Girl Gangs

Risk Factors for Gang Involvement

Research has consistently supported prior sexual abuse as a moderate to strong predictor of female offending. Given this reality, it is not surprising that researchers have found that childhood sexual abuse is a pathway for female onset into juvenile gang involvement. After all, these juveniles most often are sexually victimized by a male family member (i.e., father, stepfather, uncle, or brother) before running away from home and turning to the streets for survival. If these juveniles are not ensnared by prostitution, they turn to gang membership to establish a new “family” and to provide emotional and financial support.

Numerous research studies have attempted to identify the risk factors for female gang involvement. In a 1998 study, Walker-Barnes, Arrue, and Mason identified the risk factors for female gang involvement, which included family influences (i.e., parental affection, family conflict, abuse, and modeling), peer influences (i.e., peer pressure, making friends), neighborhood (i.e., high crime area, presence of gangs), and self (i.e., respect). Predominately, the researchers found that friends have a significant effect on juvenile gang involvement-more so than the other risk factors.

Some researchers have also found that low self-esteem is a precursor to gang membership. More recently, Archer and Grascia have stated that women may join a gang to maintain a relationship with a boyfriend already in a gang, as a method for seeking protection from other neighborhood gangs, or because a close friend joined a gang. Clearly, friends, or peer pressure, are a consistent predictor of juvenile female gang involvement in the literature.

Gang Life

One of the first academic studies that discussed female gang involvement was conducted by Thrasher in 1936. At the time, Thrasher stated that female gang members were auxiliary members to their male counterparts. Women who have enter gangs come from all different racial and ethnic backgrounds, from differing socioeconomic backgrounds, and from different parts of a city (i.e., urban, suburban, and rural). For women wanting to join a gang, initiation practices differ by city. In some gangs, females are “jumped in,” where they have to endure a beating by other gang members. This initiation method is used to establish loyalty to the gang by the inductee and for the inductee to demonstrate her toughness.

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