Gangs and Gang Violence in Jersey City - Research Paper Example

Gang and gang violence Current gang and gang violence on both national and global perspectives Gangs and violence are synonymous terms. Gang related violence has been subject of deliberations for the longest time in history, given the outcome of different gang activities all over the globe. Different gangs around the world have certain shared aspects that relate to the crowd, recruitment, motivations and aspirations. Any given gang normally has a unique socialization process, even though certain aspects relate to other gangs in other parts of the world. Studies of gang related activities have concluded that violence is part and parcel of gang relations and activities. Likewise, use of threats to, both members and non-members of the gangs is a normal phenomenon. Furthermore, gangs normally have at least one rival and that increases the potential of violence. Further researches indicate that gangs are unique and unified by their ability to propagate dread. Existence of any given gang group normally leads to the potential formation of another in order to protect the local community from the violent activities of the gangs. By so doing, there is a perpetual problem because of the reaction effect that comes with the existence of a gang in any particular locality. Poverty and unemployment are catalyst of for gang formation because the youths become a target by the police; and in retaliation, they organize themselves into gangs. The same adversarial concept explains the reason behind formation of different types of gangs, spread all over the world. Threats to any particular group catalysis the formation of a gang since the general feeling is that the grouping may is targeted hence the need to over self-protection. As a result of the formation, the group poses a challenge to both the members and non-members. Cohesions among different gangs are strengthened as the threat level increases because members feel the need for cohesion to enhance their ability to react when threatened. With that comes, the increased magnitude of violence. Violence in gangs normally arises from “contagion”. This refers to the poisoning of the mind of the gang members to the extent of believing in certain ideologies and retaliation once those ideologies are threatened. Once threatened by violence, a gang retaliates and the effect is spread violence in the area. Similarly, violence spreads the activities of a gang group from one area to another. The riding factors are: the any assault or violence directed to the gang, the retaliatory effects of the gang and the subsequent escalation of the violence to, previously, peaceful areas. Most of the gangs that have been studied have demonstrated that they are normally led by a leader, Don. The don, in most cases, is usually a male leader with immense wealth as a result of illegal business like drugs, arms trade or other unscrupulous activities. These leaders are equally politically connected. The leader has a mandate of instilling discipline that is strictly adhered. Failure to respect and pay allegiance to the leader has serious violent consequences. Gangs are mostly constituted of youths, even though the leader may be older than the rest. The challenge is that youths are normally at risk from other gangs who may decent violence even if they do not belong to the rival gangs. In that regard, most youths in gang prone areas are forced to join gangs as a way of ensuring their own safety and that of their family members. Due to the violent capabilities of the different gangs, the police are forced to apply force when enforcing the law in these areas and sometimes cases of human rights abuse and extreme violent acts experienced. Unfortunately, retaliation is more often likely, given that the membership of the gangs feel the need to act to, “teach their offenders a lesson”. That explains the perpetual violence in these areas. Desire for respect from the society is another motivation to join the gangs. Instead of respect, the members are feared because of the violence associated with the gangs. Strong allegiance and secrecy to the uttermost is essential in gangs. Any form of association with members outside the gang can be interpreted as snitching and that could bread violence or death to the suspected party. As a result of the requirement of non-disclosure and non-contact with the outside world, gang members are usually vulnerable because they cannot easily access medical services and other services, even when they are in serious need. The United States, like other countries of the world, is not immune to gangs and gang related activities; and by extension, gang violence. There are different gangs groups in the US at both local and national levels. It is estimated that roughly around 1.5 million people are members of a gang and there are 33,000 gang groups in the country. Most of the gangs in the USA, like in other parts of the world, are based on ethnic undertones. Violence, in most of these gangs result from the fights over territories where they can to sell their illicit goods usually in form of child prostitution, drug trade, arms dealings and other related vices . Courtesy of: national gang center Whereas the membership of the gangs members compared to the country’s population represents a small figure of around 1%, the country stands as one of the leading countries in gang related activities and gang violence. There is a general perspective that due to the existence of the gangs, member of the public are usually at risk of the violence of the gangs; that is not very likely because most of the gangs in the country normally target either, perceived, disobedient members or rival group members. However, locals in areas infested with gangs can as well suffer from challenges that the gang member shave in those areas. New Jersey is listed as one of the most gang prone locations in the USA. Despite the disturbing reality, the area remains understaffed with regard to the police. This comes in the wake of the police cuts that happened towards the end of 2011. Camden in the New Jersey stands as one of the worst hit city with respect to school dropouts (70%). The city is equally prone to drug trade and gang violence has escalated in the past few years as result for the need of control of the territory by different gang groups. Demographics on gang and gang violence Jersey City has a population of approximately 257,345 people and has a crime index of 31%. The chance of someone becoming a victim of violence in Jersey City is 1 out of 154 compared to 1 out of 347 in New Jersey, as a whole. It is reported that New Jersey has extensive gang related activities all over the 21 counties. The activities affect both rural and urban areas. The most notorious gangs spread all over New Jersey are Latin Kings, Motorcycle club and Sex Murder Bloods. The gangs in different parts of Jersey city regroup to form newer groups and that explains why almost 75% of gangs that existed 10 years ago are no longer in existence. Despite the change in name and allegiance, gang related violence has increased over the past one year. Despite the growth in activities, the gang activities in Jersey City are not oriented to extremist ideological thoughts. More than 40% of the gangs in New Jersey and Jersey City are controlled by leaders who are incarcerated. A disturbing figure is that 50% of the gangs in Jersey City have a presence in the local schools and that is dangerous given the ease at which school going youths can be converted into the gangs. The most prevalent crimes reported in schools were nonviolent; mostly display of gang regalia. Most of the gangs in Jersey were found to have little motivation to target the general public or the law enforcement officers. Instead, their focus is to carry out their activities and target their rivals. 54 % of the gangs were reported to be recognized for violent criminal activities, 65% for mere theft cases while 55 of the gangs are involved in drug peddling businesses and other types of crimes account for 72%. Around 58% of gangs in Jersey City have less than seven members however, other gangs have many member. 95% of gangs are considered as violent. The level of violence in gangs is high and this is evident from the fact that violence is likely to rise, even among gangs that belong to the same set. Most of the gangs are highly organized with more than 60% of the gangs in the area having an umbrella body that they all belong to. Verification of gang membership is a difficult task because of the highly secretive nature of the gang. Even though most of the gangs are easily identified through their clothing, behavior or any other outward manifestation, it is difficult to conclude that such manifestations belong to that particular gang because, even, nonmember have the tendencies to behave in ways that identify with the gangs. Most of the gangs in New Jersey identify themselves through various regalia like head gear, bandannas and other clothing. Gangs are considered as the biggest contributors to violence in schools in the city. The initiations of the gangs are usually marred with violence, theft and other criminal activities. Statistics indicate that gang members have higher chance of being arrested for drug peddling than non-gang members. In the past few years, most of the gangs in Jersey City have adopted more nonviolent activities such as prostitution, human trafficking and theft. That shift has been occasioned with the need for more secure revenue stream. Neighborhood gangs pose the greatest challenge to communities as well as the authorities. New Jersey has a slot in the five most gang prone cities in the US. Five cities in the country shared 857 gang related homicides in 2008 and the figure has increased over the years. Most of the victims of gang related crimes fall between the age 15-19 and that accounts for around 41%. Similarly, more than 85% of gang related crimes are male and female accounting for the rest. On the same note, there are more Hispanic and African American in gangs more than white people in the city. Around 90% of the gang confrontations in the city are associated with use of arms and that same is true for the homicide cases reported. On the same note, most of the gang related violence are reported in the afternoon s and evenings, as well as in weekends compared to weekdays. Gang demographics within the rural and urban areas vary. It is estimated that only 5% of members are women in urban while in the rural areas the figures rises to 11%. 32.5% of boys under the age of 18 years old are likely to convert into gangs. Similarly, women who join gangs are likely to leave as compared to boys. Likewise, women do not have leadership role as they only account for 3% yet, they remain as the most vulnerable group since they are more susceptible to violence than their male counterparts. Despite juveniles engaging in gang related actions, most of the gang members are adults and this is evident from the fact that more than half of the gang members are adults. In the cities, the adults account for bigger chunk while in the rural setting the juveniles accounted for a higher figure. The children, in all circumstances, are intimidated and end up joining because they get the feeling of protection. Challenges of gangs and gang related violence and the proposed solutions This section of the paper identifies the challenges that gang and the related activities bring to both the victims and the gang members. Bio-psychological, cultural, ethical, legal and economic issues and their impact on this group This section addresses different sociocultural and economic issues that relate to the gang groups in Jersey City. In essence, the section addresses the impact of the life choices and circumstance that face this group. Cultural patterns of change that affects health care delivery for the gangs in Jersey City This section shows how the cultural dimensions and the lifestyle of this group impacts on health care delivery. It will address the ease or difficult that the group has while accessing health care. Nursing and public health concepts strategies for comprehensive, continuous and preventive care for gangs in Jersey City This section will highlight nursing concepts and strategies that can be used to offer comprehensive and continuous health care to this vulnerable gang groups Read More