Street Gangs Essay Example

Street Gangs Essay A street gang is a group of young people, with a common identity, and mainly engages in criminal activities.   Most members in a street gang are between the ages of 11 and 21.   These cohesive groups have a recognizable geographical territory, a leadership, levels of organized continuous criminal activities and a purpose.   The street gangs have a common identifying symbol and a known leadership who associate themselves with criminal activities. These groups have a very close relationship and they support one another in their delinquent behaviours. Street gangs may have the commission of one or more criminal acts including murder, firearms or explosives violations, obstruction of justice, narcotics distribution and other violent offenses such as carjacking, assault, burglary and threats. (Manwaring, M. G. (2005). For a gang to be identified as a street gang it must have engaged in a collective of criminal activities.   Street gangs may be traditional, national, ethnic or geographical affiliated. These young adults use group intimidation and violence to perform criminal activities in order to earn power and control over certain activities.   These groups are usually unpredictable and unstructured.   Their activities sometimes have no financial gain or a hidden motive. In America, gang activity started in New York during the 19th century.   These gangs erupted form poor sections of the city and they were formed on strong ethnic identities, usually Irish.   Five paints is an example of a gang that was formed during this period.   They robbed, mugged and fought with others gangs.   During the 20th century, street gang activity became rampant although they were making composed of black or Hispanic origin.   During the 1950s and 1960s, those street gangs were found in major cities with European gangs vanishing. We will write a custom essay sample on Street Gangs specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Street Gangs specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Street Gangs specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Narcotics and firearms became very prevalent in the 1970s and 1980’s.   Those two items attracted more teenagers to join the street gangs.   Firearms made street gangs more violent and increased criminal activities during that period. (Thornberry, T. P., Krohn, M. D., Lizotte, A. J., Smith, C. A., Tobin, K. (2003). Street gangs were formed initially for self –protection of family and friends within the same neighbourhood but later progressed to criminal acts that provided a source of income.   Street gangs from different neighbourhool or ethnic groups have been involved in several violence acts against each other to gain power or control over a certain activity. Gangs form the same neighbourhoods have also been involved in vivacity and violence. The first original street gang was formed by a group of students as an informal sports organization in 1970.   The groups name as founded on the address where they lived.   In Chicago the first gangs were formed on ethnic lives by the volunteers of five departments.   The different department of five fighters competed against each other and formed gangs that were later taken to the street.   During the early 20th century, polish and Italian gangs became the most common in Chicago. European – American street gangs were formed in 1780s by young people who were sported hanging out on street corners.   These gangs were formed to protect their neighbor hoods from their rivals.   These groups basically fought for control over street corners and other open lots.   This is where they held their meetings.   The gangs, however, were not based on ethnicity because the same neighbourhood could have a host of nationalities.   These gangs emerged in cities where poor communities lives together. Young adults joined a street gang in order to feel a sense of belonging.   A gong promised to give its members identity. Belonging, wealth, discipline and drugs.   Other young people join the gangs out of fear and intimidations from their peers. (Duffy, M. P. Gillig, S. E. (Eds.). (2004). Street gangs are divided in three major groups based on location, activities and entry requirements.   Ethnic gangs are based on nationality or race of the members. Most ethnic gangs unite on the basis of the ethnicities they hate.   The skinhead gangs and Neo-Nazi gangs both have hatred for Jews, blacks and non-protestant Christians.   Turf gangs are defined by the territories depending on the location of the neighbourhood.   The gangs name themselves by the areas they control and punish gangs that wander into their territory.   These territory barriers have been the cause of many rivalry and violence between street gangs. Prison gangs are formed when members of a street gang are arrested and taken to prison. Members from the same street gang may form a common gang or join other larger street gangs in the prison. Gang members attract children and young teenagers by showing off their lucrative lifestyles and amounts of money. These street gangs recruit young children who are unsuspecting to use them for trafficking drugs and carrying weapons, because they do not attract much attention form the police.   Street gangs recruit their members by performing an initiation; new members have to endure some rites which include â€Å"Jumping in†.   This is when a new member is beaten up by all old gang members.   The new members can also be told to participate in a mission such as steering or killing someone.   Some street gangs have a tattoo gang symbols which new members are required to get. The lifestyle of street gang members involve drinking and doing drugs, hanging around the neighbourhood and sleeping late at night.   During their meetings street gangs sell drugs and commit crimes like breaking stores and theft.   Street gangs believe that to gain power and respect they must commit violent crimes.   Street gangs have signs and ways of identifying themselves and these include similar modes of dressing or having a particular gang colour.   For example the vice Lord’s wear black as their symbol. Street gangs have their own graffiti which symbolize them.   They make these graffiti all around their neighbourhoods to mark heir territories. Street gang believes that invading another gang’s territory and marking it with their symbol or oven destroying their symbol is unforgivable and it calls for war.   Gangs that want to street gangs have hand signals which signify gang membership and loyalty. Graffiti is the commonest way of gang members to communicate.   Graffiti provides adequate information about a gang’s membership and the gang’s growth.   Many street gangs refer to graffiti as their newspaper for communicating messages, warnings or announcements.   Some gangs use secret codes and alphabets as their symbols which can only be interpreted by gang members. (Tovares, R. D. (2002). Tattoos are a common practice used among street gangs to show their membership.   These tattoos are adopted as a way of expressing loyalty to the gang.   All street gangs today are involved in drug trafficking.   Gang members sell drugs and alcohol to earn income.   They are also involved in acts of violence such as robbery and theft.   Members of street gangs are involved in drug abuse activities apart form seeking them   in fact the commonest practice among street gangs is trafficking and use of drugs, street gangs have started recruiting young children to traffic drugs and carry firearms and weapons because, the police do not suspect children much. Street gangs have initiations which are used to recruit new members into the gang.   These initiation ceremonies involve violent acts, where new members are beaten up by all old gang members.   These initiations are very brutal and may result to death or permanent injury.   Some street gangs do not accept a new member, unless he has killed someone or stolen a car.   For women and young girls to be accepted in a street gang, they are forced to have sex with the men in the gangs and other times they are raped.   Just like getting into a gang is difficult, getting out is more difficult and a gang member may be killed on deciding to leave the gang. Some street gang practices are very brutal and heartless. Gang members aim at leaving permanent scares on their victims.   One merciless practice performed by street gangs is the ‘Buck 50’, in this practice a member will slash another person’s face deeply, usually requiring around 50 stitches to repair. (Manwaring, M. G. (2005). Street gangs are highly concentrated in large urban areas. Those urban areas provide a conducive environment for gang activity.   The activity includes drug trafficking, selling firearms, stealing cars and robberies.   In the urban areas different street gangs will fight for control of a particular street corners which is well hidden form the activities.   Street gangs are righting populated in areas overwhelmed by poverty in the urban areas.   Street gangs usually originated from slum areas or less developed areas.   The youth in a certain neighbourhood may decide to form a gang with the innocent intention that they gang will be used to protect its members and also be a source of income. Street gangs can also be formed by teenagers in schools.   Schools that are found in highly populated cities stricken with poverty have a high tendency of forming street gangs.   Schools in urban areas form.   Street gangs move often than schools in urban areas form.   Street gangs move often than schools in rural areas.   School children in urban areas are used to traffic drugs by drug peddlers in the cities and as a result they accumulate the children in the street gangs.   Belonging to street gang is a major achievement for school going children.   They feel they have power and control by assessing drugs in schools.   Being in contact with the known drug peddlers also makes them respect among their colleagues. The MS-B street gang is the most violent street gang in the United States today.   It is mainly composed of Mexican nationals.   It is also the most largest street gang in the united state.   The 18th street gang is also a well known street gang in the United States which used violence and intimidation to spread narcotics its territory. Mara Salvatrucha is a street gang which is not afraid or intimidated easily by the authority.   This gang has been responsible for shooting several law enforcement offices and executing federal agents who interfere with its activities. Black gangster disciples, vice lords and Almighty Latin kings all based in Chicago are very notorious in drug trafficking.   They are known to use violence to control their territories and spread drugs and firearms.   Other notorious gangs in the united state include Hoover crisp, bounty Hunter Bloods and Rolling 60s crisp.   Those street gangs have very well structured organizations in their drug operation. (Wiener, V. (1999).   These organizations involve the authority and become very difficult to penetrate and break.   The organization mainly involves young adults who are used to channel profits to the top of the organization.   What makes the street gangs lucrative is the thousand of outlet in major neighbourhoods, millions of potential new customers and the always readily available jobs. Street gangs have caused a lot of violence among the public and disrupted so man lives. Robbery, carjacking, mobbing, vandalizing are some of the activities performed by these gangs.   Ã‚   Street gangs have rules among them that warn against trusting the future. Their unconcern for personal safety and other delinquent behaviors are weak concepts of future stability. Street gang members are ware that any thing can erupt without warning but still they lack any future expectations. Control or be controlled is another rule used by street gang members. They believe in respect and that one has to control another person and gain respect or be controlled by the other person and respect them. Gang members will use money, violence and disrespect the authority to gain control over a territory. This rule implies people outside the gang to mimic the lifestyle of gang members. It also inspires gang members to use abuse and violence and protect their geographical territory. This rule of control or be controlled has also created very stable relationships in a gang. Street gangs have a rule that enable them to treat insiders and outsiders differently. Members of the same gang use symbols like graffiti, similar ways of dressing, hand signals and a common language for identity. This enables them to distinguish the insider from the outsider. Street gangs use this rule to create identity, belonging, security and acceptance. It also brings unity and loyalty in the gang because they express their frustration and anger on the outsiders. Most street gangs are unsophisticated with a structure that is more horizontal than vertical. The characteristics of street gangs are very exposing. Their leadership is more expected and their ways to resolve conflicts is based on power and revenge. Street gangs have been categorized in three major groups. These include first generation gangs, second generation gangs and third generation gangs. The first generation gangs are based on territories and turfs. Their main concern is to protect their neighborhoods and gain small petty cash.   This category of street gangs rarely engages in criminal acts but when they do, they base it on locality and societal violence. The second generation of street gangs is usually business oriented. Their main aim is business and commercial gain. Unlike the first generations that has a loose leadership; the leadership in second generation is more sophisticated and centralized. Members target more on drug trafficking. These gangs extend their operations beyond their neighborhoods and cities and use high violence to control and protect their markets. Second Generation Street gangs use violence to incapacitate law enforcement efforts that are directed against them and as a result they have brought in security in communities. They are also known to be involved with larger transnational criminal organizations. Third Generation Street gangs are larger with broader drug markets and more sophisticated criminal organizations. These gangs have broader political objectives and acquire political control over areas of their interest that the poorly governed. Control of political powers provides security and freedom of the gang activities. The gang leaders in these gangs act more like warlords or drug barons because they gain control of a specific political region and as a result take treasures to protect the gang’s movement’s and activities. The third generation street gangs have succeeded in reconstructing a nation’s government politically, socially and economically. (Manwaring, M. G. (2005). Street gangs have caused a lot of havoc in the society by bringing violence, drug trafficking, recruitment of young children and political assassinations.