Gangs are groups of 3 or more people who share a form of identity like a name. Gangs tend to commit to a location known as a turf and have a identified leadership. there is constant tension for leadership. With the pressures of the gang life a violent group or mob mentality develops. William Golding shows similar examples in the book Lord of the Flies in which a group of british boys are stranded on an unknown island and are forced to survive.
As he is unable to achieve these luxuries through work, he may turn to criminal activity because he wants to be like his peers as he feels pushed out. Sociologists believe that to some extent, relative deprivation is the key cause of crime in society however there are some other aspects that affect this. Sub-cultural theories are a belief of some sociologists where crime is explained by saying that criminals learn how to commit these crimes from their peer groups or subculture. Cohen in 1955 completed a study on working class boys in North America and found that they were easily involved in gangs. One aspect that was said to have pushed them away from the education system and towards these gangs was because they had middle class standards and values and these boys were unable to live up to the high expectations of these teachers.
Food, shelter, and money causes juveniles to turn to gangs. Areas with high gang activity forces/intimidates, (peer pressure), children to join gangs. Less popular juveniles join gangs to become cool or to claim the social letter. Gangs may present themselves as a means of survival to youth who lack basic essentials such as food, clothing and shelter (http://www.gangfree.org/gangs_why.html). Juveniles who live in low-income neighborhoods or poor neighbors join gangs for food, shelter, and money.
In the 18th Century, gang problem became worse as the new generation of immigrants continue to enter the United States. During this time, Irish gangs like Whyos, Dead Rabbits and Plug Uglies and Jewish gangs like the Monk Eastman Gang brought terror in New York City streets (Lou Savelli, 2001). In the 19th Century, the most notorious gang was formed – the Five Points Gang. One of the most notorious members of the Five Points Gang was a young boy of Italian descent in the name of Alphonse Capone also known as Scarface. His whole life was an illustration of the power and influence of organized crime in the United States during the 19th Century (“Al Capone”).
I guess the moto of these movies is what goes around comes around. The storyline of both these movies are good with ups and downs which feels like a roller coaster. In Good Fellas there is a kid that wants to be a gangster like those that hang out across the street from him. He gets a job with one of the handy men of the main mob guy. He starts off small and then works his way up the social gang ladder.
His necessities as a young boy were replaced by his situation as a criminal, causing him to be more hurt as a child and to more likely follow in criminal behavior. And of corse this only led to Trevino committing cumulative crimes, each time the crime standing more boldly in comparison to his initial circumstances as a child. When it finally came time for his trial, all of George’s contributions and achievements were never heard, the only thing that played any role in his trial was his criminal record, which is sad to see. The initial problem is that judging the crimes committed as opposed to the boy himself, drives the system closer towards punishment as opposed to rehabilitation. When the child’s needs are not considered nor acknowledged, a personalized treatment cannot be appointed.
The life style of a gangster can seen easily as one of a career criminal, and in many cases this is true; the question that has to be posed is simply why, why would a juvenile chose that life style, one that is surely going to end with tragedy, the death of many friends, family, and almost certain imprisonment. This question I believe has one answer, yes it is complicated but let me explain; Male and Female juveniles alike are brought into this life style simply by means of close associations, some as close as siblings or cousins, and others as distant as childhood friends. The desire and attraction to this life style is stemmed from the lack of substance in the lives of these
WP2 Synthesis 7/6/2012 Gangs Gangs in the world today have been a major issue to all governments. Gangs will continue to be a problem in our world today because of an informal market, poverty and the youth today. Danny Malec wrote a review on Transforming Latino Gang Violence in the United States. In this article he believes and understands that due to the United States having an informal market, seduces the youth today by replacing family role models with gang members. Grossman agrees with Malec’s views, while taking a media strong stand point on this issue.
The main reason of gangs or the formation of gangs are a direct result of human beings' personal wants and peer pressure. To determine how to effectively end gang violence we must find the way that these morals are given to the individual. Unfortunately this is never easy. However, by looking at the way humans are influenced in society, I believe there is good evidence to point the blame at several institutions. These include the forces of the media, the government, theatre, drugs and our economic system.
One’s primary group is made up of people who have the most impact on our socialization, and are usually the people most present in our youth. These social role models establish which behaviors are acceptable, or are the social norm, and as the OpenStax text asserts, “generally engage face-to-face in long term emotional ways” (123). The people that influenced Caine’s behavior were his parents, Pernell, who was Caine’s mentor, and his friends O-Dog and Stacy. As far back as Caine could remember, his father sold drugs and his mother was a drug addict. Caine witnessed his father kill a man, learned from his father how to buy and cook crack cocaine for sale, and spent half of his high school years ditching school to sell drugs, to be like his father.