In Policing Gangs in America, Charles Katz and Vincent Webb discuss the issues that take place within American Gangs today. This book goes into great detail on how the gang officers work and the different kind of atmosphere they work in. Their job isn’t like other law enforcement jobs. It’s one of the more dangerous occupations in the Criminal Justice system. These gang officers focus on how they react to public gang issues. The chapters of the book go through different aspects of this job.
The first chapter of Policing Gangs in America it’s titled, “Studying the Police Response to Gangs.” The main reason of the chapter is to see how police departments in Inglewood, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Phoenix, respond to their gang problems. This section
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This study is the primary purpose of the book, and it consist of what towns were deliberated, how the gang unit controlled their gangs in each of their cities, and how this material was brought to their attention. This certain data was collected through field examination, conversations with members, and reading through documents.
Chapter three goes on to talk about the “Historical Analysis of Gangs and Gang Control.” This part is essential to understanding each town’s past gang complications and how the police force responded to them around 1960 to 2000. The chapter is put into different subdivisions by city. First they talk about Inglewood, which was from 1960 to 1999. Then it goes into Albuquerque, which was also from 1960 to 1999. Las Vegas was the next city that was talked about and it was from 1980 to 1999. Lastly was Phoenix which went from 1070 to 1999. These statistics are used to show the reader the growth of gangs in
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In Inglewood, almost every neighborhood were surrounded by at least one gang. The gang unit officials said this particular city has a huge gang issue. In Albuquerque, it was somewhat different than Inglewood. These gangsters were elaborate in drug trafficking and property crimes. Seven out of eight officers believed the city had a major gang issue also. In Las Vegas, the primary cause of an increase in gang members were from people coming from different areas into this location. Around 50 percent of lawbreaking in Las Vegas is credited to gangs. These particular officers believed they had a moderate gang problem. In Phoenix, the gang issue varies from time to time. 60 to 70 percent of gang-unit marshal thought the city had a major gang concern. All this data was issued by officers and city documents.
Chapter five, “Form, Function and Management of the Police Gang Unit,” examined the police reaction to gangs by examining the structure of the units, functions, and management of specific gang officers. It also clarifies the tasks and procedures of the gang-units, for individuals to understand how a police department observes their more vital
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
“The Raging Silence” is an article about a series of events that were happening in The city of Philadelphia. Matthew Teague, the author, tells about the underlying issues that had such a debilitating effect of the shooting on the community. It discusses the history of gun and gang violence in the community and how it causes a rift between them and law enforcement. Thought the article Matthew Teague argued about member of the community having easy access to guns that result to a unsafe environment.
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.
In the film Crips and Bloods Made In America by Stacy Peralta, the history of the two south L.A. gangs is discussed in depth. The current disadvantages these modern gangs are faced with can be traced back to the oppressive and segregative history of America towards people of color. In the 60’s the black community was extremely strong and had a plethora of leaders who united and led their fight against inequality. Even in the face of white flight and segregation (Schneider, Escape From L.A.) the community had thriving social programs, cultural hubs, and vocational opportunities that was beneficial to its members (Film: Crips and Bloods).
It is very rare for someone who had taken a firsthand experience in gang life to come up in the open and narrate these experiences to the public as well as the dangers which they go through. This is irrespective of the fact that the realism of gang life can be seen in news, movies or in the actual streets, reading about it and visualizing the scenes in one’s mind is like taking a firsthand experience in these
Gang life is portrayed as tough, cool and dangerous, showing that many people in gangs had thick skin and could fight well. However in reality gangsters were always at risk of being harmed or killed. Both in the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks and the article “What’s it Like to be a Gang Member?” by Bill Lee, portray the risks gang members faced and their everyday lives. Both passages also illustrate the terrible outcome of what happens when being part of a gang.
Crime was very popular amongst these gangs because they saw it as a way to get ahead. During this time period the tension between the immigrant and native gangs began to grow and the Irish were the dominant force followed by the Welsh, Italian and Jewish gangs. As a whole the strength of a group of people in the major cities was reflected through their gang and the public displays of violence and wreaking havoc on
“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.
They examine current gang management strategies and see what works and does not. They completed their research by survey. “First, according to the respondents, inmate containment and sanctions were perceived to be very effective at managing gangs…. The second strategy is based on investigations, which if successful, also increases the costs of being affiliated with a STG through internal and external sanctions… Last, respondents placed great value on using the products of these investigations through intelligence sharing within their prison system, other correctional systems, and with law enforcement (Winterdyk & Ruddell,p. 734.
Scott Monks introduces the reader to his book about boys and gangs, growing up in an area where it is a norm to be in a gang and leadership in a gang. Introducton: The story of the book, Boyz “r “us deals with Mitchel, (Mitch) and gangs in the 1990’s in Marrickville, an inner suburb of Sydney. The toughness of boys growing up in extreme circumstances, poverty, one parent families, dysfunctional families. Juvenile delinquencies of boys and siblings, assaults and wilful damage.
For example, there are five keys to gang leadership that are the same for small business owners: “stay true to the vision, get a mentor, learn humility, assessment of people, and train your employees”. Andre Norman, a former prison gang leader, is now a business owner and used the above characteristics in both situations. Law enforcement’s standard approach to gang leaders is a combined effort from state, local, and federal to control and reduce gang activity. Preventing gang leaders starts when they first go to school, where programs are integrated into school curriculums, especially with after-school activities. However, if the potential gang leader realizes his/her position, law enforcement, through gang task forces, uses force to remove him/her from his/her position.
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
In the 21st century urban gangs serve as prime examples, gangbangers only allow members into the gang after they have proven their loyalty and worth. Graffiti artists vs. Gangbangers “Stefano is an urban geographer specializing
The array of neighborhoods in the center southern California holds nest to the notorious Crips and the Bloods. The documentary Crips and Bloods: Made in America starts with the generation before the blue and red covered the streets. Thorsten Sellin’s pioneering on conflict theory best describes the development of the gangs. There were two waves of cultural conflict that led up to the Bloods and Crips. The primary culture conflict derived in the 1950s, segregation defined norms that strictly separated blacks and whites.
In the past, the word “Gang” was used to describe a group of people who banded together to form a type of club. However, in modern times it has a much more negative meaning. “Gang” now refers basically to “a group of people coming together for some criminal action or other antisocial purpose (Erkan 2012)”. The United States became known for gangs in certain areas around the year 2011. With over a million people involved in gangs, and more that 33 thousand gangs here in the states.