robberies, and 27% of aggravated assaults (Tolan and Gorman-Smith 2003). These acts of crime.
are quite high. Unfortunately research suggests fewer than half of serious violent crimes by.
juveniles are reported to law enforcement (Lopez and Emmer 2002). The data that are available.
focus primarily on use of weapons, presence of peers, drug and alcohol use, and other observable.
or easily defined correlates of offending situations. Such data are limited in that they do not give.
us the male adolescent offender's perspective on the violent act he committed. These data also do.
not explain why violent adolescent offenders commit acts of violence in some situations but not.
others. .
Most gangs are lead by one person or a small group of people: these are the ones that give the.
orders. The recruits, usually teens or young adults are the ones that carry out the crimes. In.
actuality, gangs use a variety of methods to lure kids into their group. They may offer to give.
them money, clothes, jewelry or love that they feel that aren't getting elsewhere. Or they may.
resort to other methods to force a kid to join them. Gangs have been known to use threats and.
coercion to recruit new members. .
Some of the most popular methods of recruiting new members includes: .
Temptation .
At first the recruiters may try to lure kids in by offering them money, clothing, drugs or.
jewelry. They attempt to make the gang life look glamorous. The money and material.
possessions may be tempting, especially to those children that have little of this at home. .
Deceit and Misrepresentation .
Gangs sometimes resort to deceitful tactics to recruit their members. Knowing that the word.
"gang" gives a bad image, they may try to convince the youth that they are not a gang but are a.
club or group. They may target children that seem to come from a bad home environment with.
little parental supervision. The teens are told that their parents don't care about them but the.
