![Sample our Social Sciences journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110822/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Social-Sciences.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Scholarship has examined both gang and race violence in a variety of settings. However, there has been little research addressing the characteristics of gang and race related violence within youth correctional facilities. This article fills this research gap by utilizing 404 violent incident narratives provided by incarcerated male youth. Mixed methods analyses are conducted on gang and race motivated violence at the situational level. Multivariate analyses reveal significant differences in violent incidents when comparing number of racial groups involved and participant dynamic. Qualitative analyses compare themes related to the subculture of violence and correctional setting across the different contexts in which gang and race motivated violence occurs. The results have implications for theory, policy, and programs within youth correctional facilities.
Endnotes
Notes
1. Rarely has youth correctional violence been examined from the youth perspective, and self-reported violent incidents are beneficial in that they include violence that has not been officially reported.
2. Due to the limited amount of research that has been conducted on gang violence within correctional facilities and the extensive amount of research that has been conducted in the community this section utilizes general gang research that is relevant to the present study.
3. Gang members are also more likely to participate in violence and be victimized when compared to non-gang members, and places where gangs are the norm become a central location for gang violence and conflict (Huebner, Martin, Moule, Pryooz, & Decker, Citation2016).
4. When attempting to address gang issues through methods such as gang integration violent misconduct has been significantly reduced, but it does significantly decrease the number of gang members (Worrall & Morris, Citation2012).
5. Levels of delinquency and gang homicide in communities vary noticeably, especially when taking both race/ethnicity and poverty variables into account (Curry & Spergel, Citation1988).
6. By definition a race motivated violent incident will involve at least two racial groups, but it is unclear for gang motivated violent incidents. This hypothesis tests whether gang incidents are just as likely to involve the same amount of racial groups, compared to race violence, or is significantly more likely to involve only one racial group.
7. There is considerable overlap between deviant and criminal subcultures that are determined by the groups that are on the street and within prison (Mitchell, Fahmy, Pyrooz, & Decker, Citation2016).
8. The situational context and dynamics in this study refer to the themes that were identified during the qualitative coding process of the violent incident descriptions.
9. Three of the facilities were in Northern California, and two were in Southern California. Four of the facilities were all male, and one included both males and females in separate areas.
10. Youth were able to refuse to interview or respond to questions at any time during the process.
11. The exception, of which youth were informed, was if a youth planned on being harmful to themselves or another party we were obligated by law to report that to the proper authorities.
12. The youth described anywhere from one to six violent incidents depending on the amount of violence in which they have been involved, and how much they remembered. Youth that described zero incidents were excluded from the analyses.
13. These analyses identify significant associations between gang and race motivated violent incidents and situational characteristics. They are not determining causality. The discovery of significant associations can be used to guide future research, and the development of policy and programs within youth correctional settings.
14. There were times the youth would identify an incident as both gang and race related, or neither gang nor race related. These incidents are excluded from the current study, which focuses primarily on the similarities and differences in violent incidents that the youth identify as either gang or race related.
15. The variable one-sided is a combination of incidents that are considered offending only or victimization only.
16. Riot is included in the analyses to determine whether gang or race motivated incidents are more likely to involve the participation of youth nearby in the facility. A youth may rationalize their involvement in violence just because it involved other members of a group with which they identify.
17. The total number of participants ranged from 2 to 201 in a violent incident.
18. Youth reported a minimum of one racial group involved, and a maximum of four. The racial groups include Latino, Black, White, and Other.
19. This scale was developed with the use of DJJ's Disciplinary Decision Making System (DDMS). This system divides dispositions into three levels of punishment for minor misconduct, intermediate misconduct, and serious misconduct. For the current study, a fourth level was added to represent very minor misconduct, which was determined by the punishment the youth received (or lack thereof), and their incident description.
20. Interviewers would directly ask the youth to describe the worst gang incident, the worst race incident, and worst ever incident in which the youth has participated.
21. These variables are different than the dependent variables that address total number of individuals and racial groups involved; they measure the number of individuals in a single opposing racial group that were involved in the violent incident. There were no multicollinearity issues that were found with the variables representing total participants or number of racial groups involved in the incident. Additionally, if the youth reported one or greater for at least one racial group, the number of other opposing racial groups that the youth did not report on were presumed to be zero.
22. The youth were asked at what time of day the violent incident occurred, but were not always able to remember the exact time, so the variable was only able to capture when the incident occurred more generally. It was categorized as follows: 6AM to 11:59AM = Morning, 12:00PM to 4:59PM = Afternoon, 5:00PM to 7:59PM = Evening, 8:00PM to 5:59AM = Night.
23. A small percentage of race related violent incidents only involve one race, which is likely due to racial politics. This will be discussed in the qualitative analyses when violence occurs within the group. Ethnicity is also captured in this category, so it is possible that different ethnic groups are engaging in violence.
24. Southerners and Northerners are a prominent Latino gang rivalry within the California DJJ.
25. Youth identify the ethnicity Latino as a racial group, so that is how it will be referred to in this analysis.
26. BTP stands for “behavioral treatment program.”
27. Although it is difficult to determine from the quote above what an “earcracker” is, from the interviews it was learned that this was when a gang youth verbally insults another gang youth. Thus, when “earcracking” does occur, the youth identifies the incident as being gang related. This is similar to “eyecracking,” which is when a gang youth visually insults another gang youth.
28. It is possible that gang violence is prominent in the community, and gang rules are therefore common knowledge among incarcerated youth whereas youth might not be exposed to a lot of race violence until they are incarcerated. This would explain why gang violence is more likely to be considered a mutual combat, but this needs to be pursued further in future research.
1 Violent incident descriptions were potentially able to contain more than one of the themes displayed in Appendix B.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Daniel Scott
Daniel Scott, PhD, is an assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His research interests are in youth and gang violence, juvenile justice and corrections, gang involvement, policies and programs, criminological theory, and mixed methods. His current research examines youth correctional violence, juvenile probation practices, and gangs in rural areas. His work has appeared in Deviant Behavior, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, and the Journal of Criminological Research, Policy, and Practice.