Bottom-Up Approach To Gang Violence

For years, gang crime has been loathed by society, as society has perceived it to threaten the well-being of its members. In addition to the fear of gang violence, concerns have been raised of gangs polluting youth; hence, policing strategies have emerged more increasingly in an attempt to put an end to the delinquency. Nevertheless, for society the causation of gang crime has been discussed to a lesser extent; thus, the objective of this essay will be to depict a viable explanation of gang crime through the use of two criminological theories. To accomplish the task at hand; I shall, define gang crime, provide a description of social disorganization theory, illustrate how the application of social disorganization theory provides an explanation of gang crime, describe differential opportunity theory, demonstrate how differential opportunity theory can explain gang crime, and exemplify as to which theory provides a superior explanation of gang crime. In the end, it will be clear that social disorganization theory is a superior explanation of gang crime in comparison to differential opportunity theory, due to its ability to deliver a more enhanced explanation than the one that is provided by differential opportunity theory.

Gang violence has been around for a long time all the way back to the 1800 and have greatly increased all around the globe ever since. Gangs are a group of people that fight and kill other gangs over turf,money,pride, and drugs. People usually join gangs from around the age of 8 to the age 20. Most gang members join because they have been abused by their parents or because they don 't have a family. Gangs treat each other like a family, that is the most common reason why people join, they want to be accepted, they want to feel like if they belong something.

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.

When addressing public safety issues, one might assume that the most obvious approach encompasses an elementary and uncomplicated strategy involving strictly law enforcement practitioners. A seemingly straightforward approach however is in actuality nonexistent. While allocating additional resources (like personnel and physical security assets)

I have observed that individuals and communities, and institutions think that poverty, gang violence and child abuse is what represent who you are and where you belong. Going through poverty, gang violence and child abuse would lead individuals in the wrong direction in life. When an individual or a communities see a gang member or someone they don’t care about that person because they say once you’re in the hole it hard to come back out. I just think it wrong for individuals and communities to judge people the way they do. People are the way they for a reason. Everybody has a kind heart. They made not seem like they do but they do. Their mostly likely that because there not given love or support. Like in the story said they in need of attention.

Living in Madera for 18 years, I came to respect law enforcement and all they have done to help better our community. The specific branch I respect the most is the gang task force. The officers of the gang task force have cleaned up the city of Madera and helped change many kids to avoid a life of crime. They have to do so much but yet, when I turn on the t.v. Or computer to dive in deeper about the gang task force line of work, most of what there is to find are authors, newscasters, and the general public bashing them along with the rest of law enforcement. It is basic human nature to stereotype and group things together. The gang task to no exception. The gang task officers are viewed by many as racist, profiling, and lying

Community crime prevention programs incorporate practices that target changes in a community’s culture, physical environment, or infrastructure to reduce crime such as gang involvement and violence (Citation Needed). This paper will examine the following three different strategies used in crime prevention programs: focused deterrence strategy, problem-solving policing, and situational crime prevention. Deterrence strategy or theory states that crimes can be prevented when the costs of committing the crime are perceived by the offender to outweigh the benefits of committing the crime (Braga et al., 2001). Programs that use the theory of situational crime prevention believe that crime can be reduced by identifying and then eliminating the forces that facilitate would-be offenders’ criminal acts (Clarke, 1992). Problem-oriented policing is an analytic method used by police to develop strategies that prevent and reduce crime. Under this method, a law enforcement agency will systematically analyze the problems of a community, search for effective solutions to the problems, and evaluate the impact of their efforts (Weisburd et al., 2004).

Gang Violence has been seen throughout the nation. From Compton with the now infamous Bloods and Crips to the Gangster Disciples that were born in South side of Chicago. Its been studied and shown that one of the underlying issues of gangs and gang violence is that they form in impoverished neighborhoods. Theoretically bundled within these "neighborhood effects are institutions’ and actors’ social networks that are the foundation of other neighborhood-level processes such as social control, mobilization, and cultural assimilation" (Papachristos, 2013, p. 417). This notion of geography creating more crime in certain areas is true to a certain extent. Whereas most people look towards Chicago or Los Angeles

J.T operates exactly like a franchise. J.T must pay a 20 percent due towards the board of directors of the gang. The boards of directors are essentially the big bosses of the gang. Anything left over is a profit for J.T, but he must handle the expense that the gang has. These costs can be separated as fixed and variable cost. The fixed costs are the dues and the Extortionary taxes and the variable costs are weapons or mercenary fighter. Any earning made after these cost go towards J.T pocket, which are tax free. The similarity between a corporation and a gang is astonishing. An example of this is the similarities that drug dealer and a newly hired corporate worker face. A drug dealer must face the same initial obstacles that your everyday worker goes through. The drug dealers must start out at the bottom as a “foot solider”, which is the case for a regular worker. An example of this is when an aspiring accountant starts out as an intern of their future employment. The end goal for both of these careers is to get to

Relevance: This issue is extremely relevant to the community because they do not feel safe in public at night, express concern over drug activity, do not let their children play in public without parental supervision, fear their children will join gangs, and feel powerless. All of this makes residents feel trapped by the pressure of gangs in their community. Furthermore, residents

The purpose of this paper is to review and verify a recent study by Scott H. Decker of the University of Missouri – St. Louis, entitled Collective and Normative Features in Gang Violence (Decker & VanWinkle, 1996). The study will attempt to address why our local increase in gang violence has reached monumental heights causing an increase in gang members appearing your court.

1. Research a specific Gang Prevention Program on your own. Briefly discuss: The name of the program, where it is located, the population it serves, what types of services it provide? The gang prevention program I have researched was Think Together.

The sociological analysis of gang membership explores the different types of effects that arise due to criminal involvement. Because of the social conflicts that are associated with gang membership, this paper will explore the different theories of social learning and both personal and control issues that relate to the recent surge in crime across Chicago. As we open the doors of a crime ridden society, the truth begins to unfold. It isn’t just the thought of helping, it is the action that remains the barrier between living a life of crime or a life that carries hope.

“Murders of children by other children have tripled in three years, as more of the nation's youth get drawn into a deadly world of guns and knives” (Wynne-Jones and Leapman, 2008).

I can identify action steps to take to solve or change the problem in my school or neighborhood community.