SOCIAL LEARNING AND CRIME

        Society makes you or breaks you.  The impact of learning on crime is difficult to ignore.  The purpose of this paper is to show the relationship between the learning perspective in criminology and explanations of delinquency in female gangs.  First of all, the learning perspective is one of the mainstream theory groups in criminology today.  It adheres to the positive school of thought, and uses the micro level of explanation.  Learning theory also holds to a crime as "normal" viewpoint rather than a crime as pathological point of view.
        Due to the means by which criminal behavior develops, criminal behavior is learned much the same way as ordinary behavior is learned.  Society, however, develops labels for criminal offenders through its societal reaction to law violators.  Whether or not this serves as a deterrent to crime, or whether or not it serves as an additional component in the learning of crime will be the focus of this paper.  A study of the impact of learning on delinquent female gangs should provide insights into how and why certain labels and classifications produce changes in behavior.

LITERATURE REVIEW

        Now more than ever gangs are changing in the shapes, origin and from different sides of the track. Many people say that women are becoming more dangerous than ever and are likely to be as violent and to exhibit criminal behavior as much as the men. In criminology many people try to explain the delinquency in female gangs and understand why they are doing what they are doing.

        The problem that we have in the world is that women feel as if they have to do everything as men do, they feel as if they have to prove that they can do just as good as men.  In our society women have to grow up in a city that is very tough and demanding; where they have to learn how to fend for themselves.  Women either fall into a life of drugs, not necessarily using them, but selling or the other alterative is selling their body (prostitution).  Girls start sticking together in groups for protection and they become family and try to maintain this structure so they won’t end up dead.  This is how bonds are formed. 

        Many people stereotype and label the actions of women, but women react by the way they are treated. Most of the women that are in gangs come from a dysfunctional family, they have either been abused physically or sexually (Robert Walker). So when escaping from a troubled life, they form a circle of friends they consider themselves family. They see this as a way to justify the reasons for joining the gang, but some may say that it is for friendship and self-affirmation. Some women lose their self-confidence and think that gangs are the only the only way for them to survive.  In a reporting in the justice bulletin, men are part of the reason women turn to violence is because they don’t want to be hurt or become a victim and they feel the they don’t have anywhere else to turn (Justice Bulletin 2001).

        The learning theory plays a part in the problem with the growing rate of female gangs. This theory is part of the social process and it assumes that the law breaking values, norms, and motives are acquired through interaction with others.  So in women gangs, the women show what they have learned from their family as well as what they learn from their friends and the environment.  Society over the years has placed the category of women gangs with the male gangs.

RESEARCH METHODS

Early thoughts of Females in Gangs

            When gangs started to grow more and more in size, gang studies became a social concern. That concern stemmed from the idea of “masculine” acts of violence, vandalism or some other cause of a serious threat (Spergel, 1995, p. 90). Typically when someone thought of gangs they thought that they were a male phenomenon. When females started to enter into the gang’s researcher just associated them with members of male gangs. Females in gangs were considered to be very tomboyish because they acted like just the boys. There were many assumptions that they acted like a tomboy to get to like them rather than to look at them sexually (Campbell, 1990, p. 166). There are variables that are associated with the bad girl role; they are a sex object and tomboy. Also another way for trying to separate the good girls from the bad girls where to say that the “bad girls were dirty and the good girls were clean” (Campbell, 1990, p. 166).

Gang related charges for arrested Females

            As you can see, a lot of research on gangs have ignored female associations. Early studies of gangs just consisted of males. Within the past decade researcher have said “the notion seems to be that female gangs and their members are ‘pale imitators’ of males gangs (Spergel, 1995, p.90).

Economic and Ethic Factors

            Many people join gangs, some may be for the same reason and some for different reason. There are a lot of reasons to why these girls fall in to the gang. It could be poverty, disease, divorce or the other problems in their life. Poverty and economic were associated with the forming of youth gangs throughout the 20^th century. By the 1980’s and the early 90’s there was a great loss of job which made everything worse in the inner cities. This was when a lot more of female gangs started to form. Also at this time gangs were economically successful, they also acted as protection for the neighborhood (Juvenile Justice Bulletin March 2001, Female Gangs: A focus on research).

            Female gangs have also been affected by the welfare system; it is an important source to them. For example, if they became pregnant they will get welfare for support (Hagedorn, 1998). This system is very important to a lot of ethic groups. Ethnic marginality often lies behind economic marginality (Thrasher, 1927). In the 20’s most of the members were children of European immigrants (Thrasher, 1927). There are a large number of black gangs; the most common ones are the “Bloods” and “Crips” out of LA. By 1980 there were African American, Latino and Asian gangs. There was a large increase in the Latino and Asian gangs over the recent years, they out number almost all the gangs now (Juvenile Justice Bulletin March 2001, Female Gangs: A focus on research).

Family Pressure

            There is one thing about a female gang member that doesn’t seem to change; it is the fact that young girls or women may have victimized at home. From research on female gangs there is a large number that have been sexually abused at home. For example, in LA there are 29 percent of a large sample of Mexican American female members that have been abused, also two-thirds of gang members interviewed in Hawaii (Moore, 1991, 1994).

Sex: Victimization and Stereotyping

            One of the stereotypes of a female in the gang is as a sex object. Early reports about the easy sexual availability of the female gang members came almost exclusively from male gang members (e.g., Short and Strodtbeck, 1965). However, male gang member told researchers that group sex was an initiation ritual for female gang members but female gang members dismissed the idea as ludicrous (Decker and Van Winkle, 1996). Many of the girls in the gangs became victims sexually. For example, the male gang member would tell the girls that they had to have sex with them as part of a ritual to be a member (Moore, 1991). Evidence of sexual exploitation of female gang member at home or within their gangs is one of the reasons to consider female gang’s membership a serious social concern.

Offenses Committed

            The arrest rates for female are rising every year. Female gang members commit fewer violent crimes than male gang members and are more inclined to property crime and status offenses. In Chicago, the female gangs are almost at the same level as the males in committing serious crimes. Researchers found that 78 percent of female gang members reported being involved in gang fights, 65 percent reported carrying a weapon for protection, and 39 percent reported attacking someone with a weapon (Deschenes and Esbensen, 1999). One type of offense is drug dealing.  The most frequent cause for the arrest of female gang members was the offense of drug dealing.  (California Department of Justice, 1997).

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

        The purpose of this paper is to show the relationship between the learning perspective in criminology and explanations of delinquency in female gangs.  First of all, the learning perspective is one of the mainstream theory groups in criminology today.  Learning theory also holds to a crime as "normal" viewpoint rather than a crime as pathological point of view.

        Due to the means by which criminal behavior develops, criminal behavior is learned much the same way as ordinary behavior is learned.  Society, however, develops labels for criminal offenders through its societal reaction to law violators.  Whether or not this serves as a deterrent to crime, or whether or not it serves as an additional component in the learning of crime will be the focus of this paper.  A study of the impact of learning on delinquent female gangs should provide insights into how and why certain labels and classifications produce changes in behavior.

            The social learning perspective is related to female gangs because they are not born with the knowledge of what they are now, it is learned. Female gangs are now more active then ever, they have also become more violent then the guys. The reason why some women join gangs is because they want to get away from their violent life in the home. Whether it has something to do with being abused or drug, they try to form a group of people just like them in order to get away. The main things that bring female gangs closer together are their friendship, solidarity, self affirmation and a sense of new possibilities. Some of the other reasons for female to join the gangs are economic and ethnic forces and family pressure. There have been many of stereotypes placed on female gangs; some consider them to be just acting like boys in the gangs. Some of the long time effects on female in gangs are that it is hard to get out. Also if they are in a gang for long time and have had kids then there might be a chance that their kids will try to follow in there steps.

            In conclusion female gangs are growing rapidly in the inner city. This research has shown that there are many components dealing with the problem of all gangs and it also show what the problems that surround it. In my opinion the only way we can, shape the number of female gang’s member or all member in general are to try to have a stable home environment, this where things are learned first.  

REFERENCES

Campbell, A.1894a. The Girls in the Gang. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell.

Campbell, A.1990.  Female participation in gangs. In Gangs in America, edited by C.R. Huff.  Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Decker, S., and Van Winkle, B. 1996.  Life in the Gang.  New York: Cambridge University Press.

Esbensen, F., and Osgood, D.W. 1997.  National Evaluation of G.R.E.A.T.  Research in Brief.  Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

Juvenile Justice Bulletin. March 2001. Female Gangs: A focus on Research                                     http://www.ncjrs.org/html/ojjdp/jjbul2001_3_3/page7.html

Moore, J.W. 1991.  Going Down to the Barrio. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

Spergel, I. 1995.  The Youth Gang Problem. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

[Comments: You can't do two theories: labeling and learning, so I broke it down to learning for you, and incorporated labels as factors for you.  You've got a "niche" topic, which might even be too narrow to study, and remember, it's got to be something researchable, not just something you can express ideas about.]
[Comments: got your Lit review (part 2) section in.  Perhaps part 3 will contain more research.  Also, you can't refer to "this learning theory" when you haven't identified one in the paper yet.  All you've talked about is the perspective.]
[Comments: I added your Research Methods section, and it appears adequate.]
[Comments: I added Part 4. Students have one last chance to edit the overall paper before the last day of class]

Last updated: 11/26/02