Gang violence and activity has arisen in the past decades, with exceeding concerns and amongst youth being the primary target. Law enforcement try to gain a better understanding to why people are falling into criminal activity. Throughout the following essay we will be summarizing the background of one of the most notorious gang known internationally, MS-13. In addition, we will also be explaining ways different criminology theorist and theories apply to these particular group of people.
MS-13
The Mara Salvatrucha, or most commonly known as MS-13 is an international criminal gang, which originated in Los Angeles, but has since expanded nearly throughout the entire country. Salvadorian immigrants founded MS-13 after escaping the Civil war.
…show more content…
MS-13 began recruiting and their numbers began increasing with young immigrants wanting to belong. Joining the gang provided these deprived, inner-city teenagers a form of identity, a powerful one with a dangerous gang.
According to, Schram, & Tibbetts, (2014) based on the characteristics of social structure in the neighborhood three different types of gangs are formed; conflict gang, criminal gang and retreatist gangs. According to, Logan, &Sullivan, (2010), the youth immigrants were exposed to violence and it is the only thing they know, therefore making them vulnerable to joining MS-13 gangs.
MS-13, a gang, which formerly formed for the sole purpose of self-protection, has now escalated into what social structure characteristic would describe as criminal and conflict gang. Criminal and conflict gang whose primarily intent of crimes for tangible gains. Social structure theorists consider that the main components to illegal behavior are the ascendancy of social and economic influences that are distinguished in rundown communities where the population is predominantly lower-class citizens (Siegel, 2010). This following theory goes into helping us comprehend ways the human behavior, is the result of physical
“As a result, MS13’s Central American branches have been able to rebuild their organizational structures from the inside prisons walls, as well as expand their capacity to carry out crimes such as kidnappings, car robberies, extortion schemes, and other criminal activities” (MS13 Profile). It is said in marasalvatrucha.weebly.com that members of MS13 ages range from 11 to 40 years old. “Many members join the gang at a young age because they think it will help them look tougher and protect them from bullies” (Mara Salvatrucha). It also tells us that the fact that MS13 is known as one of the most dangerous gangs they join to make others scared. “Recruitment of younger initiates is encouraged from within the gang as well, as the younger a person is, the harder it is to punish them traditionally in the judicial system” (Mara
Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions, and up to 90 percent in others, according to the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment. Perhaps one of the most notorious street gangs in the western hemisphere is The Mara Salvatrucha also known as MS 13. “Mara” is Salvadorian for “Group”, although there is debate over the origin and meaning, it is commonly known to mean “street smart. MS 13 was formed on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1980’s by immigrants. “Mara Salvatrucha Stoners” is what MS 13 was originally called, they emphasized on partying, friendship and protecting one another from other gangs in L.A.
The MS-13 gang, well known as Mara Salvatrucha 13, is one of the most organized and violently dangerous gangs in the United States. The gang was establishes in the 1980, in the predominately Spanish speaking parts of Los Angeles, initially starting off with refuges who were in nature calm and in control. However, some Mexican immigrants began their power guiding and controlling these individuals into an underworld organization, which quickly began to harden the individuals. Once this occurred in the El Salvadorian neighborhoods, the immigrants wanted to organize themselves, so they decided to come up with a name for themselves.
Utilizing research findings and realistic experiences, Shakur, Howell, and Griffiths disprove myths about gangs, justify the reasons for young people being recruited because of their desire to be understood by others similar to them, and girls integrating themselves into the groups from their relationships with members. Howell and Griffiths managed to explain the principles behind gangs and their members' lifestyles, while Shakur provided real gangster experiences as supporting evidence for the research findings. Theories to gangs may be existent, but without proper research leading to the findings, or experiences from subjects who lived the lifestyle, beliefs about the organizations merely become empty
In the United States, every year there are around 2,000 gang-related homicides and in the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, it explores the issues of gang violence, and teenagers in gangs. Around 40% of all members in gangs are teenagers, who are getting involved in some dangerous things very early in life. In the novel The Outsiders, the “Greasers” which is a gang of all teenagers, fight other gangs and commit serious crimes such as murder. We as a society need to pinpoint why teenagers join gangs and stop them beforehand. We also need to help people get out of gangs if they are already in one.
In the United States, prisons are held accountable for the safety of inmates regardless of their crimes. Researchers defined Security Threat Group is known as prison gangs, which corrections officers used to take away their recognition term (Security Threat Group (STG) Law and Legal Definition, 2016). The Security Threat Group are hostile inmates that caused harm to prison officials and inmates. The Security Threat Group may vary from state to state within the correctional facilities. It is determined that street gangs and prison gangs are different because prison gangs reflects with the toughness on their role in unlawful activity, higher level of organization, and age structure, while street gangs’ illicit activity is part of the group identity
“Society thinks we are monsters.” Mr. Antunez said at the beginning of the article Shuttling Between Nations, Latino Gangs Confound the Law. The following paper is going to take a close look at several aspects of Latino gangs and their effects on culture. The taboos and deviant acts that are committed by both groups. Actions the dominant culture has done to enforce the rules of society and, more closely, ways that the dominant culture has been deviant.
Prison gangs have been and are a growing problem. Prison organizations throughout the United States have tried many different strategies to address the issue of prison gang members. One of the problems is that gang members are more of a threat to the staff and other inmates than regular inmates who are not in a gang. The prisons have problems begin able to house certain serious offenders that need to be kept separate because of the limited spacing. Gangs in the prison have a higher disruption and incident rate then non gang members.
Youth’s join gangs due to financial reasons, family involvement, peer pressure and power. First and foremost, some teenagers join gangs because their parents are struggling to pay the bills to keep them and their siblings alive. They see their parent’s struggles are their responsibility. Most of them join this gang to earn fast money, instead of searching for a real job. In these affiliations, they will participate in drug deals
1. How does Strain Theory define and explain deviance? Strain theory defines deviance as the situation whereby there exists a gap or difference between societal success goals and the determined means available to the society for achieving these goals. In a society, individuals share similar goals towards success and thus have agreeable means of achieving the same, however, when such an agreement is foregone such a society has a high rate of deviance.
Early on, MS-13 was a loosely organized collection of smaller gangs that focused on extorting local businessmen and small-scale drug trafficking operations. Unfortunately for law enforcement, MS-13’s operations have expanded past extortion, homicide and drug trafficking. Sonja Wolf finds that, MS-13 engages in robbery, auto theft, rapes, kidnappings, and the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation,” and that, “Over time, gang members have been increasingly implicated in robberies, the illegal possession or carrying of firearms, drug sales, rapes, and especially extortions and homicides. Gang youth have moved from levying minor taxes in their territories to running extensive extortion rackets. Shopkeepers, sex workers, students and teachers, taxi and bus companies must all comply with the requests, though the transport sector is most heavily affected.
We learn from the things we experience, the things we see, and the people with whom we associate. We learn from our surroundings , experiences, acquaintances, friends, and family. Contends that we learn aggression like any other behaviour-by watching others and imitating their behaviour” (2014). This theory explains that people act and do illegal things because that is all they have been taught. Those in gangs who may use violence to resolve conflict and/or establish a respectable name for themselves have been surrounded with those who do the same thing.
Gang Definition and Classification Classifying gangs is no simple task and to begin you must thoroughly understand the definition and requirements of being classified as a such. There are multiple definitions of a gang, according to The Modern Gang Reader but the one I will focus on is “A street gang is any durable street-oriented youth group whose involvement in illegal activity is part of its group identity.” Now that the definition has been identified it needs to be broken down further to clearly differentiate why this definition is essential.
The youth gang individuals in Las Cruces is identified with reinforcers, notwithstanding to pro-gang attitudes, lawbreaking peers, and sequential age. In, Phoenix, being older, male, and having both pro-gang attitudes and lawbreaking peers is connected with gang membership, notwithstanding, those who relate gangs with punishers tend not to be in gangs. In addition, the present concentrate unmistakably supports the consideration of hypothesis grounded variables. The bits of knowledge increased about the one of a kind contrasts between the two group's gang issues originated from the social learning
Throughout the 17th-century gangs have been causing havoc in people's life and destroying the society. The National Institute of Justice (2011) has defined a gang as "A group of collective members which create an atmosphere of intimidation among citizens. " Many of these gangs are well organized, using different forms of violence to control neighbourhoods and to conduct their illegal activities. The National Gang Threat Assessment (2011) reports that “Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions.” Street Gangs have caused incidences of violence that is confined in the inner city of many countries.