Gangs on reservations are just as violent as inner city gangs. There is a ridiculous amount of gangs in the world. There’s a gang in Africa1, Australia2, Asia3, Europe4, North America5, and South America6. Every continent with the exception of Antarctica has a gang on it. Not many people realize there are American Indian gangs, just as violent and menacing as those off reservations. American Indian gangs are continuing to rise just like any other gang7. Gang Activity on reservations has gone up throughout the years. Many factors play a role in the involvement of gang activity on reservations. Many kids want to feel accepted or feel like a part of a family. Many kids who come from a broken home or where alcohol and drugs play a major factor in, join gangs to get that sense of family8. The feeling of not being accepted can lead to depression and in some cases suicide. The suicide rate is more than three times the national average9. Another fact is the law enforcement on reservations is not the best so most crime is a very difficult challenge for law enforcement, which makes things easier to get away with. Non-Indian Kids join gangs off of reservations as well for the same reasons10. They kids from inner cities can have a home that is ridden with alcohol and poor …show more content…
parents. They too, can want to do bad things to draw attention from their parents or anyone. It’s not just on reservations that gang activity is heating up. It’s all over. The Navajo country contains 225 gangs just on that reservation. In comparison, there are 158 gangs in San Diego11. This shows that some of the reservations have more gangs than major cities off of reservations have. It also shows a rise in gangs. The rise is huge. In 1997, there were only 75 gangs in Navajo country12 Many homeowners and residents of reservations are growing more and more scared of the gang activity13. Crimes on reservations include the sale of drugs, shootings, vandalism, and theft14. Off the reservation, similar crimes take place. The crimes consist of aggravated assault, shootings, the selling of drugs, and theft15. The following chart shows this data. 16 There was a kid named “D” who lived on an Indian reservation. He was taught to “cook crack and bag up weed” by the time he was seven17. When he was nine, he was initiated into a gang18. D witnessed his first shooting at the age of 10, when a man was shot in the head right in front of him19. This shows that the gangs not only have older adults but little kids as well. Another issue that leads to gang involvement is extreme poverty on reservations. In the Badlands of South Dakota and Pine Ridge, 90% of people who live there are below the poverty line20. The unemployment rate is 85%-90%21. In Pine Ridge, gun trafficking and drug sales have become the way to make money with such a high unemployment rate and a high poverty rate22. With the high amount of drugs and guns being moved, bigger organizations are taking notice. The Mexican Cartel Los Zetas Cartel is working with a gang that operates out of Pine Ridge23. Due to this relationship, The Washington State Tribal Police seized over 233,000 marijuana plants in 2008 which is six times what it was in 200624. The frequency of drug trafficking continues to rise because the Cartel will pay above $120 million a year for the drugs25. That business may be risky but for some trying to provide for their family it is the only business they can do to survive. Some of the most well known Native American gangs are Native Mob and Native Pride that heavily affect North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin26. Some Native Americans also have their own versions of the Bloods, Crips, Nortenos, Surenos, Juggalos27. With all of this information present, it’s clear that a gang is a gang.
It could be an inner city gang from Chicago, a Biker gang from Australia or a Native American gang from Pine Ridge. The government is trying to fix gang issues in the big cities, but not paying as much attention to gang activity on reservations. With no money and not enough law enforcement, the reservation police have a very hard time stopping the crimes from occurring. With the lack of government funding, the rate youths join, the number of broken homes, the need for money, and the ability to get away with crimes fuels gangs all over the world and can lead to a one beautiful reservation or inner city into a crime ridden horror
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An estimated 1.4 million people are active in more than 33,000 street, prison, and outlaw motorcycle gangs across the country, according to a report from the FBI. FBI officials, however, were quick to emphasize that the apparent 40 percent increase in membership may reflect more accurate reporting of numbers in gang ranks (FBI). Neighborhood-based gangs have proven that they can be very violent. Neighborhood Crip Rollin’ 6o’s is the most popular street gang in many states. Neighborhood Crip Rollin’ 6o’s is a gang that have many interesting things about it such as it’s early formation, how to get in and out, and what they do.
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...
Rational Economics Theory is a powerful argument for explaining the membership of some gang members. However, its methodology does not provide an adequate answer to the question of why Hispanic youths join gang because it fails to analyze ethnicity when asking its research questions. The theory provides the assumption that the lure of money is equal for all people, but some research provides contradictory evidence, especially in the case of Hispanics. CULTURAL DEVIANCE THEORY. Acculturation Theory provides the most reasonable explana...
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...
Canada is referred to as a multicultural country because it openly accepts new immigrants from around the world (Gabor, 1994; Nodwell and Guppy, 1992). It has been documented that approximately 11.2% of Canada’s total population identify themselves as visible minorities (Varma-Joshi, Baker, and Tanaka, 2004; Fantino and Colak, 2001). Starting a life in a new country not only brings happiness, but also anxiety and a fear of losing one’s identity. Often feelings of being an outsider act as a catalyst for gang related violence and crime, especially in the Indo-Canadian community. However, there is not enough documented evidence explaining why violence is so prominent amongst Indo-Canadian youth. Although there is not enough evidence accumulated by researchers on this topic, based on research that I have gathered about other minorities involved in gang related violence, I will show that there is a tendency for Indo-Canadians to follow the same pattern as other minorities who become involved in gang activities. The lack of academic research on Indo-Canadian gang violence is significant to the practice of social work because it is the absence of research which makes it difficult for social workers to pinpoint key signs of gang violence and how they maybe related to their clients. As a result of a lack of academic based research on Indo-Canadian gangs, it limits one from finding possible solutions to deter future incidents of gang violence.
Topics such as organizational factors, symbolic characteristics, and criminal behavior set these two gangs apart from one another. Organizational factors such as having a leader present and territory to protect are a relatively new concept to Native gangs (Major 2004). Because reservations are fairly spread out and there is little competition among the gangs, there isn’t a whole lot of fighting amongst one another for turf. Also, many members of the tribal gangs feel no need to hide their leaders from the authorities and will talk openly about them. An insight as to why they would discuss their involvement is because they simply haven’t been exposed to the criminal justice system to be silent when it comes to their involvement (Hailer 1999).
Echoing the structural strain theory is the differential opportunity theory, which states that learning environments and opportunities are not equally distributed in the social system and gender, class and ethnicity affects conformity and deviance (Deutschmann, 2007). Taking both theories into account, those susceptible to joining gangs would be people that are deprived of opportunities and resources to succeed, mainly people of the lower class and racial minorities as exemplified by the high volume of emergence of racially exclusive gangs in the past. In the 1970’s, the United States of America lifted its quota on immigration based on nationality and this saw the influx of immigrants from Asia and the West Indies coming into the USA in hopes of getting rich or simply to flee from their war torn native lands. Instead of assimilating into the American culture, these immigrants brought along their own cultural practices and religions, which were rejected by the Americans and resulted in resentment between both parties. Racial discrimination was rampant and these once hopeful immigrants soon found themselves being isolated in the outskirts, jobless and helpless.
With many sources that attempt to explain why youth join gangs, studies based on empirical research are optimal to reveal the critical factors. This paper will focus on the key sources that are based on empirical methodologies as the base for comprehending why youth join gangs. The research has a pattern that reveals youth join gangs because of pre-existing delinquency, homophily, and low socio-economic status.
Living in a deviant environment and lifestyle prior to gang membership, is one key reason that explains why youth become motivated to join. This essentially means that the youth does not experience a major change in behaviour due to a preceding deviant identity. In spite of the general understanding that having a deviant lifestyle to begin with will likely lead to enrolling in a gang, the practical data analyzed for this paper reinforces this common belief (Gordon et al. 2004, Johnstone 1983, Lachman et al. 2013, Maclure and Sotelo 2004, Patchin 2006, Yoder et al. 2003).
Generally, gangs are seen to be in urban areas. Lately there has been an influx of gang culture spreading into suburban areas. One reason that can be seen for this is the media. Violent lifestyles are glamorized in TV and the music that is listened to. Due to the image of “toughness” many people wish to emulate what they are exposed to.
Youth gangs are defined as any group of people who engage in socially disruptive or criminal behaviour, usually within a defined territory, and operate by creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in a community. Federally in Canada “…Bill C-95… says a gang must include five or more people involved in criminal activity.” Over the last ten or so years, youth gangs have become more violent and dangerous than ever before. They have more access to sophisticated knives and guns and use these weapons to gain power and fear. The problem of youth gangs is especially apparent in low-income neighbourhoods in Canadian cities. Low income neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area are a...
Gangs are surrounding the world and they consist of some of the most violent, ignorant, and prejudicial people in existence. Gangs started to emerge their power around the 1800’s; as time went on, the intensity and violence drastically increased. Today, some of the most popular gangs in the world include MS-13, The Bloods, The Crips, Latin Kings, Yakuza, and Barrio 18. In some prisons in America, more than half of the inmates are gang members. Although gangs are still slightly out of control, law enforcement has done an excellent job at figuring out the complex signs of gang activity.
Furthermore, numerous young people join street gangs because they feel they are rejected by society and do no have the same values.
Numerous explanations have been produced as to why young people join street gangs. In my opinion the best explanation would be that many of these kids come from broken homes. Poverty and drug abuse in the home can cause young people to want to earn an income to support themselves and possibly their siblings because there is no food or other necessary items to survive on provided by the parents. These adolescents believe they cannot earn an income any other way so they decide to join a gang to make easy money to support themselves. Similarly, youths who have difficulties conforming to society often do not do well in school and a lot of the time end up on the streets during the day consequently, introduced to older gang members that take
Gangs have been around for centuries and the earliest mentioning of gangs is the rebellious children in the Bible mentioned in second kings (Cohn). From the late 1800s and 1960s gangs activities included fighting and other thrill seeking activity for youth. In the 1960’s is when the amount of minority gangs drastically increased leading to more gang conflict ,and due to the easy access of weapons crime rates sky-rocketed (Cohn). Organized gangs control their neighborhoods through violence and intimidation; gangs don’t only restrain themselves to one type of crime gang’s deteriorate neighborhood’s in several ways this includes drug distribution, assault, armed robbery, drive-by shootings, auto theft, identity theft, extortion, weapons trafficking, and homicide (Parks). “National Gang Threat Assessment” report states that according to law enforcement officials gangs throughout the United States commit as much as 80 percent of the crime in communities” (Parks). This exhibits the role gangs have in community’s; gangs ruin communities and make it unsafe to live and raise a family in any area that they are located. Gangs bring danger to a community that wouldn’t be there otherwise, and due to their intimidation method...