How is Gang membership obtained?

The onset of gangs in Jamaica began as early as the 1970s, its formation of gangs began in the
ghettos of Kingston. Since the 1970s era, it has stemmed into a big tree, branching off into other
parishes and was no longer limited to just grown men or adults. As time went by, the violent
gang activities were beginning to branch off to the younger minority of the Jamaican populous.
School children, more so, teenagers who were attempting to mimic those actions of the gang
members that they deemed as role models. Moreover, joining a gang was not as easy as it was
assumed to be, there were rules and legislations, sort of like a mini community where
membership in the gang relied on certain key aspects or actions.
According to Duffy (2004), gang membership has been obtained through mainly political
affiliation in the Jamaican society. She states that since the early 1970s both political parties,
them being the Peoples National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). These parties
were seen as the base for gang operations back in the early days, and up to now in this current
decade. The political parties, according to Duffy, hired gangs of armed street youths to intimidate
their opponents. Therefore, political ties to a specific party guaranteed that a side was taken and
hence leading to gang formation. Manwaring (2006), while agreeing with Duffy (2010) on the
instance that political ties have played a major effect on gang membership, which leads to some
level of immunity for gangs towards the law, had a different perspective on how gang
membership is obtained, he states that membership can be obtained through recruitment. This is
where lower members in the gangs hierarchy hire outsiders as opposed to their own, to operate
as mules and street-level dealers. African Americans, Trinidadians, Guyanese, and even Chinese
immigrants are given tasks at the worker-level. They are kept ignorant of gang structure and

members identities. If outsiders are caught, the posse is not compromised; if they are not, the
revenue continues to come in.
Arguing from a positive standpoint, Hazen (2010) believes that rather than labelling all groups as
gangs, they should base them on how they structure. She argues that persons view gangs based
on two characteristics, one of which revolves around motivational characteristics, purpose,
strength and contribution to society. The other involves key aspects like membership
(recruitment) and logistics (food and weapons). She also states that how a group is viewed is
based on its relation to the government and its capacity to perpetrate wide scale violence. She
also mentioned that gangs or armed groups membership could be formed through friendship and
were seen as harmless in earlier years as they dissolved as the members aged. Another way in
which gang membership was obtained was through criminal acts. Densely (2012) mentioned the
fact that gangs began as social groups through which friends from communities hang out, but
over time it evolved into a much bigger thing, where violence and drugs got involved. According
to densely boys, who represent the majority of gang members were doing petty crimes such as
stealing and smoking to gain membership into a gang, but a rapidly evolving cycle saw entry into
a gang as prospective members killing and raping persons in order to enter, especially in
Jamaica.
Dancehall music and artistes also play a very key role in obtaining gang membership. Jackman
(2012) provided some information that gave insight into the fact that dancehall artistes have an
impact on gang membership. In 2009, the famed artistes, David Brooks (Movado) and Adijah
Palmer (Vybz Kartel) had a musical dispute which escalated from the music industry into the
Jamaican populous causing rival gangs of the two artistes to be in conflict. Jackman noted that
this feud between the two artistes allowed for a turf war and borderlines between two sides. The

Gully posse which belonged to Movado and the Gaza belonging to Kartel often did not have
any problems outside of musical confrontation with each other but fans of both parties as far
away as even Trinidad and Tobago labelling themselves on behalf of both artistes. Meaning any
student that identified themselves as a Gully fan was seen as the enemy to Gaza fans and
vice versa. In agreement with Hazen (2010), Rogers (2010) believes that gangs are sometimes
misunderstood, he believes gangs are not always violent groups but are sometimes just a group
of friends that hang out and keep themselves out of trouble. He however acknowledges that there
is also a certain level of dangerousness associated with gangs, and with the various contents of
youth, it makes leaving the gang inevitable.
In concluding, gang membership has become somewhat of a subculture in todays society of
Jamaica and is deemed to be taking over. Obtaining membership in a gang ties in somewhat with
the influences of gang violence so that means there are common denominators between the two.
The two however are different in that obtaining membership deal with how a person enters a
gang and influences deal more with why persons enter gang

References

Densley, J. A. (2012). The organisation of london's street gangs. Global Crime, 13(1), 42-64.
doi:10.1080/17440572.2011.632497

Duffy, M.P., Gillig, S.E. (2004). Teen Gangs: A Global View. Westport Conn: Greenwood Press.

Hazen, J. M. (2010). Understanding gangs as armed groups. International Review of the Red
Cross, 92(878), 369-386. doi:10.1017/S1816383110000378

Interview with Dennis Rodgers. (2010). International Review of the Red Cross, 92(878), 313-328.
doi:10.1017/S1816383110000433

Jackman, W. M. (2010). Dancehall and hip-hop: Youth perceptions of sexuality and

violence. Caribbean Dialogue, 15(1), 27-40.

Manwaring, M. G. (2006). Gangs and coups D' streets in the new world disorder: Protean insurgents in
post-modern war. Global Crime, 7(3), 505-543. doi:10.1080/17440570601073251