No country is devoid of violence, but it is especially prevalent in Latin America. The Organization of American States labeled violence in Latin America as an “epidemic, a plague that kills more people than AIDS or any other known epidemic” (Carroll). Brazil and Colombia are two countries that have been shaped by gang violence; both are gripped by some of the largest, most violent, and institutionalized gangs in the world. In Donna Goldstein’s ethnography of life in a Brazilian shantytown, Laughter Out of Place, the power and prevalence of gang violence is apparent. In Colombia, gangs flourish nationwide and have direct consequences on the country’s economic, political, and social structure. Despite existing in entirely different countries, and though they are unlike in some regards, gangs in Brazil and Colombia, as a whole, share similarities in their power, function, and effect on the lives of the poor. Drug gangs in Brazil have had a lengthy history, leading up to their present day prevalence in Rio de Janeiro favelas. The first organized drug gang in Brazil had its foundations in the prison on Ilha Grande in 1969. The military regime in power at the time had placed political prisoners together with common criminals who were typically poor and came from favelas; these common criminals were thus taught about exploitation and injustice. The government later realized its error, and separated the inmates into prisons all over the country, enabling them to spread their new knowledge. When these inmates were released from prison, they organized a collective which became “Commando Vermelho,” the first powerful drug gang. Over the next few years, drug wars began between rival groups, and the favelas were taken over by drug traffic. Co... ... middle of paper ... ...or both countries, in order to advance, the problem of gangs will need to be addressed, first and foremost, as each gang has dominated its respective countries’ discourse on most issues, from the economy to standard of living to crime rates and everything in between. Works Cited Carroll, Rory 2008 The Guardian, October 8. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/09/mexico.humanrights, accessed on December 10, 2011. Combs, Cindy, and Martin Slann 2007 Encyclopedia of Terrorism. New York: Infobase Publishing. Goldstein, Donna M. 2003 Laughter Out of Place. Berkeley: University of California Press. Jordan, David C. 1999 Drug Politics. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. Perlman, Janice 2010 Favela. New York: Oxford University Press. Martin, C Gus, ed. 2011 The Sage Encyclopedia of Terrorism. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Living in poverty brings high tensions and people tend to lose it. The use of alcohol is a contributor of the excess violence in the favelas. Many men and women begin to fight about the littlest thing, but it expands to a large issue as a result of the alcohol. Carolina recounts whenever a fight breaks out, “I was giving lunch when Vera came to tell me there was a fight in the favela” (de Jesus 63). These incredibly common vicious fights are entertainments to people living in the favelas. It is so familiar that whenever a fight breaks out people just enjoy it as if it were a show. As Carolina being the great hero she is, she regularly breaks up the
Gang violence is a complex issue with many causes consisting of; lack of jobs, dysfunctional schools, and a biased judicial system, these things have shaped and molded the social structure of this South Central society into something dark and perverse, it has given rise to violence and death, and the inconvenient truth of the matter is it’s our societies fault. References Anderson, Elijah. 1990. The. The Code of the Streets.
Having grown increasingly frustrated with these rampant displays of impunity by gangs, the Salvadoran public pressured its government to prioritize public security above all else. In response, the Salvadoran government has attempted to tackle the gang phenomenon using several strategies and methods which have evolved, due to the political and economic dynamics of the country and region, over time.
Just as the Olympics were held in Brazil, we heard on the news the constant increase of violence in children, and the even higher increment in the organized crime events in this country. But few of us understand the cold, horrific, and the traumatic experience of living surrounded by violent children in organized crime gangs, as well as the characters of City of God. The director of the movie Fernando Meirelles purposely shows us the way in which young children in Brazil learn to become violent at a young age, eventually still young get involved in organized crime gangs and their drug business, as well as in the gangs’ battles over territory and power. The director succeeded in presenting his point of view by using a different variety of movie
In Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, the effects of the marginalization of socioeconomically underprivileged people are depicted through behavior and psychological tendencies. These effects on the marginalized youth portrayed in Burgess’ fictional work draw a parallel to modern-day Brazilian shantytowns, commonly known as favelas. The psychology of behavior and the conflict between the government and the people are two clear-cut examples that illustrate the parallels between both worlds regardless, of the time period they exist in. As the doctors attempt in A Clockwork Orange, what can the Brazilian government do to stop or at least diminish violence and drug abuse among the youth in favelas?
Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, is a well-known transnational criminal organization (TCO) originating from El Salvador. They are specifically targeted for its involvement in transnational criminal activities including drug trafficking, kidnapping, human trafficking, sex trafficking, and many more. It is certain that there are more transnational gangs other than MS-13, but the reality of these gangs impact society, and their neighborhoods, more than one can imagine. There are underlying realities “that make it difficult to generalize [the gangs].” The one of many underlying realities is that each neighborhood level gang group of transnational gangs, particularly MS-13, has a “great deal of autonomy in the relationship it maintains with other organizations.” The second reality factor is that gangs, especially MS-13 in El Salvador are in a state of turmoil. The third reality factor is that the gangs in Central America differ from each other in significant ways. Although most gangs are involved in human smuggling and drug retail, MS-13 has a solidified relationship with “transportista networks and are reaching out to Mexican TCOs.” These realities can be analyzed with Taussig’s notions and theoretical framework of space of death.
In the favela of São Paulo, Brazil, 1958, Carolina Maria de Jesus rewrote the words of a famous poet, “In this era it is necessary to say: ‘Cry, child. Life is bitter,’” (de Jesus 27). Her sentiments reflected the cruel truth of the favelas, the location where the city’s impoverished inhabited small shacks. Because of housing developments, poor families were pushed to the outskirts of the city into shanty towns. Within the favelas, the infant mortality rate was high, there was no indoor plumbing or electricity, drug lords were governing forces, drug addiction was rampant, and people were starving to death. Child of the Dark, a diary written by Carolina Maria de Jesus from 1955 to 1960, provides a unique view from inside Brazil’s favelas, discussing the perceptions of good
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.
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 whore the same type of clothes. It wasn’t until years later that I was told to stay away from them because they were gangsters. They were gangsters that caused problems to the community. These gangsters would go up to kids and try and jump them into their gang. For them the more members they had the more “territory they had.” One problem that major cities around the world have is gangs. Most of these gangs are made up of many juvenile delinquents looking for trouble. These gangs tend to hang out in certain places and claim it as their territory. Many of the gang members are drawn together by similar interests, and are brought up in similar neighborhoods.
The following essay examines the definitions of organized crime from the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and how they relate to or are applicable to Pablo Escobar in his leadership role of his organization, known as the Medellin Cartel. Furthermore, an analysis of Pablo Escobar through Mark Bowden’s book Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw, provides a look at Columbia’s social climate during Escobar’s reign and its contribution to his outlaw sense of social justice, his self-image, and his strength and weaknesses which ultimately resulted in the collapse of his organization and his expiration.
CNN presents the documentary, Homicide in Hollenbeck, spotlighting gang activity in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollenbeck. This documentary explores the subculture of gangs existing within Hollenbeck from a several perspectives. The people documented include a mother who lost both of her sons to gang violence, a priest that has tried to help rehabilitate gang members, a police officer that has worked in Hollenbeck for five years in the gang unit, and a current gang member. For a conclusion, Homicide in Hollenbeck focuses on a juvenile exposed to gang life on the cusp of decided where they want their life to lead; gangs or freedom. Problems attributed to the high rate of gang activity and number of gangs in Hollenbeck are the high poverty rate, low employment rate, and broken families that make up the majority of Hollenbeck. The crime most discussed, as per the title of the documentary, is homicide The number of gang related homicides has risen even though the criminal behavior of gangs has ultimately decreased in the neighborhood. In order to fight the overwhelming gang presence, the police believe in increasing the amount of gun power on the streets and number of jailed gang members. The priest who runs Homeboy Industries stated that he feels most gang members are just young men who can’t get out of the gang life. With more funds and opportunities, he thinks the problem could be decreased. In the end, the documentary mentions that the FBI has formed a gang center where local law enforcement agencies can share information to gain more knowledge and to better fight the presence of gangs.
This book review covers Policing Gangs in America by Charles Katz and Vincent Webb. Charles Katz has a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, while Vincent Webb has a Ph.D. in Sociology, making both qualified to conduct and discuss research on gangs. Research for Policing Gangs in America was gathered in four cities across the American Southwest; Inglewood, California, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. This review will summarize and discuss the main points of each chapter, then cover the relationship between the literature and class discussions in Introduction to Policing and finally it will note the strengths and weaknesses of book.
Prisons for a long time have been a gateway to try to save society, when the only thing that it’s doing is hurting the social order because it’s creating more problems that are not being treated from the beginning. Crime has become a big problem during these hard times with the poor economy, but it has especially affected Latin America because of all the problems that overcrowded prisons have brought forward. In Latin America Brazil and Mexico are the two largest countries that have been affected with having the highest percentage of crimes, inmates in prisons, and concerns with overcrowded prisons. And these increase with the high crime rates in Latin America that are rising due to drug trafficking wars in Brazil and Mexico. "The country with the largest prison is Brazil, with 194,074 prisoners followed by México, with 144, 261 prisoners" (Pinzon 1). These numbers are only rising because of the lack of poorly trained officials and the limits amount of money for programs to help them integrate back into society (Dammert and Zuniga 9). As citizens we have learned to think of prisons as the last resort to put criminals, not being aware of the consequences that it will bring in the long run for society. Prison systems fail in Latin American because they are overcrowded up to three times more of the capacity they’re built for (Pinzon 1). And this problem has caused higher crimes rates as well as the spread of infectious diseases within the prisons particularly in Brazil and Mexico because their countries with higher prevalence of injecting drug users (IDUs) and because they go unseen (Dolan 36).
Colombia has been a supply of illegal for many countries. Mexico and United States being their two most important buyers. With Mexico being their distributor into United States, Colombia supplies the illegal drug use United States demands. In this paper, the treat of Colombian organized crime to United States will be analyzed.
Gang violence is a major problem in our society today. If nothing is done soon, gang violence could take place in our neighborhoods. MW Klein, a gang researcher, says that gangs are an aggregation of youths who perceive themselves as distinct, and that are viewed as distinct by the community. Klein also states that the gangs call forth a consistently negative image of themselves through their actions (Klein). To those involved in gangs however, gang membership provided a youth means of attempting to consolidate their gender identities (Douglas). Most of the early American street gangs have historically been ethnically based. Early gangs were mainly Irish, Polish, or Italian (Klein).