<![CDATA[ABSTRACT The phenomenon of juvenile crime, manifested in the form of gangs in Bima City, has reached an alarming escalation and requires comprehensive criminological deconstruction. This study aims to analyze the sociocultural determinants and social psychological mechanisms that drive juvenile involvement in criminal gang activities in the region. Using a qualitative approach with a critical criminology paradigm, this study explores how social disorganization, weak informal controls, and subcultural pressures contribute to the formation of deviant behavior. The results show that juvenile involvement in gangs is not simply a form of conventional juvenile delinquency, but rather the result of a dialectic between individual identity crises and the failure of social structures to provide positive spaces for actualization. These findings emphasize the need for a reorientation of juvenile crime management policies, shifting from a punitive approach to community-based intervention strategies that integrate local wisdom values. The original contribution of this study lies in the integration of differential association theory with the specific sociogeographic context of Bima, which has strong cultural characteristics of masculinity. Theoretically, this study enriches the criminological literature on the typology of juvenile crime in urban-rural transition areas. Keywords: Criminology, Child Crime, Gangsters, Bima,]]>
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