It can be traced back that Thomas Hobbes first formulated the idea of deterrence. Advocates of deterrence theory “believe that people choose to obey or violate the law after calculating the gains and consequences of their actions” (Onwudiwe, Odo, Onyeozili). Essentially, as stated above, individuals will engage in crime when the benefit of the crime outweighs the cost of committing the crime (punishment). Personally, I believe that individuals that are part of the Operation Ceasefire end their “street days” because they are mostly scared of the harsh consequences that will follow if they continue to engage in a life of crime. Operation Ceasefire may align well with theories such as deterrence theory, but maybe not so much with others. When …show more content…
This theory simply argues that individuals will eventually engage in crime because the build up of certain strains placed on them by society. This is why those individuals who continue to engage in crime after being part of Ceasefire do so. Arguably, officials and law enforcement personal place too much a strain on these individuals to simply “cease” their crime careers. Further, maybe these officials place much to high of goals for these individuals to achieve. It is important to understand that the individuals that are part of Operation Ceasefire are hardened criminals or future criminals. These are guys that dropped out of school, their dad is in prison, and have lived in poverty their entire life. In other words, for their entire lives they have had a tremendous strain placed upon them. So when law enforcement agencies and city officials try to “scare” these men out of committing crime, it may work for a little while but eventually the strain will prove to be too much, thus ending in further committing …show more content…
However, how a community goes about dealing with this issue is controversial. According to the Office of Justice Programs, Operation Ceasefire “seeks to reduce gang violence, illegal gun possession, and gun violence in communities.” Officials for Operation Ceasefire advocate for local law enforcement to vamp up patrols in areas where violent crime is common. However, this could be an unintended consequence for those who live in these areas that don’t engage in violence. Essentially, maybe individuals in the community will not like the increased police patrols and will retaliate in a deviant manner. Also, it is important to understand that not all individuals get “chosen” to be part of Operation Ceasefire. Maybe those who don’t pass the screening process to partake will act out. In other words, when they see their friends partaking in the intervention and doing well, those who don’t get chosen may respond in a deviant manner. These are just a few unintended consequences that may be expected when communities implement this
Spergel, I., Chance, R., Ehrensaft, K., Regulus, T., Cane, K., Laseter, R., . . . Alexander, A. (1994, October). Gang Suppression and Intervention: Community Models Research Summary. Retrieved March 23, 2014, from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/gangcorr.pdf
In this day and age most people are afraid to fight leading to more murders. I guess they are scared to fight because of what people will say about them. While the reality of the matter is that pack savagery has been diminishing, despite everything it exists. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the Department of Justice offers a National Youth Gang Survey. A portion of the outcomes from this study incorporate the accompanying pack measurements:100% of urban areas with a populace of more than 250,000 report posse movement.11% of provincial districts report pack action. 35% of rural districts report pack action.
The film, The Interrupters, explains about a group of people in Chicago that are fighting for a ceasefire (Kotlowitz, 2012). This group of interrupters is comprised of ex-gang members that have been recruited to stop the violence (Kotlowitz, 2012). For many years the streets of Chicago have been full of violence; the incidents that were occurring involve many fatal shootings that have taken the lives of many young people in the community. According to the film, “nine people were shot in five hours” and there was a thirteen year old boy that was shot twenty-two times (Kotlowitz, 2012). The consequences of actions are not thought about, and many people in Chicago are acting violently in retaliation instead of thinking about
Gun violence in youth has become much more prevalent. Today’s youth are more likely to turn to guns to solve their problems with bullies or to help them to fight a mental illness. Kids are taking guns from their parents or are just going to the streets and buying the guns from random people. Although there are jurisdictions that have started to use gun violence programs to help combat these issues the programs are not found everywhere and are not going to work forever. One such program that we will learn about later on is Operation Ceasefire.
In 2003 as a response to communities with a large amount and growing number of youth gangs the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, initiated the Gang Reduction Program (GRP) (U.S. Department of Justice 2008). The formation of gangs is seen as a response to system failures and community dysfunction. As a result, one of OJJPD’s anti-gang initiatives is to make communities safer and have a pro-social environment (U.S. Department of Justice 2008). Furthermore, OJJDP plans to provide economic and social opportunities that gangs often promise to new recruits which are often obtained in an illegal and dangerous fashion (U.S. Department of Justice 2008). OJJDP believes that the GRP is capable of addressing the underlying issues for the increasing popularity and intensity of gang activity in specific suburban and rural neighborhoods (U.S. Department of Justice 2008). The program takes an integrative approach to dealing with the issue of increasing membership and participation with gangs. The following will discuss the program’s goal, theoretical basis, methods of operation, and overall effectiveness. After reviewing these major aspects of the GRP I will personally assess the value of this program and conclude whether or not the evidence supporting the program’s efficiency is strong enough for me to recommend it for implementation.
According to the National Gang Center, the change is gangs from 2002-2007: +12% in larger cities, +33% in suburban counties, +27% smaller cities and +24% in rural counties (National Youth Gang Center, 2009). The gang problem in the United States of America has been getting worse since the first gang was formed by Irish immigrants in the early 1800s. For low income and areas with high population, gang involvement with youths has also been getting worse. Regarding gang-related homicides, it is for difficult data collection industries to gather correct information because after a murder is committed it must be determined whether the murder is gang-related or not. But despite that, reports of gang-related murders are concentrated mostly in the large cities in the United States of America. Including San Jose, where there are long standing and persistent gang problems, which mean there are a larger number of documented gang members. There are literally thousands of anti-gang advocacy groups because there are so many concerned parents. These groups support politicians who are working to try to create legislation to reduce the gang problem in the United States of America. There are a number of theories on how to combat the gang problem, but a strategy which rarely fails is to take small steps in progress and continue to move forward.. There will never be a perfect solution that solves every aspect of a problem. But one policy that covers a wide range of issues involving gangs is the United States Constitutional bill S.132, “Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2009.” It is the most extensive and sophisticated piece of gang legislation to appear in the last decade, it has many objectives on increasing and enhancing law enforcement resources committed to the investigation and prosecution of violent gangs. It has had more supporters from both parties than any anti-gang bill in the last decade. S.132, “The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2009” has the potential to deter and punish violent gang crime, to protect law-abiding citizens and communities from violent criminals, to revise and enhance criminal penalties for violent crimes, to expand and improve gang prevention programs; it will give jobs back to police officers such as those in San Jose who lost their jobs and will help law enforcement indentify gang crimes to be able to put murderers behind bars faster.
Several California cities recently moved forward with gang injunctions to reduce violent crime rates. Gang injunctions have become a distinct Californian approach to fight crimes since they were first introduced in the 1980s in Los Angeles. The injunctions that have been granted primarily affect impoverished, minority neighborhoods and may actually serve to further stigmatize and oppress innocent minority youth who also live in these communities. Cities have issued them to fight local gangs, and promise that gang injunctions will cut down violent crime rate, and make the neighborhoods more safer; ho...
The dramatic increase of gun violence in Chicago has many questioning the effectiveness of state policies and police tactics. For many Chicagoans, gun violence is a common occurrence and this would not be the first time in which a big spike has been observed. In fact, Chicago was doing well overall in each crime category until recently in 2016, when they ended the year with 762 homicides victims that were gun related. Towards the end of 2016, Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, had a press conference with the communities at the Malcom X College. He goes into detail of how he hopes to see a sharp decline on the heavy issue of gun violence surrounding their city. It’s an issue in which the mayor says will only work through a combined effort of its
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.
Parents must be cooperative with their child as well into a specific resource center that dealt with indecisive mothers of raising their child(s) to help them suppress their child from joining gangs at an early age. Many parents are not aware of resource centers in their local area where they could seek an assistance and advice from someone expert (Social Worker or Psychologist) especially if their neighborhood is prone demographics of drugs, crimes, and some illegal substance. There are many kids that joined gangs because they are in a neighborhood prone to drugs and crimes where they could be influenced by it instantly by a flick of a finger. An article “What Schools Do to Help Prevent Gang – Joining” by Gary D. Gottfredson shows a statistics of students in certain cities percentage in joining gangs and not doing well at school. “Baltimore City 41%, Philadelphia 61%, and Albuquerque 49%.” Despite their value in reducing the general risk for problem behavior, school-based programs aid strategies are unlikely to reach youths who might be at greatest risk of joining gangs: those who have dropped out of school. Kids that are a drop out of schools are not getting much attention because some programs only focus or covered only those who are not yet involved in such case. It is mortifying to see that government has no action upon the situation. Gangs have a huge negative
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...
The streets of Philadelphia are rapidly becoming a home to violent acts and random homicides. Innocent lives are taken every day due to the strong presence of gangs, and the streets are run by unruly groups of fearless young adults. Gang violence in Philadelphia is a major issue, and the citizens will never be safe until gang prevention occurs. Gang prevention is not a simple task, but with the right resources available, it is possible. Gang violence is a problem that will contribute to the collapse of Philadelphia, and it has yet to be solved throughout many generations. With gang violence on the rise, the best solution to gang violence is to educate the youth and parents about gangs and use family support to prevent the creation of gang members from the problem’s core.
In recent years, the state of California has spent a lot of money to rid their streets of gangs and gang-related violence. The money that is being spent is just recently starting to pay off as the city of Salinas California which sees a population of 150,000 people and 3,500 gang members had 131 shootings and 15 homicides in 2010. Now even t...
A person experiences violence regardless of his or her geographical location. Violence is catastrophic, toxic and dramatically impactful on a community. Violence is a product of misbehavior and lack of emotional outlets. People bring violence to the streets of Chicago because they believe that actions speak louder than words. People solve confrontation on the streets with the pull of a trigger rather than taking a minute to talk it out. Many Chicagoans have become numb to the headlines that read- “40 shot and 4 killed this weekend” or “She didn’t have a chance.” Chicagoans shake their heads and scoff, while saying “There goes another one.” How could traumatic events become ordinary? Community members continuously march for justice and peace in their neighborhoods while city officials create new programs and jobs to keep young
Statistics show that school-based programs as well as community-based prevention programs minimize gang involvement. School-based programs address substance abuse and violence, which reduces the risk factors for gang involvement. For example, in the article “What Can Schools Do to Prevent Gang Involvement,” by Gary D. Gottfredson, he states, “universal programs in kindergarten through secondary school, which [is a] rewarding educational environment im...