The cliques are members who associate with the other members of the gang some of the time but not always. They have been accepted into the gang but not necessarily initiated. The fringe members make up most of the membership to a gang. These members have not necessarily committed for life, and may only associate with the gang on a limited basis. The wanna-be's are usually young kids ranging from nine to thirteen years old who have not been accepted into the gang, but they do associate with gang members on a regular basis (What is a Gang).
It is fairly easy to recognize a gang member. Gangs use special colors so that the members will feel a stronger bond to the gang. By wearing their style of clothing the member sees himself as part of the group and signals to other gang's members that he is a member of his gang. Each gang has a different style. For example: Some gangs wear a certain color bandanna. The Crips, for instance, which is one of the largest gangs in the United States, wear strictly blue, white, and black. They would wear bandannas of these colors on their heads, wrists, or let them dangle loosely from their back pockets. The rival to the Crips is the Bloods. The Bloods wear strictly red, white, and black. Also many gangs have certain tattoos to represent what gang they are in. Most of the time they are symbols, letters, or numbers. For example: a 187 tattoo represents a Blood gang in South Central, Los Angeles. 187 is police code for homicide (Webb 61). .
There are many reasons why kids join gangs, and every kid joins for a different reason. Poor parenting is the biggest cause of kids today joining gangs. Parents who don"t care what time their kid comes home or where their kid is, can cause a kid to join a gang. When a child has to grow up in a violent household where the mother is beaten and they themselves are beaten, these children tend to turn to violence when they get older.
