Always Running La Vida Loca Thesis

Youth Gangs “It is the violent poetry of the times, written in the blood of the youth.” (Linda Mendoza, Chicana poet from South San Gabriel, 108). Gangs and Mobs have been around for decades and have always been the most pervasive in cities like Inglewood, Watts, and South Central Los Angeles, but why and how does the gang life influence our youth to be so apart of the culture. In the book “Always Running La Vida Loca: Gang Days In LA” by Luis J. Rodriguez, gangs have always been around and it is easy for young children to be “jumped in” or initiated into one fast based on the neighborhood you grow up in. Young children are being too involved with gangs because they’re influenced by family, friends, and a sense of security plus many other

“Yet, as the years rolled on, [youth] gangs began getting involved with more serious crimes. Toward the end of the twentieth century, many gang members were regarded as serious criminals who used intimidation tactics, engaged in the illegal trafficking of drugs or weapons, and used violence to pursue their goals” (Youth Gangs, 2). This research shows to prove that although these gangs that are full of kids and that are young and reckless, they will still engage in the most vile crimes. “In surveys of high-risk youth, gang members represent a minority of these youth but account for most of the reported crime. In the Rochester study, gang members made up 30% of the sample but accounted for 54% of the arrests, 68% of the property crimes, 69% of the violent offenses, 70% of the drug sales, and 82% of the serious delinquencies. A similar study of high-risk Denver youth found that gang members constituted just 14% of the sample but committed 80% of the serious and violent crimes” (Youth Gang Violence Is a Serious Problem, 16). This proves that these gangs affiliated and made up of young kids could be taken as a joke or just not taken serious. Once these so called kids are underestimated and then try and actually gain some notoriety, it labels them