Gang Violence In Los Angeles

Chicago has the biggest gang problem in the country (Thomas & Bass, 2009). “There are more gang members per citizen in Chicago than anywhere else in the country” (Thomas, 2009, para 4). The average Chicago gang leader is 43, convicted of murder and lives in the suburbs. That leader on many occasions directs his gang from jail (Main, 2006) and 95 percent of inmates in the Cook County Jail are gang members (Thomas, 2009). Gangs are everywhere today just like they use to be. The high number of gangs causes violence and deaths to rise in Chicago.

The documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008) focuses on conditions and causes of gang violence in Los Angeles, California, as well as the history and background of the main gangs that reside there. The information in the film is compiled from interviews of past and present members of the Crips and Bloods, which are the two main gangs that contribute to the violence in the area. The interviewees explain how the gangs work and the conditions under which these people live daily. There can be parallels drawn from the film to Elijah Anderson’s article titled “The Code of the Streets”, published in 1994, that discusses violence in terms of gang and criminal activity.

Criminal activities and gangs have been a continuous problem in California. Focusing on what helps society and the community become a safer environment has lead to civil gang injunctions. Keeping society safe is a responsibility for the local police departments. A civil gang injunction is a court order that prohibits a specific criminal street gang from engaging in various activities such as: fighting, trespassing, intimidation, association with the gang members and graffiti. CGI’s are a public nuisance, which is considered anything that is injurious or deleterious to one’s enjoyment of life, liberty, and property. Civil Gang Injunctions affects the entire community. CGI’s can best be described as behavior of criminal street gangs. City attorneys

Even though gangs provide a sense of support, the "values" instilled in members are horribly dangerous to society. Murders and drive-by shottings go unpunished more often than not in areas like the Henry Horner Homes. Gangs have become powerful enough that high-ranking members who are forced to face the law are protected by high-priced attorneys and investigators (163).

Chapter Four is entitled, “[The] Scope and Nature of the Current Gang Problem.” It focuses on recent trends in number of gangs, gang members and gang-related crimes in each city. In Inglewood, almost all the neighborhoods were claimed by at least one gang, with gang-unit officers agreeing that the city was facing a major gang problem. In Albuquerque, gangs were involved in drug trafficking and property offenses, with 7 out of 8 gang-unit officers believing the city had a major gang problem. In Las Vegas, migration from other cities was thought to be the primary cause of an increase in gang members. 50% of crime in Las Vegas is attributed to gangs, with most officers believing they had a moderate to major gang problem. In Phoenix, the gang problem is described as wave-like, with 70% of gang-unit officers thinking the city had a major gang problem. These statistics were backed up through interviews with officers and city records.

. The shutting down of factories in South Central Los Angeles contributed to a number of gangs forming. Many African Americans moved to that particular part of the city because of how well the factories. The city also grew in population because of all the jobs that were available. When the jobs were gone and the factories shut down and move to other states the youth were left without role models. A fifteen year old boy named Raymond Washington started the gang which eventually became known as the Crips. Furthermore, with all of the other young people without jobs and role models they pulled together and started another gang of people that were not a part of the Crips. This gang will also change names a couple of times and become the Bloods.

Gangs are not a new problem to the United States. Gangs have often been romanticized in literature and the media with a classic example being “West Side Story”. Americans have long been fascinated with the Mafia, and infamous gangsters such as Al Capone and John Gotti have even been elevated in status as cultural icons. Americans have seen an uprising in “Gangster Rap” since the early 1990’s. Many people tend to think of gangs in America as being made up primarily of young inner-city black males with a small percentage of white males. Americans tend to forget that gangs also include girls, adults, and children. One area that most Americans have not started to look into yet is the influence of the growing number of Hispanic Gangs.

The streets of Philadelphia are rapidly becoming a home to violent acts and random homicides. Innocent lives are taken every day due to the strong presence of gangs, and the streets are run by unruly groups of fearless young adults. Gang violence in Philadelphia is a major issue, and the citizens will never be safe until gang prevention occurs. Gang prevention is not a simple task, but with the right resources available, it is possible. Gang violence is a problem that will contribute to the collapse of Philadelphia, and it has yet to be solved throughout many generations. With gang violence on the rise, the best solution to gang violence is to educate the youth and parents about gangs and use family support to prevent the creation of gang

Most law-enforcement personnel agree on a couple of key points: gangs will always be around, but the negative impacts caused by gangs can be prevented or mitigated to some extent. However, media reporting has a natural tendency to cover areas experiencing escalations in gang violence, sometimes directly or inadvertently creating the illusion that the upsurge is

This paper was done in response to an article that I came across in which a child was convicted as an adult for homicide. The homicide was supposedly gang-related; the young child that was only 14 years of age was painted as an entrenched gang member. This article made me think what contributed to this situation and how it can be eradicated from today’s society so this will never happen to any of our youth.

It’s around midnight on Saturday. I’m with my friend Jalen at a house party in the west side of Denver. Everyone’s having a good time, when all of a sudden gunshots ring out. Instantaneously, both of us run in the opposite direction of the gunshots we heard; it’s obvious we’re not exactly rookies to this kind of situation. The city and county of Denver has always had problems when it comes to gang violence, but only recently has this violence escalated to the immense issue it is today. I only just recently moved to Denver, and I can already tell that gangs are a major problem here-- that should raise a red flag the size of Vatican City. As an educated African American who has grown up in less-than nurturing environments, I have had much contact with gang members and witnessed gang activity. I extremely urge the policy makers, law enforcement, and gang members--gang violence is an increasingly deadly issue in Denver that affects the lives of many different groups of people, and it needs to change.

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.

In David Knowles article on the crime rate on Los Angeles, “Crime rate in Los Angeles Falls for 10th straight year, making it the safest big city in America” highlights the statistics and improvements that Los Angeles has made to secure the gang nature and keep the city safe. He states, “Overall, violent crime fell by 8.3 percent, with the number of murders remaining low. Just 20 years ago there were 1,092 murders in Los Angeles. In 2012, the city recorded just 298” (Par 5). The statistics do show that less people are being killed, and the police are implementing gangs more. Knowles says that it is a “big achievement”. Not just murders have fallen, the gang activity in LA today has fallen drastically compared to how it was in the 80s and

Gang crimes, such as graffiti, burglaries, murder and extortion, are devastating to a community’s well-being and sense of security. “The vast majority of violent incidents involving gang members continue to result from fights over

Do you like American Cities? What if i told you that American cities are getting destroyed every day by gang violence. These cities are at the highest violence rates since the past twenty years due to gang violence (Trump, Donald J). Gang violence is on the rise in America due to many resonsons. One of the main problems in that our younger generations is persuaded by music. Rap and hip hop singers make our kids think it is cool to be in gangs play with weapons and do drugs. Everyday on the news you hear that people are being killed and if you look into the full story it usually related to gangs. This all started back in the 1920s, Gangs were established in California, New york and Chicago.(Jones, Jami). 6,500 homicides happened in the last year and known to be related to gang violence, this toll has risen 11% since the last year (Mecia, Tony). There is solutions to this problem but we must work together as Americans. Gang violence could be reduced by stronger police force, More extracurricular activities for the younger generation and decreasing the distributions of over the counter drugs and narcotics.