In John M. Hagedorn’s book A World of Gangs he states, “An increasingly frustrated and demoralized population will reluctantly turn to armed non-state actors who can provide security of a sort, a sense of identity, perhaps the sole local supply of jobs, and rudimentary services that the state cannot or will not offer” (Hagedorn p. 21). This notion is supported when one analyzes and considers the story of the Hamburg’s and the Conservative Vice Lords of Chicago. Consider the following; during the industrial era many newly freed slaves of the South moved North into industrialized cities looking to build a better future, rather than having their kids become accustomed to the same racism they dealt with day in and day out in the South. At that same time, many ethnic white people that were native to the same industrialized cities in the North were drafted to the military and sent to war (WW2). The void left by the white men going to war opened up many jobs for the new comers from the South, and brought them what they came for, a better life. However, when the war ended and soldiers returned to their homes they were furious when the saw that African Americans had taken their jobs. Believe it or not, this ultimately led to the birth of gangs in the North. It started with the Irish, who were the first to establish a prominent political/street or “a civic minded” gang called The Hamburg’s. They quickly re-dominated the job market once again, through political solidarity and conventional resources. This left the once employed African Americans to be confined to their ghettos and jobless. The blacks thought…
Gangs are coastally occurring in life they have no discrimination on race or gender causing any one to turn to the path of gang. Many gangs are usually created based on specific race making it easier for people to feel secure when it comes to join them. However as it is stated, “the 18th Street gang was the first Hispanic gang to break the racial membership barrier. Membership was originally open to Latinos. Although most members tend to be of Latino descent, membership has opened to other backgrounds, including Central American, African American, Middle Eastern, Asian, Caucasian, and Native American.” This causes the growth of the 18th street gang to grow and expand larger into the city of Los Angeles.…
Absolutely, Jessie, you are correct, gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang have developed into multifaceted and transnational problems. Furthermore, these gangs are highly dangerous to our society, both which originated in Los Angeles. It appears that they both are growing exponentially, with no appearance of slowing down. Moreover, the violence these gangs commit is horrendous. Both of these groups are associated with homicide, extortion, drug smuggling, robbery, auto theft, and human trafficking. While these are just two examples of terrible gangs in our society, so many more commit the same kinds of crimes all over America every day. It is sad; the world we live in is full of violence and criminality.…
First of all, gang violence is everywhere although we do not see it at times, it is there and we should be aware of this social issue that happen in someone life. Some folks may think that these people that are in gangs were born into it or they just like to break the laws. Some of us may never know the answer why they are in gangs but we can seek our answers in books. For example in the book “ Always Running” , by Luis rodriguez in pages 50-68 it summarizes that Luis rodriguez joins a gang with his friend name the Animal Tribe in which he says he wants respect and to show he can take care of himself. As a result this ruins Luis’s relationship with his mom which makes him leave the…
Into days gangs many gang members have renegade and follow no law or structure of the code that was laid down. gangs in the early 1970's we more goal and family orientated and protecting one another trying to limit the violence and were more about the almighty dollar before anything. The gangs that did not join People or Folks in the late 70s basically went through hell on the streets; they were surrounded on all sides by gangs that would team up to destroy them. Since Folk and People nation gangs consisted of mostly the biggest gangs in the city, gangs that were not Folk or People were being crushed by both sides in certain neighborhoods. starting early gang violence has been calming the lives of innocent people in cross fire and territory wars. it's sad to say that this is the way of life that the city of Chicago has learned to adapted to and live the life of barbarian human beings claiming the lives of hundreds of innocent people every year.…
Supporting my claim, Stanton E. Samenow states, “Gangs offer a hierarchy of leadership and a path to gain approval and achieve success.” This statement discusses how gangs offer a way to gain leadership. Dr. Samenow also states, “ In almost every instance of my interviewing a gang member, that person had siblings or neighbors living nearby who faced similar or even worse adversities and were confronted by the same temptations…
Gangs have produced a culture of their own; surprisingly similar to many other groups in mainstream society. Religious, political, and special interest groups can all be compared to gangs and their ideology. Typically, groups are born through a shared idea or goal by similar individuals. Many ideas may be radical or may not follow the “norms” set by mainstream society. Conflicts between groups are neither rare nor uncommon because of the simple fact that not all ideas will be shared by everyone in society. In history, the basis of many wars has been mainly caused by religious differences. A similar comparison can be made between gangs and the other members of society. Different groups in society have different ways of achieving a variety of set goals such as money or status. Gangs do not have the same means of achieving wealth, happiness, respect or social status as mainstream society does. These ideas of innovation are a result of gang members rejecting socially accepted means but accepting the ends or set goals. Deviant behavior has developed in gangs because of their way of obtaining money and status. Mainstream society has set the example that a “successful” individual in life will conform to the idea that many years of education will lead to a career which will essentially provide a steady income. In theory, gangs resort to violence and criminal activity because of their rejection to socially accepted, mainstream goals. For example, as the unemployment rate increases, research has found that property crime increases as well. Gang members, as mentioned by Bobrowski’s studies, contribute mostly to Part II offenses such as property crime. In addition, Reiner mention’s that one of the three realities of life that drive gang crime is unemployment. With this evidence we can conclude that there is a positive correlation between gang crime and mainstream…
Gang-related crimes are one of the most discussed issues in criminal justice system. The root of gang violence could to be traced to as early as the 1900s. In the film, Crips and Bloods: Made in America, African Americans were being oppressed under the Jim Crow Law, which allowed for the legal segregation of Blacks and Whites. By forcing Blacks into their neighborhoods, the LAPD’s actions resulted in segregation, alienation and development of self-hatred (Peralta, 2008). At first, many activist groups were formed such as the Black Panther, though they never considered themselves as a gang but as a club (Peralta, 2008). Eventually, the groups were terminated and then African Americans found themselves helpless which lead to the formation of street gangs. Crips and Bloods are the biggest well-known gangs: it was formed due to racism (Peralta, 2008). “The Punitive propensity in the U.S. gang policies all too often ignores the context of offending and…
I. The Purpose of this study is to explain the uprising of gangs in Americas inner cities…
That is not true. All races made up gangs equally. Even though by 1950 the black and Latino population were the minority and this is why they were forced to live in high-rise public housing. Drugs and violence were becoming competition along with control over territories. Racial unrest contributed highly to the rapid growth of gangs in the U.S. (source cited…
The article I chose to read was titled “The Gang Culture Continues to Grow”. This article explained aspects of the gang culture in America, and how it has grown over the years to be bigger and more violent then ever. Gangs have been around for centuries. The earliest recording of a gang was a gang named rebellious children, which was mentioned in 2 Kings 2:23-25 of the Bible. Gangs have continued to grow over the years, and now are present in almost every bigger sized city in America, and around the world. In the 1980’s, gangs were usually found only on the east and west coasts of America. Now, they are spreading in land to more rural areas to set up shop. This means more violence, more criminal activity, and more problems for the police and the surrounding communities with its law biting citizens. Very rarely will anything good come from gangs, so controlling them and prosecuting its members for crimes committed is a very important aspect of police forces of bigger cities.…
After investigating adolescents’ gang involvement, I come to recognize that adolescents’ gang involvement has become a major societal concern. Adolescent affiliation with gangs and delinquent behavior numbers has soared as of recently and may continue to due to numerous societal issues. In the article “The Origins of Black Crime,” author, William Cross, agrees when he states, “black delinquency rate steadily increased between 1920 till 1940, with greater crime involvement in the more run-down sections of the black community, where broken black families resided” (Cross, 2003, pg 7). Societal issues that range from poverty, lack of proper education and poor schools, unbalanced family structures, abuse, neglect,…
They have poisoned our streets with drugs, violence, and hateful crimes. I have researched many different kinds of gangs to motorcycle gangs like the “Hells Angels” to the prison gangs such as the “Latin Kings”. Why is there gang violence, how does it impact our daily lives, and how can it be prevented? Gang violence, is the most organized as a well sophisticated crime that comes into play here in America as well as other countries.…
Throughout the 1970s urban gangs became better organized and began to expand their activities into surrounding low income communities. This expansion just makes gangs more of a danger to low income kids. Egley and Howell found out that “There were approximately 28,100 active gangs across 3,500 jurisdictions in 2009 according to law enforcement estimates. This represents an increase of more than 20 percent in both indicators since 2002 (Egley and Howell, 2011). These figures are exactly why there needs to be something done about the recruiting of low income kids into gangs. Obviously the problem is only getting worse and will continue to get worse unless something is done about it. The gang members who migrated from urban areas often formed new, neighborhood-based local gangs. These gangs actually targeted kids young and from low income families to gain their trust at an…
Ghetto Star is a neighborhood “celebrity” known for actions such as gangbanging and dealing drugs (Shakur, Sanyika). For the past four decades gangs have populated the streets of Los Angeles; growing from 18 to 60 from 1972 to 1978, and from 155 to 270 gangs from 1982 to 1996. The bloods and crips in Los Angeles are predominately African Americans; with the exceptions of about four gangs which reside in Long Beach, Carson, Compton, and Inglewood and they consist of Samoan and members from Tongan descent. Gangs aren’t just an urban city problem but gangs have reached out to suburban and rural areas,…