Chen
March 20 2014
Gang Violence and Harsh Penalties
The presence of gang violence has plagued the United States for many years. Although it is more active in some parts of the country than others, gang violence affects every American: either monetarily as a taxpayer or directly as a victim. Regardless, it is a concern of every individual; therefore, the criminal justice system has been addressing it for years in different ways. The approach of emphasizing harsh punishments has been implemented for quite some time now and it remains to be an accepted tactic. Despite its popularity, the implementation of harsh punishments has been shown to be counterproductive. It continues to spread ignorance, which is eluded by politicians and the
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Media had delivered this false idea that harsh penalties would decrease violent crimes which pushes politicians to make tougher laws. During Reagan and Bush presidency, they implemented get-tough policies against crime that resulted in hash punishment (Elias, 1994). Politicians are in favor of get-tough policies but yet crime are still in the rise and citizens are still live in fear of being a victim of crime violence (Elias, 1994). Despite politicians and media’s constant claims that tougher punishments are the solutions to gang violence, but in reality, it is distracting people from pursuing the real solution. As a response to the “war on gangs”, sentencing enhancements, a form of harsher punishments, was developed by lawmakers. Policies were created to lengthen sentences of gang members (Hagedorn and Chesney-Lind, 2013). Additional amount of prison time would be given to criminals who are in gangs. The increase of harsh penalties has lead to mass incarceration of gang members in America prisons, which evidently resulted to the gang’s dominance of the prisons’ subculture and, making gangs the most powerful force in prisons (Hagedorn and Chesney-Lind, 2013). Mass incarcerations instigates other controversies such as racial profiling which continues to increase the gap between Americans. Nonetheless, gang members are taking prison less
Chicago has the biggest gang problem in the country (Thomas & Bass, 2009). “There are more gang members per citizen in Chicago than anywhere else in the country” (Thomas, 2009, para 4). The average Chicago gang leader is 43, convicted of murder and lives in the suburbs. That leader on many occasions directs his gang from jail (Main, 2006) and 95 percent of inmates in the Cook County Jail are gang members (Thomas, 2009). Gangs are everywhere today just like they use to be. The high number of gangs causes violence and deaths to rise in Chicago.
Even though gangs provide a sense of support, the "values" instilled in members are horribly dangerous to society. Murders and drive-by shottings go unpunished more often than not in areas like the Henry Horner Homes. Gangs have become powerful enough that high-ranking members who are forced to face the law are protected by high-priced attorneys and investigators (163).
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.
As the years pass, the rate of gang affiliated crimes in the Unites States has progressed extensively, accumulating more inmates into our major prisons doubling the maximum occupancy that the jails can hold. In the U.S there are currently 33,000 active violent street, motorcycle, and prison gangs with a recorded 1.4 million members combined. The registered number of police officers is a mere 683,396; which is not even half of our countries gang population. Incredibly enough, even with their small numbers these officers do the impossible to control, learn, and manipulate the ways of the inmates; taking all of the precautions necessary to stop and protect the normal citizens on the streets and the
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
The past quarter century has seen an enormous growth in the American incarceration rate. Importantly, some scholars have suggested that the rate of prison growth has little to do with the theme of crime itself, but it is the end result of particular U.S. policy choices. Clear (2007) posits that "these policy choices have had well-defined implications for the way prison populations have come to replicate a concentrated occurrence among specified subgroups in the United States population in particular young black men from deprived communities" (p. 49).
Throughout the years, many plausible solutions to gang violence have been presented. A commonly thought of solution to gang violence is to punish and arrest gang members. People want anyone who is in contact with gangs locked up, but that will only make gangs rebel more. By doing so, the streets would be rid of gangs, but jails would be overpopulated with them. It may seem like having gangs in jail would solve the problem, but gang leaders being in jail does not stop a gang from continuing what they’re doing. Arresting gang members teaches nothing except for children to hate the authorities. “From 1985 to 1994, the number of American youths arrested for murder increased 158%, to more than 2,200” (Teen Gangs and Crime, 1996). If a child resents the authorities, they would be more likely to join a gang that goes against authorities. Officials are aware that they cannot arrest their way out of gang violence, and they have to take positive measures (Parks & Recreation, 2009). The most important thing to remember is “To treat this not
They have become such a large part of prison life that inmates need to turn to gangs to have guaranteed protection from violence. Many different factors contribute to this phenomenon, however, mass incarceration, suppression strategies, and the prison culture all provide fuel to the growth of prison gangs. For decades now the United States has seen a growing percentage of of the population entering
Gangs pose a threat to the safety of United States prisons by performing illegal activities and the encouraging violence. It is important to develop strategies to reduce gang recruitment, limit their influence, and sanction their misconduct in order to create a safe environment for all prisoners. With this, inmates that are involved in gangs should be put under twenty four-hour lockdown. By isolating these members, prisons will be able to limit their influence.
“Prisons began to bulge with gang members when states enacted tougher laws for gang-related crime in the mid to late 1980s.”(Martinez) On one hand the laws enacted helped get gang members off the street, but in another way it backfired by not stopping the gangs’ activity. “In many ways their number and power grew even more in prison.”(Martinez) The problem of gangs and violence has been addressed many times throughout the years by the United States Correctional Board but the board has yet to take the problem seriously.
Inmates are constantly pressured or forced to join a gang and thus increasing the number of gang members in correctional facilities. “In the most recent survey, state and federal prisons reported that of their total male population, 24.8 percent were prison gang members and 4.09 percent of the female population were gang members” (Seiter, 2016). Gangs developed within correctional facilities today are generally created from offenders that were gang members before they were incarcerated. (Seiter,
The United States features a prison population that is more than quadruple the highest prison population in Western Europe (Pettit, 2004). In the 1980s, U.S. legislation issued a number of new drug laws with stiffer penalties that ranged from drug possession to drug trafficking. Many of those charged with drug crimes saw longer prison sentences and less judicial leniency when facing trial. The War on Drugs has furthered the boom in prison population even though violent crime has continued to decrease steadily. Many urban areas in the U.S. have a majority black population. With crime tendencies high in these areas, drugs are also prevalent. This means that a greater percentage of those in prison are going to be black because law
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.
The first article I reviewed by John L Worrall and Robert G Morris discusses how gang membership is linked with inmate misconduct (Worrall & Morris. 2012). John Worrall states that know “gang members are more prone than non-gang members to act violent during the time of their incarceration” (Worrall & Morris. 2012). Worrall and his team collected data on inmates from large southern states and examine the inmate on inmate violence.
Gang crimes, such as graffiti, burglaries, murder and extortion, are devastating to a community’s well-being and sense of security. “The vast majority of violent incidents involving gang members continue to result from fights over