Editing Organized crime (section)

====Youth and street gangs====
{{main|Gang}} 
[[File:Christopher Coke.jpg|thumb|upright=0.65|Jamaican gang leader [[Christopher Coke]]]]
An estimate on youth street gangs in the United States provided by Hannigan, et al., marked an increase of 35% between 2002 and 2010.<ref name="HenniganKolnick2015">{{Cite journal | last1 = Hennigan | first1 = Karen M. | last2 = Kolnick | first2 = Kathy A. | last3 = Vindel | first3 = Flor | last4 = Maxson | first4 = Cheryl L. |date=2015-09-01|title=Targeting youth at risk for gang involvement: Validation of a gang risk assessment to support individualized secondary prevention|journal=Children and Youth Services Review|volume=56|pages=86–96|doi=10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.07.002| issn = 0190-7409  }}</ref> A distinctive gang culture underpins many, but not all, organized groups;<ref>{{cite book |last=Wright|first=A|title=Organized Crime|date=2006| publisher=Willan| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P4naAAAAMAAJ&q=wright+organised+crime|isbn=9781843921417}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gangwar.com/dynamics.htm |title=Street Gang Dynamics |work=The Nawojczyk Group, Inc. |access-date=2017-07-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427202435/http://www.gangwar.com/dynamics.htm |archive-date=2006-04-27 }}</ref> this may develop through recruiting strategies, social learning processes in the corrective system experienced by youth, family or peer involvement in crime, and the coercive actions of criminal authority figures. The term "street gang" is commonly used interchangeably with "youth gang," referring to neighborhood or street-based youth groups that meet "gang" criteria. Miller (1992) defines a street gang as "a self-formed association of peers, united by mutual interests, with identifiable leadership and internal organization, who act collectively or as individuals to achieve specific purposes, including the conduct of illegal activity and control of a particular territory, facility, or enterprise."<ref>Miller, W.B. 1992 (Revised from 1982). Crime by Youth Gangs and Groups in the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of JusticePrograms, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.</ref> Some reasons youth join gangs include to feel accepted, attain status, and increase their self-esteem.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pesce|first1=Rosario|last2=Wilczynski|first2=James|date=2005|title=Gang Prevention - National Association of School Psychologists|journal=Student Counsiling|pages=11–15}}</ref> A sense of unity brings together many of the youth gangs that lack the family aspect at home.

"Zones of transition" are deteriorating neighborhoods with shifting populations.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rex|first=J|title=The sociology of a zone of transition|date=1968|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Burgess | first1 = Ernest W.  |title=Residential Segregation in American Cities |journal=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science|date=November 1928|volume=140|pages=105–115|jstor=1016838 |doi= 10.1177/000271622814000115 |s2cid= 144829665 | issn = 0002-7162 }}</ref> In such areas, conflict between groups, fighting, "turf wars", and theft promote solidarity and cohesion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thrasher|first=F|title=The gang: a study of 1,313 gangs in Chicago|date=1927|publisher=University of Chicago Press|url=https://archive.org/details/gangstudyofi313g0000unse|url-access=registration|quote=thrasher 1927.}}</ref> Cohen (1955): working class teenagers joined gangs due to frustration of inability to achieve status and goals of the middle class; Cloward and Ohlin (1960): blocked opportunity, but unequal distribution of opportunities lead to creating different types of gangs (that is, some focused on robbery and property theft, some on fighting and conflict and some were retreatists focusing on drug taking); Spergel (1966) was one of the first criminologists to focus on ''evidence-based practice'' rather than intuition into gang life and culture. Participation in gang-related events during adolescence perpetuate a pattern of maltreatment on their own children years later.<ref name="HenniganKolnick2015" /> Klein (1971) like Spergel studied the effects on members of social workers' interventions. More interventions actually lead to greater gang participation and solidarity and bonds between members. Downes and Rock (1988) on Parker's analysis: strain theory applies, labeling theory (from experience with police and courts), control theory (involvement in trouble from early childhood and the eventual decision that the costs outweigh the benefits) and conflict theories. No ethnic group is more disposed to gang involvement than another, rather it is the status of being marginalized, alienated or rejected that makes some groups more vulnerable to gang formation,<ref>{{cite journal  | last1 = Klein | first1 = Malcolm W. | last2 = Weerman | first2 = Frank M. | last3 = Thornberry | first3 = Terence P.  |title=Street Gang Violence in Europe|journal=European Journal of Criminology|date=2006|volume=3|issue=4|pages=413–437|url=http://www.angelfire.com/planet/crimeandsociology/StreetGangViolenceinEurope.pdf |doi= 10.1177/1477370806067911 |s2cid=9727289 |access-date=2011-06-08|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190805195906/http://www.angelfire.com/planet/crimeandsociology/StreetGangViolenceinEurope.pdf |archive-date=2019-08-05|url-status=dead | issn = 1477-3708  }}</ref><ref name="Klein et al 2001">{{cite book   | first1 = Jody   | last1 = Miller | first2 = Cheryl Lee | last2 =Maxson | first3 = Malcolm W.  | last3 =Klein |title=The modern gang reader |date=2001 |publisher=Roxbury |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4LaAAAAMAAJ&q=klein+et+al+2001+gang |isbn=9781891487446 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book  | first1 = Malcolm  | last1 =Klein  | first2 = Hans-Jürgen | last2 = Kerner  | first3 = Cheryl  | last3 =Maxson  | first4 = E. | last4 =Weitekamp |title=The eurogang paradox: street gangs and youth groups in the U.S. and Europe |date=2001 |publisher=Springer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=trTHT_qv-osC&q=klein+et+al+2001+gang |isbn=9780792368441}}</ref>  and this would also be accounted for in the effect of [[social exclusion]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Young|first=J|title=The exclusive society: social exclusion, crime and difference in late modernity |date=1999|publisher=SAGE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Jn1SasTM4wC&q=young+1999+social+inclusion|isbn=9781446240724}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Finer| first=C|title=Crime and social exclusion|date=1998 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfBzMuLL6wQC&q=social+inclusion+crime| isbn=9780631209126}}</ref>  especially in terms of recruitment and retention. These may also be defined by age (typically youth) or peer group influences,<ref>{{cite book |last=Decker & Van Winkle|title=Life in the gang: family, friends, and violence|date=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=shmK3PaaT_UC&q=decker+van+winkle+1996|isbn=9780521565660}}</ref> and the permanence or consistency of their criminal activity. These groups also form their own symbolic identity or public representation which are recognizable by the community at large (include colors, symbols, patches, flags and tattoos).

Research has focused on whether the gangs have formal structures, clear hierarchies and leadership in comparison with adult groups, and whether they are rational in pursuit of their goals, though positions on structures, hierarchies and defined roles are conflicting. Some studied street gangs involved in drug dealing - finding that their structure and behavior had a degree of organizational rationality.<ref>{{cite book |last=Skolnick|title=GANG ORGANIZATION AND MIGRATION -- AND -- DRUGS, GANGS, AND LAW ENFORCEMENT|date=1993|publisher=National Youth Gang Information Ctr|url=https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/gang-organization-and-migration-and-drugs-gangs-and-law-0 |id={{NCJ|142659}}}}</ref> Members saw themselves as organized criminals; gangs were formal-rational organizations,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Sanchez-Jankowski|first=M|title=Gangs and Social Change|journal=Theoretical Criminology|date=1991|volume=7|issue=2|url=http://www.observatoriodeseguranca.org/files/191.pdf|access-date=2011-06-08|archive-date=2018-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180301044325/http://www.observatoriodeseguranca.org/files/191.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sanchez-Jankowski|first=M|title=Ethnography, Inequality, and Crime in the Low-Income Community|date=1995|publisher=Stanford University Press|pages=80–94|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGIR4xzyuqkC&q=Sanchez-Jankowski+%281991%29+gang&pg=PA80|isbn=9780804724043}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sanchez-Jankowski|first=M|title=Islands in the street: gangs and American urban society|date=1991|publisher=University of California Press|url=https://archive.org/details/islandsinstreetg00sn|url-access=registration|quote=Sanchez-Jankowski (1991) gang.|isbn=9780520911314}}</ref>  Strong organizational structures, well defined roles and rules that guided members' behavior. Also a specified and regular means of income (i.e., drugs). Padilla (1992) agreed with the two above. However some have found these to be loose rather than well-defined and lacking persistent focus, there was relatively low cohesion, few shared goals and little organizational structure.<ref name="Klein et al 2001"/> Shared norms, value and loyalties were low, structures "chaotic", little role differentiation or clear distribution of labor. Similarly, the use of violence does not conform to the principles behind protection rackets, political intimidation and drug trafficking activities employed by those adult groups. In many cases gang members graduate from youth gangs to highly developed OC groups, with some already in contact with such syndicates and through this we see a greater propensity for imitation. Gangs and traditional criminal organizations cannot be universally linked (Decker, 1998),<ref>{{cite book |last=Curry & Decker|title=Confronting Gangs: Crime and Community|date=1998|publisher=Roxbury|url=http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/abstractdb/AbstractDBDetails.aspx?id=171548  |id={{NCJ|171548}} }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Decker | first1 = Scott H. | last2 = Bynum | first2 = Tim | last3 = Weisel | first3 = Deborah   |title=A tale of two cities: Gangs as organized crime groups |journal=Justice Quarterly |date=1998 |volume=15 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/07418829800093821 |pages=395–425 | issn = 0741-8825}}</ref>  however there are clear benefits to both the adult and youth organization through their association. In terms of structure, no single crime group is archetypal, though in most cases there are well-defined patterns of [[vertical integration]] (attempting to control all or part of the supply chain), as is the case in arms, sex and drug trafficking.