Is Gang Violence Worth It?

The Irish, Jewish, and Italian gangs started in the 1800’s, and the blacks and mexicans started in the 1940’s. Although there were many gangs, there were also gangs like the KKK which were formed to protect themselves from reconstruction of

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.

From the outside looking in, many would few gangs as a tight knit, criminal enterprise that causes violence and problems for the community. They believe that their violence and feuds are with rival gangs. In reality, gang members fight against members of the same gang, they are not organized in their structure and many join gangs to meet some psychological or emotional

behind their classmates in school and do not try. A study shows that less than

Gangs have been a growing issue across the United States for many decades now. Youth gang violence may have started around the ‘50s, but did not become a serious issue until the ‘80s and from there went through a downward spiral in some cities like downtown Los Angeles, which was where the notorious Bloods and Crips gangs both started. First, let’s simply define a gang as a group of people, mostly men ranging for ages 14-30, who claim territory and use it to make money for themselves and their neighborhood through illegal activities such as trafficking drugs and weapons. There are many reasons and components that are factored in when conducting research to hypothesize “why do people join gangs?” That is why it is necessary to compare and contrast all the social, biological, psychological, developmental, and substance abuse aspects and relate it to joining a gang. It is also important to touch base on the differences between males and females that join gangs, such as power differentials, social learning differences and social stratification differences.

When individuals decided to get involve in those type of activities many of them do it for specific reasons. For example, people join gang for acceptance, protection, and some are forced into it, because of their family are gang affiliated. Gangs partake endlessly in finding different method for individuals to more effectively get the things they want, particularly power. Therefore, people that are easily influenced tends to gravitate toward gang activities for recognition in the community. According to Goldman, Giles, & Hogg (2014), “Gang members’ actions impact other gang members as well as the wider community; everyone is at risk of being a victim of gang violence” (p. 825). Gang violence goes further than racial issue, but it more intensely touches African American and Latino communities.

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.

Qualitative descriptions suggest that, for many, gang membership represents 104 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice / May 2005an opportunity to enhance social capital as a means to cope with a multitude of problems. Although on balance gang life appears to be neither very rewarding nor satisfying (Hagedorn, 1988), identification with the gang is solidified in response to conflict—often with other gangs—as members pursue their individual and collective interests.

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

In this case joining a gang will qualify as the guidance within peers and themselves. However, there are many different types of gangs, but most gangs lead to destructive paths which includes negative impacts and influences. The term gang can be defined as a group of people with mutual interests who gather together for social reasons. Most people in a gang are of youth and adolescent age. Seeing how some youth can be emotionally unstable may feel the need of comfort with others who are just as the same. Negative unstable behavior with others can create destructive outcomes which will lead probably to a road of crime.

Gang violence has been around for a long time all the way back to the 1800 and have greatly increased all around the globe ever since. Gangs are a group of people that fight and kill other gangs over turf,money,pride, and drugs. People usually join gangs from around the age of 8 to the age 20. Most gang members join because they have been abused by their parents or because they don 't have a family. Gangs treat each other like a family, that is the most common reason why people join, they want to be accepted, they want to feel like if they belong something.

People seem to struggle to understand the concept of gangs. There are a lot of strange factors that go into the makeup of gangs. Yes, there are no positive aspects of gangs, but those negative aspects have reasons as to why they are so negative. It is the people who join, that make gangs so threatening. Men and women who join are trying to get away or rebel from someone or something. They may feel that joining a gang will give them the security of a “family”. Those who join are so broken that they try to put the pieces together when joining a gang. This has been the case throughout U.S.

     A gang is defined as a group of individuals with the same objective that are bound together by a bond of trust. The majority of gangs are

People in gangs are usually poor and sad. If someone has lost all their money and family and they have nothing left they will probably join a gang. For some people their gang is like family to them. People in gangs are usually called gangsters. Others in gangs are totally fine and they just want to have fun. The typical stereotype for gangs is that they are bad and people should stay away from them. Not all gangs are bad. There are so many different types of gangs and not all for them are bad. For example the greasers are not totally bad.

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.