Robin Petering first encountered the “juggalos” – tattooed and street-named young fans of the non-mainstream band, Insane Clown Posse – about seven years ago, when she worked in Oregon drop-in centers for youth experiencing homelessness. Now a researcher at the University of Southern California School of Social Work in Los Angeles, Petering has gone on to study the group, who were named a “hybrid gang” by the FBI in 2011. Not only has she found that juggalos are overrepresented among homeless youth, she’s also working to build knowledge about homeless youth who are involved with gangs of all kinds. Her goal is to find the best ways for social service providers to assist them.
We spoke to Petering about the reasons some homeless youth become involved in gangs, the need to move away from a “criminal justice lens” when addressing young people’s involvement in gangs, and the high rates of trauma among juggalos.
[For more of this story go to http://ncfy.acf.hhs.gov/news/2...less-youth-and-gangs]
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