Gangs and gang membership

1.0 Introduction:

Currently, criminal gangs in the US have increased greatly. The number of gangs responsible for the crimes committed in the US continues to increase. These gangs are also the main distributors of illicit drugs. Most of them even collaborate with the US based Mexican drug trafficking organization. This rising number of gangs in the US attracts the foreign groups that distribute illicit drugs. Therefore, they develop interest in carrying out illegal business with the US gangs. This is due to the large market in the US due to the increasing gangs. Most of these gang members live in the local communities across the state and others are found in the US prisons. These gang members use encrypted emails and the internet to communicate with each other. The crime rate in the US has increased due to the increased gangs. They also take part in the smuggling of guns from abroad and many other illegal acts.

2.0 The research purpose and findings:

The gang researchers focused mainly on the reasons for gang formation, kind of persons that join the gangs and how they function. High population and low-income earners usually characterize places that are socially disorganized. This characteristic makes the people in those areas not to be able to gain access to good education or even finance their medical bills. They are not able to satisfy their most important needs that keep growing each day. This leaves them with an option of turning to the gangster way of life. The youths in such areas are normally idle since they cannot find any employment. This makes most of them turn to theft and illegal dealings. According to the research, people that join the gangs tend to have difficulty in schoolwork. They are also usually aggressive, high tempered, have many needs and a lifestyle that is boring to them making them seek excitement from being gangsters.

3.0 Reason for gang formation:

When the great dreams and hopes of the lives of the young people are shattered, they usually turn to ways that will make them achieve their desired life. They may not be able to gain access to education making them unable to achieve their goals. They then turn to the illegal activities such as crime, to achieve their goals. This then results to the formation of gangs. The high level of unemployment also makes the gangs arise since most of the learned people usually lack jobs due to the low demand in the job market. They try to find jobs and eventually give up and lose hope. They then turn to the illegal ways of survival. Poverty is also a main contributor to the gang formation. A minimum economic resource makes a person not to be content and go out looking for more. All these issues also lead to the rising number of gangs in the country. The harsh economic conditions make life hard for most people leaving them to turn to the illegal ways of life (Daniels, 2008).

4.0 Behavior and activities of gangs:

The gang members usually spend a lot of time together. They usually carry ought fights with other gang members when a conflict arises between them. They usually carry guns and knives with them. They are not only involved in criminal activities, but they also sell drugs like cocaine and weed. Some of them are rapists. There also exists gangs that mainly involve themselves in drug trafficking. These are street gangs that involve themselves in businesses. They aim to expand their business and even go to an extent of using threats and force to achieve this. In this process, people are murdered so that they get what they want. Taylor (1990) argues that the gangs of Detroit collaborate with drug dealers to carry out great drug distribution while they brutally aim to control their territory. These drug and crime gangs practice high secrecy and leadership. They are loyal to each other. Their marking of the drug gang territory is by the great demand they have in the market.

5.0 Research contribution to the knowledge about gangs:

This research shows the continued increase in gangs daily due to the hard economic times. People have to find a way to survive and be successful. When success becomes impossible, they become desperate and turn to illegal activities. These gangs mostly emerge in smaller cities and the rural areas. In most cases, the gangs in the big cities send some of their members to the smaller cities and the rural areas. This is in order to expand their gangs by maybe recruiting new members in the case of the robbery gangs. The drug trafficking gangs send their members to other small cities to expand their enterprise. This also frees them from the law enforcement inspection and competition from other gangs that are evident in the big cities. This relocation and the emergence of new gangs make some of the gang members who were not powerful to gain power and become leaders of the new formed gangs. This only increases the number of gang leaders and the number of gangs (Parks, 2011).

6.0 Learning gained and its importance:

From this, we learn that the gangs are only formed due to the hard times a person experience. An increase in needs makes most people join gangs in order to find satisfaction. How a person is raised, may also influence his possibility of joining gangs. A child raised by a parent who is a gang member may also join a gang eventually. In order to reduce the number of gangs, it is important for the government to increase the number of jobs for the people. This makes them busy, getting them off the streets. Vocational and educational opportunities can be availed to the gang members. With this, they are able to receive skills that will open the way to continued education and even employment. This will reduce the number of gangs. Most people only join gangs to find a source of survival. Therefore, alternative way of surviving increases the chances of reforming the person.

7.0 Summation:

Gangs and gang membership usually involve a lot of drug dealings and killings. Most of these gang members come form dysfunctional families. They experience physical and verbal abuse in their families affecting them and finally turning them to bad people. They grow up experiencing physical assault in their childhood. Most of them grow up in communities controlled by gangs adapting them to that kind of life. The gang members are more proud of their gang names than their surnames. They receive these names from their criminal behaviors that make them earn respect from other gang members. Acquiring respect is usually their main aim. They achieve this respect by recurrent fights with other gangs and people they consider outsiders. They view the law enforcement officers as a big threat to their survival. They create great danger to people who value safety and fruitful life. They are also a great danger to the law enforcement officers since they are not afraid to end people’s lives. They, however, remain loyal to each other and consider each other as family (Esbensen, Tibbetts & Gaines, 2004).

8.0 Recommendations:

In the past and even today, the gang prevention programs have always been rare. Preventing gang formation has always been a hard task. It is hard to tell who is likely to turn out to be a gang member in the future. Therefore, suspecting a youth to be a possible future gang member may stigmatize him and eventually make him fall prey to the gang. Due to the scarce prevention programs, the government should employ more programs to help reform and prevent the emergence of more gangs. The gang intervention programs remain to be the best way of managing the gang problem. It makes the gangs members change, rehabilitate and divert from each other.

8.1 Community mobilization programs

This program unites the community socially and politically. The people come together and participate in the community affairs. They then bond with each other in the social institutions around like the churches and schools. This unity makes the people express their problems and find valuable solutions to them. This makes the environment peaceful and safe. The environment will then be free from possible gang formation. This program was mostly practiced in the past, and it proved to be efficient. It is being renewed today and those communities that employ it find it efficient. Despite the program’s success, other community programs have failed due to lack of unity in such neighborhoods. The gangs in such areas increase their unity making them stronger. The program should aim to reduce the gang cohesiveness in order to succeed (Esbensen, Tibbetts & Gaines, 2004).

8.2 Street outreach programs

This program focuses on holding strong social work mechanisms with specific counselors and social service workers. The counselors and social service workers are assigned a gang or a community. The service workers assigned to the communities deal with the gang related issues in those communities. They then counsel the gang members and help them reform. They are supposed to be good listeners and understanding people. These social workers help the gang members to find activities that keep them busy. These activities will keep them away from participating in gang related activities. The main disadvantage of this program, however, is that only those gangs considered bad receive the attention and are assigned a social worker. This enables the emergence of other gangs and increases gang cohesion. Attention should be given to all gangs since all gang members need to reform.

8.3 Suppression programs

This program entails work forces, street sweeps and gang definite legislation. The law enforcement and the prosecution offices implement this program. They aim at specific gang offences and gang members that are powerful. They focus on removing the gang leaders from the gang. This will make the gang fall, and other people who intend to form a gang will shy away from that. Great punishments will befall those who have these intentions. This is a great program since it ensures full eradication of gangs. It also pre vents the formation of new gangs (Chaskin, 2010).

8.4 Corrections

The probation officers should ensure that they conduct maximum supervision for serious offenders while in probation. They should ensure collection of gang intelligence data within the prison. This provides them with the knowledge of the existing gangs. They are also able to know a gang that a prisoner belonged. They should create a link between the community agencies and the correctional institutions. The parole officers should always communicate with the criminal justice human resources and the society members. The probation officers should ensure to carry out the needs assessment on the gang members on probation. This will prevent the gang members on probation to follow the probation rules.

References

Chaskin, R. J. (2010). Youth gangs and community intervention: Research, practice, and evidence. New York: Columbia University Press.

Daniels, P. (2008). Gangs. Detroit: Greenhaven.

Esbensen, F.-A., Tibbetts, S. G., & Gaines, L. K. (2004). American youth gangs at the millennium. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Pr.

Parks, P. J. (2011). Gangs. San Diego, CA: Reference Point Press.