Overcoming Stigma and Discrimination: Challenges for Reinsertion of Gang Members in Developing Countries

Introduction

What are the challenges that exist for gang members attempting to reinsert themselves into society in a developing country plagued by violence and gang activity? In societies with high levels of crime, people who desist from criminal organizations frequently face stigmatization and discrimination due to their past. Although scholars have examined the process of leaving a gang, known as gang desistance, and returning to a noncriminal life (Bushway & Paternoster, 2013; Pyrooz & Decker, 2011), the literature rarely focuses on the challenges faced by people who leave gangs and criminal organizations in developing countries.

Central America is home to powerful and violent street gangs that operate across the region. Gangs have become a fixture of the social dynamics in these countries (Seelke, 2016). However, at some point in their lives, many gang members decide to leave the gang and attempt to start a new life through rehabilitation programs and religious initiatives (Brenneman, 2014; Wolseth, 2011). People who successfully exit criminal organizations still have to confront discrimination and are frequently stigmatized as they have to reinsert themselves into communities plagued by high levels of inequality, poverty, and social exclusion (Spence, 2004).

Based on 24 in-depth interviews with former gang members in El Salvador, this article is an effort to better understand the discrimination mechanisms that ex-gang members perceive upon leaving the gang and seeking to reinsert themselves into society. Gang members attempting to desist from gang life are stigmatized and face various forms of discrimination, which limits opportunities for creating social bonds and makes abandoning the gang life and becoming a productive member of society extremely difficult (Huebner, Varano, & Bynum, 2007). The various mechanisms of discrimination explored in this article affect the processes of desistance that ex-gang members experience as several cannot secure jobs, integrate into the community, or develop a self-image conducive to constructive life choices. In countries plagued by criminal violence, such as El Salvador, stigmatization, disenfranchisement, and discrimination of ex-gang members may hamper the efforts to build effective rehabilitation programs directed to assist youth with criminal records. This article attempts to explore how those discrimination mechanisms are perceived by former gang members and how they become a hindrance to their desistance efforts.

Theoretical Framework

Various researchers have analyzed how different forms of discrimination (e.g., socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, and language) interact with the factors behind one’s decision to join a gang (Moore, 1985; Vigil, 2002). This trend is prevalent in the United States given the association between social marginalization and ethnicity (Rios, 2011; Vigil, 2010). However, the gang literature mentions very little about the challenges that former gang members face once they decide to leave the gang. Few works refer to the role of discrimination faced by ex-gang members who are attempting to reinsert themselves into society (Pyrooz & Decker, 2011). One study of civil gang injunctions (CGIs) on gang members in San Diego, California, found that these policies resulted in the perception of discrimination against former gang members (Swan & Bates, 2017). The researchers conducted qualitative interviews and found that ex-gang members believed that they could not travel anywhere, even in their own neighborhoods, as they constantly faced the possibility of being stopped by the police (Swan & Bates, 2017). Interviewees argued that law enforcement officials who recognize gang members in certain communities target these individuals. As a result, former gang members have a difficult time maintaining a social support system and reinserting themselves into the community because of the fear that they will be stopped and rearrested due to the gang injunctions.

Yet much of the current literature refers to discrimination as “barriers” that can affect former gang members, particularly individuals with prison records, and could result in individuals being re-incarcerated (Curry, Decker, & Pyrooz, 2014; Huebner et al., 2007). Although there are various scholarly definitions of discrimination (Fuegen & Biernat, 2000; Orbe & Camara, 2010), we adopt the following definition of discrimination: the feeling of marginalization and exclusion by society.

The issue of discrimination is closely related to the phenomenon of stigma, which, according to Major and O’Brien (2005), refers to a social construct that confers to certain individuals a characteristic that completely discredits them in the eyes of a society or a group. This process of attribution may be rooted in appearance (e.g., clothes, tattoos), behavior (e.g., drug use), or group membership (e.g., gang member). It has a tangible impact on the ability of individuals to interact with others. In the criminal justice scholarship, stigma has been used to study the reluctance of individuals to interact with anyone who has a criminal record or a violent past (Rasmusen, 1996), as evidence of a criminal history usually marks—or stigmatizes—a person for life (LeBel, 2012).

Although there is scant literature on stigmatization and gangs, there is extensive scholarly research on the challenges that ex-convicts in developed countries, particularly the United States, face when attempting to reinsert themselves into society (Alexander, 2012; Jacobs, 2015; Mauer & Chesney-Lind, 2002). Even after they have served their sentences, former criminals are often shunned by their communities and suffer from social exclusion (Massaro, 1991; Travis, 2002). Convicts in the United States seeking to improve themselves through education face various obstacles as college and university applications require individuals to disclose their criminal records. Felons are denied access to student loans, making it more difficult for people to pay for their education (Blumstein & Nakamura, 2009; Henry & Jacobs, 2007). Felons are also denied access to public housing, and often do not have voting rights (Mauer & Chesney-Lind, 2002; Uggen & Manza, 2002). Such difficulties and discrimination can contribute to high levels of psychological stress for former prisoners (Binswanger et al., 2007; Turney, Lee, & Comfort, 2013; Western, Braga, Davis, & Sirois, 2015). Furthermore, former criminals can face a variety of challenges finding gainful employment (Clark, 2004; Owens, 2009) as companies and institutions often avoid hiring people who have been incarcerated (Creed, 2008; Ross et al., 2011; Ruškus, 2008). The recidivism rate of former convicts in the United States is high as individuals who are unable to compete in the formal economy because of their criminal records often are forced to return to a life of crime to survive (Nagin, Cullen, & Jonson, 2009; Travis, 2005).

However, this vast literature on the criminal justice system and ex-offenders rarely includes youth gang members or the challenges of ex-convicts in developing countries, such as El Salvador. The context that former convicts face, particularly individuals with gang histories, is different in El Salvador compared with the United States given the high levels of violence, inequality, and poverty present in developing countries.

In many cases, the scholarship on desistance from crime and gang life presupposes that once an individual has decided to abandon gang life, the community and its institutions will accept this person (Carson & Vecchio, 2015; Gormally, 2015). Current research shows that individuals struggle with reestablishing social bonds in institutions and social groups that can help them to remain on the path of desistance (Huebner et al., 2007; Uggen & Manza, 2002). In contexts marked by high levels of social exclusion, stigmatization becomes instrumental in keeping marginalized groups segregated and perpetuates different forms of discrimination (Zilberg, 2004).

Research conducted by Van Damme (2017) in Honduras notes that harsh countergang laws and negative press about gang members may affect the perceptions of the society, stigmatizing youth seeking rehabilitation and limiting the spaces for desistance. According to this author, the local community, the school, one’s family, and the church are essential in creating opportunities for reinsertion processes in this Central American country (Van Damme, 2017). Other studies on gang desistance in the region discuss how youth gang members feel significant levels of shame and abandon the gang life by becoming Evangelical Christians (Brenneman, 2011; Wolseth, 2008), usually in circumstances of systemic stigmatization. Despite these recent contributions, research on discrimination and stigmatization during the process of gang desistance remains limited. This article attempts to understand how those mechanisms of discrimination endure based on the perceptions of former gang members.

The Salvadoran Context

One of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the hemisphere (Booth, Wade, & Walker, 2010), El Salvador is home to large numbers of economically disconnected youth who have joined some of the most violent youth gangs in the Americas. Research by the World Bank indicates the percent of youth between the ages of 15 years and 24 who neither work nor study (ni estudian ni trabajan), referred to as “ninis,” is very high in Central American countries. In fact, ninis in El Salvador account for 25% of the population (De Hoyos Navarro, Popova, & Rogers, 2016; Téllez Velasco, 2011). Lack of economic opportunities, poor governance, and chronic violence have contributed to the surge of street gangs in the last 25 years (Cruz, 2015).

The most powerful and largest gang is Mara Salvatrucha, known as MS-13 (Wolf, 2012). The other major gang is the 18^th Street, which has split into two separate organizations in El Salvador: the 18^th Street Revolutionaries and the 18^th Street Southerners (International Crisis Group, 2017). Both the 18^th street and MS-13 began in Los Angeles, California, in the 1960s and 1980s, respectively (Vigil, 2002; Zilberg, 2004). The gangs consisted of youth who moved to Southern California to escape the Salvadoran civil war when they were children (International Crisis Group, 2017). As a result of the Illegal Immigrant Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 (Hollifield, Martin, & Orrenius, 2014), the U.S. government deported illegal immigrants back to Central America. Deportation policies and circular migration, along with high levels of poverty, inequality, and institutional weaknesses, led to the expansion of these gangs throughout Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador (Cruz, 2010).

The number of gang members in El Salvador range from 20,000 to 60,000. Yet some estimates place the number of Salvadoran gang members as high as 100,000 (Seelke, 2016; Wolf, 2017). The gangs are involved in a variety of illicit activities, including working as hired assassins. Their primary source of revenue is extortion (Cruz, 2010). The United States Department of Treasury has classified MS-13 as a transnational criminal organization, which means that this organization can be sanctioned by the U.S. government (Stolpe, 2014).

Fighting between gangs for control of territory has caused spikes in violence. In an effort to combat gangs, the Salvadoran government has used different suppression-centered policies (Wolf, 2017). These security strategies have led to increases in violence as the gangs not only fight each other but also with law enforcement (Hume, 2007). Moreover, the prison population has proliferated over time because of such policies: in 2016, for example, El Salvador had a prison population of 36,824, which is equivalent to 567 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants (Institute for Criminal Policy Research, n.d.). Furthermore, violence has skyrocketed in recent years. In 2015, El Salvador bested Honduras as the most violent nonwarring country in the world (Associated Press in San Salvador, 2016).

Study Methodology

This study aims to understand the mechanisms of discrimination that former gang members face in El Salvador once they leave the gang because of the stigma of having belonged to a criminal organization. It revolves around 24 in-depth interviews with former gang members who participate in rehabilitation and reinsertion programs in El Salvador. The interviewees were from a variety of gang organizations and had different roles in their respective groups.

These interviews were part of a larger research project conducted in 2016, which was based on a survey of nearly 1,200 gang members and former gang members in prisons and rehabilitation programs in the country. The survey did not address the issue of discrimination or stigmatization, but in the qualitative interviews, respondents provided a wealth of information about the challenges they have encountered in the gang desistance process. Such issues arise from the stigma of having belonged to violent gang organizations as well as living in a country that has been combating gangs for more than two decades (Smutt & Miranda, 1998).

Subjects for the in-depth interviews were selected based on their participation in a gang rehabilitation or reinsertion program ran either by a religious organization, an NGO, or a company. The research team coordinated with the leadership of these organizations and churches who facilitated access to the respondents who agreed to participate in the study. Selection of the participants was based on their record of past gang membership and their availability to speak to the researchers during the dates the team visited the premises of the organization. The coordinators of the research project approached each potential respondent in every program and obtained their consent to participate after explaining the purpose of the study. Although all interviewees had the right to decline to answer any questions that made them feel uncomfortable or stop participating at any moment, no respondent approached by the team rejected answering the interview questions or stopped the interview. The duration of the interviews was determined by the length of the responses provided by the interviewees and lasted between 30 and 120 minutes.

For identification purposes, the gang members interviewed in this study are labeled Pandillero, which is the Spanish word for gang member, and have been arbitrarily assigned a number between one and 24 to protect their identity given the sensitive nature of this subject. Twenty three of the interviewees were males and one was female, and the ages ranged from 17 years to 33. Most of the interviewees were participating in rehabilitation programs sponsored by religious organizations, including Evangelical Christian and Catholic churches. All of them had a record of previous membership in the major street gangs in El Salvador (MS-13, 18^th Street Southerners, 18^th Street Revolutionaries, and Mirada Locos).

As mentioned above, the research project also entailed a survey of 1,196 people with a record of current or past gang membership. The survey was conducted in 11 centers that house gang members and ex-gang members. The centers included penitentiaries, juvenile detention centers, police jails, and rehabilitation programs. Although the selection of the centers was purposive and partly based on permission from the Salvadoran government, the selection of the participants of the survey was conducted following a random sampling based on the roster of inmates with a gang record provided by the authorities of each facility. All of the surveys were anonymous, and no personal information that could identify the respondent was collected to protect the identity and privacy of the interviewee. In both the in-depth interviews and survey interviews, gang members and former gang members were interviewed following the designated protocols approved by the institutional review board (IRB) of the authors’ university.

In the survey, 90.5% of the respondents were male, whereas 9.5% of the sample consisted of females. 53% of the people surveyed had an age range between 13 years and 23 years. The youngest person surveyed was 13 years old, whereas the oldest was 56. Almost half of the individuals in the study belonged to MS-13. 23% of the sample belonged to the 18^th Street Southerners, whereas the 18^th Street Revolutionaries accounted for 11.1% of the survey population. Respondents also included members from other smaller gangs such as Mirada Locos (11.4%), Mao-Mao (2.9%), and Máquina (2.7%). Finally, 61% of respondents were former or nonactive gang members, whereas 39% were active gang members.

The Three Mechanisms of Discrimination

A former gang member who joined the gang in 1994 encapsulates the definition of discrimination utilized in this article: “The main problem is non-acceptance, because in the eyes of the society, a gang member never changes. We feel excluded and it is really bad, because some of us have family, kids, we want to work. . . ” (Pandillero 8). In the survey, when asked whether being accepted by the community would be important, 88% of the respondents answered that it would be “very” important, whereas only 7.5% said that community acceptance would be of little importance or not important at all. The survey also asked gang members and ex-gang members about what they would ask from the rest of society. 51.1% said they hoped that people can believe gang members can change, whereas 36.6% asked for jobs and educational opportunities. In addition, 9.7% asked “not to be misjudged by society.” Former gang members are susceptible to stigma because of their past. During the in-depth interviews, many gang members repeatedly brought out the issue of discrimination as a practical obstacle to their desistance.

What are the different mechanisms of discrimination that former gang members identify in El Salvador? Based on the results of the in-depth interviews, there are three factors that help understand how discrimination takes place: (a) age, (b) socioeconomic status, and (c) gang history, which is intricately linked with one’s criminal history as gang members also commit crimes. These three variables interact keeping gang desisters on the margins of society. Thus, reinsertion into society becomes an insurmountable task due to the high levels of discrimination that gang members face.

The Curse of Being Young

Many individuals during the in-depth interviews contended that the youth face high levels of discrimination in El Salvador. Young males involved in a rehabilitation program run by a Catholic organization argued that “being young is a crime.” Such experience is related to the earlier decisions to join a gang. A former gang member put it in the following words:

I think that they should stop discriminating against gang members and offer them support instead. There are young people who joined the gang because they had been discriminated by their own family. But when the society gives them support, they see the difference. Thus, the society should give them a hand. (Pandillero 20)

Hence, even before feeling stigmatized for their membership in the gang, some interviewees pointed to discrimination that youth from underprivileged communities confront: “The society discriminates against young people from marginalized communities” (Pandillero 23).

A common theme that emerged during the interviews is the perception that the police target young people, particularly males. Ex-gang members talked about being harassed by the police as opposed to being supported and protected. Many former gang members discussed how they had been targeted for “hanging out” in the neighborhood with other young males. An ex-gang member who had been out of prison for only a month at the time of the interview stressed the levels of discrimination by the police:

For example, I was not involved in anything wrong before. . . But they [the police] see you talk to the guys [the gang] and harass you, think that you are with them. And you react by deciding to join the gang, you feel anger. (Pandillero 2)

The tension between the police and youth and perceptions of discrimination have escalated as a result of countergang strategies. One former member of the 18^th Street gang stated:

They [the government] keep saying that the police are to protect human rights and dignity of the people, but what they do instead is to beat them. This generates more tensions in the youth. It’s like when you stir up a honeycomb. (Pandillero 12)

In sum, many former gang members interviewed expressed feeling discriminated against by the police and asserted that just being a young male in El Salvador is considered to be a crime.

This perception may be the result of repeated waves of antigang legislation that has targeted marginalized youth in El Salvador. The current government has implemented tough countergang strategies to decrease the high levels of violence in the country (International Crisis Group, 2017). In 2014, the Supreme Court labeled gang members as “terrorists” (Daugherty, 2015), which adds another layer of institutional stigma, contributing to more discrimination. The military also has become more involved in internal security issues, which by definition are tasks that fall under the jurisdiction of the police (Pérez, 2015). Many observers have found that such types of policies have increased the levels of youth alienation and discrimination in developing countries (Hagedorn, 2008; Ungar, 2009), and they appear to operate in the same manner in El Salvador. The previous statements made by gang members during the interviews render support to this argument.

Our findings in El Salvador are similar to the results of Rios (2011), who found that Latino and African American youth living in Oakland, California, have suffered from being profiled and discriminated against by members of society, even before entering the criminal justice system (Rios, 2011). He argues that it became a self-fulfilling prophecy that some of these youth would be incarcerated (Rios, 2011).

One’s Socioeconomic Status: The Criminality of Being Poor and Uneducated

Discrimination also occurs because of one’s socioeconomic status. Salvadoran gang members come from extremely underprivileged backgrounds. The survey results show that 71.3% of the former and active gang members interviewed reported a monthly family income of less than US$250, whereas 25.3% of the individuals in the survey had a family monthly household income of US$251 to 500. Only 3.4% of the gang members surveyed reported a monthly family income of US$501 or more.

Discrimination can occur because of where an individual resides or is from. A former gang member who at the moment of the interview was working with a Catholic NGO explained: “They despise you just for the fact that you live in a stigmatized community. Everyone is the same for them. One may not be involved in anything wrong, but he receives the same discrimination” (Pandillero 23). In addition, the research found that once a potential employer asks a job candidate about his or her address, there is the possibility that a person is discriminated against because they come from a marginalized community plagued by high levels of crime and violence. Certain communities in El Salvador are known to have a large presence of gang members. Pandillero 23 added:

Besides, if you go to a job interview, the first thing they ask is where you are coming from. ‘Oh, from this neighborhood.’ . . .they may ask a couple of questions more and then: ‘ok, we will let you know.’ It is a lie! As soon as you mention your neighborhood, you know that you won’t be hired.

Furthermore, not only are Salvadoran gang members from low-income neighborhoods, but they do not have educational skills. Research shows the linkages between lack of education and the cycle of poverty, often referred to as the poverty trap (Sachs et al., 2004). According to the survey, 41.6% of the gang members in this study had a middle school education, whereas 35.2% had a primary school education. Gang members, who are often drawn to the gang because of lack of economic opportunities—among other factors—will continue to face levels of discrimination because they do not possess the necessary education to compete in many jobs in the formal sector. A former 18^th Street member who joined the gang at 12-years-old contended:

Many young people join that gang also because of the lack of opportunities. Nowadays, there are not many opportunities. For example, a high school graduate goes to a place for a job, and they ask him if he has job experience, while he had no chance to get any experience. (Pandillero 12)

In summary, former gang members who lack the necessary education requirements to find a job will face discrimination by society complicating the desistance process.

Revealing One’s Gang History and Criminal Past

Discrimination frequently occurs with former gang members due to their alleged criminal past. Nearly half (45.5%) of the survey respondents were accused of murder whereas 21.2% were charged with extortion, demonstrating the serious nature of the crimes committed by the survey respondents. In fact, some gang members anticipate incarceration as prison is viewed by the gang as a rite of passage and often serve as schools of crime (Rosen & Brienen, 2015).

Although one can learn various job skills in the prison system by participating in training programs, individuals who leave prison often face discrimination by potential employers. Former gang members interviewed discussed how employers shy away from people with criminal records. Pandillero 23 contended that

[t]here must be work done in prisons. There are many things to do there, such as educational programs, workshops, foundations, courses, etc., . . .but when one comes out, he cannot apply these skills, the community does not let him use them. The society closes doors at you, point fingers. . . and you start thinking: “why would I change if they do not believe in me?”

Thus, even when some individuals acquire tangible skills, many people are not provided with adequate opportunities while attempting to reinsert themselves into society: “[o]utside the prison, there are many young people who have skills, but nobody hires them” (Pandillero 23).

Although some former prisoners might be able to find employment after serving their sentences, life becomes more complicated once employers discover that they belonged to a gang. A former member of the 18^th Street gang who joined the organization in 1992 explained the challenges generated by the perceptions that these individuals are dangerous: “For example, I worked as a loader, but I felt a lot of discrimination because of my past as a gang member. I was marginalized, kicked out of the job, they said it was too dangerous for my coworkers” (Pandillero 6). This presents a major problem for policy makers seeking to address the gang problem. In El Salvador, someone who is a former gang member will still be considered a gang member, often for life, by many people (Savenije, 2009; Smutt & Miranda, 1998). As a result, one’s gang past becomes a major obstacle when analyzing how discrimination can make the desistance process more challenging.

Discrimination because of one’s physical appearance constitutes a universal form of discrimination. Gang tattoos that are visible make it difficult for an individual to escape his or her criminal past. Individuals show their loyalty to the gang by having the gang symbols ingrained in ink on their body (Densley, 2012; Palermo, 2004). Gangs in El Salvador use tattoos as part of their identity (Cruz, 2010). Gang members who have gang tattoos in visible locations show their affiliation and loyalty to the organization to bystanders, neighbors, community leaders, and any other individuals that the gang members come into contact with during daily life (Ward, 2013). Given the widespread reach of the Salvadoran gangs, which includes several towns across the country, tattoos play an important role in communicating gang identity to fellow gang members and rivals. Yet this practice of extensive tattooing as a way to communicate gang allegiance becomes a serious problem once someone decides to leave the gang. With tattoos, one’s gang past is revealed quickly and unmistakably to others.

Salvadoran society has a perception of tattoos being associated with gang members, which is different from other countries, such as the United States, where tattoos are viewed as art (Kosut, 2006; Laumann & Derick, 2006; Roberts, 2012). In the United States, for example, millions of people have a variety of different nongang-related tattoos on various body parts, including their necks, arms, and legs. In contrast, in El Salvador, tattoos are synonymous with gang membership in the marginalized socioeconomic barrios of the cities (Wolf, 2012). Former gang members contended that anyone who has a tattoo in El Salvador is immediately discriminated against. A middle-aged former gang member, one of the first members to join his gang in 1994, echoes the point about the perception of tattoos in Salvadoran society, contending: “Tattoos are art in other places. Here tattoos are associated with gang members” (Pandillero 8). Another former gang member explained the challenges of having tattoos and the role of tattoos in Salvadoran culture: “Tattoos have a major impact. In our culture, the tattoos are seen badly, unlike in other countries. Here, if both the society and police/authorities see a tattooed person, they think he may bring problems” (Pandillero 15).

Physical appearances help immediately notify members of society, including the police, who is a gang member and foster high levels of discrimination. Routine tasks for former gang members are more complicated for people who have visible gang-related tattoos. For instance, mundane daily routines such as walking in the neighborhood, commuting to work, and moving around within the community present challenges for former gang members who are in the various stages of the desistance process. The research team interviewed ex-gang members at a factory that runs a modest rehabilitation program designed to help former gang members. This factory hires ex-gang members after a thorough clearance process to ensure that they have abandoned the gang. Many of the former gang members working in the factory still had visible gang-related tattoos. A former member of the 18^th Street described how he has to wear gloves and a jacket to cover-up his tattoos if he is in public to avoid discrimination and security problems from rival gang members, former gang members, and the police. A former member of MS-13 for four years echoed this point, asserting:

Sometimes you cannot move around freely. Sometimes, you need to go to a place where you would receive some help, for example, and it is a challenge, because, even if you are not doing anything wrong and you are out of the gang, the police do not see it this way. (Pandillero 18)

Thus, even ex-gang members who have successfully left the organization and are working with NGO-sponsored rehabilitation programs or churches are routinely discriminated against as a result of their tattoos.

Even people who have not been involved with gang life for years and have dedicated their lives to the church still face problems due to their tattoos. One respondent explained the daily challenges as a result of one’s physical appearance.

In the ten years, when I am out of the church, I’ve been detained several times. The police just see me on the street, they see my face or hand tattoos, and make up an image of me. They have beat me up on many occasions; they have tried to humiliate me. We are all humans, and at some point, this attitude does bother you. I never responded with violence, I have to bear humiliation, beatings. In the last three months, I have been detained twice. (Pandillero 15)

Another former gang member who jumped-in at 12 years old and remained in the organization until 20 years echoed such sentiments.

The discrimination: If I’m a Christian, the police keep pursuing me anyway. The police play a great role in the fact that many of those who want to change cannot do this. [. . . ] Besides, those who want to leave the gang need a ‘helping hand,’ they need someone to help them. But this hand does not exist. (Pandillero 13)

Thus, while former gang members who do not have tattoos can walk around their neighborhoods much easier than individuals with tattoos, ex-gang members face rejection because of their gang symbols, even if they no longer belong to the gang.

In addition to being targeted by law enforcement for their physical appearances, gang members who have tattoos also have a difficult time finding a job. Someone who is in the process of leaving the gang or has already abandoned gang life will seek employment to earn a living. Finding a job becomes much more difficult if one can be identified by potential employees as having or having had linkages with a gang. One former gang member explained such obstacles, contending:

A very important point is that if I have tattoos, I cannot get a job. And I am married, have two kids . . . The fact that I was in a gang doesn’t take away my right to have a family. Thus, I have to work honestly. That is where many give up and stop believing. (Pandillero 13)

This individual continued, “For example, I’ve been for five years without a stable job, I’ve worked in many firms where they never realized I had been in the gang. But if they get a glimpse of a tattoo, they shut the doors on you.”

Former gang members revealed how some companies have medical staff who conduct exams and interviews designed to detect whether job candidates have or had any gang affiliation. People who have gang-related tattoos are easily exposed during these physical exams when they are required to take off their shirts. One respondent explained this problem, contending: “The main challenge are the tattoos. For example, I go to a job interview, and they make me take off my shirt to see where I come from. I have lost many jobs because of this” (Pandillero 20). Another interviewee, a member of the Mirada Locos and who belonged to the gang from age 14 to 24, echoed this process, stating: “For example, I was able to find a job when I left the gang. But nowadays, it is very difficult because in many businesses and factories there is a doctor who takes off your clothes to see if you have tattoos” (Pandillero 17). In sum, gang members with gang tattoos on their body face various challenges as the discovery of their tattoos by potential employers—and other actors—can make it more difficult for them to reinsert themselves into the labor force.

The previous sections provide evidence that various mechanisms of discrimination affect gang members seeking to change their lives by partaking in rehabilitation programs. The perceptions of stigmatization and discrimination that former gang members feel is consistent with some research conducted on gangs in the United States, which finds that CGIs in San Diego prohibit the ability of gang members to reinsert themselves in society as gang members fear being re-arrested by police (Swan & Bates, 2017). Inevitably, ex-gang members encounter various insurmountable obstacles. Former Salvadoran gang members who are not able to find gainful employment or complete a rehabilitation program because of the various types of discrimination frequently return to a life of crime if they are unable to survive in the formal economy. Discrimination makes returning to the gang an attractive option—and perhaps the only option—and only reinforces the power of street gangs in El Salvador. A former gang member who was in MS-13 for four years emphasized this point, stating:

They [gang members] need opportunities. People who look out for them, besides the family, who would give them jobs. If youth work, they can realize the value of their work because they would put an effort in it. They turn to extortion because they do not have other ways to make money. (Pandillero 18)

Another former MS-13 member reiterated this point: “What a young man needs is an opportunity, a job. I remember I was looking for a job everywhere but there were no options for me because of belonging to a gang” (Pandillero 11).

Former gang members who are not granted opportunities may be enticed to earn “fast money” through the skills that they have cultivated during their time in the gang. One ex-gang member highlighted the potential revenue streams from extortion for young people who do not have the necessary skills or opportunities to earn money in the formal economy.

The economic problem results in the proliferation of the gangs. Imagine that someone with a high school degree can end up earning $200 a month, while in the gang he can acquire $500-700. And we are talking about low revenues. There are gang members who earn about $5,000-10,000. We are talking about high-rank active members. (Pandillero 13)

In sum, scholars and policy makers must consider how to address the high levels of discrimination present in developing countries during the reinsertion process. Unless these issues are addressed, developing countries, such as El Salvador, will continue to be plagued by high levels of youth that remain discriminated against by society. Former gang members who return to criminal activities will only contribute to the high levels of crime and violence in El Salvador.

Conclusion

Although gang members in El Salvador can desist from a gang, there are a plethora of obstacles in the reinsertion process as gang members who have decided to abandon the gang life face stigmatization and a variety of different forms of discrimination. Many individuals interviewed contended that being young in El Salvador is viewed as synonymous with being a criminal. As the survey data show, the majority of gang members are young males from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Moreover, individuals face discrimination because of their criminal records. Many companies in El Salvador do not want to hire former gang members, especially individuals who have been incarcerated. This form of discrimination presents challenges for former gang members who are attempting to find employment or reinsert themselves into society. As researchers (Alexander, 2012; Pager, 2003) have contended in the United States, people who are not able to find employment as a result of discrimination may return to a life of crime if they cannot find a job that provides them with the necessary income to support themselves and or their families. Some interviewees referred to cases in which some of their peers went back to gang life because of the barriers to make a lawful living. In sum, understanding the different types of discrimination that ex-gang members suffer when seeking to apply for jobs can better help policy makers, government officials, and civil society combat this issue.

Stigma and discrimination present a variety of challenges when thinking about designing public policies that seek to reinsert individuals into society. The universal form of discrimination for former gang members is gang tattoos. The display of tattoos highly stigmatizes former gang members. Thus, an individual with tattoos, particularly visible tattoos, must overcome a number of challenges. Ex-gang members will find it difficult to apply for jobs with gang-related tattoos. Some companies require physicals and will not hire individuals who have tattoos, which are discovered during physical exams. Some individuals who have gang-related tattoos in visible places such as their arms, chests, legs, and other body parts can cover up their tattoos by using clothing while at work or performing routine daily tasks. Yet tattoos present a major issue for former gang members as they can be targeted by law enforcement. This presents several obstacles as an individual with gang tattoos could be arrested for having gang affiliations even if this person has been out of the gang life for years. Countries in Central America have had programs to remove gang-related tattoos (Bazan, Harris, & Lorentzen, 2002; Brenneman, 2011). However, such treatments are not only painful but are expensive (Graham, Elliott, & Gallagher, 2007).

Salvadoran officials must help foster public and private partnerships to help former gang members overcome the stigma of past gang life and the various obstacles resulting from discriminatory practices. While many ex-gang members turn to the church for spiritual salvation, churches have a more difficult time in providing employment. It is important that companies and policy makers work together to help provide former gang members, who are a vulnerable population, with tangible opportunities as opposed to a life of crime. Although it is not easy for ex-gang members to escape their pasts, even those individuals who have served prison sentences and paid their debts to society will be left in limbo and without the potential to succeed if they continue to face discrimination by Salvadoran society.

While this study is an effort to understand the way former gang members remain stigmatized and the types of discrimination they regularly face, more research is needed in developing countries on the role of stigmatization and its impact on the gang desistance process. The challenge for government officials and civil society is not only to have someone make the decision to desist from the powerful gang organization but also how to better understand what ex-gang members need to be successfully integrated into society.