Gangs and Extremist Groups: An Examination of Antecedent and Involvement Behaviors

• In Event: Perpetrators of Terrorism: Complexities, Comparisons, and Unknowns

Abstract

Criminologists have long noted that many forms of crime occur in a group context. However, evidence is divided on what it means to become and to be a member of a gang or a violent extremist organization – two commonly discussed forms of group-based criminal offending. Perhaps gang members and extremists share antecedent factors and diverge largely in their involvement activities. Alternatively, while some behavior may co-occur at similar rates, the underlying experiences across these two groups may differ substantially. Despite the long-standing criminological interest in gangs and more recently, politically extremist groups, we could identify very few prior studies that directly compare the two. In this paper we draw on a data set of 45 in-depth interviews with former gang members and 38 life-history narratives of political extremists in order to compare the two groups in terms of antecedent processes and involvement behaviors. Our analyses are informed by 51 theoretically motivated attributes, accounting for both marked similarities and differences between gang members and extremists. Our presentation provides qualitative data on both the similarities and differences in the processes that lead individuals to join gangs or extremist movements and on their behaviors upon joining.

Authors

• Michael Becker, University of Maryland

• Scott Decker, Arizona State University

• David Pyrooz, University of Colorado Boulder

• Patrick James, University of Maryland

• Gary LaFree, University of Maryland