How Can We Prevent Girls From Joining Gangs?

Get the Book

This page gives an overview of one section of the book Changing Course: Preventing Gang Membership.

Learn more about the book and how to get copies.

Contrary to conventional stereotypes, girls join gangs in large numbers. In the U.S., girls may comprise at least one-quarter of all youth gang members. Girls join gangs for many of the same reasons boys do — such as a sense of belonging, excitement or protection — but girls also present some gender-specific concerns. For example, girls are more likely than boys to

seek “safety” from sexual abuse by joining a gang, but girls actually face an even greater risk of sexual victimization as a result of gang-joining. Prevention efforts should focus on helping girls stay in school, avoid substance abuse and abusive boyfriends, and delay early sexual activity and parenthood.

In the Spotlight: This chapter features an interview with Marian Daniel, Founder of the Female Intervention Team, which operates within the Maryland Department of Juvenile Justice.

Read the Changing Course chapter “How Can We Prevent Girls From Joining Gangs?” by Meda Chesney-Lind (pdf, 13 pages).

About This Article

This article presents a chapter summary from the joint National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publication Changing Course: Preventing Gang Membership (pdf, 166 pages). Changing Course features chapters written by some of the nation’s top criminal justice and public health researchers. The volume was edited by Thomas R. Simon, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nancy M. Ritter, National Institute of Justice, Reshma R. Mahendra, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from National Institute of Justice. Published by the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, whose content is not copyrighted (its reuse policy); its pictures, stock photography, are not copied.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.