Understanding Gang Violence And Its Effects On Society

In recent years, there has been an influx of immigrants that mainly come from Central America, more specifically the Northern Triangle countries, that are attempting to escape the serious violence problem. Considered to be the most violent part of the world, the three countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala are the gateway for the thousands of tons of drugs being transported to the U.S. by gangs and criminal organizations. The growth in the drug market and organized crime has resulted in flourishing hubs of violence in communities with extreme poverty and lack of job opportunities. Due to this, hundreds of thousands of people have decided to leave behind their home and take the dangerous journey to the United States. The number of murder cases involving gang violence has multiplied which has led to the recent wave of immigration up North had has placed the issue at center stage in domestic politics.

States in 2004” this just supports the statement that it is a huge problem in the United States (Cooper, 2009, p. 1). Unfortunately, the Youth of America and these other countries have been a large demographic of these gangs for many years due to many contributing factors. One criminal factor that initiates gang violence are the overwhelming presence of adolescents and young adults involved with gangs, Celinda Franco states that not only youth participants but whole “youth gangs” have been on the radar for policy makers since the early 1900’s (Cooper, 2009, p. 2). Another factor is the nature of the remorseless and often violent nature of these gang related offenses many gang members act as if they have no conscience and no values, and the fact that a large percentage are “easy to influence” youth doesn’t help the case that most commit gang crimes on a whim. Finally, the fact that most of these gang related offenses that the youth carries out are in poverty stricken neighborhoods that have very poor socioeconomic status, this it is a bad situation that is difficult to escape from because young adults and adolescents do not have the means to move outside this zone and may never attain this goal (Cooper, 2009, p. 3).

Many American families share similar stories of their loved ones being murdered by violent street gang members. These victims often had nothing to do with the gangs or gang members that killed them. A street gang is a group of people who commonly involve themselves in heinous crimes such as murder, assault, drug dealing, robbery, and car theft. These gangs are present all over the nation and are starting to spread to other countries. It is imperative for the United States government to put a stop to gangs and gang violence.

Over the years, youth gangs have been a continuing issue in certain neighbourhoods across the world, specifically in inner cities. The scholarly definition of a gang is a group that remains together for a phase of time and has a territory that they claim to be their possession. Primarily, the group participates in illicit and illegal activities that break the law (Curry & Decker, 1998). Communities and the government try to find preventative measures to decrease the number of youth gangs in the area. In order to do this, they need to recognize what causes the youth gangs to be so popular in these areas. Many different factors contribute to the high volume of youth gangs in inner city neighbourhoods. However, there is one factor that is the

In a recent study, there have been 24,500 reported gangs and 750,000 gang members in the United States. Approximately 360,000 are teenage boys and 32,000 are teenage girls. (Youth.gov) Adding to this problem, 45 percent of children live in low-income families and approximately one in every five children, live in poor families. (nccp.org) These numbers are continuing to rise, which adds to the problem of children getting into trouble on the street. When addressing the issue of children getting into trouble at an early age, people need to recognize that it remains a growing problem that can only be solved with the right organization’s help.

Researching gangs can be a delicate and complex topic. While researching and collecting information I found a noteworthy pattern, showing that the underlying topic in a majority of the articles surrounds gangs and their aim towards to violence and crime to survive and thrive. In essence many drug retailing gangs have tendencies to distrust and depend on violence and illegal methods of business. As well as vandalizing the community, which they see as exhibiting their signs and displaying their territory. By committing these low level crimes, the members begin to further run down their community, in addition to the previously poverty ridden area to begin with. While the majority of the country is attributing the poverty ridden neighborhoods to the gangs we explore if the neighborhoods have truly taken a turn for the worse permanently.

The number of gangs in the United States has grown to an estimated 30,000 in 2011 which is up from 20,000 which was the estimated number in 2003 and that number steadily increases today according to the National Gang Center. (Howell 2011) states that there has become a pervasive problem in the United States due to an estimated 782,500 gang members in these 30,000 gangs and their activities. These problem have increased significantly from 2002 through 2009 as studies have shown. Our country has shown a decline in violent crimes as a whole in recent years but gang violence has not changed with these numbers and in some of the larger cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles the percentage of homicides has increased. In this paper I will take a look at one agency, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency prevention and look closely at the programs they have to combat against this gang violence and if these programs are indeed successful in their endeavor.

I have chosen to write my paper on Gangs and Gang crimes all together. I want to explain the history and reasoning of modern gangs and how and why they came about. I also want to give examples of some of the most common gangs known world wide and examples of the crimes they commit. I will also include insight on the reasoning behind the joining of gangs. Lastly, I would like to go into some detail about the criminal investigation of gang crimes. I have chosen this topic because I believe it is one that we don’t give enough credit to in the current increase in crime rate. Today’s gangs of violent young offenders aggressive if you will terrorize and put pressure on neighborhoods in over three quarters of America 's largest cities. These collectivities may include only one third of at risk youth, but the members that are held accountable are only about 80% of the serious delinquencies among minors. Now, even though juvenile violence and crime is connected to inferior socioeconomic conditions and racial issues, it has been understood that gangs nurture and structure young offenders towards futures of crime. Their entire existence is on the belief that the youth will grow up and become part of their legacy ' as they call it.

Gangs are very dangerous to everyone in society. “Gangs are groups of people (mostly young males) who band together for protection and a sense of belonging. The U.S. Department of Justice officially defines a youth gang as a group of young people involved in criminal activity” (Gangs 1). About one million gang members are in more than 20,000 criminally active gangs in the United States. Also, that group of about one million people is accountable for up to eighty percent of our nation’s crimes. Since 2005, gangs have nationally added about 200,000 members to the already high total (Targeting Gangs 1). This is why more action from the community needs to be taken to help with the growing gang-related crimes here in America.

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

Gang involvement among youth is a growing concern for communities as well as the criminal justice system. There are several complex reasons youth become involved with gangs (Merrin, Hong, & Espelage, 2015). The use of illegal drugs and alcohol have been linked to predispose youth to illegal actions as well as violent crime, consequently, this activity can easily guide a youth into a gang life. Further reports state gangs are formed within communities that are unsafe and disadvantaged. A need for acceptance, the longing for belonging, as well as the sense of family, is among the leading reasons that youth join gangs.

In recent years gang membership and gang violence have increased. Why are the youth in America turning to gangs and why has violence increased within the gangs? Is it based on their socioeconomic status within their neighborhood? Is it the need to belong? Is it the need to establish who is in control of the neighborhood? Or is it the lack of good parental role models within the home? The sociological theory that I’m basing my research on is functionalism. Functionalism is a framework that defines society as a system of interrelated parts.

Gang violence is one of the most significant aspects of why the youth is so violent these days. Young adults look at gangs as a new addition to their broken family. They are loyal to their affiliates and will do anything possible to ensure that a name for themselves such as murdering, stealing and drug trafficking. So of the most dangerous and popular gangs in American youth culture are MS 13, Bloods and the Crips. These three gangs are associated with over 40 percent of the street violence in America alone. Many you adults resort to join gangs because these communities lack the resources to educate them and most of the times communities are lacking the opportunities these young kids deserve. The latest generation also looks at the older gang members as being cool or having so much money. This leads to many young adults to follow in their footsteps. In order to break the cycle less fortunate communities need to step up and have a positive role model in these young adult

Gang and youth violence has become a seemingly unfixable issue in countries around the globe. Zooming in on America, the U.S government has made efforts to keep gang violence under control through the try and failed method of mass imprisonment and also placing more policemen in affected neighborhoods to patrol the streets. Not only did the government help expand gang networks in prisons by using these tactics, but these “solutions” also made the youth living in harsh circumstances, such as poverty, feel the need to create a resistance identity to fight back against criminalization. Little did officers and police officials know that they were actually contributing to the institutionalization of gangs and making the violence worse. In essence, through years of attempts of trying to at least keep the situation under control, it has gotten worse. Now that it has become apparent that gang violence is not getting better, three authors have taken initiative to propose possible solutions. Is there even an effective solution to the youth and gang violence?

Gang members are 10 times more than the amount of law enforcement agencies with the thousands of distinct sets of gangs. With the diverse types of gangs evolving throughout the country, gang violence is a consistent amongst gangs for the control of neighborhood turf and retributions for violation of gang norms.