INDICATORS THAT YOUTH MAY BE INVOLVED IN GANG LIFE
WARNING SIGNS
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A warning sign is anything that increases the likelihood of a person being involved with a gang. Typically the more warning signs present the higher chance that a person will become involved with a gang.
-Spending time with criminal or gang-involved peers.
-Rule-breaking, impulsive or aggressive behavior, leading youth to get into trouble with police.
-Attitudes and beliefs that support anti-social, criminal or violent behavior.
-Ineffective discipline and poor parental supervision or involvement.
-Poor school performance.
-Low commitment to school.
-Presence of neighborhood gang activity.
-Mental or emotional difficulties.
-Social Media name is an alias or contains gang symbols and numbers.
-Consistent wearing of clothing and accessories of the same colour.
-Wearing the same coloured bandanna, having the bandanna hanging out of a pocket/pants.
-Posing for pictures displaying hand signs (gang signs).
-Unexplained wealth and/or property.
THE TRUTH ABOUT GANGS
GIRLS AND GANGS
Female participation in gangs range from turning a blind eye, gathering information or passing messages.
Carrying/holding drugs on behalf of someone else to full scale drug involvement and carrying out of other violent criminal offences.
Girls in gangs are not exempt from extreme violence from their own gang or others.
Women and girls are reportedly groomed by gangs by promises of a romantic relationship, alcohol, cigarettes, money and narcotics. When they try to leave, gang members use tactics such as sexual abuse, including rape and threatening the victim’s family with violence.
Many girls who believe they are a gang members’ girlfriend are offered to and abused by other gang members or pimped out to settle drug debts.
In gang culture, it is believed that men should control women and girls view sexual abuse as a condition to belong to a gang. This violence and abuse is almost never reported.
GANG INTERVENTION, DROPPING THE GANG LIFE
Leaving the gang lifestyle may seem impossible, for some the criminal element is all they know.
DROP GANGS has partnered with community organizations which are experts in their field for providing advice and resources to persons looking to escape the criminal element.
Visit the DROP GANGS (Contact us) or (Let us help) page to DROP us a line, to take the first step in your new life.