Fundamentals of Gangs
Street gangs are an organization of young people that are usually in their teens and twenties. They join together and claim a territory or neighborhood as their own. They are known for being violent and heavily involved in drug peddling. On the streets graffiti is the means of communication of territorial limits and to challenge other gangs. A challenge can be anything from making a mark on enemy territory or crossing out enemy tag. There are generally 4 types of individuals associated with street gangs. The “hard-cores” are the members who talk, act, dress, and commit criminal acts as a gang member. The “Associates” will identify themselves with gang members in there neighborhood, but rarly get involved. the “Peripherals” are those who identify with gangs for protection or for favors. These are mostly women . They are used to carry drugs or guns for members in return for money or drugs. Than there are the “gonna-be’s” they are people who aren’t gang members but wear gang clothes and act like gang members. They are sometimes more dangerous than normal members. They are the recruitment pool for new members. The gang warfare of the 1980’s into today, is just as dangerous to join as to be a member. To join one of these gangs one must do all sorts of crazy things to “prove your loyalty to the gang.” Which could be anything from committing a crime to playing Russian roulette. Crip members initiate into the gang by committing a crime in front of gang witnesses. The initiation process is called “Loc'ing”-In. Female members have the option to commit a crime or become Sexed-In (Sex with several older members). The most common form of initiation into other gangs is something that they call “walking the line.”
The “prospect” is instructed to walk between two lines of gang members, with his/her hands behind them, while members beat and kick them. The prospect must repeat this process until they get from one end of the line to the other without falling down. Along with the initiation routines is the memorization of alliance and set history, organization and mythical symbolism that the gangs refer to as “knowledge.” Some of this knowledge was the explosion of Street Gangs in the Los Angeles area during the mid to late twentieth century.
There were three main periods where gangs in Los Angeles grew at a rapid rate. The first of which was...
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...nforcement to track and identity. Presently there are about 200 known Crip gangs in Los Angeles and 70 Blood gangs.
Both the Crips and the Bloods developed their own distinctive style that would let anyone recognize them at a sight glance. Just by looking at the color of their clothes, or their tattoos they can be easily distinguished. The Crips started using the color blue for their clothing to set them apart from other gangs. Also the Crips began referring to each other as “Cuzz,” short for cousin. While the bloods wore red, and referred to each other as “bloods.” A select group of bloods get a tattoo of two burned dots over a single burned dot. This represents a dog’s paw, so they refer to each other as “dog’s.” A lot of times members of the Crips dislike using words that start with “B” and bloods dislike using words that start with “C.” So to a blood a word like cigarette would bigarette.
These gangs have a long and complex history that came together in the 1980’s to have many riots and gang wars. Many people were killed it was horrible. There history has been filled with a lot of violence. And now what started as a group of people has turned into a way of life.
This can be connected to the Crips and the Bloods by the similar treatment the African Americans receive compared to the roughnecks. This recognition as being a roughneck makes it much more difficult to get a job, and escape the society they are currently in.... ... middle of paper ... ... Anderson discusses the code of the streets and how this set of rules and norms dictates how people behave in South Las Angeles and gives rise to organized gang violence.
Crips are a major gang affiliation that was formed in the year of 1969 in Los Angeles, California. The two men responsible for its creation were Raymond Lee Washington and Stanley Tookie Williams. There is an estimate of 30,000 to 35,000 gang members in the United States. Bloods are also a major gang affiliation, and was created in 1972 also in Los Angeles. Pirus are the creators of this gang. Crips and Bloods have an intense rivalry between each other that has been going on ever since both were created(“Gangs”).Though the Crips and Bloods have a long history, they are just two of the gangs that exist.
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...
According to the 2015 National Gang Report (NGR) from the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) almost half of law enforcement juristictions across the United States reported a rise in street gang membership and street gang activitiy. My communitty is no exception.
Criminal activities and gangs have mostly always been an on going problem in the United States. Gangs and gang members are frequently involved with a variety of different crimes. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey reported that there are approximately 774,000 active gang members in the United States (Egley, Howell, & Moore, 2010). The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey also states that there are about 27,900 active gangs in the United States (Egley et al., 2010). The active gangs in California have caused a major impact on the state in many ways. According to the California Department of Justice, approximately 300,000 gang members are living in California (Crawford, 2009). California also attributes more than 25 percent of all homicides to gang activity (Crawford, 2009). This is a staggering huge amount. The rise of gang involvement and gang crime has led law enforcement to issue and enforce gang injunctions. However, these gang injunctions do not completely eliminate gang crime and they have no effect after one year of being issued. Also, gang injunctions interfere with the lives of normal people in society.
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.
The most significant causes of World War One include alliances, nationalism, and imperialism, but there are multiple other reasons that led to the tensions that created this war. This was one of the biggest, bloodiest wars in history, as almost the entire world was involved in some way. At the time it was called “the war to end all wars”, but unfortunately that was not true; it was just so giant compared to previous engagements that people couldn’t see how it could possibly progress past the state it was in. This war was inevitable with the pride of the countries involved; they were bound to clash heads eventually.
The Bloods and the Crips are the two well-known gang families that started in the 1940’s in Los Angeles as a defense approach by the blacks against the whites (Dorais, Corriveau, 2009, p 8). Gangs are most often visible in specific areas such as restaurants, bars, metro stations, etc.: “The appearance of street gangs in Quebec and Canada dates from the 1980’s, when these groups started to become larger, more visible, and more disruptive to authorities and residents (Dorais, Corriveau, 2009, p 8-9). There are six definable features that can be used to identify the presents of a gang: “ a structured or degree of organization, an identifiab...
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 go commit delinquent behavior. Since these economically challenged kids have no money to go anywhere they tend to hang round their neighbor hood. These kinds of groups encourage each other to commit criminal activity. Since they feel that if one does it all of them can do it too.
It is surprisingly difficult to pinpoint the origin of street gangs. This may be because of the inherent nature of gangs: a group of individuals who come together for the same purpose and in the case of str...
This book review covers Policing Gangs in America by Charles Katz and Vincent Webb. Charles Katz has a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, while Vincent Webb has a Ph.D. in Sociology, making both qualified to conduct and discuss research on gangs. Research for Policing Gangs in America was gathered in four cities across the American Southwest; Inglewood, California, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. This review will summarize and discuss the main points of each chapter, then cover the relationship between the literature and class discussions in Introduction to Policing and finally it will note the strengths and weaknesses of book.
The Crips, originating in Los Angeles, California, are one of the oldest, largest, and most notorious gangs in the United States. They have been involved in murders, robberies and drug dealing in the Los Angeles area. The Crips are mostly identified by the blue color worn by their members. What was once a single gang is now a loose network of "franchises" around the United States. The gang primarily (but not exclusively) comprises African Americans. The Crips have an intense rivalry with the Bloods and are also known to feud with Chicano gangs.
Serious health, safety, and economic consequences of underage drinking on a national level may include impairment in human brain development, financial costs in the $68 billion range (or $1 for every drink consumed, including costs of medical bills, income loss, and costs from pain and suffering), fatal crashes involving teens
Hanson, David J., Ph.D. “Drinking Alcohol Damages Teenager’s Brains.” Sociology Deprtment. n.d.. Web. 20 March 2014. .
Communities all over deal with gang violence. Criminologist and crime writer John E. Douglas, explained how the propagation of street gangs in America and the violence associated with them is disturbing. He mentioned that street gangs have a presence in 94 percent of all the U.S. cities with populations greater than 100,000 (Klein). A number of studies have been conducted dealing with gang violence throughout the world. One particular study in Chicago showed that five percent of elementary school children were affiliated with street gang, as well as 35 percent of high school dropouts (Klein). Elizabeth Van Ella of the Chicago Crime Commission, explained that in Chicago alone, 65,000 documented gang members account for 48 percent of the crime. A majority of the members thrive in business as a way to cover up their schemes (Hutson). They flourish in retail sales, computer sales, hospitals, office buildings, schools, transportation, and security firms. Practically, anywhere that provides a cover for laundering money, and easy mobility (Hutson). Klein explains that another place that has been greatly affected is Los Angeles. Los Angeles has over 950 different gangs with more than 100,000 members. They are not just limited to inner-city ghettos, but are active in over 800 cities nation wide. Overall, nearly 100 cities with population’s less then 10,000 report active street gangs (Klein).