Influence Of Gangs On Theu.s.

In todays United States we have a huge problem affecting society, gangs and the violence that follows them wherever they go. These days’ gangs aren’t just compiled of grown adults, they often lure in young teens to do dirty work and to add numbers to their turf. Despite laws aimed straight at these gangs they still defy the law and wreak havoc upon the territory that they claim. The members in the gang have a gang first mentality and will do everything possible to provide for and protect their fellow members. They will very rarely snitch on their own to help put a stop to some of the meaningless crimes committed by these savages.

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.

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.

Alleyne, Emma & Wood, Jane L., (2011). Gang Involvement: Social and Environment Factors. Crime and Delinquency 60 (4) 547-568.

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).

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.

Gangs are not a new problem to the United States. Gangs have often been romanticized in literature and the media with a classic example being “West Side Story”. Americans have long been fascinated with the Mafia, and infamous gangsters such as Al Capone and John Gotti have even been elevated in status as cultural icons. Americans have seen an uprising in “Gangster Rap” since the early 1990’s. Many people tend to think of gangs in America as being made up primarily of young inner-city black males with a small percentage of white males. Americans tend to forget that gangs also include girls, adults, and children. One area that most Americans have not started to look into yet is the influence of the growing number of Hispanic Gangs.

“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

The United States of America faces a highly complex problem that is threatening to destroy the fabric of its unique urban society. This problem has been developing for many years and has become entwined into the core of American society to such a point where it has virtually become accepted as the norm to the millions of people whose quality of life has been greatly reduced by it. The problem in its most simple form is crime, however, this is evident as a problem that demands improvement in nearly every country throughout the world, so this essay will look closely at the crime problem that has become synonymous with modern day urban America - gang crime. To fully understand the detrimental

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

Our class had the honor to see a presentation presented by Clayton State police gang unit about how gangs affect our cities. The presentation started off explaining laws statue on what is considered as a gang. There are only three ways to join a gang getting Blessed in, Jump in, or put in work. Gang members usually use colors and hand gestures to express their gang ties and loyalty to their gang members.This comes as no surprise that the Clayton State gang unit are able to identify gangbangers and know which turf they use as their hangout spot. The interesting fact about gangs is that they don’t hide their criminal behavior which can be seen in rap videos or home made movies. One police officer showed us a video which the gangbangers were

Hagedorn stated various reasons as to why one should study gangs and their social impact not only in America but globally as well. For example, he talked about the underground economy of gangs, the power of identity, explosion of urbanization in gangs, globalization, and so much more. However I believe the single most important reason Hagedorn suggests one should study gangs and their social impact in America and globally, is to learn about or better understand the institutionalization of gangs and their primary factors. According to Hagedorn if a gang is institutionalized that means it has complex organization between it’s members, continues regardless of changes in leadership, can adapt or adjust to changing environments without diffusing,

According to Snyder, about 1.4 million people living in the United States are involved in a gang and about half of crimes are related to gang violence. Crimes dealing with gangs and drugs have rates that are the highest they have ever been. Illegal immigrants are a large chunk of people that are involved with gangs. Crime in the United States has an indomitable influence on our society. Additionally, our efforts to reduce the amount crime are necessary and can unquestionably affect the progress in our country.

In a small farm town community, the thought of street gangs being actually prevalent and still occurring would be somewhat shocking. However, street gangs might even be considered more of a problem in modern society than they were half of a century ago. With illegal substances and human trafficking on the rise, gangs often pose as one of the main contributors in gaining access to and moving ‘products’ from one location to another. So, what exactly defines a street gang? Who is involved? How does law enforcement know a street gangs whereabouts? These are all questions that will be discussed throughout the remainder of this essay. In understanding street gangs, it allows law enforcement organizations to have some light shed on how to function more efficiently and protect themselves even more than what they have been trained against.

In everyday life there is about “30,000 gangs in the world” (Criminal Justice Degrees Guide). People go in gangs to make friends so they don’t get picked on, but is gangs there is a cruel gang that picks on the other gang that is careful. They care for other people unlike the ones that don’t care. When people organize into groups, one group is always the instigator, and picks on other groups. S.E. Hilton is the lady that wrote the outsiders. She was writing this book based on what she saw going on around her house. She knew that the greasers were the sweet and caring, they cared about people’s feelings unlike the Socs. The Socs were the gang that did not have feelings, and did not care about anything they were doing they hurt people and things. The greasers weren’t attempting to hurt anyone, but they did do mean stuff to people’s property. The Socs went around hurting the greasers and did not care. The Socs were being a disgrace to the people and made the society bad because people were afraid of the Socs. When you go around hurting people they aren’t going to like you they are going to run from you.