Gangs in Our Schools: Identifying Gang Indicators in Our School Population

cerned with gangs, while those who teach in unstable neighborhoods and areas of high drug use and violence do need to be concerned about gangs (Johnson 2005). First of all, what constitutes a gang? A gang is a group of individuals who have sworn allegiance to each other, have selected a name to represent their allegiance, and seek to enhance their status through criminal activities (Esbensen, Winfree, and He 2001; Joliet Police Department 2004). Gangs claim areas, or turf, which they will defend by any means possible; gang involvement includes activities such as bullying others and receiving and selling stolen goods. Gangs also take part in other criminal activites, which are designed to strengthen their reputation within the community and provide members with material goods and money (Decker and Gurry 2000; Radley 2002). Gang membership creates a unique bond between its members that is exclusive to all other individuals. This loyalty is to the gang above all else, including family, school, or community. The gang in many instances becomes the "family" of choice for individual members (Nawojczyk 1997; Zatz and Portellos 2000). Gangs of various ethnic and national origins have existed across the nation for many years. Irish gangs were the first street gangs to be documented in New York City (Walker 2005). By the 1920s there were over one thousand gangs in Chicago, and gangs were beginning to impact California's major cities. Recent immigrants from Central America have also had an impact on Latino gangs across the nation. Gangs are not unique to any ethnic background or economic conditions; the members of the 311 Boyz gang are white male teenagers from an affluent area in the Las Vegas area (Koch 2003). The "311" stands for the eleventh letter of the alphabet-the K-repeated three times, or "KKK." No matter what the origins of gangs, they have become a major problem in our schools. Because many teachers have had little or no exposure to gang behavior other than what is portrayed in the media, how can a teacher identify students who have ties with gangs? While there are several key indicators of involvement, it is becoming harder to identify other indicators, because gang members are becoming subtler in their display of signs and paraphernalia. Clothing is important to gang members for several reasons, and as such, clothes are perhaps the most identifiable sign of membership. The style of the clothing may aid students in carrying and concealing weapons: oversized pants and shirts can even leave enough room for students to conceal not one but several weapons. Some gangs also wear a specific type or style (such as a sleeveless basketball jersey) of clothing so that other gang members can easily identify them. Members wear clothes that contain the gang's specific colors or deliberately wear clothes that are clearly absent of the gang's colors. Such combinations of clothing help members to distinguish each other while making it more difficult to be identifited as such by school personnel. The colors and styles of clothes are relatively direct methods of visually indicating membership. But there are other small details that reflect gang alliance, and administrators and teachers, busy with many students