Title: Institutionalized Gangs
1Institutionalized Gangs
2Most Gangs in the World are found in Latin
America, Africa, and South Asia
3Urbanization in Lagos
4Maras in San Salvador
5Two Kinds of Gang
- Interstititial- groups of youth that are
socialized to the streets and come and go.
Typically composed of adolescents products of
urbanization and poverty
- Institutional- groups of youth that are
socialized to the streets but persist over
decades. Typically composed of both adolescents
and adults products of more complex social
processes
6Institutionalized Gangs Are Similar to other
Groups of Armed Young Men and typically have
high rates of violence
7Gang Are Institutionalized When They
- Persist despite changes in leadership (e.g.
killed, incarcerated, matured out) - Have organization complex enough to sustain
multiple roles of its members - Can adapt to changing environments (e.g. police
repression) without dissolving - Fulfill some needs of their community (economy,
security, services) - Organize a distinct outlook of their members
(sometimes called a gang subculture) often with a
literature and/or laws and prayers.
8Most institutionalized gangs organize crime but
are not necessarily hierarchical
9Conditions for Gang Institutionalization
- Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient
- Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and
Resistance Identity - Underground Economy
- Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and
demoralization - Defensible Spaces
10Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-1
- Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient
- Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and
Resistance Identity - Underground Economy
- Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and
demoralization - Defensible Spaces
11Poverty often means youth gangs but not
necessarily violence or institutionalized gangs
12Poverty in Chicago
13Chicagos Ghetto 1910- 2000
14Poverty, Race, and Homicide Coincide Spatially
15Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-2
- Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient
- Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and
Resistance Identity - Underground Economy
- Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and
demoralization - Defensible Spaces
16Walls of Exclusion in the West Bank
17Chicagos Wall of Exclusion
- Robert Taylor Homes and Stateway Gardens along
with an eight lane highway formed one of the
largest walls in the world seperating Irish
Bridgeport from Black Bronzeville
18Nigerias Bakassi Boys
19UDF- Nationalist Militia or Drug Gang?
20Maori Gangs in New Zealand have persisted for
decades
21Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-3
- Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient
- Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and
Resistance Identity - Underground Economy
- Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and
demoralization - Defensible Spaces
22Chicagos Black Gangster Disciples and the New
Concept
23In Medillin, both cartels and para-militaries
recruit youth gangs
24Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-4
- Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient
- Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and
Resistance Identity - Underground Economy
- Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and
demoralization - Defensible Spaces
25Cape Flats Displacement Violence
26Chechnya Refugee Children
27Where the State is Weak, Groups of Armed Young
Men take over
28Arkan and his Tigers Began the Process of Ethnic
Cleansing
29Projects Today, Condos Tomorrow
30From Vertical to Horizontal Ghettoes
31Displacement for SomeLattes for Others
32Conditions for Gang Institutionalization-5
- Poverty - Necessary but not Sufficient
- Racial, Ethnic, or Religious Exclusion and
Resistance Identity - Underground Economy
- Social Catastrophe- civil war, displacement, and
demoralization - Defensible Spaces
33Defensible Spaces of Rios Favelas
34Defensible Spaces in Chicago
35Conclusion
- Two kinds of Gangs - vast majority are temporary
youth gangs - Dealing with these gangs is a variation in
dealing with wayward youth tactics vary with
local conditions. But these are kids - Gangs institutionalize only in certain
conditions such gangs cannot be rooted out by
repression and require different, broader tactics
36Very low rates of violence make me question
whether the conditions for gang
institutionalization are present
37What is most important is to understand the
conditions of gang institutionalization and
violence in your specific locale and country
38Thank You
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