What Motivates the Youth to Join Gangs?
Race and Deprivation.According to an article by Lawrence Rosenthal (2000), he claims that one theory on this could have to do with race and racial discrimination or hate crimes due to race. Youths of mixed ethnic background catch heat from all sides, but in a gang environment they are welcomed and looked at as equal to any other gang member. It is the unity and group equality that draws them into the trap. Once in, they aren’t able to find an easy exit out; that is if they want one. Another theory is that it gives them a sense of power and dominance, where before they might have been considered weak minded, as well as physically weak. They are incited by the control they believe they have in their life and over others so they choose to become more intertwined with gang life by making their gang membership more prominent.
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Eric Raymond