ot like being a member of the Boy Scouts. Gangs commit crimes. And gang membership is a good gauge of character. It goes to the very heart of the matter, which is whether a person would do well on probation or whether they should go to prison" (Lahey, et al, 271-74).
In California, a recently-passed initiative allows prosecutors to determine whether to charge offenders over the age of 14 as adults in particular crimes; this is presently being attacked by defense attorneys, most prominently in the recent San Diego school shooting, as an unconstitutional restriction on judicial authority - previously such a determination or whether to deal with a juvenile in the juvenile or adult justice system was made by a judge - but the new law has been invoked also in such cases as the gang murders at Glendale High School.
Determining who is and who is not a gang member, and the level of an individual's involvement in gang activity, has a great deal to do with how that individual will be treated in the justice system. Research indicates that there is no easy definition for a juvenile gang and that there are few conclusive indications that a juvenile is involved in a gang. Gangs have been around since before the Montagues and Capulets and some definitions of gangs are so inclusive that the Girl Scouts and the bridge club could be classified as gangs. Gangs have been defined in a variety of ways (Lahey, et al, 262).
"A gang sometimes is defined as a group, large or small, that has a name, common symbols, a territory, a meeting place or pattern and an organization towards criminality. Gang members are products of the community. They range in age, and members may be male or female. Gangs organize themselves in various ways - sometimes under the guise of social or religious groups, ostensibly geared toward cultural improvement, yet often applying illegitimate or illegal tactics-such as violence, extortion and fear- to enhance gang power, prest...