What Are Gangs?

What are gangs?
Gangs are a group of people who claim territory over others usually in the same neighborhood or surrounding areas. Gangs are usually brought together to create revenue through illegal activities. Most of the time gangs are organized based upon territory, race, illegitimate activity, and ethnicity. The ages of people who join gangs start from the ages of 8 ranging all the way to 22. Typically, you will see gang members wearing specific clothing in order to be unified and recognized as part of the group. For example, if you were a member of a street gang known as the Crips you would expect to be seen wearing mainly blue or purple clothing and/or bandanas. This signifies pride and uniformity; it makes a bold statement that you belong to this group of people. Because gangs are mostly violent and disruptive, the initiations can be brutal. The initiations normally include but are not limited to; fighting, killing, gang rape, and/or other deviant crimes. Gangs are one of the leading factors for violent crimes in neighborhoods.
Gangs are depicted as unintelligent

In 1820 the immigrations created a melting pot, in which resulted in larger and more dangerous groups that where harder to condense due to the disorganization of the communities. Despite the violence, the earliest gangs in New York City where not criminal groups. “They engaged in violence, but violence was a normal part of their always-contested environment; turf warfare was a condition of the neighborhood” (Sante, 1991,p. 198). Most of the members where legally employed and where butchers, bouncers, sailmakers, shipbuilders, and carpenters. “Overall, the earliest gangs were largely Irish, followed after the Civil War by Italian and then Jewish gangs with a mixture of Italian, Irish, and Scandavian members” (Riis, 1902/1969; Sante, 1991).