Teenagers involved in criminal and gang-orientated violence and activity is greatly on the rise. Stemming from major cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago, the spread of gang mentality is seeping its way into the cracks of small cities and towns and is infecting youth throughout North America. Gang subculture is influencing teens and even children as early as the age of ten. The psychological and social factors that are fueling the increase in numbers of teenagers in gangs are readily identifiable. Ethnicity, social class, economic reasons and gender are strong contributing factors to the demographics and social structure of teens and gangs. .
Ethnicity and social class do play a role in criminal activity. For instance, the majority of gangs in the United States are primarily made up of poorer Hispanics (44%) and African Americans (35%) with Caucasians contributing only 14 percent of gang members. There are historical reasons for this noticeable population of ethnics in gangs. Most researchers believe that Hispanic street gangs can be traced back to the early 1900's. Those gangs originally developed as a result of incidents that occurred more than fifty years before that. Hispanic gang origins date back to 1835 with the revolt of Texas from Mexican control. The Battle of the Alamo ensued. This battle and the Spanish American War set the tone for decades of mistrust between Americans and Hispanics. As the U.S.A. now owns the northwestern portion of what used to be Mexico's land, Hispanics feel that the U.S. stole this from Mexico and that it is their right to take it back. Feeling like strangers in "their own land" and lacking the economic and political power to fit into the new reality, they took to ethnic gangs. Most Hispanic gang members are third and even fourth generation members. So there is also a nature versus nurture issue involved. As for African Americans, their reason for joining and being involved with gangs can be traced all the way back to the days of slavery.
