In North American Somali Communities, A Complex Mix of Factors Influence Gang Involvement, Violent Extremism

Somali communities in the United States and Canada are especially vulnerable to conditions that can precipitate both gang involvement and radicalization to extremism, according to the research team’s report. Those conditions include discrimination, impediments to individual development of social identity, and potential alienation from society. Somali communities in North America thus offer a rare opportunity to examine whether and how gang affiliation and the process of radicalization to violent extremism are related to each other.