The Role Of Gangs In South Central Los Angeles

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.

In Policing Gangs in America, Charles Katz and Vincent Webb describes every issue in American Gangs today. The ultimate goal of this book is how the gang officers work and the different kind of atmosphere they work in. Their job isn’t like other law enforcement jobs. It’s one of the more dangerous occupation in the Criminal Justice system. These gang officers focus on how they react to public gang issues.

There are approximately 1.4 million active street, prison, and outlaw gang members comprising more than 33,500 gangs in the United States, according to the National Gang Intelligence Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Gangs are defined as a group of people who form an alliance for a common purpose and engage in violent or criminal activity. Gang violence continues to grow in California. It is inarguable that the gang problem has become more entrenched, over the past 25 years, especially here locally in Porterville.

With the leading number of gangs in the country, Los Angeles is thought of as the gang capital of the world. Employing gang suppression strategies that take distinct forms, from anti-gang injunctions to high rate of incarcerations, the City of Angels has failed to live up to its angelic name. Known instead for its demonic gang activity and police suppression efforts, Los Angeles has taken over media headlines as one of the most dangerous places to subsist. Representing a worrisome issue for residents, visitors, city government officials, as well as urban planners, gang violence has rapidly become a threat to public safety. Although current-day gang culture has eased off on the violence, it continues to be one of the greatest planning challenges

Chicano gangs have been a prominent part of the Los Angeles community since the early 1900s. These Chicano gangs consisted of young Mexican-Americans, another name used for Chicanos, which were formed as a way for some youth to identify with something. The behavior of gang members was a way of adapting to the social and economic living situation that was upon them. There was a large migration of Chicano immigrants to the Los Angeles area that resulted in several changes directly related to the larger and present Chicano presence. The most notable being the prominent presence of Chicano specific gangs. This is likely due to the fact that many people of Chicano descent are immigrants who came to America with little to nothing. This resulted in large groups of Chicanos being located in some of the poorest areas. Such areas became known as “barrios”, a Spanish term for neighborhood that became specifically in reference to the poor neighborhoods with a high Latino population. The people living in them were often working the lowest paid and hardest jobs needed by those of a higher class in society. It is commonly found that when poverty is heavy throughout a community, many youth will feel the need to act out in some way, and band together in their mutual discontent with their surrounding environment and society. In addition, many youth were also dealing with trying to identify themselves as something and weren’t sure if to identify themselves as latino, chicano, or something

Gangs have existed in the United States for over 200 years. It all started when the first immigrants came to the U.S.A. Most of them came for a better life but many of them ended up in poverty. The first gangs were formed among poor adolescents who grouped together for the sake of socialisation and protection. They were of the same race or the same ethnic background. The first known gang specialized in crimes was called "The Five Points". They consisted of Irish immigrants and was established in New York City. They dressed in a specific way and used monikers or nicknames. Another early gang were the "Forty Thieves". Their gang leader was Edward Coleman and they formed in 1826. New York City's early gangs had an easy time of it because of

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.

The Crips started when the Baby Avenues were formed by Ray Washington in 1969. Tookie joined him in 1971 and formed the West side portion of what is now known as the Crips. The Crips were initially started to eliminate all street gangs and create a strong neighborhood watch. Tookie said "we started out to, in a sense—address all of the so-called neighboring gangs in the area and I thought I could cleanse the

These gangs came in from European countries through Ellis Island. They stayed in New York until they had enough money to move and then went to different booming cities across the United States. One of these gangs was a group of Jewish immigrants who realized that with the enhanced technology in Detroit and the booming industry that it would be a perfect place for a gang. This gang was the “Purple Gang”. Many gangs like the “Purple Gang” were just a group of immigrants who were all the same race who wanted to make money (the easy way). Most gangs were all related to each other or they new someone in the business. The had no education, didn't know how to speak English and still made violence and havoc among booming cities. But unlike the “Purple Gang” and other foreign “gangsters” there were people like Al Capone. Al Capone was an American born Roman Catholic who realized during the Prohibition Era with the rise of gang violence that he could control the whole industry. He became a co-founder of the Chicago Mafia and became known as “Public Enemy Number 1”. He truly started and was the head of gang violence throughout the country. He would kill people, people would

At one point it was a big connect gang now they are in individual sets. The gang is known to be involved in murders, robberies, drug dealing, among many other criminal pursuits. They are locked in a drug trade with the vice lords. The crips got their names from there young age known as cribs. The name Crips was first introduced in the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper. A description of the gang was young men with canes like they were crippled. From then on the name stuck. SO many people joined this gang that they were out numbering members of every other gang three for every one of theirs. Stanley Tookie Williams was the co founder of the crips his side of the gang was called the westside crips. They were most popular in southern parts of Los Angeles. The crips became the most powerful gang in the area and with power comes rivalry. But in this case a lot of other gangs joined in alliance including the bloods. By 1971 the gang was trying to spread its territory through crime and drug distribution, of which was mostly crack. In 1971 a crip gang on piru street ( also the piru bloods) turned into violent warfare. This fight continued into the mid 1970’s causing the founders to have a discussion that ended in the gangs separation and they long rivalry between bloods and crips

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

The Social Work Dictionary defines a social problem as “a condition among people leading to behaviors that violate some people’s values and norms and cause emotional or economic suffering”. The above definition accurately describes the social problem that gangs are, and their impact on a community. People who live in gang infested neighborhoods live daily with fears of losing their lives and the lives of loved ones. That fear, along with the fear that their family members will join the gang, or that they will be physically harmed in some way by the gang. They may exhibit many emotional, psychological and physical problems that people who don’t live in gang infested neighborhoods do not. Since before the 1940’s law enforcement and others have attempted to put a stop to gangs. These solutions usually hampered gang activity but didn’t eradicate it. Gangs evolve their practices over time to adjust to law enforcement tactics. Today gangs are involved in sex trafficking rather than drug dealing. Sex trafficking is easier to hide, more profitable and has less legal ramifications.

familial, cultural and community ties, gangs are often formulated upon strong common interests. In fact, many gangs have a unity strong enough to expand beyond any physical frontier, representing an issue not just for cities like Los Angeles but also for states like California. For the purpose of my research, I will narrow in on the city of Los Angeles which houses more than 400 gangs and about 39,000 gang members (Villaraigosa 2017). That being said, the City of Los Angeles lies at the center of gang violence and health discourses simultaneously. Inclusive, more than 1,500 people were victims of gang violence in 2016 alone (Villaraigosa 2017). Preoccupying indeed, the Urban center is facing an issue that must be addressed sooner than later.

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.

Gangs have direct effects on a society, such as increased levels of crime, violence and murder. Gangs also have long-term or late suggestions in that gang members are more likely to drop out of high school, struggle with unemployment, abuse drugs and alcohol or in end up in jail. These factors not only contribute to the gang members, but they also force taxpayers to pay for welfare and community-assistance programs. Common reasons for the younger generation to join gangs, include trying to find a place where they belong and sharing in mutual desires for safety from family problems or life challenges. Together, the feelings and attitudes among gang members haze them to act violently, often self-contradictory with rival gangs. This violence leads to injury and death of not only members but also of bystanders in the community. High gang activity also causes fear among community members, discourages business activity and obstructs home-value appreciation. Communities, also must pay for higher levels of law enforcement when gangs are prominent.