Within the past two decades, a growing concern has been focused on what can be considered a social epidemic among the youth of our nation. This social distress stems directly from the rising number of youth gangs throughout the country. Gang mentality and social deviance of this form has been noticed and documented in this country for decades. “ Prior to the 1970’s, gang violence was still popularly associated with white ethnic enclaves in the cities of the Midwest and East, and gang incidents were typically brawls involving fists, sticks and knives. Today, gangs are made up largely of ethnic groups, especially African American and Latino Americans, and handguns and other military hardware are the typical vehicles for the acts of aggression and rampages so common in large cities” (Franzese, 2006) . Now though, in the twenty first century, gang chapters, mentality, and its proficiency as a dominant force among the youth has spread not only to the large urban cities in the country but also to the suburban and rural areas of the nation that were once untarnished by this outbreak. As the number of youth gangs reach an all time high in this country, our main concern is being able to quickly identify the problem when it arises and to swiftly eradicate it before it rises beyond the control of the officials in the area. Youth gangs rise up and take control so rapidly among youth that you have to be able to reach adolescents before a problem that at one point could have been stopped, now is forced to be merely contained.
A youth gang is generally identified as “a self formed association of peers
having the following characteristics: three or more members, generally ages 12-24; a gang name or some sort of identity, generally indicated by such symbols such as clothing, graffiti, and hand signs; some degree of organization; and a elevated level of involvement in delinquent or criminal activity.”(Curry, 2014). A large misconception about youth gangs is that a gang must have a large membership ratio, which resembles the likes of the Los Angeles based gangs, The Bloods or the Crips, or has to be strongly racially or ethically based such as the Neo-Nazi’s or Latin Kings. This is not all together true. Indeed a large majority of gang activity results from highly involved associations like the four previously mentioned, but smaller less known or even recognized gang...
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...f that magnitude and most of the areas affected by gang violence simply cannot afford to properly intervene to the point where a serious change can be made. Cities need help monetarily, and the government must give it to them. Without the governments help, these areas will either just tread water, or sink into slums if they have not already reached that point. A bill must be passed, or a loan must be given, or the gang problem in America will remain as is, growing everyday, swallowing the potential and possibly the lives of our nations youth.
References:
Curry, G.D., Decker,S.H., and Edley,A. Jr, Gang involvement and Delinquency in middle school population. Justice Quarterly. 19(2):275-292. (2014).
Franzese, Robert J., Herbert C. Covey, and Scott W. Menard. Youth Gangs. Illustrated ed. N.p.: Charles C Thomas Publisher, 2006. Web. 16 Apr. 2015. .
Major, K. Aline. Youth Gangs. Juvenile Justice. March 2014
Nawojczyk, Steve. Street Gang Dynamics. The Nawojczyk Group. 2007.
U.S department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
http://www.census.gov
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.
Morch, S., & Andersen, H. (2012). Becoming a Gang Member: Youth Life and Gang Youth. Online Submission
Mihailoff, Laura. "Youth Gangs." Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood: In History and Society. Ed. Paula S. Fass. Vol. 3. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. 916-917. Student Resources in Context. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
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.
Gangs have been around for many years; the founders of some of the original gangs in the United States will be discussed. The statistics of youth gangs in Canada will be presented followed by an in depth discussion about why young adults can be persuade into joining a gang. Often females do not contribute that the youth gangs in society; a discussion about the increasing presence of females and their roles among male dominate gangs. Young adults from Surrey, British Columbia, speak up about youth gangs and the influence of their presents within their community in a documentary called Warrior Boyz.
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...
The presence of gang violence has been a long lasting problem in Philadelphia. Since the American Revolution, gangs have been overpopulating the streets of Philadelphia (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). Most gangs in history have been of lower class members of society, and they often are immigrants into the U.S (Teen Gangs, 1996). Gangs provided lower class teens to have an opportunity to bond with other lower class teens. However over time, the original motive of being in a gang has changed. In the past, gangs used to provide an escape for teens to express themselves, let out aggression, and to socialize with their peers. It was also an opportunity for teens to control their territory and fit in (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). In the past, authorities would only focus on symptoms of gang violence and not the root. They would focus on arresting crime members instead of preventing gang violence. Gangs are beginning to expand from inner-city blo...
Tobin, Kimberly. Gangs: An Individual and Group Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
Juvenile Delinquent Gangs As a kid I could remember walking to school every day. While on the way to school, there was always a group of kids sanding outside of the school walking away. These kids dressed differently and they all wore the same type of clothes. It wasn’t until years later that I was told to stay away from them because they were gangsters.
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...
A gang is a group of people who interact among themselves. Teen violence is contributed to these gangs. Most gangs claim neighborhoods as their territory and try to control everything inside that territory. This kind of antisocial behavior is a major problem in American Society.
Statistics show that school-based programs as well as community-based prevention programs minimize gang involvement. School-based programs address substance abuse and violence, which reduces the risk factors for gang involvement. For example, in the article “What Can Schools Do to Prevent Gang Involvement,” by Gary D. Gottfredson, he states, “universal programs in kindergarten through secondary school, which [is a] rewarding educational environment im...
Hallswort, S. And Young, T. (2004) Getting Real About Gang. Criminal Justice Matters [online]. 55. (1), pp 12-13 [Accessed 10 December 2013]
Otero, Juan. “Curbing street gang violence,” National League of Cities. 21 Dec 1998. General Reference Center Gold. Jan 2007