Street Gangs and Drug Trafficking - Essay Example

There are several definitions for gang /drug enterprise. The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines a Violent Street Gang/Drug Enterprise as a criminal enterprise having an organizational structure, acting as a continuing criminal conspiracy, which employs violence and any other criminal activity to sustain the enterprise (Wiley, 1997).

There are at least 21,500 gangs and more than 731,000 active gang members in the United States alone. These gangs are known to conduct criminal activity in all states and U.S. territories. Earlier, it was believed that the problem of gangs and drug trafficking was mainly concentrated in major urban areas, however recent data show that gangs also are proliferating in rural and suburban areas. Increasing law enforcement pressure in urban areas of the country forced the gang members to flee or seek more lucrative drug markets is one of the reasons. This proliferation in non-urban areas increasingly is accompanied by violence and is threatening society in general (NDIC, 2005).

Questions such as why has youth gang involvement in drug trafficking increased in the past decade have still not been answered completely. The popular image of youth gangs ties them directly to drugs and violent crime (Klein, 1995). Research conducted in the 1980s and 1990s has documented extensive youth and adult gang member involvement in drug use and generally higher levels of use compared with non-gang members. According to Fagan (19–54), there are two reasons: (1) the dramatic expansion of cocaine markets in the 1980s, accompanied by sharp price reductions, and (2) socioeconomic changes in American society that disrupted traditional social controls (Curry and Spergel, 381–405).

Drug use, drug trafficking, and violence overlap considerably in gangs (Howell and Decker, in press). Moreover, gang involvement appears to increase individual involvement in drug use, drug trafficking, gun carrying, and violence and, perhaps, to prolong involvement in drug sales (Youth Gangs and Violence, 1998).

There is no doubt that with the increase in drug trafficking, violence, and other criminal activities has also increased. Trade in drugs of abuse such as cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines (synthetic stimulants) has long been a frustrating feature of the international scene. After attempting for years to combat the drug trade on an individual or bilateral basis, nations have belatedly come to realize that coordinated international action is the only effective way to restrain the trade and, in addition, that social and other broad action is the only means to reduce incentives to participate in it. It is therefore necessary to have stringent laws to prevent such crimes. Above all, the society as a whole needs to fight these evils. Good education also plays a major role in preventing such acts. Read More