Youth Gangs Issues - Research Paper Example

Teacher College/Institute Gangs Crime is considered as a most important factor across the globe. The existence of crime is foundin multiple forms and its impact varies in different domains like politics, society and economy. For the last decade the very nature of crimes is changing briskly and Caldeira writes about it: "now the most visible forms of violence stem not from ideological conflicts over the nature of the political system but from delinquency and crime" (Caldeira 1996). Gangs especially the youth gangs are the part of the crime presently across the whole globe. People have to call them by different names but in a society the gang violence is taken into account very seriously. So it is very important to understand the issue of violence by gangs in a more professional way when nations want some social development. Frederick Thrasher defines a gang as: A gang is an interstitial group, originally formed spontaneously, and then integrated through conflict. It is characterized by the following types of behavior: meeting face to face, milling, movement through space as a unit, conflict, and planning. The result of this collective behavior is the development of tradition, unreflective internal structure, esprit de corps, solidarity, morale, group awareness, and attachment to a local territory (Thrasher 1927). The very definition given by Thrasher gives an elaboration of different aspects of the gangs. The very objectives of the gangs vary from one group to another. Some have political means while some have mere zest of wealth. And these means can only be found in young people so some of them are adult while most of them are not adult or grown up people. And these people have innovative ideas in order to become millionaire just in days. Miller and Vigil says: The association of young people with illegal and violent activities or crimes is the one which separates them from other violent groups. (Miller 1982, Vigil 1988) From the above statement of Miller and Vigil it is not sure that other people are not going to involve in such activities if they are not young but there is also the possibility of young people to involve in such violent activities. But on the other hand it is true that the young people are known well in doing such illegal acts in the society because there are inherent in their nature and they are inherently associated with these violent actions. Young people are mostly involved in criminal and violent activities and it is inherent in their nature. Most of the illegal or violent activities are associated with young individual gang members but society links them with membership of a gang instead of individual criminal behavior. (Cohen 1990) The extent or degree of crime is not a matter of concern but the major issue revolves around the actions performed by different gangs. Some gangs are involved in drug dealing and this obnoxious business they even don’t hesitate to kill other people. Some are involved in human smuggling and other high violence actions but there are some gangs which are involved only in low level violence. The low level violence covers street gambling, drinking, looting and plundering. All of these violent activities are considered as part of youth gang. These different gangs show that the violent activities and behavior of young people vary from one gang to another gang. There are many different sorts of conflicts which may arise among rival gangs for example there may be the conflicts of area or territory in which they are going to perform their violent activities. During these conflicts the rival groups use different techniques to feat each other like use of knives, fists, sticks and other dangerous weapons like grenades. Gang membership is one of the core or peripheral issues (Klein, 1995). There are some members in a gang which play a vital role in collective activities of a particular group. The involvement in different activities does not effect the membership of an individual because most of the members in a gang don’t like to get involve themselves in selective actions. Different surveys are being performed in order to find out the sex of the gang members e.g. in 1975 survey it was found that 90 percent members of a gang are male. (Covey, Menard, and Franzese 1992) There are few females who are involved in gang violence and the reason is most of them are sexually exploited and they are very few in number. Most of the female gangs exist in Nicaragua, Mexico, and US but again very few in number. (Cummings 1994, Giordano 1978, Harris 1988, Rodgers 1999) The age factor of the members of the gangs is also an important one because most of the members which are involved in illegal or violent behavior are among the age bracket of 7 to 25 years. The prominent age bracket lies in the range of 13 to 19 years simply saying teen agers are keenly interested in gang violence. The gang members in Costica Rica are in the age bracket of 12-16 years old. (Revista Centroamericana 1994) There are different theories which are presented about the enactment or formation of violence gangs in a society. Some researchers are of the view that the very emergence of the gangs is the cause of social ecology where a disorganized social system will be prevailing especially in the poor urban areas of a country. (Shaw and McKay 1942; Whyte 1943) Some other researchers have conceptualized the gangs as an entity originated from lower class sub culture (Cohen 1955; Miller 1958). In a nutshell we can say that a gang is a group of people which is morally, socially, politically and mentally not stable rather they remain in an urge to do something unique in order to satisfy their inner self. They have to perform all that at the expense of their lives or without caring the importance of their lives. Such a culture can be abolished if the true future guidelines are provided to young people in order to utilize their energies. Works Cited Caldeira, T. P. R. "Crime and Individual Rights: Reframing the Question of Violence in Latin America." In E. Jelin and E. Hershberg, eds., Constructing Democracy: Human Rights,Citizenship, and Society in Latin America Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press: (1996): 197-211. Cohen, A. K. "Foreword and overview." in C. R. Huff ed. Gangs in America. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. 1990 Covey, H. C., S. Menard, and R. J. Franzese. “Juvenile Gangs.” Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas Publisher. 1992 Cummings, L. L. "Fighting by the Rules: Women Street-Fighting in Chihuahua, Mexico." Sex Roles. 30, (3/4) Feb.1994: 189-198. Giordano, P. C. "Girls, Guys, and Gangs: The Changing Context of Female Delinquency." Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 69 (1978): 126-132. Harris, M. G. “Cholas: Latino Girls and Gang.” New York: AMS Press. 1988 Klein, M. W. “The American Street Gang: Its Nature, Prevalence, and Control.” New York: Oxford University Press. 1995 Miller, W. B. “Crime by Youth Gangs and Youth Groups in the United States.” (report prepared for the National Youth Gang Survey), Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 1982 Rodgers, D. “Living in the Shadow of Death: Violence, Pandillas and Social Disintegration in Contemporary Urban Nicaragua.” Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK. 1999 Revista Centroamericana. "Violencia Juvenil en Centroamerica." Revista Centroamericana 2 (1994): 4-9. Shaw, C. R., and H. D. McKay. “Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1942 Thrasher, F. “The Gang: A Study of 1,313 Gangs in Chicago, Chicago.” University of Chicago Press. 1927 Vigil, J. D. “Barrio Gangs.” Street Life and Identity in Southern California, Mexican American Monograph Number 12, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. (1988) Whyte, W. F. “Street Corner Society: The Structure of an Italian Slum.” Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1943 Read More