Street Gangs

Gentrification is displacing gangs and causing turf wars. Gentrification and the tearing down of public housing in Chicago left many gangs homeless (Brief outline). Due to this, gangs battle over land and housing, known as turf wars. The violence rises, along with the number of deaths. Therefore police attempt to limit the gangs, but that also leads to fighting and violence with police. The whole cycle involves violence and is vicious.

The Central Valley is the dividing line for northern and southern gangs. Gangs remain the primary distributors of drugs. Often, gang members are involved in drug sales and trafficking. Financial gain is the primary goal of any association between these

Gangs, what are they? Who are they? And why are they a problem? What do we think of when we hear the word gang, overall it’s a word that comes with a lot of negative baggage, violence and not a very good thing. The word gang can have a lot of different meanings of people coming together for something. However, today in our societies the word gangs is defined as an organized group of criminals. A gang is a group of persons with close social relations that work together in unlawful ways for their profit and or benefit. One time or another we have all heard of gangs and know a little about the violence and criminal behaviors that they are involved in from social media and the news. In an article the FBI says that “gangs are morphing, multiplying, migrating and entrenching themselves in our inner cities, suburbs and rural communities. They are selling drugs to our kids, shooting up our neighborhoods, invading our homes, robbing our banks and stores, stealing our identities, our money, and instilling fear and violence everywhere they go(The Gang…,2009)."

What influences youth to join and leave gangs in America? This essay strives to seek and inquire an answer or explanation to this question. I will try to approach the answer to this question by analyzing the biggest factors of it such as the influence of social institutions, psychological behaviour, media and many more to determine the push and pull factors of a gang. Understanding that the dynamics of gang membership can be separated into formation & joining which will allow theories & methods of gang-related research to be refined.

Street gangs in this country can probably be traced back to the first wave of Europeans who migrated to the colonies for a better life for themselves and their families. Many of the first gangs were formed as a means of self protection, with the thinking that there is simply strength in numbers. The missions of gangs in today’s society have grown and emerged to include many violent criminal avenues, including drug trafficking, prostitution, money laundering, and extortion but the original thinking that there is strength in numbers remains true. Criminology experts believe that the number of teens involved in gangs or gang activity may be as high as 1 in every 5 people in most urban areas. Those number jump to 1 in every 3 people in

A gang is a group of individuals closely associated. This group is in the form of an organization whose members report to a leader who controls activities within

Gangs have direct effects on a society, such as increased levels of crime, violence and murder. Gangs also have long-term or late suggestions in that gang members are more likely to drop out of high school, struggle with unemployment, abuse drugs and alcohol or in end up in jail. These factors not only contribute to the gang members, but they also force taxpayers to pay for welfare and community-assistance programs. Common reasons for the younger generation to join gangs, include trying to find a place where they belong and sharing in mutual desires for safety from family problems or life challenges. Together, the feelings and attitudes among gang members haze them to act violently, often self-contradictory with rival gangs. This violence leads to injury and death of not only members but also of bystanders in the community. High gang activity also causes fear among community members, discourages business activity and obstructs home-value appreciation. Communities, also must pay for higher levels of law enforcement when gangs are prominent.

Gangs are very dangerous to everyone in society. “Gangs are groups of people (mostly young males) who band together for protection and a sense of belonging. The U.S. Department of Justice officially defines a youth gang as a group of young people involved in criminal activity” (Gangs 1). There are about one million gang members in more than 20,00 criminally active gangs in the United States. Also, that group of about one million people, are accountable for up to eighty percent of our nation’s crimes. Since 2005, gangs have nationally added about 200,000 members (Targeting Gangs 1). This is why more action from the community needs to be taken to help with the growing gang-related crimes here in America.

Gang involvement and its associated violent crime have become a rapidly growing problem for the United States. Generally, gangs consist of young people of the same ethnic, racial, and economic background. Usually of a low socio-economic status, these gangs engage in illegal money making activities and intimidate their neighborhoods and rival gangs with violent crimes and victimization. Gang members exemplify a high value for group loyalty and sacrifice.

Organized crime is a major problem around the world and only grows larger as time goes on. They increase in size and influence daily and become more of a threat to anyone who has the displeasure of interacting with them. These gangs, as they’re often called, deal in weapons, drugs, and human trafficking, selling means to kill people, ruin their lives, or just plainly sell people. Unfortunately actions such as these are commonplace nowadays among gangs as they become more and more ruthless. We need to rid ourselves of gangs, that much is clear. However, nowadays we’re not in a position to do so. Everyone in the country needs to understand the dangers of gangs and how they can grow anywhere despite law enforcement. Because it’s not the police that can do away with gangs for good, it’s the citizen 's’ responsibility to ensure these gangs never grow and prosper.

The Department of Justice defines a gang as "an association of three or more individuals, who identify themselves by adopting a group identity, who creates an atmostphere of fear, or imitadation" (What is a gang? Definition, 2011). The FBI states that "there are now 1.4 million gang members involved in the 33,000 different gangs that are active in the United States" (Snyder, 2012). Gangs are a reality and a part of the everyday life of thousands of teens. There are different types of gangs, whether it's a street gang, prison gang, youth gang, criminal gang, or a drug oriented gang (Carlie, 2002). To some, even a fraternity can be labeled as a type of gang.

Gangs originated naturally during the adolescent years of a child. They started from small play groups that eventually found themselves in conflict with other small groups of youth. Due to the conflict between the two small groups of youth it became a part of a child’s mind set to come together as a gang and protect their rights and satisfy the needs that their environment and families couldn’t provide. There are about 24,500 gangs in the U.S and out of those gangs 40% of them are juveniles (Hess, Orthmann, Wright, 2013). There are numerous reason why a child would join a gang, and the

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

The country we live in has been affected and influenced by something that we now call a “Gang”. According, to Dictionary.com a gang is defined as a group of youngsters or adolescents who associate closely, often exclusively, for social reasons, especially such a group engaging in delinquent behavior. Since the early 1900’s The United States of America has been affected by gangs. They originated from the Italian immigrants that were closely related to the Sicilian mafia and others that were located in New York City, there main motive was to steal and kill to achieve what they wanted. Since the Italian Mafia in New York City many other ethnicity 's have popped up in the gang violence scene. Starting in the 1950’s and 1960’s Asians, Hispanics, and African Americans began bonding together to form gangs, and by the time the 1970’s and 1980’s came around there were many national gang alliances that swept from Los Angles California to New York City and many smaller towns in between. Along with all the widespread gang activities there was also a lot of illegal drug running throughout the country for gangs for that they can finance there gang activities.

In society today, there is a major problem We live in a society where gangs are taking over our neighborhoods in numbers. It is the responsibility of the individuals to part take in getting their neighborhoods back under control. Gangs are becoming a growing problem in American society. More young people are turning to gangs to solve problems in their lives or for acceptance. When youths join gangs, they drop all their social activities with school, family, and friends. However, individuals ruin their lives, and the chances of them having a decent education, and a successful life by getting involved in gang activity.