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Essay on the history american gangs
Essay on the history american gangs
Effects gang violence has on society
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For those who live in neighborhoods where gangs don’t exist the complaints and concerns are very simple. One might be upset with the new paint color of their neighbor 's house. A neighbor might have a noise complaint about a teenager and his band practicing or someone might even be upset because their child 's friend Tp-ed there house. While these concerns might be valid they pale in comparison to those who unfortunately live in gang infested areas. For these individuals, their biggest fears involve violence and mayhem. They are afraid that at any moment they can be caught in the middle of a drive-by. They witness drug activity and sales on a daily basis. And the likelihood of their own children joining a gang is a real and very frightening scenario. …show more content…
Or they think back to the time they watched an episode of gangland and saw the videos of gang members bragging about all the guns they have and what they do to people they don’t like. While gangs and members like these of course exist, America needs to be concerned about gangs because members today come from all walks of life. Todays gang member isn’t just your usual young male sitting on a street corner of a bad neighborhood. He can be a white supremacist. He can be part of a biker gang or even a member of the mob. Gangs must be a major concern in America because they have infiltrated all different levels of society. Modern gangs do everything from committing violent acts, to affect local economies and everything in between. America needs to be concerned about gangs because even with all the tools law enforcement and the communities themselves use, gangs are still relevant and dangerous. And without a doubt they are still finding ways to affect every community and neighborhood throughout this
Did you know gang's first started off as a way to help stop police brutality? Some gang members are “jumped in” or have to prove their loyalty by committing criminal acts. In the 1960s many gang organizations joined the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers wanted blacks to control businesses, education, employment, and the media in their area instead of having these businesses controlled by white people. They wanted to act as a community army so they can stop police brutality and racism. The leader of this important organization was Bunchy Carter. Street gangs had completely stopped as more black empowered organizations began to form in Los Angeles. After the Black Panthers disbanded that is when street gangs began to become popular because
Parents must be cooperative with their child as well into a specific resource center that dealt with indecisive mothers of raising their child(s) to help them suppress their child from joining gangs at an early age. Many parents are not aware of resource centers in their local area where they could seek an assistance and advice from someone expert (Social Worker or Psychologist) especially if their neighborhood is prone demographics of drugs, crimes, and some illegal substance. There are many kids that joined gangs because they are in a neighborhood prone to drugs and crimes where they could be influenced by it instantly by a flick of a finger. An article “What Schools Do to Help Prevent Gang – Joining” by Gary D. Gottfredson shows a statistics of students in certain cities percentage in joining gangs and not doing well at school. “Baltimore City 41%, Philadelphia 61%, and Albuquerque 49%.” Despite their value in reducing the general risk for problem behavior, school-based programs aid strategies are unlikely to reach youths who might be at greatest risk of joining gangs: those who have dropped out of school. Kids that are a drop out of schools are not getting much attention because some programs only focus or covered only those who are not yet involved in such case. It is mortifying to see that government has no action upon the situation. Gangs have a huge negative
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.
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 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.
This paper will cover issues that young minorities encounter in the movies; Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008), Gran Torino (2008), A Better Life (2011). Movies will be summarize, and compare and contrast youths experienced. Criminological theories shall be utilized to further elaborate issues. Finally steps and theories will be utilized towards solving issues, also possible methods to correct the issues will be addressed in the end.
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.
In the beginning, cities and police departments refused to accept the fact that there was even a gang problem or acknowledged that that were even gangs present in their communities; however, it did not take long before their views on the subject matter began to change. As more of these so called gangs began to appear the more the general population began to notice how dangerous and violent they were becoming. While rural counties only exhibited six percent of gangs nationwide, smaller cities exhibited a whopping thirty-three percent (Riedel & Welsh pp. 222). It is in these smaller cities where the poverty stricken tended to flock to.
Measures of prevention or intervention that can be taken include creating early prevention programs, collaboration between the school, police, and parents, and policy measures. Programs that focus on increasing positive interactions with peers and encourage self esteem can help deter a child from a lifestyle susceptible to gang recruiting later in life (Simon, Ritter, and Mahendra, 2013). Such programs are vital in the school environment, where a youth spends most of his/her day. Schools must take note of the common signs of a youth with a high risk of becoming a gang member, for instance, poor grades and performance, and social rejection in the form of being bullied or being the bully. Moreover, schools should offer programs that raise awareness
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.
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 have become a harsh reality in today's society. But despite what one might think, gangs illustrate many communication theories. This is done through the power gangs possesses, "gang warfare", and the trust between gang members.
Nowadays gangs are big issues in America. People who are in gang feel like they belong some where and people care about them. There are various reasons people join gangs, and almost all age group between ages 12-40 are involved in gangs. One of the big reasons people join gangs is because of their needs, protection, and also they want attention from people around them. Gang’s should be taken seriously because today’s gangs are more violent and brutal then they were in 60’s. Gangs do more violent act every day and if police don’t do anything about gangs then it will be hard to control the gangs in the future.
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.