Gang Activity Development Cycle Streetgang membership, on the whole, is youthful. Gang involvement among young people typically begins at a very early age. Children in their early teens are especially vulnerable to the recruitment tactics of streetgangs. Being bullied and bullying others while in school begins to be a problem at around ten years of age. Gang members unlawfully discharge a firearm for the first time at the average age of eleven.
Young people become gang members at the average age of twelve.
Finally, most gang members don't expect to live much past middle age. The number of secure refuges, or safe havens, for children is declining steadily and rapidly. No physical or social space can be considered inviolate when it comes to the criminal intrusion of streetgangs. Even schools, where children have historically been least vulnerable while in the public sphere, are becoming targets for gang recruitment and gang crime. A recent survey of Illinois school districts outside of Cook County demonstrates the expanding presence of gangs in suburban and downstate schools.