Understanding the Role of Violence and Conflict in the Stages of Gang Membership

• Author: J. Michael Vecchio,Dena C. Carson
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/15412040221116305
• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Date: 01 January 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

2023, Vol. 21(1) 27–43

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/15412040221116305

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Understanding the Role of

Violence and Conf‌lict in the

Stages of Gang Membership

J. Michael Vecchio

1

and Dena C. Carson

2



Abstract

This work uses social learning theory’s perspective on continuation and cessation of offending to

explore the how rewards and punishments for violence change across the stages of gang

membership. Qualitative interviews with a racially/ethnically diverse sample of 39 former gang

members within two emergent gang cities in the American south are used to explore the role of

violence across the stages of gang aff‌iliation. Inductive analytic techniques are used to analyze gang

members’in-depth, semi-structured interviews to identify and further ref‌ine emergent theme s

through the use of modif‌ied ground theory. Results indicate that violence is expressed as central

to the experiences of youth gang members across the life cycle of gang involvement and alters

former members’perceptions of the gang’s ability to provide a protective function. The extent to

which the role of violence changes over time—as it interacts with youth decision-making specif‌ic

to the balance of experienced and anticipated rewards and punishments of gang involvement—is

integral in understanding its reinforcing effect on gang membership and association.

Keywords

social learning theory, gang, violence, disengagement, youth gangs, gang leaving

Introduction

The link between gangs and violence is one of the most consistent f‌indings in scholarly gang

research and is believed to be the key factor that differentiates gangs from other delinquent peer

groups (Decker, 1996;Decker & Van Winkle, 1996;Melde & Esbensen, 2013). While we know

violence is amplif‌ied during periods of active membership, both direct and vicarious experiences

with violence impact youth even before they become gang-involved. The fact that protection is so

often cited as a motivation for gang involvement (Decker, 1996;Decker & Van Winkle, 1996;

Miller, 2001;Vigil,1988) indicates that youth experience elevated levels of fear and perceived risk

1

Department of Criminology, DePaul University, Chicago, IL, SA

2

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA

Corresponding Author:

Dena C. Carson, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, 801 W Michigan St.-BS4057, Indianapolis, IN 46202,

USA.

Email: carsond@iupui.edu

prior to joining (Taylor et al., 2007). Alternatively,youth who alrea dyhave higher propensities for

offending and violence may seek out gang membership (see Esbensen & Huizinga, 1993;Melde

& Esbensen, 2013). Research generally f‌inds an enhancement effect of gang membership in that

violent youth seek out gang membership, but that the gang will, in turn, facilitate violent behavior

(Esbensen & Huizinga, 1993;Melde & Esbensen, 2013;Thornberry et al., 1993,2003).

Active gang members are also at increased risk of exposure to violent victimization (Fox et al.,

2013;Melde et al., 2009;Miller, 2001;Taylor et al., 2007) from rival gangs (i.e., inter-gang) as

well as members of their current gang (i.e., intra-gang). The ubiquitous presence of violent

perpetration and victimization throughout the tenure of gang membership has led researchers to

argue that there is an upper-limit to the violence experienced by gang members (Bubolz & Simi,

2014;Carson et al., 2013;Decker & Lauritsen, 2002;Roman et al., 2017). This typically takes the

form of violence fatigue in that gang members become tired of the threat of violence, the nature of

retaliation (Decker & Lauritsen, 2002;Decker & Van Winkle, 1996;Pyrooz & Decker, 2011;

Vigil, 1988), and/or due to their direct and vicarious experiences with violence (Decker &

Lauritsen, 2002;Vigil, 1988). The argument for an upper-limit of violence is supported by the

gang disengagement literature, which f‌inds that violent experiences can motivate individuals to

leave gang life (Carson et al., 2013;Decker & Lauritsen, 2002;Pyrooz & Decker, 2011;Vigil,

1988). However, others argue that in order for violent experiences to act as a push to leave the

gang, they must be accompanied by a change in identity (Roman et al., 2017). This argument

comports with broader desistence literature that suggests experiencing negative events or an

accumulation of negative events informs an individual’s decision to desist from offending

(Paternoster & Bushway, 2009). Within the context of gang membership, however, we know less

about how violent exposure can impact the decision-making process when leaving a gang.

In order to understand the role of violence in the decision to leave the gang it is helpful to

examine violent experiences before, during, and at the time to gang leaving. The focus of social

learning theory (Akers, 1998) on the construct of differential reinforcement makes it a useful

framework for understanding the reinforcing role of violence in the stages of gang membership.

Social learning theory has been used as a framework to understand desistance from offending

(Warr, 1998) and is especially useful in this context as it suggests that the factors associated with

initiation into offending are also associated with desistance (Weaver, 2016). Moreover, social

learning theory has been used to understand the gang context (for a review see Winfree & Freng,

2015) and gangs are viewed as the quintessential context in which the learning process operates

(Akers & Jensen, 2008). In the current manuscript, we add to the literature linking social learning

theory to gangs by examining its utility in understanding the initiation, continuation, and cessation

of gang membership. We view gang membership as a status that can be reinforced similarly to

behavior. The rewards and punishments associated with life in gang can cause one to change and

reassess their attitudes (or def‌initions) about gang involvement—resulting in disengagement from

gang life. While there are multiple rewards and punishers associated with gang life, we are

concerned with how violent experiences, whether via perpetration or victimization, shape dif-

ferential reinforcements for the initiation into, continuation of, and disengagement from gang life.

We rely on qualitative narratives with a diverse sample of gang-involved youth to better

understand the role of differential reinforcements for violence. In doing so, our work has im-

plications for research on gangs, desistance from crime, as well as social learning theory. First, this

work has implications for gang research in that it improves understanding of the relationship

between violent experiences and gang membership as well as the role of violence in the decision to

leave the gang (i.e., how the upper-limit of violence is reached). A deeper understanding of the

underlying processes involved with reaching the upper-limit of violent experiences is important

for the development of interventions to help youth leave a gang. Our work can inform practitioners

as well as program developers so they are better able to leverage violent incidents with gang

28 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 21(1)