Intro Sociology Paper
Vincent Bueti
ASOC 115
Understanding Social Deviance Through Gang Gun Violence and Prevention of It
Gang violence has been causing problems in America since at least the latter half of the 20th century. Many cities are subject to have large gangs and this by no means is a good thing. To name a few cities New York, Los Angeles, and Detroit have been known to be grounds for all different sorts of gangs. Whether it is a biker gang such as the Hells Angels, or an African American street gang such as the Bloods or Crips, all across America we are seeing the concerns over crime rate increase while the crime and murder rate have gone down. Chicago is one of the biggest cities to have been prominent on recent increase in gang violence. Most people blame inner-city violence in Chicago on the existence of gangs. But I think that the murder rate remains high in Chicago because of the amount of illegal firearms in circulation. Thus, I hypothesize that a decrease in the number of illegal weapons will result in a decrease in the murder rate. Criminals with no prior gun experience that participate in violent gang activities have caused the murder rate to increase twenty five percent in the last year (Venkatesh, 2012).
According to the article “Understanding Kids, Gangs and Guns” by Sudhir Venkatesh (2012), since 2001 over 5,000 deaths caused by shootings have placed Chicago over the 2,000 deaths of soldiers in the war on Afghanistan. Sudhir states, that for decades he thinks that efforts to stop gun violence are not as efficient as they should be. He found that young gang members have large arsenals of weapons with little to no training on how to use them. The gang members however, do not care. The sole purpose of gun possession by the gang members was to intentionally harm an “enemy”. Unfortunately, during these gunfights the stray bullets from the reckless shooting end up striking bystanders, which severely injure or possibly kill them as well. It is clear that the
ASOC 115
Understanding Social Deviance Through Gang Gun Violence and Prevention of It
Gang violence has been causing problems in America since at least the latter half of the 20th century. Many cities are subject to have large gangs and this by no means is a good thing. To name a few cities New York, Los Angeles, and Detroit have been known to be grounds for all different sorts of gangs. Whether it is a biker gang such as the Hells Angels, or an African American street gang such as the Bloods or Crips, all across America we are seeing the concerns over crime rate increase while the crime and murder rate have gone down. Chicago is one of the biggest cities to have been prominent on recent increase in gang violence. Most people blame inner-city violence in Chicago on the existence of gangs. But I think that the murder rate remains high in Chicago because of the amount of illegal firearms in circulation. Thus, I hypothesize that a decrease in the number of illegal weapons will result in a decrease in the murder rate. Criminals with no prior gun experience that participate in violent gang activities have caused the murder rate to increase twenty five percent in the last year (Venkatesh, 2012).
According to the article “Understanding Kids, Gangs and Guns” by Sudhir Venkatesh (2012), since 2001 over 5,000 deaths caused by shootings have placed Chicago over the 2,000 deaths of soldiers in the war on Afghanistan. Sudhir states, that for decades he thinks that efforts to stop gun violence are not as efficient as they should be. He found that young gang members have large arsenals of weapons with little to no training on how to use them. The gang members however, do not care. The sole purpose of gun possession by the gang members was to intentionally harm an “enemy”. Unfortunately, during these gunfights the stray bullets from the reckless shooting end up striking bystanders, which severely injure or possibly kill them as well. It is clear that the