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Gang violence in society
The relationship between drugs and crime
2 major correlations between gangs,drugs and violence
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Surface examination of gang related violence, one would concur that it is because of poor socioeconomic status. However, Dan Gardner claims that drugs are the primary reason for the gang violence in his piece “The Missing Piece to the Gang-Violence Debate.” Although he acknowledges the said points above to be significant in that debate, he stresses that the element which is the black market drug trade is directly related to gang violence in countries such as Mexico. He notes, Mexico because it is a country known for its high involvement in drug dealing and the infamous cartel. Mentioning the gun battle in Nuevo Laredo, he fears that this may soon be the fate of cities such as Toronto and Vancouver in Canada if this issue is not resolved. He recommends that political interference within the black market drug trade is not only a waste of money, but also counterproductive as he understood from the events in Mexico. So what should the government do in terms of this vital issue? Dan Gardner starts off his essay with his example of Mexico and its black market violence. “Violence in black ...
The author of Mexican Lives, Judith Adler Hellman, grapples with the United States’ economic relationship with their neighbors to the south, Mexico. It also considers, through many interviews, the affairs of one nation. It is a work held to high esteem by many critics, who view this work as an essential part in truly understanding and capturing Mexico’s history. In Mexican Lives, Hellman presents us with a cast from all walks of life. This enables a reader to get more than one perspective, which tends to be bias. It also gives a more inclusive view of the nation of Mexico as a whole. Dealing with rebel activity, free trade, assassinations and their transition into the modern age, it justly captures a Mexico in its true light.
A leading American historian on race, policing, immigration, and incarceration in the United States, Kelly Lytle Hernandez’s Migra! A History of the U.S. Border Patrol tells the story of how Mexican immigrant workers emerged as the primary target of the United States Border Patrol and how, in the process, the United States Border Patrol shaped the history of race in the United States. Migra! also explores social history, including the dynamics of Anglo-American nativism, the power of national security, and labor-control interests of capitalistic development in the American southwest. In short, Migra! explains
Martinez, Oscar. Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1994), 232.
The subject that I have chosen for my essay is: ‘Maras in Central America. Analyse its social causes and consequences’ – a gang that operates on territories of Central and Latin America. During writing my essay I want to analyse the phenomenon of how a not that big community of Salvadoran young immigrants has been transformed into one of the most dangerous and the largest gang groups in the United States and Northern Central America in about 30 years. Also I would like to analyse and present social causes and consequences of Las Maras. The past 20 years has been an escalation of crime in Central America. Surprisingly not in Colombia but in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are one of the most dangerous countries in the world. According to
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...
The author begins his ethnography by giving us insight of the crime rate in the 1990s. He described this subject as the “age of drive-by shootings, drug deals gone bad, crack cocaine, and gangsta rap” ( ) that dominated the talk of the time. This type of ideology led our society to believe that we should put massive
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 ...
Beith, Malcolm. “The Current State of Mexico’s Many Drug Cartels.” Insight Crimes. n.p., 25 Sep.
In Punished: policing the lives of black and Latino boys author Rios, victor. Victor Rios grew up in the ghetto in the Oakland, California in the 1980s. Rios, a former gang member and juvenile delinquency. Rios managed to escape this trend of gang violent as a teen; he managed to escape the gang violent lifestyle from his peers. He provides us a with a depth overview of a three-year study of 40 minority youths, 30 of whom were previously arrested. The study was done in Oakland, California. Rios give us a clear overview inner city young Latino and African American. Rios emphasize on the difficult lives of these young men, who are faced with policies in their schools, communities, and policing. Importantly, he gives us a clear understanding
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.
Looking back at the number of homicides in the city of San Jose, CA for the year 2000 it was 20, then there was an average increase of 8 murders per year for the next 8 years. Then in 2010, despite a population increase of over one hundred thousand people, there were only 20 murders in the city of San Jose. Now in 2011, up to the month of July, there have been 26 homicides, which means based upon the current rate San Jose is on track to have more than 50 homicides in 2011, which would theoretically be over a two decade maximum. Now despite having lived in a small town, I consider San Jose as a home away from home because I go there often. I have had a job there and my dad has worked in San Jose for 28 years. In 2009 the San Jose area was rated as the seventh safest area in the country and when that happened it made me feel thankful that my family and I have lived in such a safe area. Yet nowadays it seems like I have been reading about a different murder every week, which has caused me to ask many questions about the possible causes of this rise in murders. From the research I have done, the cause seems to be a rise in gang violence and rival gang murders. In San Jose, the two rival gangs, Norteños and Sureños, have begun to be bolder with their killings as shown with the already high and rising murder rate of 2011. Solutions must be determined in conjunction with the San Jose Police Department and governmental gang task forces to establish the best course of action to stop the continuing rise in violence (Associated Press).
This book review covers Policing Gangs in America by Charles Katz and Vincent Webb. Charles Katz has a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, while Vincent Webb has a Ph.D. in Sociology, making both qualified to conduct and discuss research on gangs. Research for Policing Gangs in America was gathered in four cities across the American Southwest; Inglewood, California, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. This review will summarize and discuss the main points of each chapter, then cover the relationship between the literature and class discussions in Introduction to Policing and finally it will note the strengths and weaknesses of book.
Another cause of gun violence is the war on drugs and the inherent violence around and in American cities “The most important single reason that gun violence rose sharply in Chicago and District of Columbia and many cities across the country Between the mid-1980s and early 1990s was drugs specifically crack cocaine first thing up on the scene at the time juvenile and young adult males were recruited to sell the drugs in trouble neighborhoods and were armed, or armed themselves with handguns” (Whiney 157). One result of this was as two Criminologists called “ irresponsible and excessive casual use of guns by young people in inner cities.” One major reason gun violence fell after the 1990s was the crack epidemic sizzled out. The United States war on drugs is not working and is aiding in the number of guns used. Gangs and drug dealers would be deterred from selling if most drugs were decriminalized, people were arrested for lower level crimes might not have to become life long criminals if they were not jailed. For instance, in Colorado where marijuana was legalized crime has decreased significantly. According to Denver Police’s Uniform Crime Reporting data, total burglaries in 2013 were 5,094. In 2014, burglaries decreased about 10 percent to 4,594. Reported robberies in 2013 totaled 1,137 and decreased 3 percent to 1,099 in 2014. Arrests for drug violations in 2013 totaled 2,349 and increased almost 10 percent to 2,574 arrests in 2014. Moreover, In 2014, a total of 150 homicides was reported by law enforcement agencies in Colorado (DPUC). This is a 12.8% decrease in homicides from 2013 (CBI). These numbers show a great sign of hope if we decriminalize drugs. We can not treat our people with a problem like criminals, just like our mentally ill. People with a drug problem need help and if these people are not behind bars
Our team presentation focused on three Latino gangs, MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha), the Mexican Mafia and the Los Surenos gang. My part of the presentation was to provide information on the type of crime these three gangs are known to commit. The crimes committed by the MS-13 gang are varied, violent, and take place all over the country. The FBI even put together a task force called the MS-13 National Gang Task Force in December of 2004 to try to put a stop to this gang’s activities. (www.fbi.gov). Los Surenos or Sur-13, originally based in Los Angeles, has also branched out from turf wars with rival gangs to “for profit”, violent crimes across the country. The Mexican Mafia has a similar story to tell as well in regards to gang crimes, which again range from respect crimes, and retaliatory violence to crimes for profit.
No country is devoid of violence, but it is especially prevalent in Latin America. The Organization of American States labeled violence in Latin America as an “epidemic, a plague that kills more people than AIDS or any other known epidemic” (Carroll). Brazil and Colombia are two countries that have been shaped by gang violence; both are gripped by some of the largest, most violent, and institutionalized gangs in the world. In Donna Goldstein’s ethnography of life in a Brazilian shantytown, Laughter Out of Place, the power and prevalence of gang violence is apparent. In Colombia, gangs flourish nationwide and have direct consequences on the country’s economic, political, and social structure. Despite existing in entirely different countries, and though they are unlike in some regards, gangs in Brazil and Colombia, as a whole, share similarities in their power, function, and effect on the lives of the poor.