Why juveniles join gangs? By: Moni Williams Abstract Juveniles sometimes have trouble finding who they are where they belong in the world. Juveniles join gangs for a number of reasons. All juveniles have their own reasons for joining a gang. Juveniles look for people and groups of people who same their same morals and values of life.
It allows the police departments to take proactive law enforcement action normally before the gang gets an organized structure. The gang can or may range from a loose knit group of individuals who hang around together and commit crimes together, to a formal organization with a leader or ruling council, gang colors, gang identifiers could be such as tattoos, and a gang name. In the textbook on page 145, “Islands in the Street: Urban Gangs in the United States, it says that the functions that gangs fulfill or motives for joining a gang is to possible to escape a broken home, but many members that join still interact with their families. So that must not be the only reason in some cases of why people join gangs. It also say its because of money, drugs, woman, to commit a crime, and for protection because its better than the police.
Gangs are groups of youths who engage in delinquent behaviors. Police departments often use it only to refer to a group that hold and defend a territory. A Fraternity is an organized society of men associated together in an environment of companionship and brotherhood; dedicated to the intellectual, physical, and social development of its members. 2. Discuss the differences between violent, criminal, and drug-oriented gangs.
Youth gang violence from the 1950's to the 1980's has a curious history. Miller (1992:2) contended that the national perspective of gangs during this period was dominated by a New York City media view: "a flowering in the 1950s, death in the 1960s, revival in the early 1970s, and dormancy in the later 1970s." His survey of gang problems in major American cities (Miller, 1975, 1992) proved the latter part of this media theory to be wrong. Miller's study showed that gang violence was very prevalent in the 1960's and 1970's. He argued that nothing had changed from the 1950's; rather, media and public attention were diverted from gangs to the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and ensuing riots.
Throughout American history from the early 20th century onward, organized crime has always been relevant and continues to grow as an empire in modern day society. Some of the most popular organized crime groups in America are the Italian Mafia or El Cosa Nostra, the Irish and Jewish mobs, and the South American and Mexican drug cartels which evolved later in the 20th century. Organized crime began with the massive European immigration to the East coast of the United States particularly in New York City. There were more people than jobs so young men had to turn to crime. After, organized crime grew quickly in the 1920’s during prohibition through the smuggling of liquor and separate crime organizations worked together in order to have more control over the law.
The United States has an ample youth faction, and because of most of the youth living in poverty they look up to false role models and gangs. They seek a sense of belonging and meaning in their lives. Hagedorn and Malec both emphasize that the youth has this feeling and how identity formation is a major factor in joining a gang. Danny Malec wrote a Review on Latin Gangs and their transformation of gang violence in the United States. Malec believes that gangs are not all bad, that they are not just about committing violent and illegal crimes.
It all started when the Pirus, a set underneath the Crips, separated during an internal gang war. After they had separated, they united together and formed their own gang called The Bloods. Due to this act, the Pirus set is known to be the original founders of the Bloods. At that moment in time, the Crips could have outnumbered the Bloods by an insane amount of gang members. The main income for the Bloods has, and always will be, drug production, drug selling, and drug
Gangs in the United States CCJ 4656 Instructor Khatibloo May 4, 2013 Cheryl Pulley Gangs in the United States The crips gang originated in Los Angeles in the mid to late 1960s. The crips gang has loosely constructed subgroups, most of which are from specific neighborhoods. Members dress in a specific fashion, display colors (blue associated with crips); use monikers, sometimes display gang names or monikers on clothing, and communicate through graffiti. When gang members become more serious about drug trafficking, they also become more discreet about calling attention to themselves with these signs of gang affiliation. (www.gangsorus.com) The name crip is short for cripple.
In the late 1960s the illegal use of drugs began to be more widespread and the government acted very aggressively with a broad program of arresting drug law violator, having a large number of the drug law violators incarcerated, patrol the borders in an attempt to stop drug smuggling, forming an alliance with other countries to assist in shutting down criminal organizations that manufacture and distribute drugs, and mounting efforts to reduce demand for drugs. The increase of violent crimes committed by juveniles rose at a fast rate. Violent crimes committed by juveniles had reached its epidemic proportions by the late 1980s. The growing market for cocaine and its derivative crack was tied in the 1980s and the easy access to guns. Young people started to get involved in street gangs by working as street soldiers in drug distribution networks, arming themselves, and began to kill each other at a high rate.
Criminal behavior has always been more prevalent among young people. Thus, studies of changing crime patterns need to distinguish juvenile crime and youth crime from crime by adults. In the late 80's and early 90's the crime rate involving juveniles started to rise at a high rate for all offenses. Especially with the teen population. Studies have shown that juveniles are more acceptable to committing crimes in groups than by themselves.