What is a gang?
Does san juan county have gangs?
how do gangs recruit members?
Why do children join gangs?
why do gangs use graffiti and what does it mean?
what are cang colors and gang signs?
what is gang clothing?
what do children have to do to get into the gang?
Why do gangs become violent?
what are some typical pre-gang behaviors?
how do I help my child?
how can i tell if my child is in a gang?
online gang presence
What is a gang?
A gang is a group of people who want to be seen as different from others and want others to perceive them as a distinct group. This group is organized, has leadership, and is committing criminal acts in the community.
Gangs establish their reputation by the types and severity of the crimes they commit. The more heinous the crime, the more "prestige" or reputation the gang gets. In the seedy street gang world, the more "juice" you have the more respect you get!
Law enforcement says a criminal street gang is, "An organization, association, or group of three or more persons, formal or informal, that have a common name, common identifying signs or symbols, whose members individually and or collectively engage in a pattern of criminal activity."
Does San Juan County Have Gangs?
San Juan County has roughly 40 different gangs and approximately 700 (known) gang members!
How Do Gangs Recuit Members?
Lots of sweet talk, peer pressure, or fear and intimidation. Kids are often confronted by gang members in their neighborhoods or in school and are asked to join gangs. Young people are told the "big lies" about all the good things that happen when they join. They are told they will earn alot of money, make friends, go to parties, and belong to a close "family" that will care for and love them.
Why Do Children Join Gangs?
This answer depends on the socio-economic background of the youth. In general terms, they join for a sense of power, excitement, recognition, and/or prestige and they believe the gang allows them to achieve a level of status that was impossible to attain outside of the gangs.
San Juan County youth report they join gangs for the following reasons:
Love |
Recognition |
Status |
Survival |
Protection |
Money |
Power |
Curiosity |
Control |
Friendship |
Excitement |
Out of a Sense of Tradition |
|||
Other reasons given nationally are:
- There are different reasons for different kids.
- Some are drawn by parties, girls, and drugs.
- Some are looking for a sense of respect and power.
- Some find a feeling of caring and attention in a gang. It becomes almost a family to them.
- Most have some real of imagined problems at home that make them prefer the streets.
- Some want to make money to help out at home or have nice clothes, car, etc.
- Some join for self protection because they are picked on by other gangs.
- Some grow up in a neighborhood where it is almost a way of life.
Why Do Gangs Use Graffiti and What Does It Mean?
As gangs activity increases so does their graffiti. Gang graffiti serces several purposes, all of which is understood b other "gang bangers," even members of rival sets. Graffiti has been called the newspaper or bulletin boards for gangs and communicates many messages, including violent challenges, warnings, and pronouncements of deeds accomplished or about to occur. Graffiti is not art work.
What Are Gang Colors and Gang Signs?
Colors refers to a gangs member representing his/her membership by wearing a specific gang logo, particular colors of clothing, a specific brand name of clothing worn in a predefined manner. This may also include hair styles, jewelry, or even the way a person stands, walks, or folds their arms and hands. Colors identify the gang member and show member pride and affiliation.
Hand signals and gang slang are a means of communication. Symbols formed and flashed with the fingers, hands, and body have a very specific meaning to the gang. The same foes for buzz words or phrases. Remember all of these may be area or geographic region specific and meanings may vary.
What is Gang Clothing?
It should be noted that gang members often wear clothing that is currently popular amongst juveniles in general. The wearing of the clothing that is described here does not automatically make that person a gang member. As gang members find out what clothing is becoming too noticeable to people, they may change what they wear. What is fashionable today, mayb not be tomorrow, and gang members like to be fashionable.
The wearing of a bandana is common gang clothing. These are often referred to as "rags" and the color of the rag will indicate what gang your child is claiming. Many gangs use the same color rag and often times alliances between different gangs can be recognized by the use of the same color rag.
Wearing pants low, referred to as "sagging" is also common. They may even be wearing boxer shorts that show the color of their gang. Dickie work pants are popular anongst the gang culture. They come in different colors, with tan usually being a neutral color being worn by many different gangs.
The use of colored beads is popular with gang members. The color of the bead is dependant on the color the gang has adopted for their gang. The bead can be made into a necklace or worn on shoelaces, made into a keychain or worn in their hair. The use of colored rosary beads and other religious articles have also been noted.
The use of colored shoe laces is very common. Customized T-shirts and baseball caps are also popular. Most often the name or initials of the gang will be used along with any symbols used by the gang in their graffiti. Often times, gang members will write gang graffiti on their clothing, shoes, baseball caps, wallets, or other articles of clothing. Many times a gang will adopt a popular sports team's style of apparel, especially if the colors fo that team are the same as their gang colors or the team logo has some significant meaning to the gang.
What Do Children Have to do to Get Into Gangs?
There are many different ways that gangs initiate recruits into the gang. They following are some examples of how gang members get initiated:
Rolled In, Jumped In, Quoted, or Lined In
This is the most common initiation. The recruit has to fight certain members of the gang for a specified time frame. The number of members and the time frame differs from gang to gang. Often times officers are caled to new gang members homes at the request of the parent to take a battery report, but the child is often uncooperative and unwilling to tell the officer or his parents whi his assailants are because he has just joined a gang.
Commit Crimes
Some gangs require that a recruit commit a crime or a series of crimes to prove that they are good candidates for the gangs. Often times, gangs that specialize in a particular crime such, as auto theft, will require the recruit to commit that type of crime. Some gangs have point systems for the crimes and the recruit has to have so many points. The crimes required to be committed can be as biolent as a drive-by shooting or murder.
Sexed In
Sometimes female recruits are required to have sex with certain members of the gang or get raped by several gang members. This is also referred to as a train. They may also just roll 2 dice and whatever number is thrown is the number of gang members that the recruit has to sleep with.
Why Do Gangs Become Violent?
- Young people engaged in illegal activity often carry weapons for protection.
- Violence takes place in retaliation for real or perceived wrongs by another gang.
- Retaliation may target ANY member of a gang, not necessarily the offending individual.
- Once a climate of war exists between two gangs, violence may be continual.
- Once recognized as a gang member, a young person is in serious danger of being hurt or killed.
What Are Some Typical Pre-Gang Behaviors?
- Poor progress or achievement in school
- Truance from school
- Lack of hobbies or too much leisure time
- Frequent contact with authority figures or police
- Draws gang insignias/symbols
- Problems at home
- Lives in a neighborhood where gangs exist
- Friends are gang members or "dressing down" or "sagging and bagging" in a gang attire
- Begins dressing in traditional clothes
- Wants to be called by a nickname, moniker, or street name
These items are characteristics of gang involvement. However, some people who join or associate with gangs do not dress in the traditional attire and do not exhibit conspicuous behavior to show gang involvement. Parents must be aware of the behavior and activities of their children. Continual monitoring fo behavior and positive verbal communication between parents and young people is a must for gang membership.
How Do I Help My Child?
- Take action early
- The longer a kid is in a gang, the harder it is to stop
- Talk with your son or daughter and try to really listen
- Let them know you care. Give them a hug sometimes. Praise the things they do right
- Take a firm stad against illegal activity
- Provide with a good example
- Try to get into family counseling
- If you or your spouce DO have a problem with drugs, alcohol, or anger, GET HELP!
- Encourage him/her to become active in a church group
- If your child is honestly trying to make a change, consider moving to a different neighborhood
- If you are not able to move, perhaps a relative would be willing to let him/her stay with them
How Can I Tell if My Child is in a Gang?
- If you are afraid that your kid is in a gang, he/she probably is. It is better to try to protect a kid who doesn't need it than to bury a kid who tried to hide the truth from his/her parents.
- Does he/she have tattoos of something that looks like a gang name or insignia?
- Does he/she have extra money sometimes and try to explain it with stories you have trouble believing?
- Do you notice changes in wardrobe, attitude, and tastes in music and cars?
- Does he/she collect bandanas or a particular color, and favor that color in his/her clothing?
- Does he/she go out late at night sometimes, or not come home for several days?
- Is he/she getting in a lot more fights?
- Is he/she doing worse at school and "ditching" school from time to time?
Online Gang Presence
Originally, gangs advertised their existence and posted their messages in the form of graffiti. This graffiti could be found everywhere, on walls, fences, subway cars, signs, sidewalks, and even railway freigh cars. Now, with computers being relatively accessible to anyone, gangs have entered the world fo cyberspace. Web sites, chat rooms, and message boards catering to the gang culture are popping up on the internet in increasing numbers.
Accoding to a recent report by Court TV, gang members are using the internet to discuss crimes in private chat rooms and offer gang banger wannabes (a misused term) a chance to enlist by posting membership applications online. It is estimated that these gang sites run in the tens of thousands but only 20-30 percent are run by actual gang members.
Online communities like MySpace, MiGente, and Bebo are being used by web-savvy youth gangs to recruit members, bully classmates, and brag about their exploits.
Online sites have been found depicting students in gang-associated clothing, flashing had signs, and using drugs. Users sometimes arrange fights online and post the goings on among the gangs.
Source:
Heather Favarino, Supervisor Juvenile Probation and Parole Office
Krista Lawrence
851 Andrea Drive
Farmington, NM 87401
(505)325-1631
Farmington, NM 87401