Gang Violence: Problem on the Rise

What ever happened to kids wanting saying they wanted to be a police officer, fireman, doctor or teacher when they grow up? Does anyone ever say, when I grow up I want to be in a gang? According to the National Gang Threat Assessment there are over one million gang members in California and over forty percent are under the age of eighteen. Just in Fresno alone there are over twelve thousand gang members and over 500 gangs (Overend). Gang violence is a growing problem and if we don’t try to control it now it will be a bigger problem in the future.

According to the National Gang History, gangs started out in India in the year 1200 AD when a group of criminals used to roam the town committing burglaries and crimes. (www.gripe4rkids.org/his.html) Gangs are certainly not anything new to anyone, some of the earliest gangsters we know date back to as far as the late 1800s when Al Capone who was better known as Scarface came along. (Savelli) Street gangs date bake to the 1920s and 1930s, Mexican gangs who formed along the west coast of the U.S. started in the early 1940s. (Savelli) In the 1960s African American street gangs formed in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. (Savelli) Crips and Bloods started in the late 1960s. (Savelli)

There are over 500 gangs here in Fresno (Overend) that are well known to many of us, like 18th Street, Asian Boyz, Black P. Stone Nation, Bloods, Crips, Florencia 13, Bulldogs, Mara Salvatrucha, Nortenos and Surenos. (“Appendix B. Street Gangs”) There are also some that are around that are not well known like BTL (Burrel Town Loks), Playboy Surenos, Los cyclones, Sixth Street and VTL along with many others. There were approximately 750,000 gang members in the United States in the year 2000 but t...

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...ssa. “Gang Violence.” Questionnaire. Fresno

Twenty questions asked to fifty people.

Savelli, Lou. National Gang History. GRIPE. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.

.web.

Talks about how far the word “thug” dates back to and how gangs started to spread.

Walker, Robert. Bloods-The Piru gang. Gangs Or Us. 17 Jan 2010.

.web.

Talks about the background of the bloods gang.

Walker, Robert. Crips History. Gangs Or Us. 17 Jan 2010. .

web.

Talks about the background of the crip gang.

Walker, Robert. Nortenos History. Gangs Or Us. 17 Jan 2010.

. web.

Gives Nortenos background.

Watkins, Christi. How Can Gang Violence Be Prevented? (At Issue). Greenhaven, 2006. Print.

Watkins book brings together many people’s viewpoints on gang violence prevention.