Gang formation, behavior, and social impacts

Gangs

Brotherton and Barrios' assessment of the role of women in Almighty King and Queen Nation (ALKQN), they describe the role of women as functional primarily for the image of the gang rather than their 'usefulness' as members of the gang. In ALKQN, Queens, term used for female members, are often useful for the gang by acting as accomplices in the drug trade, helping to hide and transport drugs and weapons for the gang. Furthermore, female members are functional because they provide a good image for the gang, giving a sense of legitimacy of the existence of the gang, for it helps out marginalized women create autonomy, identity, and at the same time, belongingness, as member of the gang.

It is evident that seeking cohesion in the community by joining gangs is also a way through which women can also assert their autonomy -- that is, by finally making their mark in the society or community, and finally asserting their purpose once they become known in it (community). Becoming a member of the gang, Queens run a risk of being exploited by the male members of the gang, not to mention becoming vulnerable to the danger that rival gangs pose to them, being members of the ALKQN. But these observations about the role of women in ALKQN and other gangs demonstrate how, according to the authors, "[t]he growing involvement of such females, searching for a new life in the group, encouraged both leaders and the rank-and-file to become more nurturing, more cognizant of family matters, more inclusive in the sharing of powers ... " This insight provides important implication for policy-makers, suggesting that a strong and effective community support system for women is imperative in order to make gang membership less appealing to them, if their sole purpose is to assert their autonomy as women and feel belonged and cared for by their community.

In their analysis of the functions of ALKQN, Brotherton and Barrios directly linked the creation of gangs with the prevalent social system extant within the gang's community. The authors assert that studies on urban violence such as the creation and perpetuation of gangs will not become relevant "without acknowledging a shred of agency at the individual, group, or community levels." This assertion means that studies on gang and gang membership and behavior is reinforced not only because the members wanted to have a group to identify with, but their social reality makes it imperative for them to join gangs. The authors mention the present set of policies concerning community support and social services for members of the minority in the American society, people who comprise most gangs such as ALKQN. They argue that "... The prosocial activities of the ALKQN help us to see more clearly the resistance of dominant society to any long-term commitment to increase opportunities for the barrio poor and working classes or to negotiate any other form of participatory democracy" (334). This statement brings into light how the social system itself reinforces the creation and perpetuation of gangs and gang behavior in the urban areas of the country. This thesis is parallel with Tom Hayden's arguments in the book, "Street wars," which explains how the "prison-industrial complex" further 'push' minority members and marginalized people to seek the help and belongingness in the community by seeking membership from gangs. The authors of ALKQN support Hayden's observation, and they also offer their own perspective about the issue of the failure of the prison system to create an image of rehabilitation instead of "punishment and social exclusion": the prison system seeks to further "exacerbate the fertile conditions from which street and prison gangs emerge," and the authors suggest that reorganization and reforms of the present prison system be implemented in order to help alleviate the poor conditions of community relations minority members have with white Americans and other dominant sectors of the society.