Taking a Look at Gang Violence

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.

This is a ‘touchy’ subject to most, as most people who live in an urban setting know someone either initiated into a gang or affiliated with a gang in one way or another. This is not a subject that is only skin deep. This is something that was created out of years of struggle and oppression, until the pressure years of social injustice found an outlet in the form of rebellion and organizations designed to fight the power that once suppressed them. At least that is how it began. Now the Gang mentality isn’t about protecting the community, it’s about power, local respect, fortune, and most of all fear. These are the same organizations that recruit children and adolescents to become drug dealers and

Gang crimes is one of the main issues in our community and what the residents in most areas in the united states are currently worried about one thing in mind about gangs and one of the answers is violence that incudes drive by shootout in their neighborhoods due to rival gangs coming on other gang’s territory for financial reasons for example like getting people in that area to pay protection money or sell drugs ,recruiting and to gain more ground and parents today are worried for the safety of their kids when they go to school and out while waiting for the bus to come and pick them up every day. Gangs today in our modern society have four important dimensions’ age, size, commitment and attraction.

When most people think about gangs they think about the top cities in the nation as being the most gang affiliated. This however has been proven false by the level of crime statistics showing that Chicago and LA are not even in the top 20. Location has had something to do with the rise of these gangs because there is social instability where people are located. It has been shown through these neighborhoods that they have a lack of economic equality and opportunities present to them. That the community status in these parts is less so, other factors such as health are included as

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.

Have you ever thought joining a gang?. Every year teenagers are getting killed, it's mostly children between 9 and order. That's not the only problems that gangs have, most gangs members are getting addicted to drugs and alcohol. This is why gangs are turning into

Handling this situation is both tricky and easy (but mostly tricky). It’s tricky because the bond that these members have is something that is not easily disturbed so to begin to change/rid the area of a specific thought is something that is nearly impossible. But, if you cut off the problems where it begins, the problem will be solved. Imagine an idea in the shape of a seed. In order for the seed to germinate and to grow, you need the correct ingredients like water and sunshine. If you stop those, then the seed won’t germinate and you won’t have any growth. Now apply this metaphor to how the minds of youth’s work. Being brought up in an environment where they are constantly told that one perspective is the right one or that hating another

In the early twentieth century, the term “gang” was associated with groups in socially disorganized and deteriorated inner-city neighborhoods: It was applied to juveniles who engaged in a variety of delinquencies, ranging from truancy, street brawls, and beer running to race riots, robberies, and other serious crimes (Regoli, Hewitt, DeLisi, 2011). There were several gangs within the United States, which included street gangs, prison gangs, motorcycle gangs, and organized crime gangs that still exist today. The word “gang” is derived from the word “gonge,” which is a term that means a journey. Frederic Thrasher who was called the “Father of Gang Research”, who defined the word gang as kids in the streets back in the 1920s.

In order to become a member of a gang, most gangs typically have new members “put on” by being beaten up by a large number of older members of the gang. After this, the new member must commit a crime and earn his stripes, either by robbing someone, beating someone up, or in other cases, shooting and killing someone. All members must prove themselves (Howell, 1998). To an outsider, it might seem crazy that a kid would want to join a gang, but to a poor inner-city kid who has very little, gangs provide a family like relationship for kids who feel they are all alone. They provide protection and respect that allows a young person to walk through his or her neighborhood and stay unharmed (Howell, 1998).

The purpose of this paper is to review and verify a recent study by Scott H. Decker of the University of Missouri – St. Louis, entitled Collective and Normative Features in Gang Violence (Decker & VanWinkle, 1996). The study will attempt to address why our local increase in gang violence has reached monumental heights causing an increase in gang members appearing your court.

The roaring 20s was known as period in American history that was known for its extravagant parties, prohibition, and illegal speakeasies. It was a period where criminals joined together to sell and transport illegal liquor. Every gang wanted a piece of the action which led to an increase in violence during this time. Little did America know that this issue of gang violence would affect present day America 100 years later. A report from the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment stated that, “There are approximately 1.4 million active street, prison, and OMG (outlaw motorcycle gangs) gang members comprising more than 33,000 gangs in the United States.” Gang violence still plagues America nearly after 100 years since the first gangs formed back in the 1920s; however, Gangs today are much different than the 1920 because of the use of updated weapons and different criminal activities that gangs have ventured into. Gang violence has not only expanded into a worldwide issue, but it has gotten worse because of the extreme measures that gang members are willing go. According to C. Wright Mills’ Social Imagination Theory is the ability of seeing the relationship from someone’s personal problem and how it affects larger society (Kendall 6). This theory is also true for people who face gang violence because is not just a problem that ghettos face; moreover, gang violence has become a worldwide social problem that is becoming unstoppable that no one

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 is a serious problem in the United States. According to Gordon Witkin “Last September, after rival gang members taunted each other at a crowded downtown bus stop, a 16-year-old fired a 9-mm pistol, wounding two other teens and a 61-year-old man.” (Witkin). This is just one example of gang violence and its effect on young people. Multiple approaches need to be used to keep this problem from happening.

Lastly, gang prospects adhere to a gang by either committing a crime or undergoing an initiation process where they are beaten by fellow members of the gang to test their courage and fighting ability in times of great stress. Once the initiation process is over and now the prospect is a full acting member of the gang, then the destruction of the environment and deterioration of the mind truly begins. It is not realistic to catalog all actions committed by criminal street gangs as it is simply too much to account for, in fact, many gang activities are shared by a large portion of American society. But, when a gang is combined with a party, a car wash, or even a family or neighborhood picnic, the danger of gang outbreak for violence and criminal

Gang violence has grown to be a great problem in El Salvador in the last 30 years. Gangs have grown into large, complex organized crime units; the two largest gangs, MS13 (also known as Mara Salvatrucha 13) and Barrio18 (also known as Calle18), now encompass large parts of Central America. Both gangs rely heavily on local drug-peddling, which drives most of the general gang violence. The desire for control over certain areas had forged a fierce rivalry, in which civilians are often endangered when caught in the crossfire. In 2014, El Salvador alone counted 900 homicides a month, in which at least 30 of those murders were ruled femicides. Both MS13 and Barrio18 are active in the human-trafficking trade; the kidnapping of women and girls who are eventually sold into sex slavery is extremely common, which perpetuates a toxic cycle of exploitation of women by men by enforcing toxic masculinity based in the oppression of women. El Salvador is not only facing a domestic women 's rights emergency, but a internal safety crisis of epic proportions. State authority officials are often involved in extortion rings, which has only heightened the prevalence of public transport extortion. The pervasiveness of extortion has become an extensive problem; local economies cannot prosper while paying costly gang-taxes, which despite offering the residents a promise of security and protection, only contribute to the poverty by hindering any surplus which typically characterizes the beginnings of