Peers and neighborhoods

Peers Peers play a significant role in maturation, particularly during adolescence Strained and/or inadequate peer relationships associated with delinquency Delinquents tend to associate with other delinquents Delinquent acts tend to be committed in small groups

Peers Many delinquents have poor social skills, hang around with others who are similar Deviant values may be learned from a deviant peer group. Some adolescents have no prior history until they begin to “run with the wrong crowd” Others have prior histories, find others like themselves

Peers Peer associations might partly explain desistance—if a person changes peer groups, delinquency may cease For others, the continuation of the group might lead to further criminality (substance abuse, drug selling) Peer groups teach techniques, rationalizations for activities, attitudes

Peers Whether or not a peer group has an effect on an individual depends on how much the person values the peer group, length of the association, etc. Differential association (Sutherland)

Gangs Gangs intensively studied, beginning with Thrasher’s work in Argued that gangs provide excitement, fun, and opportunities for accomplishment and respect, typically denied to poor adolescent males in mainstream society

Gangs Less attention to gangs in the 60s and early 70s: police activity, political activities, the draft, the increased popularity of heroin Gangs re-emerged in the 1970s and spread Reasons: involvement of gangs in sale of drugs— replacement for organized crime Economic changes-from a manufacturing to service occupations. Less jobs for poor youths

Gangs Family changes: parental absence, substance abuse, poverty, other crime (yet, some gang members come from stable families, and some youths from dysfunctional families avoid them) Very wide variety of gangs

Gangs Common classifications: organized, serious delinquent, party/social, retreatist, conflict (predatory) Specialists vs. generalists Vary in terms of size, age range, duration of existence, territory, activities, length of time in the gang

gangs Most common in transitional neighborhoods Transitional neighborhoods characterized by: Poverty, high levels of unemployment Deteriorated housing, usually rental Adjacent to downtown or industrial areas Physically unsafe (numerous code violations)

Neighborhoods Health and mental health problems Lack of accessible services Housing projects High levels of crime Long term history of gang activity Resident mobility Ethnic segregation, hostility

Neighborhoods Broken windows phenomenon Suspicion and mistrust Unsafe conditions for police officers Residents not cooperative with police or other authority figures Diminished neighborhood control of youths Invasion by criminal element (esp.drugs)

Neighborhoods Social disorganization Residents unable to mobilize and stop/prevent crime Cynicism, alienation, mistrust, fear of retaliation, discouragement Potential leaders typically move out Businesses, churches, etc., leave

Neighborhoods Long-term tradition of crime and gangs Members grow older, but the gangs remain Family tradition Recent trends Lethal violence Increased numbers Greater number of ethnic groups

Trends “aging” of gangs, (thought to be due to the erosion of the industrial base and the availability of the drug market)