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Youth gang violence classical theory
Gangs research paper
Gang violence sociology
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Gangs have been around for a long time and have caused many problems in society. When people think of gangs they might think Los Angeles or Chicago, but Oklahoma’s gang violence has been at the same level as most major cities are dealing with. Gangs are a major problem in Oklahoma.
Gang members continue to increase in the state of Oklahoma. The main age group that joins these gangs are teenagers and pre-teens. Kids without enough attention or not having a father figure in their life tend to join gangs. Kids want comfort and security and some feel they can find that in gangs. And those are the kids we really need to focus on if we want to help prevent gangs in our society.
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.
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...
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...ed By Oklahoma House."Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City, OK) (n.d.): Regional Business News. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
Marks, Jay F. "City Wins $2.5 Million In Anti-Gang Funds: ?There Is No Future In Being A Member Of A Gang,' Federal Attorney General Says During Visit." Daily Oklahoman, The (OK) (2007): Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
Million, David R. "Neighborhoods Are Growing Their Own Gangs: Oklahoma Anti-Gang Model Is Working In North, East And South Tulsa Areas." Tulsa World (OK) (2007): Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
Nick, O'Malley. "Killing 'was a Gang Initiation'." Canberra Times 23 Aug. 2013: 10. Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
Spencer, Gainey. "Federal Officials Laud Oklahoma's Efforts to Reduce Gang Violence." Journal Record Legislative Report (Oklahoma City, OK) n.d.: Regional Business News. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
The first chapter of Policing Gangs in America is entitled, “Studying the Police Response to Gangs.” The primary purpose of the chapter is to establish how police agencies; Inglewood, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Phoenix in specific, respond to gang problems in their respective areas. This chapter served as an introduction, giving a brief history of gang-related policing, how the public and media see the gang problem, research studies done regarding gangs and the recent declaration to shift away from suppression-oriented strategies as a result of overly aggressive actions toward citizens. Examples of this misconduct are given in the forms of gang units from Las Vegas, Chicago and Houston.
Over the past 60 years there has been a recent phenomenon in the development and rise of gangs and gang violence. This is exceptionally apparent in South Central Los Angeles where the Bloods and the Crips have taken control of the social structure and created a new type of counter culture. Poverty in this area is an enormous problem caused by a shear lack of jobs; but just because there is a lack of jobs doesn’t mean that there will be a lack of bills to pay, so sometimes selling drugs in order to keep a roof over your head seems like the most logical option. Crime often times flourishes in these regions because the inconvenient truth is; crime pays. Senator Tom Hayden stated “It’s been defined as a crime problem and a gang problem but it’s really an issue of no work and dysfunctional schools.” this statement is in fact true, but with an exception it is a more broad issue than just involving school, and lack of jobs but goes beyond into social structure as a whole and more specifically the judicial system, this can all be supported by three sociologists Chambliss, Anderson, and Durkheim.
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.
Gang activity and violence is changing Oklahoma. Since the times when gang activity was first forming, it began causing problems in the surrounding communities. Affiliation with gangs open...
Washington’s intentions did not go far. He thought that he could get the gang together and be ”neighborhood watchers.” He made several neighborhood kid cliques called the “Baby Avenue” (Aka Avenue cribs). By late 1971 the “Cribs” were being referred to as Crips and their reputation grew. By 1972, there were about eight Neighborhood Crips Rollin’ 60’s gangs, which grew to about 45% in 1978. Around this time, Washington met Stanley Tookie Williams who lived on the west side and recruited him into the crips. In 1979, Raymond Lee Washington was killed and Stanley Tookie Williams was sentenced to prison for quadruple murder (Street gangs). The Neighborhood Crips Rollin’ 6o’s (NHC) was one of the fastest growing organization in the history of gangs at this point. This gang got it’s name from Washington thinking they were neighborhood watchers and came from a neighborhood. Rollin’ 6o’s came from the years it was founded in-1960’s Some of the first crips gangs came from Los Angeles California and included the following; East Side Crips, Compton Crips, West Side
U.S. Department of Justice. Findings from the Evaluation of OJJDP’s Gang Reduction Program. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2010.
Attorney General's Report to Congress on the Growth of Violent Street Gangs in Suburban Areas
Crips and Bloods: Made in America took place in south of Los Angeles focusing on gang violence among two fearsome African American gangs, Crips and Bloods. The documentary sends the viewer to the roots of the social strains of African American people that created Crips and Bloods. After the Civil War in the United States, slaves were granted freedom, they moved far from the south. As time passed African Americans were faced with many hardships from loss of jobs to racial profiling from law enforcement.
Several California cities recently moved forward with gang injunctions to reduce violent crime rates. Gang injunctions have become a distinct Californian approach to fight crimes since they were first introduced in the 1980s in Los Angeles. The injunctions that have been granted primarily affect impoverished, minority neighborhoods and may actually serve to further stigmatize and oppress innocent minority youth who also live in these communities. Cities have issued them to fight local gangs, and promise that gang injunctions will cut down violent crime rate, and make the neighborhoods more safer; ho...
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.
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.
Scott, S. (2012). Mayoral Agenda: What To Do About Gang Violence. Weekend Edition Saturday (NPR).
In contrast with urban gangs, studies of Native Americans living on rural areas on reservations in 1998 indicate that only 15% of the youth in these communities are gang members (Hailer 1998). Compared to the roughly 72% of youth persons related to gangs in Chicago IL, this percentage of Native gang members seems relatively small, as should it be. There are estimated to be around 4,500 active Native gang members in 400 gangs within tribal communities (Grant 2002) and over 1.4 million urban gang members involved in 33,000 gangs across America (Hazlehurst 1998). This is most likely caused by the 26% poverty rate, the 3 times as high alcohol related problems, and the 2.5 times rate of suicide in comparison to the rest of the American population (Major 2004). Also contributing to the high enrollment rate is due to the “neglectful and abusive treatment from federal and local government” (Theriot 2007). This treatment has been shown to leave feelings of isolation, exclusion and frustration coming from the Native population which in turn provides Natives an excuse to drink and turn to substance abuse and crime.
Hallswort, S. And Young, T. (2004) Getting Real About Gang. Criminal Justice Matters [online]. 55. (1), pp 12-13 [Accessed 10 December 2013]
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).