The Criminal Street Gang Activity Essay

In James Howell’s “Gangs in America’s Communities” book he mentions that a gang should be looked at more of as a social network rather than an “organization” (Howell, 2012, p.60). This can be especially true for the youth who get involved in gangs. For the youth it is normal for them to want to belong somewhere so their peers have major influences in what they do and even how they think. The emergence or involvement of a gang among youth is identifying with each other and eventually giving themselves a name. Howell then describes the next step as grasping the gang culture by wearing distinctive clothing, colors, having rituals, gatherings, and the exclusion of other youth. Most youth join gangs between the ages of 11 and 15, the peak of gang involvement usually occurs between the age of 14 to 16. Some of the risk factors that get them involved in a

Youth gangs is commonly thought of as self formed association of peers having the following characteristics: a gang name and recognizable symbols, identifiable

As declared by Ed Royce: “ This bill is a comprehensive plan, that will increase gang related prosecutions, and prevent gang related crime. “ (House Passes Gangbuster ...S. Congressman Ed Royce)

The possible lack of a consensus concerning the determining options that come with a gang has managed to get hard to generate consistent findings and simplification. Central towards the debate may be the problem of criminal offense. The criminality of gangs varies and taking advantage of criminality to differentiate groups as gangs might be problematic however, disregarding criminal offense causes it to be hard to distinguish gangs from soccer practice, chapel, and youth activity

to be a constant fear or looking over one’s shoulder so that the gang will not hurt them or a family member.

Introduction In the united states, young females and males are joining gangs for various reasons. To prevent our youth from joining gangs, there are different precautions that need to be considered and recognized. For communities to avert youth from joining gangs they need to identify why adolescents find a gang lifestyle beneficial. There are many risks that affect the community when an adolescent decides to join a gang.

Most gangs are created to form a sense of power and control. All types of problems are presented to the youths of today growing up in major cities. Before being so eager to jump to conclusions, we must try to understand these problems, or we will never find a solution to them.

A juvenile gang is a group of youth that causes intimidation and commit criminal acts to gain power to be in control. According to a study done by David Pyrooz, a professor at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville Texas, more than one million juveniles in the United States of America is in a gang. The study found 40% of juvenile gangs are non-Hispanic white and the rest is Black and Latino. The study also found, 30% of those gang members were females. Most youth who joins gangs do so around ages 12 or 13, but the peak age for gang membership is 14 and 15years old. Although gang membership is portrayed as a lifelong commitment, the average gang member joins at age 14 and only stays in for about two years. Only 40% of all gangs will allow females to join, and there are approximately 32,000 female gang members.

When was the last time you were able to turn on the news and not hear about some sort of violent act? Crime is a growing concern amongst most cities, and street gangs are behind a lot of the trouble. Street gangs have plagued the streets for centuries and there is no stopping the urge to commit such hideous crimes. Gangs grow from recruiting young kids but what makes a kid decide to join a crime filled lifestyle.

What is a gang? What is the difference between a gang and a peer group? How can a gang member be defined? These are three very common and difficult questions to answer within all disciplines. The most common discipline to address gangs, their members, and their activities is criminal justice which includes local, state, and federal law enforcement. The problem arises when these three jurisdictions and many others attempt to agree on one definition of a gang, which has proven to be a daunting task. For the purpose of coming to a general agreement for classifying a group as a gang and an individual as a gang member, while avoiding as many discrepancies as possible, James C. Howell has presented a chapter, Defining Gangs and Gang Members, in

“Gangs are groups of three or more people who band together for protection, socialization, or financial gain. By joining, members take on a common identity of the gang.” (Staff, 2014) Gangs have existed in America since the American Revolution. The presence of gangs has increased in the U.S.; they affect almost 3,550 jurisdictions as of 2007. (Staff, Gangs, ProQuest LLC., 2014) In recent years, they have even corrupted the most secure organizations, such as the armed forces and professional sports leagues, (Staff, 2014). Gangs have been very common throughout the history of the United States, but the history has greatly impacted our society.

The problem of classifying gangs has interested both sociologists and law enforcement. For the purpose of law enforcement, a gang is generally defined as an organized group among the members of which there is well-designed communication. This paper evaluates classification schemes from current research for gangs. The objective is to discover the issues and problems in creating classifications for gangs including a definition which delineates what constitutes a gang and differentiates it from other social and sports groups. The paper also compares approaches to classifications of gangs and evaluates how these classifications provide specific insights or information about gangs in a community.

A group of 3 or more youth or young adults ages 12-24 with a sworn allegiance to each other; A shared identity, sometimes including a name and symbols; Self-perception and acknowledgement by others that a group is recognized as a gang; A degree of permanence and a degree of organization; and, For example, the Texas Penal Code defines a criminal street gang as “three or more persons having a common identifying sign or symbol or an identifiable

Criminal gangs are there to rule, they have been there in every community for a long time. Gang's intentions are to commit crimes. Gang leaders oversee extortion, order killings or smuggle drugs. This paper studies gang formation, why individuals join gangs and the negative influence gangs have to the society and the economy. The study focuses on some of the prominent gangs in the world today; it explains the activities of the Russian mafia and other gangs. This paper explains power struggles within gangs and gives out recommendations to solve problems associated with gang operations. This paper puts into perspective a study on factors influencing gang membership; the study employs personal interviews as a method, causal research design and ordinal scale of measurement. Prisoners in California state prison are the sample population. Structured proxy question are used, and observation to study an individual's race. The study focuses male prison gang members. Findings from the study indicate that the less educated an individual is the likely for one join a gang, from the study it is evident that gang members feel disregarded when formulating policies, it is clear that race is not a factor to gang membership and that most of the gang members come from dysfunctional families.

Adolescence is a time of life spanning from the ages of 13 till about 25 when the brain has fully developed. It is a period of life characterized by many up and downs where the individual experiences multiple personal changes (Gladding, 2012, p. 255). In this time of turbulence young individuals may enter into groups that society often refers to as gangs. It is accurate to say that gangs contribute immensely to crime and delinquency however, to say that this is the purpose of all gangs would be misleading. Gangs should instead be seen as existing on a continuum, some ranging from groups of peers who spend time together and may get into trouble, to others who participate in more serious crimes (Gorden, 2000, p. 4). In terms of a specific definition for a gang, there really is not one that has been fully accepted by all. That being said looking at research a formal description for a youth gang perhaps would be that it is a self-formed group of individuals, consisting of three or more members, generally ages 13 to 25, who share a sense of identity, and may or may not take part in delinquent behaviour or crime (Preston & Carr-Stewart, 2012. P. 1 & 2). Often time’s news stories claim that youth gangs are on the rise and must be stopped and the members disbanded. However, to pursue this would be saying that the formation of all gangs are negative and solely for the purpose of delinquent behaviour and crime, which is not always the case. For society to take an active approach on