In the newspaper paper article, “No Sanctuary in Chicago’s street Gang wars,” Kass (2017) focuses on a recent murder in Chicago. Kass states that Chicago is a place of death do to the ongoing gang wars that Chicago is experiencing. Kass (2017) further points out Chicago gang crime is an “intergenerational problem, of grandfathers and fathers and sons and mothers and daughters wearing their gang colors.”
Kass’ statement about in gang crime being an intergenerational problem is consistent with prior gang research. Intergenerational gangs is not a new phenomenon. For many youths, gang life is all they know. Many gang members have other family members who are involved in gangs already. In Lauger’s (2012) ethnography of the DFW boyz, he found
How well Wes Moore describes the culture of the streets, and particularly disenfranchised adolescents that resort to violence, is extraordinary considering the unbiased perspective Moore gives. Amid Moore’s book one primary theme is street culture. Particularly Moore describes the street culture in two cities, which are Baltimore and the Bronx. In Baltimore city the climate and atmosphere, of high dropout rates, high unemployment and poor public infrastructure creates a perfect trifecta for gang violence to occur. Due to what was stated above, lower income adolescent residents in Baltimore are forced to resort to crime and drugs as a scapegoat of their missed opportunities.
Chicago has been one of the most dangerous cities in the world for many years. One of the times that stand out is the Prohibition Era in the 1920s. This Era is key to the history of this great city in many ways. It brought some of the most interesting criminal tactics, and one of the most powerful government entities: the FBI. Al Capone was at the forefront of the socio-political scene of that time.
In the chapter, Sante (1991) believed gangs emerged in rapidly growing cities out of the conditions created by multiple waves of immigration and urban overcrowding (1). The book suggest that street gangs emerged from conditions of social disorganization, overwhelming housing, and welfare capacities of the Northwest (2). Government corruptions such as that of the Civil war clause gave rise to gang riots resulting in the deaths of over 15 black men and the disappearance of over 50 more (4). Other explanations given were: marginalization, youth conflict, and defiance (6). Still the book offers more examples like that of racial unity and empowerment, as well as gangs provided lower income tenants protection and financial resources they otherwise
On November 5, 2015 we had the privilege of having Dr. Charles Katz come into our class to speak about his work with gangs, specifically Gang Truce as a Form of Violence Intervention. For this paper, I will be sharing what I learned about gang truce and its relation to public health by answering several questions involving violence and how it can be used to effect public health. These questions include why gang violence is considered a public health issue; how a gang truce and its mechanics address the public health issue of gang violence; and what are the problems surrounding the gang truce model as a means of addressing gang violence. Gang violence is a large issue that involves the wellbeing of many individuals, from the gang members to
Chicago has had its ups and downs in the cities violent history, but early 2016 to present has been an exception. Chicago increased in homicides by 59 percent in 2016 and it has only become worse since then with a 29 percent increase in just the first few months of 2017 (Asher, FiveThirtyEight.com; Ford, The Atlantic). It is obvious that something needs to be done, but so far there have not been any major changes made or drastic measures taken in order to improve Chicago’s current state of being. Right now, the three most predominant causes are Chicago’s Police, Chicago’s many gangs, and firearms, hand guns in particular. If the city wants to make any improvements whatsoever then it needs act decisively on gangs and guns, start using different
After a brief decline, gang activity has begun to increase in the United States. This activity has become prevalent in all four major regions of the United States (Howell, 2012). Gangs have continued their
During his time studying these boys, he found that most cases of conflict were resolved without the use of weapon(s), but rather with “harsh conversation”. This observation highly contradicts the typical view of gang members who are commonly stereotyped by their local community and justice system in Oakland. Rios describes how the boys “Conversations often involved references to guns as analogies for resolving conflict and demonstrating manhood”. The fact that most conflicts are dealt with in non-violent ways, highlights the negative role
Research has shown that some youth are pulled into gangs by attractiveness and enhancement of status among friends (Baccaglini, 1993). In some communities, youth seemingly do not have a choice to not join a gang because they were born into that lifestyle or its their neighborhood or family tradition (Moore, 1978). Factors for youth gang affiliation range from having delinquent friends to not being supervised at home. Research Problem and Purpose Statement
THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR GANG FORMATION Merton, as cited in (Schneider & Tilly, 2004) suggests structural theories significantly emphasize the role of social and economic structures as the causes of delinquent behavior and tend to treat criminal behavior as the result of the undesirable and dysfunctional structures (P. 3) However, to some it is rather unbelievable people who join gangs belong to similar neighborhoods and socioeconomic backgrounds. This paper draws on existing sociological research in identifying a number of theories; this paper will discuss both social structure and social process theories used in explaining how gangs form. According to Hagan, (2008.)
(B) Some researchers have claimed that families’ positive attitudes towards gangs encourages young people to become involved in gang groups (Maxson and Whitlock, 2002) and promotes intergenerational gang membership (Rutter and Giller, 1983; Thornberry et al, 2003). Studies conducted by Moore (1991) and Vigil (1988) show a history of intergenerational gang membership amongst families in Los Angeles. (Young, T et al
The article says “ An established body of research indicates that gang-involved young people have an increased propensity to become both offenders and victims of crime, experience breakdowns in their familial and personal relationships, and engage in illicit substance use” (Thornberry et al., 2003; Krohn et al., 2011; Melde & Esbensen, 2011; Ozer & Engel, 2012; Weerman et al., 2015). This is another reason why gangs are an issue in this world, they are getting younger kids to join and it can ruin some of those kids' lives forever and they end up being involved with more crime than average. That is why gangs are an issue in this
Introduction The topic of this report is gangs, why people join them and the impacts. A gang can be described as an organized group of criminals, social scientists use the terminology most often when describing a group of juveniles. People who have previously been involved in criminal acts, and youth looking for protection or a sense of belonging are highly attracted to the idea of gangs. The reason for joining a gang varies depending on the person and where they live but all have common themes such as acceptance, new experiences and protection. After joining a gang the participates become involved in a great deal of criminal acts.
This paper investigates the relationship between gang-related violence in schools and street gangs. The author came across the conception that gang-related violence that takes place in schools is triggered by the street gang activities and lifestyle that come to pass in the community, which can be formulated in two fashion, in term of gang learners being part of the street gang and conducting part of their activities in the school grounds. While on the other side, the gang learners are forming their own gang groups that are not related to the street gangs but are share the same culture. In other words, the author is trying to disentangle the question of whether the existence of street gang in societies contributes to the incidences if violence
There is no one true meaning for the term gangs because it is based on the view and interest of the person defining it, the trends, and the changing social aspect of the gang. It is stated that many large communities are at great risk of significant gang activity. Gangs produce negative issues such as fear which deals with loss of economic opportunities; drop in the social status of the area and the destroying of families fabric of society. Throughout this paper we would be looking at gangs in schools, street gangs and youth gangs just to name a few and try to show how they
Teen Gangs “Reports show that gangs are present in every state in the US, where in 1970 they existed in less than half of all states” (Lohmann). Teen gangs are started around the ages of 14 and 15. When teenagers get into a gang, he or she usually gets into the gang to make themselves look resilient or try to blend in, in account of problems at home or simply if one does not feel loved. Teen gangs are becoming a problem in the United States and the effects of these gangs are unnecessary youth deaths, alcohol and drug abuse, in addition to young teenage boys becoming another statistic in today’s society.