African American Gangs

The main variable being focused on for this paper is the “Percent Chance R Thinks He/ She Will Serve Time in Jail/ Prison by the Time R Turns 20 (R>=15). Making choices is an important part of growing up. For the most part, young people must make choices on daily basis. Young teens must make good choices equivalent to doing their homework and getting good grades in hopes of receiving things that they want (good job). In addition, teenagers also must make harder choices such as staying away from bad influences like drugs and gangs in order to reduce the risk of the outcome that they do not want like going to jail or prison. However, for some individuals, these risks are often tougher to avoid than others. According to Fischhoff and Parker,

Individuals who are raised in poorer economic backgrounds participate in crime at a far greater scale than those who are from a more comfortable economic background. Originally, gangs first appeared in Europe but did not begin to flourish in the US until the industrial revolution. In America, gangs started to develop in large cities like Chicago. While gangs have exhibited a history of violence, in the modern age, gang have changed their methods. While originally using hand to hand combat, gangs today have switched to a more lethal approach. Certain types of gang activity are associated with different racial and ethnic groups. African American gangs tend to be involved more drug related offenses while Hispanic gangs tend to violate territorial violence offenses. However, Asians and white gangs tend to engage in property crimes. The variation among youth gang violence is found in the relationship between gangs and their community. Meaning that gangs tend to carry out community traditions and culture (ex. African Americans associated with drugs). There are many factor for which motivated gangs to establish ties to their community. One of the factors, according to Miller, is that gangs use their communities as safe havens. Gang also use their communities as recruitment pools. Young males tend to be recruited more than females. Due to the absent of fathers, youths, especially young males, tend to seek approval from the older males in the community-- usually associated with gangs. Gangs use their communities as a source of information and for psychological reasons. Gangs can use local inhabitants to receive information about crime, and cops while also psychologically striking fear into these inhabitants to make sure that they are hesitant about going to the