Comprehensive Gang Model: Solving Our Gang Problem

Initially gang activity could only be found in large metropolitan cities, but now gangs have invaded neighborhoods of all sizes across the country. Gangs introduce violence and fear to the communities they occupy, raise the level of drug activities, and destroy businesses and property which brings down the overall value of the whole area. Instead of going to school, many young people find themselves drawn in to the gang life which in most cases either leads to being locked up or death. There are various reasons why people would want to join a gang, but no matter what that reason might be one can only expect a life of violence and troubles.

Chapter Four is entitled, “[The] Scope and Nature of the Current Gang Problem.” It focuses on recent trends in number of gangs, gang members and gang-related crimes in each city. In Inglewood, almost all the neighborhoods were claimed by at least one gang, with gang-unit officers agreeing that the city was facing a major gang problem. In Albuquerque, gangs were involved in drug trafficking and property offenses, with 7 out of 8 gang-unit officers believing the city had a major gang problem. In Las Vegas, migration from other cities was thought to be the primary cause of an increase in gang members. 50% of crime in Las Vegas is attributed to gangs, with most officers believing they had a moderate to major gang problem. In Phoenix, the gang problem is described as wave-like, with 70% of gang-unit officers thinking the city had a major gang problem. These statistics were backed up through interviews with officers and city records.

In the years prior to the creation for the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program, America’s inner cities was experiencing a substantial increase of gang membership along the youth living in impoverished communities. During the early 1990s, many viewed gang activity as a particular community’s problem, but as youth and gang violence was increasing drastically across the United States’ inner cities, the public’s perception about this social issue changed. Due to the rapid rise of gang violence and youth membership, delinquent behavior by youths began to receive a substantial amount of academic and media attention.

After many mixtapes and nearing the edge of household name status, Maryland rapper Logic drops his first album. In this album is a song titled Gang Related. This song tells the story of what environment and household he grew up in. His brother is in a gang and sells cocaine to his father in front of him. Logic's mother is in an out of mental institutions, all the while logic is growing up and trying not to get shot when he walks outside. With drugs and gangs all around him, it is quite amazing that he got out and become a famous rapper. Gang Related also has a core message of stopping the violence, which leads to a question, is this song about his story or a message about ending the violence?

In low income areas and large cities, gang violence is a major problem. Gang violence in Chicago is reaching alarming proportions. Day by day they are increasing rapidly. None of the solutions work effectively to eliminate gangs. However police departments and other government officials are trying their best to provide the same security as other areas in chicago. Thousands of innocent people are dying each year from these ill mannered thugs. In today’s societies gang activity is everywhere, whether it includes violence, drugs, death or any illegal activity. There are several aspects which are causing these violent activities. In past years the police department and the mayor designed different strategies to stop this violence. From my perspective better education and scholarships are the only way to reduce gangs and other illegal activities.

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.

A two-pronged prevention approach has proven effective, with primary prevention strategies aimed at the community 's general population and secondary prevention strategies targeting youth between the ages of 7 and 14 who are at high risk of joining gangs. Prevention efforts undertaken by law enforcement departments around the country include: “Participating in community awareness campaigns (e.g. developing public service announcements and poster campaigns). Contacting the parents of peripheral gang members (through the mail or during personal visits) to alert them that their children are involved with a gang. Sponsoring gang hotlines to gather information and facilitate a quick response to gang-related issues. Organizing athletic events with teams of law enforcement officers and gang members. Establishing working relationships with local social service agencies. Making presentations about gangs to schools and community groups as a combined effort at prevention and information gathering. Sponsoring school-based gang and drug prevention programs (e.g. DARE and GREAT)” (Hess, 2013 p.230).

With the leading number of gangs in the country, Los Angeles is thought of as the gang capital of the world. Employing gang suppression strategies that take distinct forms, from anti-gang injunctions to high rate of incarcerations, the City of Angels has failed to live up to its angelic name. Known instead for its demonic gang activity and police suppression efforts, Los Angeles has taken over media headlines as one of the most dangerous places to subsist. Representing a worrisome issue for residents, visitors, city government officials, as well as urban planners, gang violence has rapidly become a threat to public safety. Although current-day gang culture has eased off on the violence, it continues to be one of the greatest planning challenges

After realizing this method was not exactly efficient in preventing gang violence, programs were started to steer gangs in the right direction. Although these programs are new and are not fully functioning yet, they have shown significant improvements in prevention and continue to research the topic to this day. The solution to gang violence has not been discovered yet, but there are many theories regarding the issue.

The correlation between gangs and drugs has always been an issue for the United States government. Major cities often overlooked the problem of youth gang violence, thinking it was only a 1960’s trend. Sixty years later, gangs and drugs continue to be a problem, but in an increasing number within urban, suburban and rural areas in the United States. People may characterize this problem with words such as violence, increase drug activity, and delinquencies, but not many seem to see the bigger picture. Lack of interaction, collaboration, and strategies from law enforcement, youth centers, businesses, churches, and political icons are increasing gang violence and drug related offenses in major cities. In such cities as Chicago, minority groups are the most vulnerable to joining a gang, which then leads to an involvement with drugs; they are faced with barriers – lack of family support, poverty, segregation, unemployment, etc. An incident that happened in Chicago history is the closing of the Cabrini-Green Project, where people involved with gangs had to find a new home, scattering gang-members throughout the city, and eventually leading to their spread and growth.

In recent times, public officials, community groups and activists have expressed their concern over the growth of violence perpetrated by youth gangs. On their own, local governments are often restricted not only by budgetary constraints, but operating knowledge. There is evidence that when public officials and community groups are engaged, empowered and enlightened in a collaborative effort, change happens. When both the public and private sectors willingly cooperate together, deterrence of gang violence can be achieved. This paper delves into specific government programs that studies and provides information on gang violence. This information brings forward specific limitations and recommendations that a continued collaborative effort can deter youth gang violence.

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).

Samantha Wallace English101 Will Gangs Ever End Throughout the world, dangerous street gangs have emerged as a major threat to community safety and now represent one of the most challenging criminal justice issues we face today. The United States government is much to blame for the popularity and escalating numbers of gangs in the United States. Gangs influence youth negatively and lead them into lives of crime. The government helps people in many situations but why not people who are associated with gangs in our neighborhood? If the government would help young youth with not affiliating with gang memberships crime and death rates would decrees tremendously in neighborhoods where people are forced to live with fear every time they walk outside their doors

In order to come to a solution, an understanding of different aspects of the problem is required. Gangs are not a recent trend. “While they have existed in some verifiable form in the United States since the 19th century, the 1950’s showed the worst juvenile delinquency statistics the world had seen (Siegel and Welsh, 2011).” Major cities such as New York enacted curfews to help curb this issue, however at the time not many studies had been performed to realize the widespread activity and cause of such delinquency rates.

As a commander of the Gang Unit, I would first look at the neighborhood, see what changes can be made first that would be easy. When we think of gangs, most often, we think of the mafia-style gangs. These gangs moved a little more discreetly than the gangs that we have today that are pretty much in your face. The gangs of earlier times moved money and drugs in different ways like through gambling, liquor, and prostitution (Hoover, 2014). There was violence back then, but not like it is today. these youths of today will kill you over senseless things like sneakers, rims, boyfriends, girlfriends, and disrespect. The gangs of today contribute to higher violent crime rates, they tear down the communities with behaviors that result in vandalism, graffiti, drug dealing, and increased public fear of being victimized (Langton, 2010). These young gang members join these