They discuss how young men are drawn to gang life, how young girls become attracted and attached to the gang members who eventually sell them into prostitution, and why it is so hard to infiltrate and dismantle the distinct but interrelated worlds of the procurer, victim, and client. Rooted firmly in first person testimony, this research deepens our understanding of juvenile prostitution by identifying and exploring the types of motivations and circumstances that lead teenagers into prostitution rings.
One of the Guysexamines the causes, nature, and meaning of female gang involvement. Miller situates the study of female gang membership in the context of current directions in feminist scholarship and current research on both gangs and female criminal offenders. The body of the book draws on interviews from girls in two mid-sized midwestern cities with relatively new gang histories, St. Louis, Missouri and Columbus, Ohio. It discusses how and why girls join gangs, the nature of girls' involvement in gangs (including initiation rituals, gang rules, inter-gang-rivalries, and criminal activities), and how gang involvement shapes girls' participation in delinquency and their risk of victimization, as well as the ways their gender affects this experience.
"Female Gangs in America" challenges a long tradition of "color them male" scholarship about gangs in our country by exploring the experiences of girls in gangs. Recognizing that girls have long been "present but invisible" in American gang life, this book offers the first comprehensive collection of essays every published on the topic. The chapters are linked by interpretive essays that explore issues like girls' violence, ethnic variations in girls' gang behavior, gender differences in female and male experiences of gang life, and the role of economic marginalization in the lives of girls in gangs. -- From publisher's description.
Dismissed by the police as mere adjuncts to or gofers for male gangs, girl gang members are in fact often as emotionally closed off and dangerous as their male counterparts. Carrying razor blades in their mouths and guns in their jackets for defense, they initiate drive-by shootings, carry out car jackings, stomp outsiders who stumble onto or dare to enter the neighborhood, viciously retaliate against other gangs and ferociously guard their home turf. But Sikes also captures the differences that distinguish girl gangs-abortion, teen pregnancy and teen motherhood, endless beatings and the humiliation of being forced to have sex with a lineup of male gangbangers during initiation, haphazardly raising kids in a household of drugs and guns with a part-time boyfriend off gangbanging himself. Veteran journalist Gini Sikes spends a year in the ghettos following the lives of several key gang members in South Central Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Milwaukee. In 8 Ball Chicks, we discover the fear and desperate desire for respect and status that drive girls into gangs in the first place--and the dreams and ambitions that occasionally help them to escape the catch-22 of their existence.
This statutory guidance on injunctions to prevent gang-related violence draws on the experience and knowledge of the police service, local authorities and a wide range of local partners involved in dealing with violent gangs. It has been developed and approved by partners across the Criminal Justice System, as well as local practitioners. It has been produced after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls, and has been laid before Parliament by the Home Secretary. The Policing and Crime Act 2009 contains provision for injunctions to prevent gang-related violence to be sought against an individual; these were commenced in January 2011. The Crime and Security Act 2010 contains provisions for breach of an injunction to be enforced against 14 to 17 year olds; these will be commenced in January 2012.
In this ground-breaking new book on the Norteña and Sureña (North/South) youth gang dynamic, cultural anthropologist and linguist Norma Mendoza-Denton looks at the daily lives of young Latinas and their innovative use of speech, bodily practices, and symbolic exchanges that signal their gang affiliations and ideologies. Her engrossing ethnographic and sociolinguistic study reveals the connection of language behavior and other symbolic practices among Latina gang girls in California, and their connections to larger social processes of nationalism, racial/ethnic consciousness, and gender identity. An engrossing account of the Norte and Sur girl gangs - the largest Latino gangs in California Traces how elements of speech, bodily practices, and symbolic exchanges are used to signal social affiliation and come together to form youth gang styles Explores the relationship between language and the body: one of the most striking aspects of the tattoos, make-up, and clothing of the gang members Unlike other studies – which focus on violence, fighting and drugs – Mendoza-Denton delves into the commonly-overlooked cultural and linguistic aspects of youth gangs
“A novel exploration of societal roles, gender, and equality.” —School Library Journal (starred review) The Outsiders meets Mad Max: Fury Road in this “daring and dramatic” (Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling) dystopian novel about sisterhood and the cruel choices people are forced to make in order to survive. At night, Las Mal Criadas own these streets. Sixteen-year-old Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City. That role brings with it violent throwdowns and access to the hottest boydega clubs, but Nala quickly grows weary of her questionable lifestyle. Her dream is to get off the streets and make a home in the exclusive Mega Towers, in which only a chosen few get to live. To make it to the Mega Towers, Nalah must prove her loyalty to the city’s benevolent founder and cross the border in a search of the mysterious gang the Ashé Riders. Led by a reluctant guide, Nalah battles crews and her own doubts but the closer she gets to her goal the more she loses sight of everything—and everyone—she cares about. Nalah must choose whether or not she’s willing to do the unspeakable to get what she wants. Can she discover that home is not where you live but whom you chose to protect before she loses the family she’s created for good?
"Amber, Bev, Chantel, Jazmyne, Faith, and Jorgina are six Indigenous women previously involved in street gangs or the street lifestyle in Saskatoon, Regina, and Calgary. In collaboration with Indigenous Studies scholar Robert Henry (Métis), they share their stories using photovoice, an emancipatory research process where participants are understood to be the experts of their own experiences. Each photograph in Indigenous Women and Street Gangs was selected and placed in order to show how the authors have changed with their experiences. Following their photographs, the authors each share a narrative that begins with their earliest memory and continues to the present. Together the photographs and narratives bring a deeper meaning to the women's lived realities. Throughout, these women show us the meaning of survivance, a process of resistance, resurgence, and growth. While often difficult to read, the narratives shared by Amber, Bev, Chantel, Jazmyne, Faith, and Jorgina are direct, explicit, sensitive, and imbued with hope and humour. They provide unparalleled insight into the lives of these women and break all kinds of stereotypes along the way."--
Based on in-depth interviews with ten women who, like Glennis Dennehy, are former gang associates, "The girls in the gang" widens the understanding and dispels some of the myths about this secretive world. It considers how and why women get into gangs, the inferior roles they occupy, the dynamics that keep them there and the means by which women can escape gang control.
