Crash, Anomie, La Gangs

Anomie is defined as a social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; also: personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals; also: outside framework of society.

In the movie L.A. Gangs it gave a great background on what gang life is about and the movie gave a background on what gangs are capable of doing to their community. A gang is look to as a replacement of family and a form of survival. Being a gang member means getting respect. Gang members start off young, around the age of 10-11 yrs of age. Graffiti marks the limits where a gang member can go, it can also show a gangs power. Gangs are better armed then the police. Police do everything in their power to stop gang violence. The movie also mentioned that there is no way to break the cycle of gangs. Witnesses of gang crime don’t come forward due to being scared of what could happen to them or their family. Police are trying to prevent and deter gang activity and it seems to be working now a days involving the help from CRASH. The message of the movie is telling us how important it is to try to stop gang violence is and we don’t need to be scared to speak up about what is happening around us, we need to all work together to try to stop gang violence. CRASH was established by LAPD Chief Daryl Gates to combat the rising problem of gangs in Los Angeles, California. Each of the LAPD’s 18 divisions had a CRASH unit assigned to it, whose primary goal was to suppress the influx of gang related crimes in Los Angeles, which came about primarily from the increase in the drug trade. Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) was an elite but controversial special operations unit of the Los Angeles Police Department tasked with combating gang related crime. CRASH officers also had to obtain information about a specific gang that was assigned to them and relay that information between districts. I believe that CRASH is good because its