Jeff Fort Research Papers

became a part of what was then known as the "Chicago Project": whose basic goals were to improve the life of inner-city youth, such as the gang members.

This paper will serve as a profile of a prison gang of your choice. You will research this gang, its origins, growth, culture and newsworthy incidents. This paper should include the influence gang membership has on inmates, their progress in their sentences, rehabilitation and recidivism.

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.

This contributes the understanding of society because many people, including myself, have a perceived belief that people who are involved in gangs do not regularly attend church. Juette says, “Even after I became involved in gangs, I still served as an usher and a junior deacon and brought my friends to Sunday services” (p. 28). He was not a person who just went to church every Sunday, but he was extremely active in his church. The church presumably depended upon him to complete specific tasks and to bring young people into the church to keep the church growing. This expanded my thinking because I thought the church would prevent him from becoming a gang member, but it did not. He became associated with the gang known as the Black P Stones (BPSs), which was the rival gang of his area. He was a great fighter and fought any times. Although this was the case, Bobby, who was a part of the rival gang, ultimately shot him in the back and paralyzed him.

As horrible as gangs are, gang members themselves believe that they are beneficial to inner-city society. A former Gangster Disciple, for example, maintains that gang life taught him a lot: "I grew up without a father and I turned to my Disciple brothaz for love. They knew exactly how to treat a brotha and were always there for me, through thick and thin" (Douglas 162).

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.

In the 1940s the black population grew onward and since there were now more blacks in Chicago, there were buildings that were being built for low-income and poverty families and since the blacks were just now coming into Chicago looking for better employment they had to move to where they could afford. Now these buildings were being built on the west and south sides of Chicago. These buildings became like forts to these gangs These gangs grew intense over time in Chicago as well in New York. Gang war erupted over drug trafficking turf, which made black gang problems explode in the 1960s. It got so bad that law enforcement said that it was too dangerous for them to patrol around that area. Gangs of Chicago controlled many things like drug distribution

Gangs have existed in the United States for over 200 years. It all started when the first immigrants came to the U.S.A. Most of them came for a better life but many of them ended up in poverty. The first gangs were formed among poor adolescents who grouped together for the sake of socialisation and protection. They were of the same race or the same ethnic background. The first known gang specialized in crimes was called "The Five Points". They consisted of Irish immigrants and was established in New York City. They dressed in a specific way and used monikers or nicknames. Another early gang were the "Forty Thieves". Their gang leader was Edward Coleman and they formed in 1826. New York City's early gangs had an easy time of it because of

The Black Guerrilla Family was started in the year 1966 by W.L. Nolen, Lester Jackson, James Carr and other racist who were black in the San Quentin state prison in California. The founders adopted the militia structure and ideology of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The gangs were started so as to unite the black prisoners and get rid of a violent uprising. This uprising was believed to be from a racist prison administration that was white. The gang attracted thousands black American offenders, and was listed for a number of staff assaults and the murder of Marin County judge in 1970. Its territory is in California and some selected areas in the United States. It also has a paramilitary kind of structure. It has around 50,000 members. If one wants to join the gang, one has to be black and must be nominated by an existing member. They have a symbol of a dragon that is attacking a gun tower of a prison. This gang is still growing in most of the American prisons with some of its members outside the confinement.

With the leading number of gangs in the country, Los Angeles is thought of as the gang capital of the world. Employing gang suppression strategies that take distinct forms, from anti-gang injunctions to high rate of incarcerations, the City of Angels has failed to live up to its angelic name. Known instead for its demonic gang activity and police suppression efforts, Los Angeles has taken over media headlines as one of the most dangerous places to subsist. Representing a worrisome issue for residents, visitors, city government officials, as well as urban planners, gang violence has rapidly become a threat to public safety. Although current-day gang culture has eased off on the violence, it continues to be one of the greatest planning challenges

“Prisons began to bulge with gang members when states enacted tougher laws for gang-related crime in the mid to late 1980s.”(Martinez) On one hand the laws enacted helped get gang members off the street, but in another way it backfired by not stopping the gangs’ activity. “In many ways their number and power grew even more in prison.”(Martinez) The problem of gangs and violence has been addressed many times throughout the years by the United States Correctional Board but the board has yet to take the problem seriously.

Gang crime is one of the most intriguing social phenomena’s across the world, as defining the deviancy has been difficult due to a broad range of definitions (Wood & Alleyne, 2010, pg. 101). One definition is given by David Curry and

The second major problem facing today’s prisons is the rise of gang activity. It is believed that most prisons are controlled by a given gang based on the region the prison is located (Falk, 2010).

In this paper, I will analysis the film Boyz N the Hood based on and around the criminology concept of the General Strain Theory. The film Boyz N the Hood depicts a story about an African-American boy growing up in “the hood” of South Central LA. South Central is a place where on average 1 out of 21 African American men will be die as a result of “the streets”. African Americans within the African-American community are more susceptible to becoming a casualty to gang affiliation and violence. If a person makes the wrong choices in life or even if they are faced with the right circumstances that force this person to join a gang their likelihood of dying as a result dramatically increases.

The sociological analysis of gang membership explores the different types of effects that arise due to criminal involvement. Because of the social conflicts that are associated with gang membership, this paper will explore the different theories of social learning and both personal and control issues that relate to the recent surge in crime across Chicago. As we open the doors of a crime ridden society, the truth begins to unfold. It isn’t just the thought of helping, it is the action that remains the barrier between living a life of crime or a life that carries hope.