somewhat older since gangs here are well-established and have existed for longer time periods (Portes, 2010). Some street gangs are constantly taking part in serious criminal activities such as vehicle theft, walk-up and drive-by shootings, intimidation of witnesses and victims, drug-related crimes, homicide, robbery including home-invasion robbery, arson and assault with a deadly weapon (Hughes & Short, 2011).
Risk factors for Asian-American youth joining a gang activity
There are a number of causes that drive Asian-American youth to join a criminal gang and engage in criminal activities.
Table 1: Risk factors for Asian-American youth (Hughes & Short, 2011).
DomainRisk Factor1Community DomainLack of cultural-specific institutions
Poor home-community linkages
Lack of preparation for diverse cultures2School DomainLimited cultural models and understanding
School system rejection
Disconnection between school and family3Family DomainLow socioeconomic status
Isolation
Low adult supervision
Intergenerational/intercultural conflict4Peer / Individual DomainPeer rejection
Absence of skills to negotiate dissimilar culture
Devalued ethnicity
Isolation and alienation5Cross-cutting risk factors (might be prominent in every domain)Racism
Language difficulties
Reconfigured family role structure
Acculturation stress
Kay Kei-ho, Hirose and Mao (2010) summed up some of the risk factors promoting gang involvement for Asian American youth and other ethnic minority youth in America. Peer/individual factors include Asian American minority status resulting in cumulative experiences of racism and consequent anger and frustration, as well as a sense of isolation and alienation from the wider community. School factors include poor performance academically, lack of connection between the school and the young person, in addition to discriminatory practices (Lee & Zhou, 2010). Family factors include intercultural and intergenerational conflict, lack of monitoring and supervision, and their parents are poorly equipped to assist the youngsters in adjusting and coping with a new culture and society. Community factors essentially include lack of preparation to assist newcomer Asian youth in adjusting to the new culture (Kay Kei-ho, Hirose & Mao, 2010).
Basing upon a comprehensive focus group study of Black youth gang members, Wing (2010) pointed out ten main functions that gangs provide: redirection of aggression and anger, source of income, social support, security, social activities, social structure, enhanced social status, surrogate family, self-esteem, and sense of group identity. In developing violence prevention programs for Asian American young people, it is important to comprehend the socio-cultural factors that drive the youth to join criminal gangs and the particular functions that gang membership serve for Asian American youth (Alexander, 2010).
Youth who lack sufficient communicati...