Street Gang Violence - Research Paper Example

? Street Gangs Street Gangs Introduction Street gangs are groups of young people or adults with the main aim of taking control of a region within a city. The gangs participate in illicit activities involving intimidation and violence to make money from the society having a negative effect on the society as well as the economy of a region. Street gangs keep on getting larger as many young people and adults join because of poverty or by being forced. These gangs have become very influential in some parts of the world. A region may have more than one street gang, which fight against each other to gain influence and power. Policing force and governments across the world have come up with strategies to control street gangs but the process has become very complicated, Street gangs are always a step ahead of the government control agencies making it a challenge to control them. Street gangs have evolved to be very influential and powerful becoming a major threat to the society and the economy yet they are almost uncontrollable as they are always a step ahead of the relevant agencies and devising strategies that work will be important for the safety of people and economic growth. History of Street Gangs Unlike what most people think, street gangs started many centuries ago in Europe. There were gangs in the in 1600s in England that wore ribbons to identify themselves. In the 17th and 18th century, there were gangs in Germany that did criminal activities. The gangs at the time were made up of two to five members but there were some that had as many as ten or twelve members. These gangs were not really street gangs but they started the path to street gangs. After the Industrial revolution in England and Europe, many people in the society became rich. At the same time, there many people who were poor and lived in the slums, which became common at that time. People in the slums were looking for ways to take what the rich had. They formed groups which were mostly made up of young people between the age of 14 and 20 years. Each of the gang wanted to take control of a certain region within the city. Many gangs like the Redskins, Black hands and beehives were formed in the early 19th century. The gangs were spread across Manchester, London and Glasgow (Covey, 2010). At the same time, street gangs also started to be formed in the United States. The forty thieves’ street gang from New York was formed around 1820. This gang is one of the most popular street gangs in the United States. The gang was formed by Irish Immigrants who were trying to take control of New York City. These gangs were involved in illicit activities like pick pocketing, stealing and violence. Some of the gangs in both Europe and United States were well organized and grew to feared gangs in their regions. At first, gangs were formed by people within a certain age group for example the youth in Europe. As time passed, street gangs evolved to be formed by immigrant minorities in other countries for example the United States. United States was a major hub for immigrants in the 19th century as it was growing and progressing very fast. Irish people were among the first immigrants in the United States. To survive, they formed gangs for example the infamous forty thieves in the New York City. Immigrants from other countries specifically Italy wanted to compete with the Irish Gangs in New York City. At the same time, there were other Irish Immigrants who wanted to form their own street gangs rather than join existing Irish gangs like the forty thieves. By the end of the 19th century, there were more than five common influential and powerful gangs in the United States. This country became the new hub for the Street gangs in the world. The gangs were mostly in New York and Chicago at that time. These two cities were the most common with immigrants (Andrews, 2013). United States continued to attract many immigrants from all over the world. Irish, Italian and Polish gangs were most common in the United States throughout the 19th century and in the better half of the 20th century. However, European based minorities street gangs started to lose their ground towards the mid of 20th century. Black and Hispanic Street gangs started to become common. These gangs defeated the European minority gangs. At this point, gangs shifted to cities that had many Hispanic and Black minorities. Los Angeles became the new hub for street gangs. At the same time, the illicit activities evolved to include prostitution, drug trafficking and illegal arms. Communication among gang members has also changed to include graffiti, tattoos, complicated hand signs and clothing. Street gangs are well informed and have complicated survival tactics that make it a challenge for law enforcers to catch up with them (Callanan, 2001). The success of Street Gangs in the United States has inspired many other groups to form gangs. They are now common in every country in the world. Some experts believe that European street gangs get their inspiration from their American counter parts. Some Street gangs have grown to have some influence in other countries. The linkages in other countries are mostly for convenience especially for drug, human trafficking and arms trade, which are the most common illicit activities among the street gangs. The gangs have grown to include both young people and adults. Decker and Weerman (2005) believe that street gangs are main contributors to child delinquency in Europe. Membership The number of people joining gangs is increasing by day across the world. In the United States, the number of gangs has increased from just 120, 000 in 1989 to about one million four hundred thousand members in 2011. The number of street gang related cases is usually approximately the number of the gang members if not more. Each gang member has to be involved in a criminal activity every now and then. Some gang members engage in illicit activities more than once (Juvenile Justice Reform Initiatives in the States, n.d). There are several factors that lead to the significant increase. Poverty: This is one of the major risk factors of street gangs. Most poor people are usually desperate and would do anything to make their living better. Such people especially the young get to know that they can make a lot of money through street gangs. Street gang leaders take advantage of the vulnerability of the young people to recruit them. School: some youths do not perform well in their school work. Such youths lack motivation to be in school affecting their performance further. They know they do not have a bright career future. As such, they are likely to look for other activities they can do to make money street gangs being one of them. Schools may also contribute to youths joining gangs if the environment within the school is not safe. Youths who feel threatened in such schools are likely to find comfort by joining renowned street gangs. They can be protected by gang members and their fellow students fear them when they find out they are members of such gangs. Family: the nature of a family can contribute to youths joining street gangs. Studies have indicated those youths in abusive, drug dependent and poor families are likely to join gangs. They are usually affected psychologically and tend to find comfort in such gangs. Some may start to take what their parents are taking to experiment. They may start to engage in alcohol and smoking at a very young age. Research by Howell indicates that young people who start to engage in these two are likely to engage in hardcore drugs like cocaine and heroine. These two are high risk factors for joining street gangs (Howell, 2010). Individual factors: there are individuals who are susceptible to joining street gangs. Victims of victimization and harassment and relatively physically weak students like to feel sense of protection and power. This cannot be provided by friends and family but street gangs. Anti-social students have also been found to be at high risk of joining street gangs. Such students are usually lonely because of hurting life experiences for example parent divorce or sexual harassment by family members or close friends. They usually join the gangs so that they can forget the hurtful events or for revenge on other people. Research has also indicated that children who are slightly mentally ill may join gangs. These children are usually victimized and harassed by others and find it necessary to get protection from the gangs. Peer Pressure: youths with money and influence are admired by many other youths. They would like to feel the same and would do anything for the same. Most of the youths join street gangs just to have the same power and influence (Public Safety Canada, n.d). Youths willing to join a street gang have to show that they are well capable of being part of the group. They have to do tests and pass to be members. The test activity can range from stealing from a person, delivering drugs, killing a person and even attacking policemen and taking away their weapons. Main Activities Street gangs are usually out to make money in the modern times. The gangs do not care about the welfare of the society and can do anything to make money. They do not care whether their parents or family or friends are affected by what they do. They engage in highly profitable businesses which are usually illegal. They are discussed below. Drug Trafficking; this is the most profitable illegal activity venture today most street gangs have been associated with. A study in 1995 indicated that more than 27% of street gang members were arrested for drug trafficking in California. Street gangs have also been linked to production of Marijuana, methamphetamine and other dangerous drugs. These gangs have international links from where they get the drugs to be smuggled in the countries they are in. The large street gangs are the ones that easily smuggle drugs into countries. A number of gangs in the United States have been determined to smuggle large quantities of drugs from other countries. Seventeen Ventura county gang members were found to smuggle drugs from Mexico by the Federal Bureau of Investigations agents (Federal Bureau of Investigations, Los Angeles division, 2013). Some street gangs in the United States for example collect millions of dollars per month from drug trafficking (National Drug Intelligence Center, 2005). Human Trafficking and prostitution: prostitution is the new emerging business for most street gangs. Reliable data indicate that the gangs view women as renewable assets for their business. They can sell a woman for sex many times but can only sell drugs once. Most of the gangs find it better to have their own prostitutes they can control however and whenever they want. In this case, they have to source their own prostitutes from other countries. Women in desperate situation in many countries in the world are promised lucrative jobs in other counties like United Kingdom, United States and other high income countries. Once they agree, they find themselves in brothels and prostitute booths. These young women have to sleep with many men everyday and cannot say no to it. They are usually mistreated and are not paid (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2013). Illegal Arms: firearms are some of the weapons of choice for most of the street gangs. They use the weapons for intimidation and also sell them to other people in the society. This has increased the number of guns in the general population increasing gun related fatalities and deaths. Many cases have been reported in which students; most probably members of gangs use guns on fellow students and teachers. This could be the reason why there is a dramatic increase in the number of school shooting incidents in especially in the United States (Drysdale, 2010). Intervention Strategies Governments across the world have been working around controlling street gangs. There are number of task force groups formed to understand how street gangs operate and devise ways to control street gangs. In the United States, there are a number of task force groups that have been formed with this purpose. National Gang Intelligence Center formed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations was formed with the objective of looking at the immigration patterns of people, looking at the high risk groups and criminal activities. This task force has a database which has all the details regarding these factors and provides these details to interested groups. In addition to this, there are many task force groups formed in the various states within United States to tackle street gangs. There are several task force groups that have been formed to tackle specific street gangs for example the MS-13 National Gang task force (Federal Bureau of Investigations, 2013). The organizations, taskforce and institutions formed with the objective of addressing the street gang problem have been advised to share intelligence on the same. It is believed that the cooperation of the groups will make it easy to address the menace. Communities can also help to prevent youth from joining street gangs. The families can be strengthened such that they are financially secure to ensure the youth have access to most of the things they need. At the same time, the communities can ensure the youth in the society access jobs easily. Youths having money discourage them from engaging in other activities especially joining street gangs. After all, they join these gangs to make money. Schools can assist in training the students on the disadvantages of joining these groups. In addition, schools can also reduce the cases of bullying and victimization of the weaker students which can also contribute. Families and relatives also have a role to play in this. Parents can monitor their children, talk to them and inform them about the street gangs and their possible impacts. The community, school and families can all work together to combat street gang menace. One thing that has been noted about street gang members is that they start deviant behavior when they are very young. These three stakeholders can be monitoring the youth and determine those that have high deviant behavior cases. They should be taken seriously and behavior modification be started at once. The community can set up schools and institutions that can be used for behavior modification for this high risk group. Resources needed for establishment of such institutions should be provided at all times. In addition, psychologists and behavior modification experts should be hired to ensure there is always someone who can help the affected students. Schools should also have at least one expert to guide students. In addition, the community, schools and families should have occasional forums to discuss the problem among them and to teach the students on the same (Howell, 2010). The Future It is evident that street gangs flourish better in some regions and countries compared to others. The various governments should work together to address the problem jointly. Some of the street gangs have been operating in several countries or have links in other countries, to do their illicit activities effectively. Cooperation among governments would hinder this making it impossible for the gangs to operate. At the same time, the task force involved should be funded well by the government to ensure they operate effectively all the time. In addition, the government should focus on training some experts to understand street gangs much better to be able to understand street gangs better. Technology and the new age communication systems can be used to identify possible gang members. Conclusion Street gangs have been there for several hundred years. They have evolved from just normal street gangs to profitable venture seeking gangs in the modern times. They have become very complicated making it a challenge for the law enforcement agencies to tackle the problem better. The cooperation of the government, community, schools and parents can really assist in addressing this problem. Establishment of institutions to identify the high risk individuals at a young age can go a long way in reducing the street gang problems. Such institutions should be provided with the necessary funding and be ensured that experts are available round the clock to assist those affected. These institutions should be available in all societies to address the problem much better. It may be challenging combating it but street gangs can be eliminated completely. References Andrews, E. (2013). 7 Infamous Gangs of New York. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/7-infamous-gangs-of-new-york Callanan, P. (2001). Characteristics of Street Gangs. Campus Safety Journal, 9(10), 16-20. Covey, H. (2010). Street Gangs Throughout the World. Springfield: Charles C Thomas Publisher. Decker, S and Weerman, F. (2005). European Street Gangs and Troublesome Youth Groups. Lanham: Rowman Altamira. Drysdale, D. (2010). Campus Attacks: Targeted Violence Affecting Institutions of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/campus-attacks Federal Bureau of Investigations, Los Angeles division. (2013). Seventeen Ventura County Gang Members Linked to Mexican Mafia Charged for Roles in Mexican-Based Drug Trafficking Organization. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/losangeles/press-releases/2013/seventeen-ventura-county-gang-members-linked-to-mexican-mafia-charged-for-roles-in-mexican-based-drug-trafficking-organization Federal Bureau of Investigations. 2013. 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment – Emerging Trends. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/2011-national-gang-threat-assessment Federal Bureau of Investigations. 2013. Violent Gang Task Forces. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs/violent-gangs-task-forces Howell, J. (2010). Gang Prevention: An Overview of Research and Programs. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/231116.pdf Juvenile Justice Reform Initiatives in the States. N.d. Combating Street Gangs. Retrieved from http://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/reform/ch2_e.html National Drug Intelligence Center. (2005). Drug and Gangs Facts. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/archive/ndic/pubs11/13157/ Public Safety Canada. N.d. Youth gang involvement: What are the risk factors? Retrieved from http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/yth-gng-nvlvmnt/index-eng.aspx Read More