Canadian Gangs Essay

behind their classmates in school and do not try. A study shows that less than

Gangs have been a growing issue across the United States for many decades now. Youth gang violence may have started around the ‘50s, but did not become a serious issue until the ‘80s and from there went through a downward spiral in some cities like downtown Los Angeles, which was where the notorious Bloods and Crips gangs both started. First, let’s simply define a gang as a group of people, mostly men ranging for ages 14-30, who claim territory and use it to make money for themselves and their neighborhood through illegal activities such as trafficking drugs and weapons. There are many reasons and components that are factored in when conducting research to hypothesize “why do people join gangs?” That is why it is necessary to compare and contrast all the social, biological, psychological, developmental, and substance abuse aspects and relate it to joining a gang. It is also important to touch base on the differences between males and females that join gangs, such as power differentials, social learning differences and social stratification differences.

In society today, there is a major problem We live in a society where gangs are taking over our neighborhoods in numbers. It is the responsibility of the individuals to part take in getting their neighborhoods back under control. Gangs are becoming a growing problem in American society. More young people are turning to gangs to solve problems in their lives or for acceptance. When youths join gangs, they drop all their social activities with school, family, and friends. However, individuals ruin their lives, and the chances of them having a decent education, and a successful life by getting involved in gang activity.

Gang involvement and its associated violent crime have become a rapidly growing problem for the United States. Generally, gangs consist of young people of the same ethnic, racial, and economic background. Usually of a low socio-economic status, these gangs engage in illegal money making activities and intimidate their neighborhoods and rival gangs with violent crimes and victimization. Gang members exemplify a high value for group loyalty and sacrifice.

Gangs originated naturally during the adolescent years of a child. They started from small play groups that eventually found themselves in conflict with other small groups of youth. Due to the conflict between the two small groups of youth it became a part of a child’s mind set to come together as a gang and protect their rights and satisfy the needs that their environment and families couldn’t provide. There are about 24,500 gangs in the U.S and out of those gangs 40% of them are juveniles (Hess, Orthmann, Wright, 2013). There are numerous reason why a child would join a gang, and the

Surveys of youth and/or young adults (hereafter, surveys of youth) also assess parameters of gang phenomena. Estimates of prevalence rates of gang membership ranging from 5% to 25% have been reported from major projects initiated by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Also by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (the National Evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training; Bjerregaard & Smith, 1993).

Alleyne, Emma & Wood, Jane L., (2011). Gang Involvement: Social and Environment Factors. Crime and Delinquency 60 (4) 547-568.

Defining gangs have been compared to packs, teams, and groups. Participants of gangs do not necessarily commit violent acts or commence in illegal matters. The National Gang Center has come to a consensus on defining gangs with the commonalities of three or more members between the ages of 12 through 24, shared identity, recognized by others as a gang or crew, has levels of organization, and usually involved in criminal activities (Shelden, Tracy, Brown, 2013). Some gangs are excluded from this definition due to not proportionate with their usual activities. Overall, we can consider gangs to be founded when members share similar characteristics and establish a symbol to represent their livelihood.

Youth gangs in Canada is becoming more and more of issue. Adolescents across Canada resort to joining youth gangs for many different reasons. A youth gang is a group of young adolescents who use intimidation and violence to gain prestige among other gangs and control certain areas of unlawful activities. For all the reasons an adolescent would join a youth gang, police and the Government have come up with programs to prevent youth from joining and to get them to leave the gangs. With programs involving prevention, intervention, and suppression, the Canadian Government is adequately addressing youth gangs within Canada.

According to the Chicago Police Report’s CompStat within the year of 2014, there were 407 murders citywide. Chicago, Illinois is one of the United States biggest cities, with one of the highest crime rates. Chicago is also known for their large amount of gangs including, youth gangs within the city. According to the Chicago Police Department, they defined by their department, a gang is, “An organized group with a recognized leader whose activities are either criminal or, at the very least, threatening to the community” (Chicago Police Department, 2014, para.1). Chicago has one of the highest population of gang’s members in the city with about 150,000 gang members. If a city has an extreme number of gangs, then youth members just come with its nature. According to the National Forum of Youth Violence there were 1,109 young kids that had been being shot. Out of the 1,109 kids, 216 of them resulted in losing a life (Emanuel, 2010 p. 10). If we were to have more recognition towards this issue, then we would see a major decrease in youth gangs along with the violence that comes with the gang lifestyle.

This paper deals with gang violence in the city of Chicago since the beginning of time. It takes a deep look into the history of Chicago gangs and how they interact today. Also the past problems the City of Chicago made when dealing with gangs and the problems that gangs today have and how Chicago has the worst gang problem in the country. Also how gangs have turned themselves into big, and lucrative enterprises most known for money. Also stated are possible solutions to stop or reduce violence of the gangs that all start off with teaching the young kids about gangs and gang prevention.

The article presented on this paper reveals the problem of gangs and gang related violence in our nation’s institutions. Corrections Canada has seen a 44 per cent jump in gang members in federal prisons in the last five years, to 2,040 in 2012 from 1,421 in 2007, according to the documents obtained under access to information. The correctional service constructed a strategic framework for dealing with gangs in 2006, and implemented its gang management strategy in 2008, aiming to convince inmates to drop their affiliation and limit security risks. Gang numbers have continued to rise, according to one correctional service management document. It raises a number of

“According to statistics from the National Youth Gang Center, more than 24,500 gangs, consisting of more than 770,000 members, exist in about 3,300 cities in the U.S.” (Rank 1). Although it is not illegal to be a member of a gang, it should be noted many gangs participate in illegal activity for funding and will use the money as a way to entice new membership. The “money begins flowing, and with that comes all of the things associated with material wealth that is usually beyond the reach of these adolescents without the criminal activity of being involved in a gang” (Nawojczyk 3).

Street gangs in this country can probably be traced back to the first wave of Europeans who migrated to the colonies for a better life for themselves and their families. Many of the first gangs were formed as a means of self protection, with the thinking that there is simply strength in numbers. The missions of gangs in today’s society have grown and emerged to include many violent criminal avenues, including drug trafficking, prostitution, money laundering, and extortion but the original thinking that there is strength in numbers remains true. Criminology experts believe that the number of teens involved in gangs or gang activity may be as high as 1 in every 5 people in most urban areas. Those number jump to 1 in every 3 people in

Abstract: This review studies in depth research done on street gangs. Social issues have social scientists turning away from including this in their research around this time. Sociological views have been changed dramatically in the past 40 years due to gender and racial studies. Also, women have started to join gangs since America has been changed with woman equality laws passing.