[ 英文摘要 ]

For Fun or For Job ? A Study of Neutralization of Juvenile Gangsters

by

LIN, KUN-LI

July 2009

ADVISOR：Dr. TSAI, MING-CHANG

DEPARTMENT：SOCIOLOGY

MAJOR：SOCIOLOGY

DEGREE：MASTER OF SOCIOLOGY

A string of campus violent incidents and juvenile gangster problems that occurred in Taiwan recently has drawn widespread media coverage and the concern of the entire society. A majority of relevant current studies tend to focus quantitative research broaching from the angle of criminal behavior, by which to explore the process of gang formation, means by which to recruit the youngsters, reasons for juveniles to join a gang, and the behavioral and violent tendencies after joining a gang. Nevertheless, there are little archival studies conducted to discern how juveniles with devious behaviors progressed from naïve students on campus into complicated juvenile gangsters, or their learning adaptation and their attitudes toward the gang they belong to, the reason and motive that draw them to join a gang, the correlation to the familial and parental bond, and the impact of the school’s authoritative system, as well as how these juveniles envision the gang to be? All of these questions beckon for in-depth exploration to better understand the inner sanctum and thoughts of these juvenile delinquents that could provide practical references to the authorities.

The thesis has three research objectives: One, to explore the correlation of the juveniles who continue to participate in gang activities and their familiar and parental bond, and the impact of the school authorities’ guidance and suppression. Two, to explore a neutralization strategy for selected juvenile subjects who are contemplating of joining a gang. Three, to broach from juveniles reflecting on their own personal experience in examine relevant current government policies on juvenile gangsters.

The study aims to explore the prevailing reasons behind juvenile gangsters joining a gang, and techniques of neutralizing the gang participation behavior by taking to the theoretic foundation of the “neutralization strategy”. By utilizing the qualitative research method, in-depth interviews have been sought with eight juveniles who still participate in a gang by exploring how their family and school impact them, and their strategic adaptation behind juveniles participating in a gang.

As revealed from the study, the impact of divorced parents and family subculture, family and schoolwork pressure, school dropout experience, and factors such as school dominance over the students all bear a certain level of relevancy to juveniles’ joining a gang; in addition, juvenile gangsters tend to resort to a neutralization strategy with a mindset of “it is not a big deal to join a bang”, “trying to avoid being taken advantage of”, “it is solely for fun and curiosity”, “it is the camaraderie among the brotherhood”, by circumventing between the guidelines of the mainstream culture and the devious gang culture in an attempt to cover up the consequences of violating the legal and social guidelines, attempting to gain the recognition of their family or the society as a whole.

Also discovered is the fact that these juveniles also tend to adopt strategies unrelated to the neutralization strategy, i.e. alluding to techniques of “that it brings work and money”, “there is a sense of achievement for being a prefect”, “It expands their horizon and builds knowledge”. Their mindset of wanting to be grownups explains why gang organizations try to lure juveniles with money by attempting to identify their needs to lure them into joining a gang.

Lastly, the study presents four objectives as the tangible, feasible recommendations on the subject of how to prevent juveniles from joining a gang, as derived from the study findings, which are presented as references to pertinent authorities.