Gang Violence : Gangs And Threats In The World Today

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

There is no definite term for the word “gang”. State and other local government organizations tend to create their own definition. The depiction of “street gang” is consistently intertwined with “youth gang”. However, the term “street gang” can mean two particular meanings that raise it’s face value. 1st, it proposes a common quality of gangs: They usually contain a street presence. Street socialization is a huge attribute of young gangs. 2nd, this expression also refers to “street crimes,” that is, violent and grave crimes (e.g., assaults, drive-by shootings, robberies, homicides) that happen on the streets and that frequently cause concern to citizens and policymakers. “More than 1 million young people in the U.S. (about two percent of youth) belong to a gang”("Study Finds 1 Million Juvenile Gang Members in U.S."). The ongoing activities of these infractions cause distress among the inhabitants within the community. Recently teenagers have been getting more and more involved. Questioning the future of the country. The majority portion of high-schoolers who attach to a gang do so at a young age, usually consisting between 11 and 15 years old. Well knit families are a huge protective factor in helping kids resist the urge of joining gangs. Youth join gangs for a vast amount reasons, including money, feeling of support and belonging, peer status, grasp a sense of protection, or portray an outlaw

“Gangs have morphed from social organizations into full-fledged criminal enterprises” (Thomas, 2009, para 5). Gangs are highly sophisticated and more dangerous then ever. The number one reason to join a gang is money; and 95 percent of gangs profit comes from drug dealing

‘’Teen shot dead in gang wars’’, ‘’ two bystanders killed in gang shootout ‘’, these are familiar headlines at the front page of the local newspapers, aren’t they? Every day thousands of people are affected by gangs across the world. Women are left widowed, children are orphaned and parents are left childless. Let me put what most people are thinking ‘’ gangs are a threat to all of us no matter what sex, age or background we are from. They ruin the safety of a society as a whole, is a never-ending cycle which needs to be stopped and finally being a gang member most probably wrecks an individual’s life.

Oftentimes, adolescents will spend time with gang people for approximately annually prior to making dedication to participate (Decker and Van Winkle 1996). Initiation rituals, including being beaten with a row of gang people ("walking the roadInch), to carrying out a criminal offense or doing harm to part of an opposing gang are occasionally needed to participate a gang, but they are frequently inconsistently applied (Fleisher 1998 Spergel 1995 Burns 2001). Many gangs also positively recruit new people, particularly when gang membership is low. Martin Sanchez-Jankowski (1991) offered three typologies of gang recruitment: (1) Fraternity-the gang promotes itself as, "awesome, stylish, the social factor to stay inInch (2) Obligation-the gang attracts an individual's communal feeling and (3) Coercion-the gang uses physical and mental

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.

The presence of gangs is an ongoing issue amongst a growing population of individuals who are often recruited, appearing to have a desire to belong, generate money, and obtain a sense of security. The gang life is often a dangerous slippery slope that leads to a lifetime of criminal activity or simply increases the already existing criminal behavior in the gang member. For some, there remains a hope for conversion.

“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).

Gang and gang violence has always been an ongoing problem within the country. Street gangs have evolved into some of the most notorious group associated with murders and killings that law enforcement agencies have encountered. Gang violence has become one of the most serious crime problem happening in the country that involves physical assaults, drive-by shootings, homicides, robberies, prostitutions, and home-invasion along with a long list of criminal activities. It had occurred and multiplied so fast in which it reach an all-time high epidemic of young gang people killed on the streets or entering into the juvenile and prison system throughout the country. Such death occurs on a daily basis especially in the inner cities that are

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

Gang violence creates many problems on communities and societies. Although not all gangs are sophisticated and well organized, they all use violence to control neighborhoods and extend their illegal activities, jeopardizing the lives of those apart of the affiliations and civilians. A gang is an organization or group of people who have a commonality by name, recognizable signs, colors, and symbols. Gangs includes people who independently or jointly undertake in criminal operations, notoriously for being involved in many acts such as claiming territories and using it to make money through unlawful activities (drug trafficking, prostitution, etc.). Gang activity have a negative influence on youth and the common purpose of a kid to join a gang includes a sense of belonging, sharing in mutual desires for safety, family problems, friends are in it, or life challenges.

Most violent gang activity emanates from these hard core gang members. Hard core gang members typically make up about 10% of gang membership. Another level is the associate gang member who usually makes a personal commitment to the gang culture and remain dedicated to achieving the level of recognition needed to attain hard core status. The fringe gang member is still able to function outside of the gang structure and has not made a commitment to a life in the criminal gang culture and drifts in and out of the gang. Wanna-Bes: Wanna-bes are not actually gang members.

A majority of criminal activities in the U.S are related to gang violence. A common reason for these crimes is due to poverty, low employment, and no education. On another note, a gang is defined as being an age-graded peer group exhibiting some permanence and establishing a sense of boundaries through the gang-identified territory, style, and such oppositional practices as fighting and criminal activity (source.). A lot of big cities like Chicago or Philadelphia are considered as one of the most dangerous cities in America due to a lot of gang violence. In order to prevent these offenses and to make cities in the U.S safer again, a solution has to be found in order to reduce the gang-related crime rate and more importantly the prevention of

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.