Detrimental Effects of Female Gang Membership on Health

Introduction to Gangs and Female Membership

In sociological terms, gangs typically refers to groups of juveniles. Gangs are seen as a form of establishing social order that offers an alternative source of status. The term "gang" typically evokes violence, drug use and dealing, and crime.

When a new member joins a gang, he or she must usually go through an initiation. Initiations do not usually involve elaborate ceremonies or formalities, but the initiate must endure certain rites. The most common is "jumping in" — a beating administered by all existing gang members. Gangs that accept female members sometimes rape them as their initiation instead of a jumping in. Following the initiation, the new gang member must participate in a mission. This can be anything from stealing a car to engaging in a firefight with a rival gang. Some gangs do not consider anyone a full member until they have shot or killed someone. Getting a tattoo with gang symbols may also be part of the initiation process.

Daily gang life is generally not very exciting. Gang members sleep late, sit around the neighborhood, drink and do drugs, and possibly gather at a meeting place in the evening, such as a pool hall or roller rink. They may work a street corner selling drugs or commit petty crimes like vandalism or theft. The notion of respect drives gang life almost completely, and for many gang members, gaining respect means committing violent crimes. While violent activity is relatively rare compared to their other activities, gangs do assault, shoot, and kill people for money, territory, pride, or revenge.

According to "Gang Facts and Statistics," the estimated total number of gang members in 2009 was one million. Of that number, 6% to 10% were female. In the United States, approximately 14,000 girls are held in correctional or residential facilities, with the majority having some kind of gang affiliation. Several issues contribute to or influence female gang membership. Nearly one in three girls in gangs has been in special education. In addition, they are often from low-income backgrounds and have been sexually victimized and/or exposed to violence. Their low income status, lack of education, and victimization are further complicated in most cases by family dysfunction.

Gangs are studied because they represent a serious social concern — one that stems from traditionally masculine acts of vandalism, violence, and other serious threats committed by gang members. It was long believed that women did not participate in these activities; therefore, early researchers were not interested in the delinquency of female gang members (Murrish). Despite seven decades of research on male gangs and crime, there has been no parallel trend in research on girls' involvement in gang activity.

Official data from law enforcement sources suggest that girls comprise between 8% and 11% of youth in gangs. However, a number of recent studies that survey gang youth suggest that females make up 20% to 46% of gang members (Murrish). Law enforcement data tend to underestimate the extent of female gang membership for several reasons, including a lack of a common definition of "gang member" and the consistent underreporting of female participation in gangs. The higher numbers recorded in self-report surveys may also reflect the younger ages of survey respondents compared to the youth who appear on police rosters: females tend to drop out of gang life earlier than males, often because of pregnancy (Murrish). Although the percentage of girls involved in delinquency and crime has increased significantly over the past two decades, it remains well below the level of boys' involvement, and the nature of the activity differs significantly (Murrish).

Each of these deficiencies in the traditional gang literature points to the single most important reason for studying girls in gangs: girls and boys are different. Although they may share many of the same experiences, they act, react, and interact in different ways. Exploring the differences between males and females — in their reasons for joining gangs, their methods of entry, their activities within the gang, their paths out of the gang, and community responses to gang participation — is therefore a key factor in understanding the phenomenon.

Works Cited

Belknap, Joanne, and Kristi Holsinger. "The Gendered Nature of Risk Factors for Delinquency." Feminist Criminology 1.48 (2006). Print.

Murrish, Helen. "Youth Gang Membership: Gender Difference and Gang Participation." La Follette School of Public Affairs (2001). Web. 15 July 2010.

St. Lawrence, Janet S., Edward C. Snodgrass, Angela Robertson, and Connie Baird-Thomas. "Minimizing the Risk of Pregnancy, Sexually Transmitted Disease and HIV among Incarcerated Adolescent Girls." Criminal Justice and Behavior 35.1500 (2008). Print.

Wingood, Gina, Ralph DiClemente Jr., Rick Crosby, Kathy Harrington, Susan L. Davies, and Edward W. Hook III. "Gang Involvement and the Health of African-American Females." Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics 110 (2002). Print.