Entry Into Gangs

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.

Gang violence is a serious problem in America today, and it is also prevalent in the other countries in the world. “According to a national gang survey, the most recent estimate

Chapter one goes over the history of a gang, with California in the 1980’s being the root in the gang problem in the United States. With 280 known gangs, consisting of 26,000 active members, its no surprise why the murder rate went from 200 to 800 homicides per year. The LAPD CRASH unit officers pioneered tactics, raid techniques, and interventions in gang infested areas. Their harsh and sometimes illegal activity set the bar on how to handle a gang problem in a major city. Research showed that in today’s gang problem, gangs are fighting a deadly game of cat and mouse with police. They have their hands on serious weapons, and fight each other nonstop, for territory and drug sales. Much of this chapter discusses research that would help police to move from media sources to

Gangs are often associated with violence, however, how gang members are themselves victims of larger, violent circumstances is rarely thought of. Although it is undeniable that gangs commit acts of violence, the path that led them to a life of crime, is one filled with victimhood. Inner-city communities are affected by the violence continuum, committed against them by individuals who profit from their subjugation, and are often guilty of misrecognizing the root cause of their domination and perpetuating their own oppression.

In my neighborhood, there’s a lot of gang violence. Every night, we hear gunshots from a couple streets away, sometimes they are followed by police sirens, and sometimes they aren’t. Gangs are involved with drugs, guns, crime, and violence. Many gangs are associated with robbery, drug and gun trafficking, fraud, extortion, and more. According to the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment report, gangs are responsible for an average of 48% of violent crime in most jurisdictions, and up to 90% in others.

There are many overlapping themes and ideas present within the research report and the textbook. One main idea that was present in both documents, was the cultural aspect of gang integration. In both the textbook and in the research report, culture is intrinsically linked to gang involvement, as often times the culture that an individual practices will impact their standing within a gang. Furthermore, culture binds people together, which also happens when an individual joins a gang of like-minded and culturally similar others. Another area that was discussed in both documents, was how gang activity is related to school. In the textbook, school and other educational and institutional systems either excluded youth, or were simply not attended

dynamics of the rival gangs and casts gang members who has been affected in separate ways.

The gangs are kept under control by the police. They are very proud of the ‘turf', which they control throughout the city. Their leaders are like the father figures in the gang, the ones who think rationally and take first action. They are willing to hurt someone to keep their gangs reputation to what the public expects of a gang, which is to be mean and ruthless. They only trust people who are born in the same country as the gang members or of the same origins.

The overall theme of the study depicts overall “mechanisms and processes that result in the spread and escalation of gang violence” (Pope, Lovell & Brandl, 2001, p. 160). This was achieved by the author by directing his studies on ‘contagion as an aspect of collective behavior that produces expressive gang violence” researchers of this study did this by focusing on “contagion as an aspect of collective behavior that produces expressive gang violence (Pope, Lovell & Brandl, 2001, p. 161). ‘Contagion’ is defined as ‘subsequent acts of violence caused by an initial act; such acts typically take the form of retaliation” (Pope, Lovell & Brandl, 2001, p. 163). These gang related acts can take the form of games, fights, meeting and sometimes homicide. It can also be said that all gang behavior is committed as a group. It then follows that this behavior can safely be categorized as ‘collective’ or grouped behavior. Often times a designated

Many can believe that gang affiliation is just a way of getting by or making a living or having some sort of protection for your self. But this is my personal point of brow on this topic. Gang violence and affiliation is at a booming rate. The violence is unacceptable no matter what the case is. Innocent women and children get hurt and die due to this. Many people flee their own country for their own protection many who don't have the opportunities to do so have to endure and keep safe of their environment. Gang deaths happen everyday and it's sad and disappointing to know the real number of the people who die. Many whom go unheard of. Families can never find the bodies or maybe the case is they have no “true” family. I Am aware that gang violence and affiliation will never truly be wiped out. But I can highly encourage others in saying that a gang is not going to solve anything. It's just to cover the the true problems of what's going on behind closed doors. Like I said earlier, jail , Hospital or death bed is the most common forms of aftermath if we're dealing with

The abundance of gangs can bring fear and violence to every block of a city. In addition to suffering unacceptably high numbers of deaths and injuries, gang plagued

Gang violence is one of the most pressing issues in our communities nowaday. When anyone of us hear the phrase “ gang violence”, we just assume that it is a bad thing, it is the reason of social disorder. However, do we really understand about gang violence? In other words, do we truly know how big is its severity? By reading “ Brothers in Arms”, one of the Bluford series books of the authors Paul Langan and Ben Alirez that talks about gang violence, we can somehow dig more deeper about gang violence issues. “Brothers in Arms” shows how gang violence can affect dramatically to individual’s behavior, and as the results gang violence might destroy the person that involves with it. The authors Paul Langan and Ben Alirez use characterization and

In the past five years there has been an eight percent increase in number of gangs, an 11 percent increase in members, and a 23 percent increase in gang-related homicides. Overall, gangs remain responsible for 16 percent of all homicides, but it increases to 25 percent in cities that have a population of 100,000 people or higher. About 85 percent of gang activity is associated in metropolitan areas in the United States. (Axelrod, Tal) This information shows us that this is a growing problem and we need to stop it.

Gang violence is defined as a “criminal and non-political acts of violence committed by a group of people who regularly engage in criminal activity against innocent people. This term is also used to refer to the physical hostile interactions between two or more gangs. The term gang violence refers to two or more people organized to achieve a common objective who share a common identity. Gangs identify themselves with a common name or a sign…” (“Gang violence,”).

Gangs have been exceptionally violent in recent years. Criminology, in respect to gangs, refers to the acts of violence and theft conducted by gangs, which are also prohibited by the law and law enforcement bodies. Legislators have created laws and strategies that have been very fundamental in tracking down gangs. Criminal experts state that the key to curbing criminology among gang members is finding and understanding the manner in which they work, as well as looking at the methods they use during their operations. This paper analyzes the aspect of criminology as it pertains to gangs within the context of sociological perspectives. It goes on to elaborate on why this issue is an emerging topic of concern in modern societies. This paper further uses various theories and theorists to enrich the analysis of this topic.