Evolutionary perspective on gang formation and behavior

¶ … Youth Gangs

Evolutionary Perspective on Gangs

Young men join gangs for several reasons, including their need to "enhance prestige" or improve their "status" among their peer group, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (Bilchik, 1998). Being in a gang means that a young man has someone to hang out with, and a kid joins a gang because they "provide...attractive opportunities such as the chance for excitement," explains Shay Bilchik, administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

When a youth gets up into his teens, he sees himself "...as making a rational choice in deciding to join a gang." He believes that it shows maturity on his part that he has made that decision, and that membership in a gang will bring "personal advantages" to him. When a young man in a city comes from a low-income family, he may feel "marginal," and he may feel that by being surrounded by other teens in his same predicament, that is a needed "social relationship" for him that gives him "a sense of identity." A young many have had academic failures, be labeled a "troublemaker" by teachers; he may have been labeled "learning disabled" and that label indicates to him his only future is on the streets.

He probably has access to firearms in his inner city neighborhood, and sees that there is money to be made dealing drugs - or even have parents who are substance abusers. Girls join gangs, Bilchik explains, because of "higher levels of normlessness" in her family, and she may have been the victim of incest or rape (older male siblings or an adult male in the household).