Case Study: The Concentrated Community Gang Enforcement Program

The first chapter of Policing Gangs in America is entitled, “Studying the Police Response to Gangs.” The primary purpose of the chapter is to establish how police agencies; Inglewood, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Phoenix in specific,

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.

In 2015, Nashville, Tennessee experienced the highest rate of juvenile violence then compared to the last ten years (Bennett, 2016). In fact, Nashville far exceeded other large cities such as Oakland, California and Louisville, Kentucky (Bennett, 2016). Nashville juveniles were responsible for 75 homicides, which is twice as many as Oakland, California (Bennett, 2016). Nashville juveniles committed 215 violent crimes, with 159 of them included the use of a firearm (Bennett, 2016). These statistics are alarming and show that juvenile gang activity in Nashville is of great concern (Bennett, 2016). Nashville’s Metro Police have concluded that youths today are using guns as way to resolve disagreements, rather than what has typically been accomplished, in the past, through fist fights (Bennett, 2016).

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.

"This is a man who has not only redeemed himself, but he has sent his message of redemption and nonviolence to the people of California and all over the country."

T.A.R.G.E.T is an acronym for Tri Agency Gang Enforcement Team represents a multiagency approach to targeting current gang members with suppression measures while also targeting entire gangs with police suppression. Each team in the TARGET program consists of gang investigators, a probation officer, a deputy district attorney, and a district attorney investigator. This program uses a three-pronged strategy: 1 selective incarceration of the most violent and repeat older gang offenders in the most violent gangs, 2 the enforcement of probation controls graduated sanctions and intensive supervision on younger, less violent gang offenders, and 3 arrests of gang leaders in “hot spots” of gang activity. A major aim of the TARGET program is to reduce

Gangs and Organized Crime in the United States is on the rise. With the increase in turf wars, position and the financial gains, gang wars and Organized Crime are linked together in many ways. Within this paper, I will show how they are all tied together in. The M-13’s are the largest reported gang controlling large areas of our states. However, the largest area to which the MS-13’s control is within our own capital, Washington D.C. Their leaders rule all the gangs from inside El Salvador. I will discuss other gangs, and their ties into Organized Crime.

The most known African american gangs are the Crips and Bloods. They were “the two most violent and criminally active African American gangs-originated” (Hoover 1). The Crips formed in Los Angeles. Neighborhoods and schools would be assaulted by the Crips. They would also do armed robberies. “They developed a reputation for being the most fierce and feared gang in the Los Angeles area” (Hoover 3). Other gangs were being formed because people felt like they needed to be protected from the Crips. A gang that was formed was the Bloods. This gang was from Compton, California. These two gangs were involved in many crimes such as robbery, assault, and selling drugs. They usually sold “marijuana, phencyclidine, and lysergic acid diethylamide” (Hoover

I have almost 18 of working with at-risk youth to provide intervention, diversion or employment services and program referrals starting in 1998 with the Mayor’s Gang Intervention Project Pride Program as a Youth Outreach Worker I. My population target was at risk a high-risk, gang-impacted 12 to 18 year old participants at the Gardner Community Center located in a highly gang-impacted neighborhood where there is a multi-generational Norteno gang influence from one of the oldest gangs in the city of San Jose, Varrio Horse Shoe. I was in charged of implementing pro-social activities like educational and recreational field trips, which included college campus visits and teamwork oriented recreational activities like white water rafting and camping

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

While the Ms-13 gang members continue to grow through the United Stated becoming a great influence in almost every state, they were becoming more focused on recruiting the younger populations more than ever. At the same time, law enforcement and government officials became aware of the dangers these individual brought into cities and communities. They realize these violent criminal acts were causing serious problems and decided to take action. In 2004, in order to get a handle on this increasing growth of individuals as well as the vicious acts of violence, the FBI put together the MS-13 National Gang Task Force. The goal of this task force would be to put together resources from jurisdictions on the federal level that would be able to investigate

My client Henry and the 38th street gang is innocent. There is not sufficient evidence or any evidence at all that ties my clients to the murder of Jose Williams. My clients are being treated unfairly and receiving unequal treatment from the court system. The evidence presented before you ties the Downey gang to the murder of Mr. Williams. My clients were at the wrong place and the wrong time and as a result are being thrown these false accusations. I highly request that the judge's ruling from the original case should be overturned. When asking ourselves what the best way to combat injustice, we need to think about how prejudice is known to be a negative behavior towards someone else which then lead to discrimination. If we have people learn

To control gangs, law enforcement agencies have used preventive approaches, including community organization, social intervention, opportunity provision, suppression and organizational change (Spergel, 1990). Not unlike the ones that were talked about earlier. Suppression has historically been a major strategy used by police and involves targeting gang leaders and hard-core members for surveillance, arrest and prosecution. However, the Illinois State Police Criminal Intelligence Bulletin (1992), noted that even though street gangs are involved with drugs, murders, sexual assaults, armed robberies, burglaries and automobile thefts, almost 60 percent of local and county police agencies did not have officers assigned to gangs on either a

Background: Most research shows that the public believes that law enforcement's major goal in many urban and suburban areas is to prevent gang activity. Gang activity is certainly not a new phenomenon, but has been part of human history since Ancient Times (Rome, Greece, the Middle Ages, etc.). In most countries, gang violence patterns the sociological development of society and the evolution of criminal activity - as criminal activity becomes more sophisticated, so do gang activities. While most sociological theories tie gang behavior to youth violence, one can trace a number of changes in gang violence to the way organized crime has evolved in the United States (Franzese, et al., 2006). At the beginning of the 20th century, for instance, gangs were often based around ethnic boundaries and confined within ethnic neighborhoods. These early gangs tended to focus on non-violent or human weakness crime (e.g. prostitution, gambling, nontaxable cigarettes and alcohol). Once gambling because legal in Nevada, much of the organized crime dealing with gambling moved to Las Vegas, while still retaining some ties to the major metropolitan areas. As tastes changed, so did the criminological focus of gangs; from liquor to drugs, from drugs to social and political control back focusing on ethnic boundaries (e.g. Asian, Latino, etc.) (Jackson and McBridge, 2000).

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.