Taichung Research Paper

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

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

Defining gangs have been compared to packs, teams, and groups. Participants of gangs do not necessarily commit violent acts or commence in illegal matters. The National Gang Center has come to a consensus on defining gangs with the commonalities of three or more members between the ages of 12 through 24, shared identity, recognized by others as a gang or crew, has levels of organization, and usually involved in criminal activities (Shelden, Tracy, Brown, 2013). Some gangs are excluded from this definition due to not proportionate with their usual activities. Overall, we can consider gangs to be founded when members share similar characteristics and establish a symbol to represent their livelihood.

“ Gangs offer a hierarchy of leadership and a path to gain approval and achieve success,” Samenow states in the article “ The Myth of the Street Gang as a ‘Family Substitute’”. As stated, He believes that gang members come from broken families, searching for support, sustenance, acceptance, and a structure that the average family provides. He states that most gang members come from “criminogenic”

In 1993, three boys were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. Because of the condition the victims were in, the authorities believed that they were involved in a satanic ritual. Three teenagers were accused and convicted because they were outcasts and no other leads were pursued. Even though the West Memphis Three got justice after almost two decades of serving time, the original trial was prejudiced.

“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

Throughout history there is one commonality for the emergence of gangs. Most gangs emerge and develop as each gang tries to establish their identity as well as their desire for money, prosperity and opportunity. They commonly believe they can acquire

Throughout history there is one commonality for the emergence of gangs. Most gangs emerge and develop as each gang tries to establish their identity as well as their desire for money, prosperity and opportunity. They commonly believe they can acquire

Present Day Gangs - Many American gangs began, and still exist, in urban areas. In many cases, national street gangs originated in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Miami, and they later migrated to other American cities such as Atlanta, Cleveland, Nashville, Dallas, Memphis, New Orleans, Orlando, Detroit and Houston. (Wikipedia) There are some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs and about 1.4 million members are criminally active in the United States today. Many of these gangs are sophisticated and very well organized. They all use violence to control their neighborhoods and to support their illegal activities. Their activities include robbery, gun and drug trafficking, fraud, extortion, and some prostitution rings. Gangs are responsible for 48 percent of the violent crimes in some areas and up to 90 percent in other areas. There are many prison gangs that are very racially motivated. Some gangs such as the Folk Nation and People Nation originated in the

You probably never heard of Don Henry and Kevin Ives. Don was 16 when he was murdered and Kevin was 17. These boys had family and friends that probably will ever know who killed them. On Sunday, August 23, 1987, at around 4:00 a.m. Don and Kevin was spotted by the crew of a Union Pacific train near Alexander. The bodies were lying between the tracks, wrapped in a pale green tarp; there was a gun nearby. The train was unable to avoid running over the bodies. The train’s crew immediately reported the incident to railroad officials and to local law enforcement at benton. Around 4:40 a.m local and state police had arrived at the scene and begun investigating. At first, local officials treated the incident like a suicide.

Ultimately, these gangs thrive on secrecy and loyalty. Leaders are noticeably different from their followers. They may be older, physically stronger or larger, they commission acts of violence and their leadership qualities elevate a member through the gang hierarchy (CJ institute,

The man that was thrown up on believed that the kids were doing things that they had no business and he thought that these were just some hoodlums

These gangs may look different and may also function differently, but most of the time they all have something in common. That something is

In 1972 Donald Chambers, Founder of the Bandidos, and two other members were arrested in El Paso for killing two drug dealers. The story goes that two of the members were sold baking powder instead of meth, from two men, Ray and Mel Tarver. After this the two men were kidnapped and driven into the Texas desert and involuntarily made to dig their own graves before being shot, killed, and buried. This shows how serious things can get when it comes to drugs to the motorcycle gangs. Another story to shows the treachery of these gangs comes from Waco Texas. At a Twin Peaks restaurant a shoot out broke out between the Bandidos and a rival club, the Cossacks. The shootout left 9 people dead and 18 hospitalized. At least 170 people got charged and arrested and over 100 weapons were confiscated. This happened May 17 of 2015; this just goes to show that these are still present day problems that the police have to deal