A lack of scholarship on gang leaving in Cape Town, South Africa creates the impression that joining gangs is a death sentence. However, this paper shows that gang members can disengage, even amidst the scarcity of an emerging city. It combines life history research with Ebaugh’s (2013) role exit theory in an analysis of the disengagements of 24 former gang participants. Research considers the various stages of out-of-gang transitions, profiling the drivers and impediments to gang exit. Specific focus is placed on understanding how violence both catalyzes and challenges out-of-gang transition during the differential processes of disengagement. Findings indicate a lengthy and challenging transitional process from the point the first doubts emerge to the time a person successfully becomes an ex-gangster. Progress through different phases of gang exit is generally uneven and unpredictable, and carried out in a context with significant social, economic, and security challenges. Still, those interviewed for this study offer compelling examples to show that disengagement is possible. Their journeys yield insights that can be leveraged to design better informed efforts to reduce gang violence—whether in Cape Town, or in other similarly inequality prone and insecure cities around the world.

中文翻译：

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离开开普敦的帮派：作为角色退出的脱离接触

南非开普敦缺乏关于帮派离开的奖学金，给人的印象是加入帮派就是死刑。然而，本文表明，即使在新兴城市稀缺的情况下，帮派成员也可以脱离接触。它将生活史研究与 Ebaugh (2013) 的角色退出理论相结合，分析了 24 名前帮派参与者的脱离接触。研究考虑了帮派外转换的各个阶段，分析了帮派退出的驱动因素和障碍。具体重点放在了解暴力如何在不同的脱离接触过程中催化和挑战帮外转型。调查结果表明，从第一个怀疑出现到一个人成功地成为前黑帮，这是一个漫长而具有挑战性的过渡过程。帮派退出不同阶段的进展通常是不均衡和不可预测的，并且是在面临重大社会、经济和安全挑战的背景下进行的。尽管如此，接受本研究采访的人提供了令人信服的例子，表明脱离是可能的。他们的旅程产生的见解可用于设计更明智的减少帮派暴力的措施——无论是在开普敦，还是在世界上其他类似的不平等易发和不安全的城市。