There will be more juvenile gang members. They usually get stared about the age of 12 through 16 and usually stay with the gang till the day they died. The ages of gangs varied from 12 through 40 years of age. There will be a fourth generation of gang members of ages 10 to 40 years old, with many of them in their late 30s. The oldest gang members usually represent the leaders and the younger gang members look up at them as role models. Gangs usually wear loose knit clothing and the gang members did not associate with each other on a continuous basis. Burn marks and tattoos usually represent the membership in a gang. Hand signs and graffiti on walls will remain symbols of gang participation. .
Once a member entered into the gang, they have to participate in their activities: Not all gangs performed the same rituals. Gang characteristics are what set a part the different gangs. Most gangs usually initiated the new members by getting them "jump in." This is when the members get to beat the new recruit for a certain period of time. That's one of the most common ways. The other ways are to have sex with someone who's already in it. Or you can get walked in. Some other ways which are sick and twisted that I've heard of are; the leader holds a knife to the new member throat. If the leader thinks the newcomer is lying he can slit his or her throat. There are others that involve rituals and sacrifices. Mr. Kelvin Le indicated that his gang, "BTK," using the method "jump in"- he fought with four other members for one minute and had to be able to stand up. "After they beat you up, if you able to stand up and shake other members hand then you are in. If you are down and unconscious then you can't be a member."(Le. Interview) .
I, like may others, feared of gangs. We assumed that all gangs" members associated with criminal activities. We feared them because of what we heard, or what we saw on TVs.
