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Reasons behind joining gangs
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The Cause and Effect of Joining a Gang with reference to Mara Salvatrucha 13 According to the Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.), a gang is defined as, “a group of criminals that work together.” Gangs are a powerful force that is a constant threat against society. As of 2011, the National Gang Center (n.d.) estimates there to be 782,500 gang members in the United States alone. Mara Salvatrucha 13, also known as MS-13, is one of the biggest and most threatening gangs. The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) (n.d.) believes Mara Salvatrucha 13 to have an estimated 10,000 members in the United States and several thousand other members in Central America. Joining a gang is justified by the need for protection, money, and promoting a self image. Joining an established gang, such as Mara Salvatrucha 13, results in a lifestyle change including a harmful induction, following a strict code, carrying out assignments, and a lifetime of loyalty. Reasons to Join a Gang Individuals generally join a gang as young adults but, are sometimes recruited as early on as elementary school. Society generally sees gangs as dangerous groups to stay away from, but for a young person on the street, a gang offers a sense of family. Gangs present the benefit of protection and being part of a pack. When Latin Americans came to the United States as illegal immigrants they had very few resources and were essentially homeless. A simple solution was to join a gang. Mara Salvatrucha 13 profited from this scenario, exponentially growing in strength and size (Illegal Immigrant Gangs Commit Most U.S. Crime, 2009). An initial reason for the formation of Mara Salvatrucha 13 was for the immigrant’s protection from other gangs, but eventually ended up greatly surpassing their competition in both size and strength (2009). The prospect of financial security proposed another logical reason to join
Webster’s dictionary has several definitions for the meaning of gang. The definition that best fits for juveniles is a group of young people who do illegal things together and who often fight against other gangs, or a group of people who are friends and who do things together. (Webster’s) One of the problems met by law enforcement and other professionals is the lack of a consistent definition of a gang. Generally a ga...
What is a gang? According to the Merriam Webster dictionary a gang is a group of criminals, a group of young people who do illegal things together and who often fight against other gangs, or a group of people who are friends and who do things together (merriam-webster.com). Whichever definition you choose the MS – 13 is the first two definitions.
A gang is an organized group with a recognized leader whose activities are either criminal or, at the very least, threatening to the community. (Walker, 2011) Throughout history there have been some infamous gangs that have gotten media attention and others that have gone under the radar. One of the more underground gang structures are prison gangs. The Nuestra Familia may not be in the news as much anymore compared to other gangs, but they are nothing to be taken lightly. Prison gangs have been around since the late 20th century and only seem to be getting stronger if nothing is going to be done to prevent them. Gangs in prison have members in and out of prison. One of the more popular gangs that has been gaining steam recently is the mainly Hispanic gang La Nuestra Familia. The purpose of this paper is to write about the history of the NF, the structure in which it operates, and some good preventative tactics that could prevent prison gangs from becoming stronger.
The gang Mara Salvatrucha was formed in the 1980’s by immigrant Salvadoran youth (4). Since the early 1800’s, street gangs have been prevalent in the United States. Gangs originated fairly exclusively in low-income neighborhoods which were home to ethnic minorities (mostly Asian and Hispanic) where people were barred from both educational opportunities and gainful employment. Gangs only continued to gain traction when those same ethnic minorities had increasingly difficult times assimilating into the culture and ways of life of the United States.
A gang is a loosely organized group of individual people who join forces for social reasons. Or anti-social reasons depending on how one looks at it. A person may join a gang for numerous reasons. These reasons include the need for “identity, discipline, recognition, love, money, and belonging.” 5 “Today there are approximately 274 Blood and Crip gangs in Los Angeles County alone.” 1 The gangs that are often in the news are usually made up of African-Americans. “African-Americans first formed street gangs in the late 1920s and early 1930s on the east side of Los Angeles near Central and Vernon Avenues. They were also forming in the downtown area of Los Angeles around the same time.” 4
With over 70,000 members worldwide Mara Salvatrucha(MS-13) is the most dangerous gang in the world. MS-13 has a tormented founding, which is why they are so dangerous. During the 1970s many Central American countries were engulfed in civil war, such as El Salvador. Refugees fled their home countries and immigrated to cities like Los Angeles. In Los Angeles the new ethnicities, mainly El Salvadorian and Honduran, were persecuted by the already established minorities, African-American and Mexican. In order to protect their livelihoods the immigrants founded MS-13. Quickly, Mara Salvatrucha rose in the ranks of LA’s most dangerous gangs, because the founding members were ex-guerrilla fighters in El Salvador’s civil war. For example, to strike fear into their rivals MS-13 members would use machetes in turf wars. Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational gang, affects homicide rate, drug production, and civic peace in Central America.
Gangs have been viewed as an issue in society by many people. The earliest signs of active gang activity were reported to be in the western civilization. Around the early 1600’s , more structured gangs began to appear.In 1783, U.S gang activity emerged. This not only affected adults, but many of the youth and communities surrounding these groups of people. Influence came from all over benefitting the advance of these structured alliances.
Street gangs have been a part of the American culture for centuries. As a young child growing up in the 80’s on the North Side of Fort Worth, Texas I saw my fair share of gang activity and the violence associated with it. Little was I aware of a notorious and deadly gang that was transforming known as Mara Salvatrucha, also referred to as MS-13. What began as a street gang, MS-13 now has activity in much of the United States and according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is, “one of the most violent and rapidly growing transnational street gangs.” The people of America need to realize the great danger MS-13 possess.
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.
... gang. Joining a gang can also be based on economic factors and what goes on with in the family. Many join for protection and to have that sense of family they probably don’t have at home. Gang activities have changed over time. At first it would just be about protecting the neighborhood, now the violence level has escalated for expansion purposes.
Smiley, a 12 year old boy who has join the gang after he has been beaten for thirteen seconds, decides to go down the wrong path maybe because he wants to feel part of a family and feel that he has the same power as many others. I believe some teenagers are often attracted by the gangs because like Smiley they are alone in their country and in order to feel part of a group he decides to join the Mara Salvatrucha (ML13) one of the largest gang organizations in Latin America. "The real Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 has wretched, perverse history: the gang is thought to have been started in 1980s in Los Angeles by Salvadorian immigrants whose families had fled the Civil war in their country a war partly paid for by the United States" (Robles, “Fleeing gangs”). It has been 35 years and gang's population has increase not only in Latin America but as well in the
Historically, gangs began to develop around the time frame of the 1970’s. Irish gangs have been known to be the first initial gang, followed by the Germans, Jewish, and Italians (Pacheco, 2010, p. 10). Gangs are larger in population and tend to be more prevalent in the United States, compared to other countries. In 2008, statistics showed that there were 20,000 active gangs and more than 1 million gang members in the United States (Pacheco, 2010, p. 12). According to Pacheco (2010) there are different types of gangs. Although these gangs are formed for individual purposes, broken up, they can form a multitude of different types of gangs. There are your traditional gangs (Crips, Bloods). Business, profit gangs, which are generated around financial gains. Hate group gangs, which their purpose is to target different ethnic groups, races or homosexuals. Copycat and delinquent social gangs, which seem to be the least relevant. Street gangs, which are prone to target younger individuals, but the actual ages of the gang members vary. Third generation gangs which are known as “terrorist”. Hybrid gangs are new to this generation, they could be considered the “hipster” of gangs. Then there are prison gangs. They are usually small in population and are structured along an individuals ethnicity (Pacheco, 2010, pp. 12-15). Gangs serve a multitude of purposes for their members. The gang becomes their family. They are able to trust them, rely on them, and the gang gives them a sense of self and importance. Gangs have the ability to offer status, refuge, protection, and opportunity of stigma free life within this population (Tower, 2013, p. 82). In the PBS show Interrupter ex-gang members and ex-gang enforcers joined together ...
Many people who've a hard and struggling life with no money often join gangs because they can make money illegally through theft and drug dealing. Others are brought into the gang by other gang members and are pressured to the point where they have no choice but to join.
Gangs have been in existence since the beginning of time. These kind of groups, or gangs, usually participate in several criminal and illegal activities that negatively affect society. These activities include theft, robbery, extortion, rape, and many types of vandalism. Gangs have increasingly became a problem society has often had to deal with. People wonder where and how it all started. It is in fact evident that gangs can change a person’s life in a negative way. Many fall into these bad steps by peer pressure or even movies. Being influenced by what the media projects, accepting peer pressure, and how a person is raised in the wrong household are all examples of how one is led into a gang. These groups have had many negative effects on society for many years. The impacts that gang membership lead to affect society are what people should be aware of.
What is a gang? Well according to most gang members, they aren’t a gang, they are a family. Now according to Oxford Dictionaries, a gang is “an organized group of criminals (gangs, n.d.).” Now gangs are known to be violent and having no mercy for others. When a gang is thought of, most people think of either some type of biker gang, or maybe even a gang from the “hood”. Now a group of friends hanging out in school doesn’t seem to differ too much from a gang from just looking at them. This is because they all share the same interest, and they all seem to wear similar clothing. So what is the difference between a gang? A gang differs in the degree of violence that they are ready to commit. Now there are three different types of gangs