Historically, gangs began to develop around the time frame of the 1970’s. Irish gangs have been known to be the first initial gang, followed by the Germans, Jewish, and Italians (Pacheco, 2010, p. 10). Gangs are larger in population and tend to be more prevalent in the United States, compared to other countries. In 2008, statistics showed that there were 20,000 active gangs and more than 1 million gang members in the United States (Pacheco, 2010, p. 12). According to Pacheco (2010) there are different types of gangs. Although these gangs are formed for individual purposes, broken up, they can form a multitude of different types of gangs. There are your traditional gangs (Crips, Bloods). Business, profit gangs, which are generated around financial gains. Hate group gangs, which their purpose is to target different ethnic groups, races or homosexuals. Copycat and delinquent social gangs, which seem to be the least relevant. Street gangs, which are prone to target younger individuals, but the actual ages of the gang members vary. Third generation gangs which are known as “terrorist”. Hybrid gangs are new to this generation, they could be considered the “hipster” of gangs. Then there are prison gangs. They are usually small in population and are structured along an individuals ethnicity (Pacheco, 2010, pp. 12-15). Gangs serve a multitude of purposes for their members. The gang becomes their family. They are able to trust them, rely on them, and the gang gives them a sense of self and importance. Gangs have the ability to offer status, refuge, protection, and opportunity of stigma free life within this population (Tower, 2013, p. 82). In the PBS show Interrupter ex-gang members and ex-gang enforcers joined together ...
To start off, origins of gangs are unclear, but some researchers say that gangs came to America in the early 1800s. These first gangs were in New York and Philadelphia and members of these adult gangs were from the Irish, German, and Italian ethnic groups. Youth gangs did not start to form until after World War II (Opposing Viewpoints Gangs 109-110).
Gang violence is a very serious downfall living in Chicago. In two articles written by Mark Guarino, “Behind Chicago’s High-Crime Summer: Persistent Street Gang Violence” and “In Chicago, Can Community Involvement Combat Gang Violence” he adds how Chicagoans are severely alarmed by the series of murders there are due to gang violence, including the death of an innocent eight year old girl who was caught between a heated gang war while playing outside (Behind Chicago 1), while adding how a gunmen approached a car and started shooting and killed a 20 ...
Did you know that there are approximately 27,900 gangs across the United States? Many people have dropped out of school for the fact that they have joined a gang. Think about it there is about 774,000 people in all these different gangs imagine how many of those kids and teens have dropped out of school. Many people that have been in gangs and are now trying to put their lives back on track, haven’t been even been able to get a job because of their bad background. This affects many people especially the ones trying to clean up their act. They try to go back to school to try and succeed in life. Kids or teens usually start joining gangs at the age of 11 or 10 because of the neighborhood they live in.
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...
Many communities have been the victim of many gangs moving into their once safe neighborhood, causing major downfalls and preventing the citizens from living their daily lives in peace. Guarino elaborates how Chicago still outpaces other big American cities in crime rates due to gang violence (Guarino1). There’s a lot of given reasons to why there is much gang violence in the city but the solutions are not as prominent. In the article, “Chicago Tactics Put Major Dent in Killing Trend” written by Monica Davey, she goes on to explain, “that more than 500 people were killed in Chicago in one year, many of them young men shot to death amid the hundreds of gangs that flourish in Chicago neighborhoods” (Davey). Davey continues on to say that in recent months, police officers have been working overtime and dispatched to 20 small zones that are considered the most dangerous in Chicago (Davey). Due to the high activity of police activity, Chicago homicides and gang violence have declined.
The issue that I will address is the gang problems this community has. I believe this is the biggest problem my community is facing. You mostly see gangsters in every part of the community. Since there's so many different group of gangs in new city fighting for territory, there is violence every where you go. Some of the gangs that are present were I live are the Two Six, Saints, Razas,and SDs. There is always beef between the Two Six and Saints may be because 47th St separates them and they could just go into each others territory and start a gang war at any time of day. All you see them in the middle of the streets with binoculars just watching what the other gangs activity. Many people say there sick of this but they still greet the gangsters and tell them how are you today and all those things. Some of my family members have been in between these gang shootings and never gotten shot, but some day one of us will be shot. Not just my family has been in gang shootings, other families too and sadly someone they know get injured or killed by accident because he was in the way.The problem is the gangs because they are making the community residents scared that every time they step outside something bad is going to happen. Well they developed in the 1880's in Bridgeport and Back of the Yards. They were mostly large Irish gangs, they terrorized the streets by raiding peddlers, robing men that came out of work, they also fought against them selves, they terrorizing German, Polish, and Jewish immigrants that came and settled in the area between 1870's- 1890's. Even though they fought between each other, they united to make a gang called "Mickies" to fight the black gangs in the east. Then later on other gangs started to show up like Po...
In now days, the increase in gun violence troubles many communities in the United States. Many of the high-crime neighborhoods have become a total gang-controlled area. In 2013, the total number of gangs in the United States are 24,500 (Federal Bureau of Investigations). As major cities in America struggle to respond to the growth of gangs and attendant crime and violence, the law enforcement come up with gang injunctions to reduce crimes rates. Although a couple of gang injunctions have been granted in Texas and Illinois, the overwhelming majority of injunctions have been issued in California. In 2005, the total number of violent crimes were 5,985 alone in San Francisco that year, and 31, 767 in Los Angeles (Disaster Center). According to Matthew O’Deane, a police officer, and Stephen Morreale, an Assistant Professor of Worcester State University, a study and review was conducted of 25 southern California gang injunctions to understand if civil gang injunctions reduce crime. As a result, the study found that the crime rate decreased by 14.1% in injunction areas.
With the civil rights movements of the African American race, gangs in the 1960’s grew as fighting for the attacks being made against them for their civil liberties. African American street gangs formed in large urban cities like Chicago and New York. They formed under names in New York like “Savage Skulls” and “La Familia.” Gang fights that once used brass knuckles were now advancing to the use of guns (ncjrs.gov). The access to and easy access to automobiles, and lethal weapons, led to the rise in drive by shootings. Black gangs like the conservative vice lords were in constant conflict with white gangs. As an expanding black population, they literally were able to fight their way into turfs and gangs began to form multi-neighborhood branches (Hadergon 201). The behavior displayed by street gangs added fuel to the fire for both sides of these arguments in motivations for gang members. Lorine A. Hughes and James F. Short Jr. state there is evidence that even among those affected, there is little evidence that activism replaced illegal activities and neighborhood violence. Instead, traditional activities such as theft, assaults and extortion were still carried out. Black gangs in the 1960’s were involved in racketeering and political issues, while still killing one another and assisting in killings (Hadergon 203).
Gangs have been around forever and there are two types of gangs which are, street gangs and prison gangs. They have the same structures that are divided as leadership and soldiers. The main difference between a street gang and prison gang is that a prison gangs are more disciplined than a street gang. Incarcerated members cannot escape their environment and therefore, are forced to comply with the facilities and gangs regulation. Gangs are always involved with criminal activity and it's difficult to control negative behavior and to lower recidivism rates for gang members.
The City of Los Angeles is the “gang capital” of the nation. There are more than 450 active gangs in the City of Los Angeles. Many of these gangs have been in existence for over 50 years. These gangs have a combined membership of over 45,000 individuals. Gang violence has for a long time been a major issue. Now it may not be as bad as it was back in the 90’s when it really first surfaced but gang violence is still a critical issue. A place where gang violence has really been an issue is none other than the state of California.
There are a few theories of why gangs are formed most of the theories have to do with the lower class poorer neighborhood and date back to the 1950. One of the newer theories of why gangs form is the underclass theory by Jeffery Fagan he feels that gangs are formed because juveniles feel they are being excluded from the mainstream labor market jobs and have to look for other economic alternatives such as part time low paying jobs, temporary jobs, muggings, prostitution, welfare or to get involved in the sale of drugs to make a living. Selling drug for street gangs for big money is one of the first jobs that a new recruit can expect to do in a gang. In the larger city ghettos there is so much poverty and deprivation which leave juveniles no
Gang violence has been a problem for hundreds of years. Gangs have grown and changed through the years in various ways. Why gangs exist and continue is a complex problem. How gangs can be resolved is even more complex due to the traditions, poverty, and desperation they stem from.
Historically, gangs and gang violence have been concentrated in Urban centers with economically disadvantaged and racially diverse populations. Many youths have little parental oversight and are too easily influenced by gang membership and glamorized violence in a popular culture. America is estimated to have over 33,000 gangs with approximately 1.4M members. Gang violence is often, but not always, the result of intergang rivalries; that is, much of the violence that occurs among gangs is directed toward other gangs and gang members. In this vein, the disputes are most often territorial and occur in specific neighborhoods. Escalating violence also results from provocation, retaliation, and revenge between rival gangs. Gangs always have a name, they claim a particular territory or neighborhood, and usually direct its criminal activity towards rival gangs and the general population in the form of robberies, assaults and narcotics sales. Gang members participate in a variety of anti-social behaviors, including battery, mayhem, sexual assault, damage to property, larceny, murder, gang wars
Attitudes, meaning how we as people respond to a subject, values, what we perceive is right and wrong, and beliefs play a major role in what brings youngsters into gangs. How does one develop a "gang attitude" to begin with? To answer this we must look at the culture. The values we Americans tend to have, make the alternative life style very appealing, this in conjunction with the glorified gang life style portrayed through the lyrics of the "Gangsta" rap artists all influence the young impressionable mind. This may make the child feel a sense of power, identity, or family, reflecting on the child's attitude. Also one must look at the neighborhood. A child can turn a corner and buy cocaine, see a gang war being played out, etc. It is obvious that the child cannot help but be influenced by this.