We define group delinquency as law-violating behavior
committed by juveniles in relatively small peer groups that tend to be
ephemeral, i.e., loosely organized with shifting leadership. The
delinquent group is engaged in various forms of minor or serious crime.
We
define gang delinquency or crime as law-violating behavior committed both
by juveniles and adults in or related to groups that are complexly
organized although sometimes diffuse,
sometimes cohesive with established leadership and membership rules. (Curry
and Spergel, 1997, p. 314-315, italics added for emphasis)
Sometimes individual juvenile delinquents and delinquent groups are allowed to develop into
more organized gangs through the
negligence of the neighborhoods and communities in which they may be found. Gangs can form if the community
and/or its police are unaware of the gang's
development or if local justice policies are ineffectual in dealing with their
members. Denial, on the part of the community or the police, will produce the same outcome.
In the field of criminology there is an explanation for crime referred to
as opportunity theory. In essence, it states that crime
can not exist without an offender, a victim, and a circumstance or
opportunity which brings
the two together. Crimes occur where and when the opportunity for them to
occur appears.
Likewise, gangs can not exist, or will have
difficulty existing for very long, in an environment in which there are no
potential victims - where victims are difficult to find, or where victims successfully fight back. It is also difficult for a gang to exist if the opportunities
they need for their existence are not present (i.e., weak
law enforcement, no graffiti removal, community denial of a gang problem,
inattentive media and a drug market, to mention a few).
If drug prevention programs are effective in making people knowledgeable
about the negative consequences of taking drugs, to whom
will gang members sell drugs? Without a marketplace, there's no drug gang. If children are being taught to resolve conflicts without resorting to
violence, who will the gang provoke into a fight? In other words, under an
aggressive campaign to remove potential opportunities for committing
gang-related crimes, it becomes more difficult for gangs to
form.
I guess there will always be children who are disobedient, who violate the rules,
and who break the law. If two or more of them begin associating with one
another over an extended period of time, and support one another in
violating the law, a gang may develop. It will be more likely to develop if
nothing is done to stop it. Why? Because it can - it will be allowed to form. The family, the school, the
community, the police - whatever it may be, they have allowed the gang to develop
by default. Failure to pay attention and take needed action enables gangs to
develop.