A Qualitative Study of Gang Desistance in Former Gang Members
Open AccessAbstract of DissertationA Qualitative Study of Gang Desistance in Former Gang MembersThis qualitative research examined the lived experiences of former gang members in the process of desistance from their gang organizations. The research explored the thoughts and feelings of former gang members in an effort to better understand the process of desistance, as they experienced it, and to identify the social supports, if any, that these former gang members felt were helpful or would have been helpful in their process of desistance. Ten former gang members participated in the study. The study participants were participating in a religious community based program in Baltimore, Maryland. The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews lasting 90 minutes, followed by a short meeting several weeks later to have the participant review his transcribed interview and preliminary findings for accuracy. Van Manen's (1990) eight principles of phenomenological research were utilized to provide a foundation for this research. This allowed the researcher to enter into the lived experience of the participants and to attempt to understand the meaning that the participants ascribed to their desistance from their gang organization.The results that emerged provide a framework for the process that former gang members move through in desisting from their gang organization. Identified thought processes included evaluating family-like relationships within the gang and their importance or meaning, going through a forced separation from the gang organization, evaluating the cost of leaving the gang organization including the possibility of bodily harm, attempting to rebuild biological family relationships or building new family relationships outside of the gang organization, and grieving the losses associated with desistance and their gang activity.This study concludes with a discussion of the implications of this work and suggestions for moving forward in this area of research. Recommendations for conducting future research include targeting a more diverse population of participants including different gang organizations and exploring the differences between neighborhood and national gangs. Recommendations for policy makers include exploring the role that incarceration can play in rehabilitating gang members by giving them the opportunity to examine the consequences of their gang membership. Recommendations for future practice include creating a residential program/emergency shelter for gang members who are desisting from their gang organizations and in need of a safe place to stay.
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