According to the 2013 National Gang Report, gangs continue to flourish, progress, and develop criminal tradecrafts (p. 3). Based on state, local, and federal law enforcement reporting, the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) calculated that the US gang composition is approximately 88 percent street gang members, 9.5 percent prison gang members, and 2.5 percent outlaw motorcycle gang (OMG) members. Street gangs pose the most violent and significant threat in most communities, while prison gangs are viewed as the least problematic (National Gang Report, 2013, p. 3). OMGs are described as the greatest threat in approximately 11 percent of jurisdictions, despite comprising only 2.5 percent of the gang composition (National Gang Report, …show more content…
Street gangs are linked to crime in elementary, middle, and high schools, and even on college campuses. Schools provide grounds for recruitment and many public schools are widespread with gang activity such as assaults, robberies, threats and intimidation, drug distribution, and weapons offenses (National Gang Report, 2013, p. 4). Gangs continue to commit violent crimes, including assaults, and robberies, and threats and intimidation more so than white collar-type crimes, such as identity theft and credit card fraud (National Gang Report, 2013, p. 4). Drug trafficking was identified as the most common criminal activity of gangs (National Gang Report, 2013, p. 4). In 2010 and 2011, Décary-Hétu1 and Morselli analyzed two popular social network sites to find the presence of gangs on both Facebook and Twitter (p. 877). The top three gangs with the highest number of members on Facebook in 2010 and 2011 included: Hells Angels (14,775 and 42,911), Crips (4,598 and 5,457), and Bloods (1,993 and 3,497) (Décary-Hétu1 & Morselli, 2011, p. 883). As noted in the article, the number of followers increased—dramatically for Hells Angels—over just a one year period. Similarly, Twitter’s top three gangs were the Bloods (47,171), Hells Angels (13,411), and the Latin Kings (6,823) (Décary-Hétu1 & Morselli, 2011, p. 885). Law enforcement monitoring of social networking sites is a useful tool for
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.
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.
Defining gangs have been compared to packs, teams, and groups. Participants of gangs do not necessarily commit violent acts or commence in illegal matters. The National Gang Center has come to a consensus on defining gangs with the commonalities of three or more members between the ages of 12 through 24, shared identity, recognized by others as a gang or crew, has levels of organization, and usually involved in criminal activities (Shelden, Tracy, Brown, 2013). Some gangs are excluded from this definition due to not proportionate with their usual activities. Overall, we can consider gangs to be founded when members share similar characteristics and establish a symbol to represent their livelihood.
The American headlines of any large city will site killings on street corners, robberies, assaults, intimidation, and drug interaction. While not all-criminal activity is associated with gangs, the 780,000 strong members do account for a large majority of the problems that are plaguing America. There is no one-way to stop gang activity in one single swipe, but through a combination of cooperation, education, and training techniques law enforcement can minimize the gang’s movements and even stop a crime before it is committed.
Criminal activities and gangs have mostly always been an on going problem in the United States. Gangs and gang members are frequently involved with a variety of different crimes. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey reported that there are approximately 774,000 active gang members in the United States (Egley, Howell, & Moore, 2010). The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey also states that there are about 27,900 active gangs in the United States (Egley et al., 2010). The active gangs in California have caused a major impact on the state in many ways. According to the California Department of Justice, approximately 300,000 gang members are living in California (Crawford, 2009). California also attributes more than 25
Gangs can be classified as a group of adolescents who are perceived to be a threat to society, are mostly recognized by their name and territorial power, and have been involved in numerous acts that violate criminal law procedures in North America. (Esbensen, Winfree, He and Taylor, 2001). The first theme that was present in the pieces of literature collected was the lack of opportunities. As previously stated before, becoming involved in a gang starts at a young age. An article titled “Youth Gangs and Definitional Issues: ‘When is a Gang a Gang, and Why Does It Matter?’” explicates what exactly constitutes a gang, starting with young adolescents. Using a survey conducted in the United States, Finn-Aage Esbensen, L. Thomas Winfree, Jr., Ni
The purpose of this paper is to understand, acknowledge and challenge communities to recognize gang behavior and gang affiliation. This paper will also describe the culture and what it means to be in a gang; key findings of the research; recommendations the community can employ to remedy the need; and discussions and implications for further study.
Present Day Gangs - Many American gangs began, and still exist, in urban areas. In many cases, national street gangs originated in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Miami, and they later migrated to other American cities such as Atlanta, Cleveland, Nashville, Dallas, Memphis, New Orleans, Orlando, Detroit and Houston. (Wikipedia) There are some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs and about 1.4 million members are criminally active in the United States today. Many of these gangs are sophisticated and very well organized. They all use violence to control their neighborhoods and to support their illegal activities. Their activities include robbery, gun and drug trafficking, fraud, extortion, and some prostitution rings. Gangs are responsible for 48 percent of the violent crimes in some areas and up to 90 percent in other areas. There are many prison gangs that are very racially motivated. Some gangs such as the Folk Nation and People Nation originated in the
Within the past two decades, a growing concern has been focused on what can be considered a social epidemic among the youth of our nation. This social distress stems directly from the rising number of youth gangs throughout the country. Gang mentality and social deviance of this form has been noticed and documented in this country for decades. “ Prior to the 1970’s, gang violence was still popularly associated with white ethnic enclaves in the cities of the Midwest and East, and gang incidents were typically brawls involving fists, sticks and knives. Today, gangs are made up largely of ethnic groups, especially African American and Latino Americans, and handguns and other military hardware are the typical vehicles for the acts of
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 crimes is one of the main issues in our community and what the residents in most areas in the united states are currently worried about one thing in mind about gangs and one of the answers is violence that incudes drive by shootout in their neighborhoods due to rival gangs coming on other gang’s territory for financial reasons for example like getting people in that area to pay protection money or sell drugs ,recruiting and to gain more ground and parents today are worried for the safety of their kids when they go to school and out while waiting for the bus to come and pick them up every day. Gangs today in our modern society have four important dimensions’ age, size, commitment and attraction.
“According to statistics from the National Youth Gang Center, more than 24,500 gangs, consisting of more than 770,000 members, exist in about 3,300 cities in the U.S.” (Rank 1). Although it is not illegal to be a member of a gang, it should be noted many gangs participate in illegal activity for funding and will use the money as a way to entice new membership. The “money begins flowing, and with that comes all of the things associated with material wealth that is usually beyond the reach of these adolescents without the criminal activity of being involved in a gang” (Nawojczyk 3).
Gang and gang violence has always been an ongoing problem within the country. Street gangs have evolved into some of the most notorious group associated with murders and killings that law enforcement agencies have encountered. Gang violence has become one of the most serious crime problem happening in the country that involves physical assaults, drive-by shootings, homicides, robberies, prostitutions, and home-invasion along with a long list of criminal activities. It had occurred and multiplied so fast in which it reach an all-time high epidemic of young gang people killed on the streets or entering into the juvenile and prison system throughout the country. Such death occurs on a daily basis especially in the inner cities that are
The United States of America has a strong history of gang related violence inside and outside of correctional facilities. Federal law defines gangs as an ongoing organization comprised of more than five persons who engage in serious criminal offenses (Giffiths, Howell, 2016, p. 100). Typically, gangs are a social organization with their own law, order, politics, and economy. Gangs may have a written or unwritten set of rules in which all members need to oblige to. Gangs are notorious for being organized in a particular geographic territory or deteriorating neighborhoods that are usually poor economically (Decker, Van Winkle, 1996, p. 5). Gangs also have unique names, colors, symbols, and participate in particular criminal activities in order
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