1st Edition
Youth Involvement in Street Gangs in California’s Central Valley
This timely, insightful, and data-led book fills a gap in gang scholarship by examining gangs in rural areas, specifically focussing on youth gang activity.
Incorporating information from interviews with 96 active youth gang members and associates in three of the rural counties of California’s Central Valley, this book provides an in-depth look at youth involvement in gang life in rural settings and addresses the underlying factors leading to the socialization of rural youths into gang life. The book documents the family and school life of youths living in rural communities and examines the process by which they are initiated into gang activity. It discusses their roles in various street gang organizations and their gang-related and non-gang-related illegal activities. It traces their experience within the criminal justice system, from initial contacts with the police to confinement in juvenile facilities. Besides extensive interviews with the youths, data from more than 300 surveys of community members, accompanied by field research in local communities, provide groundbreaking insights into a wide spectrum of issues related to gangs in rural settings. While the Central Valley of California serves as the research site for this extensive work, its findings are equally relevant to other rural areas in the United States and in the larger global context.
This volume will be of pivotal interest to students, scholars and academics in the fields of criminology, sociology, law, social sciences and political sciences, as well as criminal justice practitioners, policymakers, community leaders and advocates for anti-gang programs.
1. Youth Gang Involvement in California’s Central Valley
Gangs in Agricultural Setting
Studying Gangs in the Central Valley
The Research Process
Field Relation
Conclusion
2. Family in the Ecological Context
Agricultural Communities in the Central Valley
Family Environment and its Impact
Deviant Family Members
Conclusion
3. Getting into Trouble in School
Motivation for School
Ditching Class
Troubles in School
Schooling and Teen Parents
From Suspension to Expulsion
From Alternative School to Dropping Out
Conclusion
4. Immersion into Gangland
Gang Affiliation in a Neighborhood Context
Youth Gang Affiliation
Organizational Structures of Gangs
Jumped into the Hood
Representing the Gang: Changing Perspectives
Conclusion
5. Gangs and Crime in Rural Counties
Gangs and Violence in Perspective
Gangs and Street Violence
Gangs and Drug Trafficking
Gangs and Property Crime
Conclusion
6. Juvenile Hall: A Revolving Door
Contacts with the Police
Moving into the Judicial Process
Cases in Juvenile Court
The Cycle of Juvenil Probation
Effectiveness of the Placement Program
Is Juvenile Hall Merely Daycare?
Gangs and Challenges in the Community Context
Would You Do It Again?
Leaving the Gang
Conclusion
7. Conclusion
Biography
Huan Gao is Professor of Criminal Justice at the California State University, Stanislaus. She is the author of Women and Heroin Addiction in China’s Changing Society (2011) and was an academic visitor at the Center for Criminology at Oxford University in 2022.