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Gang Problems in America
Gang violence in society
Past vs. present gangs
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Gangs originated in the 1800s as secret societies. The word gang came from gonge that meant journey and then changed in the 15th century were gonge referred to a sailor (Gang research). "During Shakespeare’s time gang referred to as outlaw or wild young man” (Gang research). There are four types of gangs. There are secret societies, which controlled the oversea Chinese communities. Then there were gang outlaws in the Midwest, which came about during the gold rush in the 19th century. Ninety thousand men moved to America to look for jobs/money. The ratio of men to women was 20 men to every one woman. Third are the racist gangs emerged after the civil war. Such as the K.K.K. (Klu Klux Klan), these gangs were fueled by racism and started off as a draft riot until racism got involved and made them their own gang. Fights over turf and honor but went out of control when fighting blacks. The fourth is voting gangs, which was invented by the Irish. The Irish started voting gangs to try and be politically dominated. They would beat up opponent voters and destroy voting booths stealing votes. The Irish gangs were the cause of the draft riots in 1863, which was also composed of young men. To make sure they had their votes or wanted to have their favorite candidate win they would make clubhouses and name the clubhouse after that candidate to get the people who wanted that candidate to win to join (Gang research).
Nowadays there are children joining violent gangs called C.O.A.V., which stands for Children in Organized Armed Violence. These groups take or the children join into these armed organizations. These organizations take part in gangs, drug factions, cartels, death squads, paramilitaries and revolutionary g...
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...p record of the crime in both the criminals and gang record. However, the crime that is committed still has to be toughly investigated and reported. Due to the criminal justice system, the criminal still might get away with the crime.
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Gangs are a group of boys and believe it or not girls too, that frequently get together to make all types of vandalism and actions that are not admitted by the law. Gangs have been part of the world for a very long time; they have also evolved through time. For example gangs in the 1960’s are not the same as the gangs we see today in our days. Many gangs were made before and after the 1960’s but the major gangs in this time were: The Crips, The Latin Kings, KKK, The Bloods which were enemies of The Crips, and the 18th Street Gang.
In order to better understand the rise of these groups, I went into the original neighborhoods to document the history which led to these groups. There are 88 incorporated cities and dozens of other unincorporated places in Los Angeles County (LAC). In the process of conducting this research, I visited all of these places in an attempt to not just identify gangs active in Los Angeles, but to determine their territories. Through several weeks of field work and research conducted in 1996, I identified 274 black gangs in 17 cities and four unincorporated areas in LAC.
Gang violence is becoming a known threat in our country. Gang violence is defined as a group of people by repetitive socializing individuals or close friends with recognizable influence and inner coordination. These gangs will claim full control over a region in a community, town, or specific area which will lead to the involvement of violent crimes and unlawful behavior as a group or even by oneself. Since these gangs are increasing in size in communities, citizens of certain areas are beginning to move out or avoid going to these locations in order to avoid becoming the next victim to one of the community gangs waiting to engage in their next deviant act. These specific areas are located in communities that are at a poverty level, toxic areas, or environments where immigration is at it's highest. Law enforcement officials figure that these sorts of patterns bring out the characteristics of gang violence. It is known that an individual who wants to become a gang member must commit a violent crime in order to test their level of seriousness and faithfulness to their fellow brothers or, as they are known, "bloods". With the crime being committed by an individual, the physical features of a true gang member start to appear. Members or "brothers" are often easily recognized by their walk, tattoos, clothes, and colors of their clothes. Gangs are usually noted as groups of individuals who wear baggy jeans, long shirts, and bandana's of certain color. Another way to identify a gang member is by certain markings or tattoos on an individuals body. “"The modern street gang serves as an example par excellence of how geography and social networks converge to influence behavior." (Papachristos 2013). “Par excellence” is explained as ho...
According to the 2015 National Gang Report (NGR) from the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) almost half of law enforcement juristictions across the United States reported a rise in street gang membership and street gang activitiy. My communitty is no exception.
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.
One method that is being used in corrections that has resulted on crime prevention committed by gangs are reporting gangs and all the forces used to identify and convict gang members. For example, the task forces that were used to identify and arrest the 200 MS-13 gang members. The reporting done through the FBI sponsors, which allowed the offices to report violent street gangs and drug related violence. In
The metropolitan community of Chattanooga, Tn is presently experiencing increasing gang activity. However, until recently the issue hasn’t been acknowledged as a community threat, but street gangs such as the Bloods and Crips have been a menace to Hamilton County, particularly the inner-city neighborhoods of Alton Park, Avondale, East Chattanooga, and Westside for years. Reports from Hamilton County Schools suggest that gang activity is spreading outside of these neighborhoods. The Chattanooga Police Departments failure to address the growing issue has allowed gangs to enter schools where now over seven-hundred students self-identify themselves as active gang members. Students acknowledge gangs are a “culture,” with the indication of fear and strong concerns about personal vulnerability. As a result of community officials neglecting the problem, residents have lost faith in the local law enforcement, in part to no improvements to these neighborhoods in the past decade. To date, there is no system wide initiative combating youth gang involvement in Chattanooga. Therefore, its essential careful consideration and planning are used when implementing the G.R.E.A.T. program into the Hamilton County Schools and community.
Social Class Most of the gang members that have been reported come from the lower social economical class. When these kids are out in the streets they have nothing better to do so they begin to commit delinquent behavior. Since these economically challenged kids have no money to go anywhere, they tend to hang around their neighborhood. These kinds of groups encourage each other to commit criminal activity. They feel that if one does it, all of them can do it too.
Youth gangs are defined as any group of people who engage in socially disruptive or criminal behaviour, usually within a defined territory, and operate by creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in a community. Federally in Canada “…Bill C-95… says a gang must include five or more people involved in criminal activity.” Over the last ten or so years, youth gangs have become more violent and dangerous than ever before. They have more access to sophisticated knives and guns and use these weapons to gain power and fear. The problem of youth gangs is especially apparent in low-income neighbourhoods in Canadian cities. Low income neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area are a...
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.
It is surprisingly difficult to pinpoint the origin of street gangs. This may be because of the inherent nature of gangs: a group of individuals who come together for the same purpose and in the case of str...
The first chapter of Policing Gangs in America is entitled, “Studying the Police Response to Gangs.” The primary purpose of the chapter is to establish how police agencies; Inglewood, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Phoenix in specific, respond to gang problems in their respective areas. This chapter served as an introduction, giving a brief history of gang-related policing, how the public and media see the gang problem, research studies done regarding gangs and the recent declaration to shift away from suppression-oriented strategies as a result of overly aggressive actions toward citizens. Examples of this misconduct are given in the forms of gang units from Las Vegas, Chicago and Houston.
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.
Otero, Juan. “Curbing street gang violence,” National League of Cities. 21 Dec 1998. General Reference Center Gold. Jan 2007