Gangs have been around for hundreds of years. They can be dated as far back as the early 1800’s. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency (1994) gangs arise out of a need for power and strength in a environment where they feel powerless. In response to this youth form social groups. These groups often become substitute families, providing a what the individuals feels they are lacking. Gangs often get their names from the location of their gang or the crimes that they commit. Many crimes include armed robbery, gun related crimes. Murder, assault, and many more. Gangs are often loosely structured with constantly changing leaders and varying membership. The gang is based on loyalty and group dedication versus a rigid hierarchical structure.Within all gangs there is identifiable levels of membership. These levels represent the members status within the gang. There are six known levels of gang membership. The first level is the leader. This member decides what level of crime the gang will commit. The leader is the top position and is followed by every gang member.
Next are the hard core gang members. These individuals are criminally and culturally involved in the gang. These members are usually older and are responsible for a large part of the gangs violent activities.
The third type is the associate gang member. Usually these members make a commitment to the gang and are dedicated on reaching the status of a hard core member. They are more likely to carry out crimes that they believe will boost their status in the gang.
The fourth type of member is the Fringe. This type of member is still able to function outside of the gang and has not committed to the being a member of the gangs criminal lifestyle. This type o...
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... larger cities such as New York and Chicago, gangs have developed a clear corporate like structure that resembles an Egyptian pyramid in shape. At the bottom of the chart are the street soldiers, topped by a hierarchy which is then topped by a leader and, last a president or king. Gangs that utilize this structure often have written constitutions and bylaws each member must follow.
The presence of a gang in a community affects the quality of life for society through illegal behavior and alcohol or drug use. In order to effectively treat the nations gang problem, we must fully understand what drives individuals to join gangs, and what makes them turn to violence. Prevention begins with awareness. By making programs and resources available to parents and youths then there is a higher chance of preventing membership and recognizing when a youth is already involved.
Morch, S., & Andersen, H. (2012). Becoming a Gang Member: Youth Life and Gang Youth. Online Submission
Gangs are a group of people involved in illegal activity. They were formed over 200 years ago in the United States and have now reached approximately 1.4 million individuals. There are five different types of gangs. The traditional gang, the neo-traditional gang, the collective gang, the compressed gang, and the specialty gang are all different types of gangs. Captain Dexter Nelson, a spokesman for Oklahoma City police who used to work in the department’s gang unit, said “all gangs exploit areas that are less equipped or less willing to
Different gangs have different characteristics, but all gangs possess at least one: A hierarchy. Whether the gang is a small local crew that never moves out of the neighborhood or a larger well organized team that controls an entire district, there will always be a leader. The leader of the group is the focus of gang-related law enforcement intelligence investigations. Often times the leader of a gang may already be incarcerated, and is still communicating and giving orders from within the walls. The leader is the individual that is usually the strongest member of the group with the most charisma, not necessarily the smartest member of the group or the member that has been in the group the longest.
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...
There are few known active members of street gangs attending district schools. The gang activity that is seen is that of ‘want-to-be’ gang members who are influenced by family members who are involved in street gang activity. Other ‘want-to-be’ members are often swayed by popular culture. Primarily, school administrators and district officials encounter smaller groups of students, anywhere from 3 to 10 students,from elementary to senior high, who band together and give the group a name. The group serves as a support system for members. These groups tend to be fluid and can disband as quickly as they formed. Most of these groups are benign and caused few difficulties. On occasion there have been groups that have caused greater disruption including violence, intimidation, and drug use. This has led to suspension and student transfer. When a student is identified as a street gang member or has shown signs of street gang influence the first intervention the district takes is to inform the parents of the individual, awareness is
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...
Street Gangs are becoming popular in many cities across the country. According to the Department of Justice's 2005 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are at least 21,500 gangs and more than 731,000 active gang members (Grabianowski). Gangs bring fear and violence to neighborhoods, drugs, destroy property, involve youth in crimes and drive out businesses. When you have gangs in a community, it affects everyone in the community. An alarming amount of young adults are joining gangs and becoming involved in illegal activity. Most gangs have a rule that when you join the gang you are a member of the gang for life. Gangs can be removed from our communities with more community involvement and education.
A gang is a loosely organized group of individual people who join forces for social reasons. Or anti-social reasons depending on how one looks at it. A person may join a gang for numerous reasons. These reasons include the need for “identity, discipline, recognition, love, money, and belonging.” 5 “Today there are approximately 274 Blood and Crip gangs in Los Angeles County alone.” 1 The gangs that are often in the news are usually made up of African-Americans. “African-Americans first formed street gangs in the late 1920s and early 1930s on the east side of Los Angeles near Central and Vernon Avenues. They were also forming in the downtown area of Los Angeles around the same time.” 4
The progress goes on increasing year by year and in the year 1989, Franklins expanded their stores and open one more store in South Australia. Also in this year they contracted into the ACT, and
...g violence statistics show that majority of the member in a gang are directly involved in gang related criminal activities and one third of them have no involvement.
The first gang that caught my attention was the 18th Street Gang which was formed in the late 1960’s. The name of the gang was originated from a street in the Rampart section of East Los Angeles. They were also known as “Children’s army” because they recruited elementary and middle school kids as a part of their gang. They show no clemency for their own members, you might be a really good friend of the leader but if you say the word “I’m out” they will menace you and your family. Also if you disrespect a leader or the big boss or another member of the gang you have a very sure beating of 18 seconds or you can even get killed depending on the circumstances. Some people say gang activities in the 1960’s were less dangerous, but this gang is a serious exception. Their criminal activities included auto theft, carjacking, drive-by shootings, they sold drugs, arm trafficking, extortion, rape and murder for hire. The 18th Street Gang extended across North America having more than 30,000 members. First it began with an ethnicity of Hispanic members, but throughout the years they included African Americans, Asians, Caucasians, and Native Americans.
Gang violence is a growing problem in this world. No parent would like to imagine their kids dealing with weapons or being threatened by them. These violence’s affects each child individually and their families as well. These gangs recruit multiple different individuals for many reasons such as bribery, family traditions, or even threatening. Although, many kids feel like they have to be a part of it but there are many resources out in this world to prevent them from believing so. Gang violence has been a problem in society for several of years and is a growing problem each and every day.
Gangs originated in the mid 1800’s in the cardinal direction using it as a method to defend themselves against outsiders.The idea of gangs became populous, powerful, and a broad influence. But like all powers, they tend to corrupt and recognizes violence as a way of getting what they want faster than other methods.They turn violence into fun, profit, and control.Creating a situation that affects youth in today’s society.
Gang power can be seen in many communication theories. There are several types of power that gangs and gang leaders fall under. An example of this would be referent and legitimate power. Referent power can be described as the role model power. We identify with this person and therefore try to be like them. Legitimate power comes from people who we believe should be in power, like children to teacher, law-abiding citizen to the police. Therefore referent and legitimate power go hand in hand, because of the organizational structure within the gang, a gang may "have officers much like that of a cooperation." (Internet Source 1) Generally "adults play leadership roles." (Internet Source 3) Also youngsters who have had severe prison terms are usually found to be the leaders of the gangs, thus being an example of expert power. The reason this is considered an example of expert power is because the individual possesses special knowledge in prison life, etc. By serving a prison term they can come back to the streets, "with more knowledge than ever could have been gained on the streets." (Internet Source 2)
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).