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Essay on the history of american gangs
Gangs across america
Essay on the history of american gangs
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Imagine in an alley, dark and misty it’s cold, two people their whispering quietly to one another, one hands the other a small package of white powder. When out of nowhere three guys appear before them with scowls upon their broad faces. They all side step out of the way, a man in a suit emerges, striding confidently. Suddenly he pulls out a gun and shoots one of the men in the head. The man whispers quietly that's what you get for joining a gang and smirks evilly. Gang violence is important because with this issue many will be hurt, due to the violence gangs bring to a neighborhood.
So how many gang members are their in America and how distressed should we be? Well, as to the first, we don't know. There is no consistent definition of "gang" or "youth gang" used in research and as a result, questions such as whether residents perceive a youth gang problem don't always result in a clearly interpretable result (Reducing Youth Gang Violence). Counting actual gang members relies on irregular surveys, often of law enforcement estimates.” In 1991, during a high point of gang activity, one survey estimated 249,324 gang
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While neither Pro nor I have drawn a bright-line for what proportion of the population would be excessive, I feel confident that .001% of it is clearly non-excessive.As gang prevalence is non-excessive, our distress regarding it should not be excessive, therefore we should not consider gangs a serious problem on this basis. “Granted. However, gang members were only identified as the perpetrators of 6% of violent crimes between 1993-2003”(Gang Violence). While that number would ideally be 0%, it is not cause for excessive distress. Additionally, the victims of gang violence are usually other gang members which, while unfortunate, is not as distressing for those of us not participating in gang
People think most gang members are crips or bloods who came from Los Angeles, but today there are a lot of neighborhood sects that cause a lot of mischief (Million). "Gangs are no longer just an urban problem. Ten counties account for 59.2 percent of juveniles handled by the state between 1999 and 2006. These counties account for 74 percent of the identified gang members"(Million). "Many gang members have similar background factors: low educational achievement...
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...
Gang violence is becoming a known threat in our country. Gang violence is defined as a group of people by repetitive socializing individuals or close friends with recognizable influence and inner coordination. These gangs will claim full control over a region in a community, town, or specific area which will lead to the involvement of violent crimes and unlawful behavior as a group or even by oneself. Since these gangs are increasing in size in communities, citizens of certain areas are beginning to move out or avoid going to these locations in order to avoid becoming the next victim to one of the community gangs waiting to engage in their next deviant act. These specific areas are located in communities that are at a poverty level, toxic areas, or environments where immigration is at it's highest. Law enforcement officials figure that these sorts of patterns bring out the characteristics of gang violence. It is known that an individual who wants to become a gang member must commit a violent crime in order to test their level of seriousness and faithfulness to their fellow brothers or, as they are known, "bloods". With the crime being committed by an individual, the physical features of a true gang member start to appear. Members or "brothers" are often easily recognized by their walk, tattoos, clothes, and colors of their clothes. Gangs are usually noted as groups of individuals who wear baggy jeans, long shirts, and bandana's of certain color. Another way to identify a gang member is by certain markings or tattoos on an individuals body. “"The modern street gang serves as an example par excellence of how geography and social networks converge to influence behavior." (Papachristos 2013). “Par excellence” is explained as ho...
In response to a growing gang problem in specific communities, the OJJDP has refined the Comprehensive Gang Model to better fit the issues related to today’s gangs. The GRP incorporates several new aspects into the pre-existing Comprehensive Gang Model. The revamped program was tested in four communities: East Los Angeles, CA; Milwaukee, W...
According to the National Gang Center, the change is gangs from 2002-2007: +12% in larger cities, +33% in suburban counties, +27% smaller cities and +24% in rural counties (National Youth Gang Center, 2009). The gang problem in the United States of America has been getting worse since the first gang was formed by Irish immigrants in the early 1800s. For low income and areas with high population, gang involvement with youths has also been getting worse. Regarding gang-related homicides, it is for difficult data collection industries to gather correct information because after a murder is committed it must be determined whether the murder is gang-related or not. But despite that, reports of gang-related murders are concentrated mostly in the large cities in the United States of America. Including San Jose, where there are long standing and persistent gang problems, which mean there are a larger number of documented gang members. There are literally thousands of anti-gang advocacy groups because there are so many concerned parents. These groups support politicians who are working to try to create legislation to reduce the gang problem in the United States of America. There are a number of theories on how to combat the gang problem, but a strategy which rarely fails is to take small steps in progress and continue to move forward.. There will never be a perfect solution that solves every aspect of a problem. But one policy that covers a wide range of issues involving gangs is the United States Constitutional bill S.132, “Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2009.” It is the most extensive and sophisticated piece of gang legislation to appear in the last decade, it has many objectives on increasing and enhancing law enforcement resources committed to the investigation and prosecution of violent gangs. It has had more supporters from both parties than any anti-gang bill in the last decade. S.132, “The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2009” has the potential to deter and punish violent gang crime, to protect law-abiding citizens and communities from violent criminals, to revise and enhance criminal penalties for violent crimes, to expand and improve gang prevention programs; it will give jobs back to police officers such as those in San Jose who lost their jobs and will help law enforcement indentify gang crimes to be able to put murderers behind bars faster.
Gang involvement has been quite higher than past years. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey estimates that about 32.4 percent of all cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural counties had a gang problem (Egley et al., 2010). This represented a 15 percent increase from the year 2002. The total number of gangs has also increased by 28 percent and total gang members have increased by 6 percent (Egley et al., 2010). This shows how relevant gang related activity is in today’s society. More locations are beginning to experience gang activity for the first time. Gang crime has also been on the rise in the past...
Street Gangs are becoming popular in many cities across the country. According to the Department of Justice's 2005 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are at least 21,500 gangs and more than 731,000 active gang members (Grabianowski). Gangs bring fear and violence to neighborhoods, drugs, destroy property, involve youth in crimes and drive out businesses. When you have gangs in a community, it affects everyone in the community. An alarming amount of young adults are joining gangs and becoming involved in illegal activity. Most gangs have a rule that when you join the gang you are a member of the gang for life. Gangs can be removed from our communities with more community involvement and education.
Gangs are not only a problem in Oklahoma but all over the world. Gang violence is a big problem in every major city in the United States even Oklahoma and their numbers continue to rise. According to the Department of Justice's 2005 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are at the very least 21,500 gangs in the United States and more than 731,000 active gang members. While gangs are less active in not very populated areas, in major cities, gang violence is responsible¬ for almost half of all ¬¬homicides. ¬ Gangs are also becoming more Tec-savvy, using new computers and other technology to commit various crimes as well as just doing it by hand. The -Juvenile Offenders and Victims estimated in 2006 says that 49 percent of all gang members were Hispanic, 37 percent were black, 8 percent where white, 5 percent Asian and 1 percent had another ethnicity.
In the 1920’s there was a study conducted by Fredric M. Thrasher. Thrasher studied 1,313 gangs in Chicago and revealed the issue of gangs. He considered the poor in poverty as the area increasing in gangs. This area was known as the “zone in transition” and was referred as in his studies. Thrasher has many law reinforcement and social workers helping him bring a stop to this madness. According to Thrashers studies “Important variables such as the age of gang members or the organizational features of the gangs were not related in a straightforward way to differences in the behavior of gangs” (Cummings 6). Thrasher has analyzed these gangs in many ways to the extent or romantic life in gangs. He helped us distinguish the difference in stereotype gangs and then the actual facts involving them.
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.
...g violence statistics show that majority of the member in a gang are directly involved in gang related criminal activities and one third of them have no involvement.
When one hears the word “gangs”, many would start leaving the premises or speak in hushed whispers due to the threats attached to these groups. Some would argue, especially its members, that the perceptions on gangs are exaggerated considering that not all gangs are violent in nature. Regardless of these arguments, many often fear gangs as history and the media portray the violence and chaos brought by these groups when they are in their territories or fighting rival organizations. However, there are several sentiments being raised by people when it comes to the possible impacts of gang membership to the individual who become involved with these gangs. How much changes would these gangs bring to the individual and the community? Gang membership
Gangs originated in the mid 1800’s in the cardinal direction using it as a method to defend themselves against outsiders.The idea of gangs became populous, powerful, and a broad influence. But like all powers, they tend to corrupt and recognizes violence as a way of getting what they want faster than other methods.They turn violence into fun, profit, and control.Creating a situation that affects youth in today’s society.
Hallswort, S. And Young, T. (2004) Getting Real About Gang. Criminal Justice Matters [online]. 55. (1), pp 12-13 [Accessed 10 December 2013]
Many stereotypes of gangs have been fabricated. The problem is that a majority of gang members do not fit these stereotypes, which, in turn, makes it hard for the to be caught (Klein). Traditionally they organize their group around a specific neighborhood, school or housing projec...