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Growing up in the city we experience more than those who did not. We are accustomed to seeing things other people would not be used to. One thing we are accustomed to be violence, more specifically gang violence. Gangs are a group of people who join together because of a common interest. Gangs are that have been around for ages. Dating back to the mafia in the roaring 20s all the way to present day gangs like the Bloods and Crips. It’s hard to imagine if gangs will ever cease to exist. They are too big and too strong for all of them to disappear one day. I have heard about gangs throughout my life. Every time I hear about them I always ask myself the same question. Why are they formed? How are they formed? Thank you to the internet and with a little research the answers to my questions have been answered. When someone joins a gang there is always a reason behind it. According to the L.A.P.D. teens will join a gang for any of the following reasons; protection, Identity or Recognition, Fellowship or Brotherhood, intimidation, and criminal activity. When you grow up in the inner city, you are at and disconnect from the rest of city. Life in these areas can be tough and it is hard to make a solid living to support your life. When you cannot overcome adversity, people get frustrated and give up. This is when groups would form together to find ways to make money. Illegal activity would be their mode of income. This is the structure where a gang would grow from. The more successful they are the larger and stronger they grow. In the world of criminology this is considered a conflict gang. Criminology is the study of crimes,... ... middle of paper ... ...f the greater society. If a neighborhood becomes strained from society and starts to develop its own social norms that will not mirror those with the rest of society. Then it has lost its social control. “For thugs from the ghetto, violence is a way of life - it's what helps you survive.” That quote was said by Suge Knight a hip-hop mogul who grew up in the streets of Compton, California. Compton is another known area for its high violence and high number of gangs on its streets. Social inequality has worsen over the years, the gap between the rich and poor only has increased. Living conditions have deteriorated over the years. The window of success has shrunk in areas of inner city communities. If you can walk into an inner city hospital and go up to the window in the maternity ward and predict the future of the babies lying there, you know we have a major issue.
Gangs have been in existence since the beginning of the Roman Empire. There were speeches made by Roman orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, which references groups of men who constantly fought and disrupted Roman politics (Curry, 2013). The history of street gangs in the United States begins with their emergence on the East Coast around 1783, as the American Revolution ended. Though many believe the best available evidence suggests that the more serious street gangs likely did not emerge until the early part of the nineteenth century (Sante, 1991). Although our country has had their share of feared gangs like in the 1980’s with the turf war between the Bloods and Crips, back in the 17th and 18th century the Mohocks of Georgian, England were one of the most feared gangs. What draws juveniles to the gang lifestyle? Many people will say that most gang members are children from impoverished communities, single family homes where there was no father present, or maybe there is a more psychological/sociological answer? By appearance and presence most gangs cause fear, crime, and disillusionment in the communities they occupy. Throughout history joining a gang has been perceived as a life without any reward, yet by joining this lifestyle many juveniles are able to gain the needed stability and security in their lives.
Gangs are a group of boys and believe it or not girls too, that frequently get together to make all types of vandalism and actions that are not admitted by the law. Gangs have been part of the world for a very long time; they have also evolved through time. For example gangs in the 1960’s are not the same as the gangs we see today in our days. Many gangs were made before and after the 1960’s but the major gangs in this time were: The Crips, The Latin Kings, KKK, The Bloods which were enemies of The Crips, and the 18th Street Gang.
First let's focus on the fact that gang related crime is one of the most dangerous challenges facing society and law enforcement today. They are younger, more brutal, unafraid of consequences and becoming increasingly more vicious. Gang members work together as cliques, they commit all sorts of violent crimes including murders, rapes, robberies and kidnappings. "They live in aimless and violent presents; have no sense of the past and no hope for the future; they commit unspeakably brutal crimes against other people often to gratify whatever urges of desires drive them at the moment and their utter lack of remorse is...
In now days, the increase in gun violence troubles many communities in the United States. Many of the high-crime neighborhoods have become a total gang-controlled area. In 2013, the total number of gangs in the United States are 24,500 (Federal Bureau of Investigations). As major cities in America struggle to respond to the growth of gangs and attendant crime and violence, the law enforcement come up with gang injunctions to reduce crimes rates. Although a couple of gang injunctions have been granted in Texas and Illinois, the overwhelming majority of injunctions have been issued in California. In 2005, the total number of violent crimes were 5,985 alone in San Francisco that year, and 31, 767 in Los Angeles (Disaster Center). According to Matthew O’Deane, a police officer, and Stephen Morreale, an Assistant Professor of Worcester State University, a study and review was conducted of 25 southern California gang injunctions to understand if civil gang injunctions reduce crime. As a result, the study found that the crime rate decreased by 14.1% in injunction areas.
Gangs have been around forever and there are two types of gangs which are, street gangs and prison gangs. They have the same structures that are divided as leadership and soldiers. The main difference between a street gang and prison gang is that a prison gangs are more disciplined than a street gang. Incarcerated members cannot escape their environment and therefore, are forced to comply with the facilities and gangs regulation. Gangs are always involved with criminal activity and it's difficult to control negative behavior and to lower recidivism rates for gang members.
The presence of gang violence has been a long lasting problem in Philadelphia. Since the American Revolution, gangs have been overpopulating the streets of Philadelphia (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). Most gangs in history have been of lower class members of society, and they often are immigrants into the U.S (Teen Gangs, 1996). Gangs provided lower class teens to have an opportunity to bond with other lower class teens. However over time, the original motive of being in a gang has changed. In the past, gangs used to provide an escape for teens to express themselves, let out aggression, and to socialize with their peers. It was also an opportunity for teens to control their territory and fit in (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). In the past, authorities would only focus on symptoms of gang violence and not the root. They would focus on arresting crime members instead of preventing gang violence. Gangs are beginning to expand from inner-city blo...
Did you know that there are approximately 27,900 gangs across the United States? Many people have dropped out of school for the fact that they have joined a gang. Think about it there is about 774,000 people in all these different gangs imagine how many of those kids and teens have dropped out of school. Many people that have been in gangs and are now trying to put their lives back on track, haven’t been even been able to get a job because of their bad background. This affects many people especially the ones trying to clean up their act. They try to go back to school to try and succeed in life. Kids or teens usually start joining gangs at the age of 11 or 10 because of the neighborhood they live in.
Social Class Most of the gang members that have been reported come from the lower social economical class. When these kids are out in the streets they have nothing better to do so they begin to commit delinquent behavior. Since these economically challenged kids have no money to go anywhere, they tend to hang around their neighborhood. These kinds of groups encourage each other to commit criminal activity. They feel that if one does it, all of them can do it too.
Attitudes, meaning how we as people respond to a subject, values, what we perceive is right and wrong, and beliefs play a major role in what brings youngsters into gangs. How does one develop a "gang attitude" to begin with? To answer this we must look at the culture. The values we Americans tend to have, make the alternative life style very appealing, this in conjunction with the glorified gang life style portrayed through the lyrics of the "Gangsta" rap artists all influence the young impressionable mind. This may make the child feel a sense of power, identity, or family, reflecting on the child's attitude. Also one must look at the neighborhood. A child can turn a corner and buy cocaine, see a gang war being played out, etc. It is obvious that the child cannot help but be influenced by this.
Many communities have been the victim of many gangs moving into their once safe neighborhood, causing major downfalls and preventing the citizens from living their daily lives in peace. Guarino elaborates how Chicago still outpaces other big American cities in crime rates due to gang violence (Guarino1). There’s a lot of given reasons to why there is much gang violence in the city but the solutions are not as prominent. In the article, “Chicago Tactics Put Major Dent in Killing Trend” written by Monica Davey, she goes on to explain, “that more than 500 people were killed in Chicago in one year, many of them young men shot to death amid the hundreds of gangs that flourish in Chicago neighborhoods” (Davey). Davey continues on to say that in recent months, police officers have been working overtime and dispatched to 20 small zones that are considered the most dangerous in Chicago (Davey). Due to the high activity of police activity, Chicago homicides and gang violence have declined.
The issue that I will address is the gang problems this community has. I believe this is the biggest problem my community is facing. You mostly see gangsters in every part of the community. Since there's so many different group of gangs in new city fighting for territory, there is violence every where you go. Some of the gangs that are present were I live are the Two Six, Saints, Razas,and SDs. There is always beef between the Two Six and Saints may be because 47th St separates them and they could just go into each others territory and start a gang war at any time of day. All you see them in the middle of the streets with binoculars just watching what the other gangs activity. Many people say there sick of this but they still greet the gangsters and tell them how are you today and all those things. Some of my family members have been in between these gang shootings and never gotten shot, but some day one of us will be shot. Not just my family has been in gang shootings, other families too and sadly someone they know get injured or killed by accident because he was in the way.The problem is the gangs because they are making the community residents scared that every time they step outside something bad is going to happen. Well they developed in the 1880's in Bridgeport and Back of the Yards. They were mostly large Irish gangs, they terrorized the streets by raiding peddlers, robing men that came out of work, they also fought against them selves, they terrorizing German, Polish, and Jewish immigrants that came and settled in the area between 1870's- 1890's. Even though they fought between each other, they united to make a gang called "Mickies" to fight the black gangs in the east. Then later on other gangs started to show up like Po...
With the civil rights movements of the African American race, gangs in the 1960’s grew as fighting for the attacks being made against them for their civil liberties. African American street gangs formed in large urban cities like Chicago and New York. They formed under names in New York like “Savage Skulls” and “La Familia.” Gang fights that once used brass knuckles were now advancing to the use of guns (ncjrs.gov). The access to and easy access to automobiles, and lethal weapons, led to the rise in drive by shootings. Black gangs like the conservative vice lords were in constant conflict with white gangs. As an expanding black population, they literally were able to fight their way into turfs and gangs began to form multi-neighborhood branches (Hadergon 201). The behavior displayed by street gangs added fuel to the fire for both sides of these arguments in motivations for gang members. Lorine A. Hughes and James F. Short Jr. state there is evidence that even among those affected, there is little evidence that activism replaced illegal activities and neighborhood violence. Instead, traditional activities such as theft, assaults and extortion were still carried out. Black gangs in the 1960’s were involved in racketeering and political issues, while still killing one another and assisting in killings (Hadergon 203).
There are a few theories of why gangs are formed most of the theories have to do with the lower class poorer neighborhood and date back to the 1950. One of the newer theories of why gangs form is the underclass theory by Jeffery Fagan he feels that gangs are formed because juveniles feel they are being excluded from the mainstream labor market jobs and have to look for other economic alternatives such as part time low paying jobs, temporary jobs, muggings, prostitution, welfare or to get involved in the sale of drugs to make a living. Selling drug for street gangs for big money is one of the first jobs that a new recruit can expect to do in a gang. In the larger city ghettos there is so much poverty and deprivation which leave juveniles no
Gang violence has been a problem for hundreds of years. Gangs have grown and changed through the years in various ways. Why gangs exist and continue is a complex problem. How gangs can be resolved is even more complex due to the traditions, poverty, and desperation they stem from.
Violence is inherent in gang activity. Anybody in the area is fair game, including men, women and children. Once, gang members used chains, knives and an occasional homemade "zip gun." They now use shotguns, automatic rifles, handguns and explosives. Once, victims of gang violence were rival gang members. Now they are often innocent bystanders killed or injured by stray bullets. Certain gang-infested neighborhoods are frighteningly similar to a war zone. Gangs are typically young Hispanic or black males; but the victims of gang killings are no more likely to be involved in drugs or other crimes than their non-gang slain counterparts. Most of the violence-homicide and other assaults committed by gang members are directed toward other gang members.