Drug Abuse and Gang Membership: Risk Factors

Drug Abuse and Gang Membership: Risk Factors

Generally, a vast majority of juveniles do not do drugs or participate in gang activity. For those who indeed end up engaging in such activities, only a small number eventually repeat the offenses. However, there exists a number of risk factors that, if present could increase the likelihood of a juvenile offender joining a gang or engaging in drug abuse.

When it comes to gang membership and drug abuse, a risk factor can be said to be an experience, activity or event that increases the likelihood of engagement in either drug abuse or gang membership. According to Butts and Roman (2004), "other sources suggest that drug use among juvenile offenders may be two or three times higher than among youth in general." This could also be the case for gang membership amongst juvenile offenders. In regard to drug use and gang membership, social influence can be taken to be a major risk factor. For instance, as Butts and Roman (2004) note, when an adolescent is exposed to drugs via friends, he or she is more likely to start experimenting with the same. Hence the company a juvenile keeps has a lot to do with both drug use and gang membership. For instance, in the case of John Black, his current behavior could be as a result of peer pressure. This is more so the case if he has been keeping the same company he kept before. Further, perceived factors may motivate a juvenile to engage in both drug abuse and gang activity. As Butts and Roman (2004) note, "past drug experiences may lead to an expectation of positive effects from drug use." For instance, in the case of John Black, he could have been a previous drug user and owing to this, the difficulties he experienced in an attempt to withdraw from the same could have pushed him to try drugs once again. Perceived factors in gang membership include but are not limited to security. Yet another risk factor when it comes to drug abuse is what Butts and Roman (2004) refer to as "co-morbidities." In this case, a juvenile could resort to drug use as some kind of self-medication for a wide range of issues affecting him or her including but not limited to depression, anxiety or even stress. Hence John Black's behavior could allude to other problems like depression.

Further, regarding gang membership, Loeber and Farrington (1998) are of the opinion that "living in socially disorganized areas is related to gang membership." Hence juveniles living in neighborhoods characterized by significant social disorganization as well as high crime rates are more likely to join gangs. This could explain Black's membership to the K. street Boys. The other gang membership risk factor identified by Loeber and Farrington (1998) has to do with an individual's attitudes. In this case, juveniles whose deviance tolerance levels tend to be high are more likely to subscribe to gangs. This could also explain Black's resolve to join the K. street boys. In this case, Black could be having a higher tolerance for deviance than his peers given his past shortcomings including gun possession.