fulfillment that gangs provide. Many youths that join gangs come from a family that is deemed dysfunctional. In this case, a dysfunctional family may be one of an abusive parent, one parent, or even no parents. As an illustration, almost fifty percent of children in the United States, 32.3 million children total, do not live with both of their biological parents (Korem 53). This number is even greater in the inner cities of American society where gang life thrives. Moreover, a family may appear to not be dysfunctional on the outside, but if even one parent is severely dysfunctional and a youth takes the brunt of that dysfunction - it can be the activating mechanism that initiates gang involvement(Korem 55). In order to escape from this dysfunction, a youth may turn to the family hierarchy of a gang for family fulfillment.The family hierarchy of a gang that was previously mentioned is definite and closely resembles that of a non-dysfunctional family, or that of a normal family. In the case of gangs there are four distinct levels that resemble those of a family. These four levels are, namely, the core members, floaters, wannabes, and the veterans. This gang organization, it can be argued, substitutes in distinctive ways for a particular pattern of inadequacy in existing familiar relationships (Spergel 70). The first, or top, level of gang organization is that of the core members. The core members may make key decisions and set the standards of the group. Moreover, core members may support or sanction the actions of other members of the group. The core members are, in effect, the parental figures of the gang. It is needless to say that without the actions and support of core members, the group would become dysfunctional and unable to function. Therefore the core members are obviously the most important members of the group.The next level of the gang hierarchy consists of a group that is called the floaters. The floater is not ...
