In the recent past, the rising of various gang groups around the world has brought the issue into consideration and therefore, garnering a lot of media attention. Over time, various scholars have come together to study gangs, where each of them has ended up a different conclusion on the same. In other words, there is no appropriate definition given for gangs that have been agreed upon so far. According to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) (2011), a gang comprises of a group of three or more individuals who have one common identity. Such groups have branded themselves with specific names as well as have a signature mark for their members which in most cases are tattoos or symbols. Nevertheless, a group identifies itself as a gang because of their involvement in criminal activities including stealing properties and terrorizing the community.
According to previously conducted research on the subject matter, gangs do differ in many ways. Whereas all might be involved in criminal activities, there are some significant differences in the way they operate and run their business. It is as a result of this that the classification of gangs emerged. However, the classifying of gangs has proved to be a challenging undertaking given that the gang culture has been changing over the years as if following a particular trend. There is also the issue of gang membership and size that has affected this classification. Some gangs have very complex initiation processes and are massive in number whereas others are smaller in size and do not have such complexities in membership.
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Despite the intricacies, gang classification is still viable. First and foremost, a gang can be classified based its behaviours. Behaviours, in this case, implies how the gang members undertake their activities. Under this category, the gangs can thereby be classified into one of the following category: social, drug dealing gang, entrepreneurial, violent, or delinquent gangs. In essence, every gang fits into almost one of these five core categories of behavioural conduct. Some fit into more than one of these strata. A good example is a drug dealing gang. In most cases, drug dealers engage in a bitter exchange with the rival group, a factor that results in violence. Generally, it is the major goal that solemnly predetermines the behaviour of these members that makes them to be classified into the one of the five.
The second way in which gangs can be classified is by studying the evolutionary characteristics of each and how it developed into its current state. Every gang always has a history of how it came into existence and how they were able to grow in their activities. Some of them are traditional, thus, have a well-structured and organized leadership system. Similarly, they have rules which guide their operations. Other factors to consider under this category include things like criminal activities they engage in, and their gender, structure and ethnic compositions. These aspects help in providing some key insights into gangs that are similar in operation, structure, and culture.
The other way a gang can be classified is by defining its primary objectives. Under this category of classification, there are three major sub-categories into which they fit in. These include corporate, territorial, and scavenger. As the name suggests, corporate gangs are mainly driven by their desire to make profits out of their activities. They are mostly hired by individuals or groups of people who want to carry out criminal activities without being directly getting involved and are thus paid for that. Corporate gangs are very organized and rarely get involved with personal violence. Territorial gangs, on the other hand, are always focussed on protecting what they consider to be theirs. They make use of force to ensure that nobody interferes with what they perceive to be theirs. In contrast to the corporate gangs, territorial gangs are said to be less organized and tend to get involved in individual violence. The last type of gang is the scavenger gang. Just as the name suggests, this group is always disorganized and do not have any primary objectives that motivate their engagement in crime. They always indulge themselves in criminal activities for no particular reason. Most of the peoples joining such groups do so out of the need to relate to certain groups. Their organization is also inferior.
Other than these three major classification methods, local gangs can be classified in accordance to the threat they pose to the public. Law enforcement mostly uses this kind of approach. Under this category, there are two major sub-categories: street gangs and motorcycle gangs. Street gangs are identified as the most dangerous group to public safety. The reason for this is because they mostly come in large sizes and located over broad jurisdictional areas. They mostly engage in drugs and violence. Motorcycle gangs, though not as much of a public threat as street gangs, are also considered to be dangerous as they also engage in violence and criminal activities.
In conclusion, the classification of gangs is an arduous task. This is because all gangs seem to have an aspect that makes them fit into almost all criteria of classification. Therefore, this makes it difficult to find a landmark criteria of categorizing them.
References
Mason, C., Egley, A., Miller, J., & Klein, M. (2014). The Modern Gang Reader (4 th Ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
National Drug Intelligence Centre. (2009). National gang threat assessment 2009. Justice . Retrieved on 19 July 2017, from https://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs31/31379/gangs.htm.
National Institute of Justice. (2011). What is a gang? Definitions. NIJ . Retrieved on 19 July 2017, from https://www.nij.gov/topics/crime/gangs/pages/definitions.aspx.
