Gangs and gang activity are extremely detrimental to our social order. “Gangs are groups of people—mostly young males—who band together for protection and a sense of belonging. Gangs are often associated with violence and crime. In fact, the United States Department of Justice officially defines a youth gang as a group of young people involved in criminal activity.” (Gangs, 2003). According to www.fbi.gov, some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with about 1.4 million members are criminally active in the U.S. today (FBI, 2010). This should be the motive for greater action from our society to halt the rise of gang related offenses in America What types of persons participate in gangs? “Gang members are typically young people of color in low-income neighborhoods. Law enforcement agencies reported in 1999 that over 800,000 youths were involved in gangs in the United States. Approximately 50 percent of these gang members were from the underclass, and another 35 percent came from a working class background. Forty-seven percent of the youth gang members were Hispanic and 31 percent were African American. The average age of a gang member is seventeen or eighteen years” (Gangs, 2003). Gang associates dress similar; they usually wear a t-shirt, sometimes of a specific color, tennis shoes, and either blue jeans or khaki pants or shorts, which are usually baggy. A gang member typically has a decorative bandana dangling out of one of their pockets, also of a specific color. An additional element that most gang members possess is at least one tattoo that displays their dedication to the gang. Most gangs induct their new members by tattooing them with a marking that distinguishes them from other gangs. “Based on e... ... middle of paper ... ...an likely, it will never be conceivable that gangs and gang violence will be hindered entirely. With assistance from the populations in each municipality and township it can be thinkable to halt and reduce the unnecessary quantity of gang followers and gang-related crimes. We must consider that countless means to reduce the magnitude of gangs in America do, in fact exist. Assorted substitutes to being a member of a gang are the availability for programs in the school and community, educational curriculums for parents and children, and capturing the most faithful gang members and directors of gangs. It is essential for the protection of us as American residents to commence in the progression of managing and restricting gangs at the present. Without stopping gang involvement, America will develop further into a brutal and treacherous nation for the blameless masses.
The American headlines of any large city will site killings on street corners, robberies, assaults, intimidation, and drug interaction. While not all-criminal activity is associated with gangs, the 780,000 strong members do account for a large majority of the problems that are plaguing America. There is no one-way to stop gang activity in one single swipe, but through a combination of cooperation, education, and training techniques law enforcement can minimize the gang’s movements and even stop a crime before it is committed.
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...
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.
Gangs can be classified as a group of adolescents who are perceived to be a threat to society, are mostly recognized by their name and territorial power, and have been involved in numerous acts that violate criminal law procedures in North America. (Esbensen, Winfree, He and Taylor, 2001). The first theme that was present in the pieces of literature collected was the lack of opportunities. As previously stated before, becoming involved in a gang starts at a young age. An article titled “Youth Gangs and Definitional Issues: ‘When is a Gang a Gang, and Why Does It Matter?’” explicates what exactly constitutes a gang, starting with young adolescents. Using a survey conducted in the United States, Finn-Aage Esbensen, L. Thomas Winfree, Jr., Ni He, and Terrance J. Taylor (2001) surveyed over 5,000 students. The questions asked were based on how and why they chose to be in a gang (whether they were a part of it currently or before the survey was conducted). The authors concluded their research in deciding unanimously that there was a connection between a social learning theory, and the commencement of gangs. Correspondingly, Herbert C. Covey (2003) created an academic book entitled, Street Gangs Throughout the World, which gave an in-depth look at the different types of gangs across the world. Throughout several chapters, Covey looks at the root causes of how any why gangs are formed. The author noticed that there was a significant trend among young, deprived adolescents and gang membership. (Covey, 2003). Covey (2003) indicated that the more underprivileged a youth was, the more likely the chances would be of them joining a gang, which is a major concern.
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 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.
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.
Gang violence has been an issue within the United States since the colonization in the late 1400s. Although gang violence has always been around, larger more organized factions began arising in the 17th century. Today, according to youthinfo.gov more than 700,000 youth were treated in the ER for gang related incidents. While many actions have been taken against gang related, not all seem effective. While very interesting on how people are drawn into gangs, our government must implement more strict measurements against the clans of hooligans.
The Gang Prevention and Deterrence Act was presented by Sen. Orrin Hatch and Diane Feinstein in the winter of 2003. The Act stated an increase in funding for the federal prosecutors and FBI agents needed to conduct coordinated enforcement efforts against violent gangs. There are much better alternatives than trying to pass a law that most people will never even hear about, or increasing funding for prosecutors and FBI agents. Creating new gang-prosecution offences will not prevent teens from getting into gangs. Jeralyn Merritt, a criminal defense attorney in Denver, Co. also suggested sports and mentoring programs. We should not just focus on the children and forget about the adults, help those adults that are already gang involved by actually employing them, but under certain guidelines. If there were more options out there, people would be to mentally and physically busy to even consider joining a gang. Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act would not do any good to assist in the fight against gangs.
Street gangs and prison gangs are a true problem and burden that haunts not only the US but also the World. Gang violence is triggered by itself because it is inevitable to take place due to the gangs’ very small tolerance for disrespect. Many efforts have been put forward to stop the monstrosities cause by the unrestrained men and women who are intimidating everyone who they surround. Gang violence affects the whole United States and not just a certain group. Maybe someday there will be a cure to the killings and violence cause but unfortunately we do not have the solution.
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.
Gang members are typical members of the same ethnic group. Fear and hatred for people of another race is called xenophobia. People who are victims of racism are often racists themselves. Rap music often features lyrics that are offensive to Asians, Jews, and African Americans. Earlier this century, the United States was divided into ghettos. Those days' gangs were from all races. Gangs today sell drugs to every race and share or compete for street corners. Most of gang's enemies are gang members of the same background. The Crips and Bloods continuously wage war at one or another. They even shoot members of the same ethnic group.
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...
Many stereotypes of gangs have been fabricated. The problem is that a majority of gang members do not fit these stereotypes, which, in turn, makes it hard for the to be caught (Klein). Traditionally they organize their group around a specific neighborhood, school or housing projec...