Deglamorizing American Street Gangs
Social researcher and author Deborah Lamm Weisel (2002) says that the glamorized image of the American street gang as drug dealers is not the image that is consistent with historical research (Lamm Weisel 75).
The drug gang} is certainly not a typical street gang... They didn't even grow out of a street gang. These kids started out to make money by pedaling crack and that is a very different phenomenon than street gangs (Knox 66) (Lamm Weisel 75)."
Lamm Weisel has gone back to the essence of the historical gangs that go back to the earliest immigrants who carved out sections of neighborhoods for themselves using coercion and violence to maintain territorial boundaries. However, it is easy to disagree with Knox, because for decades now street gangs have been associated with the violence and trafficking of illegal drugs.
In a journal article by John M. Hagedorn (2006), the social scientist-writer examines a century of street gang activity in Chicago (Hagedorn 194). Hagedorn writes:
It is an enduring, progressive insight of the "Chicago School" of sociology that criminal behavior is not a racial characteristic, as nativists, klansmen, and racists of all stripes might claim. Rather, the Chicagoans' doctrine stressed that violence, gangs, crime, and other "social dislocations" are primarily consequences of the intersection of urban ecology and social stratification. For example, "gangs," said the Chicago School's founder Robert E. Park, sprouted in the "city wilderness" without regard to race, creed, or color...
Street Gangs and Loitering Laws Los Angeles politicians have recently come together behind a proposed city ordinance that would allow police to arrest loitering street gang members. Mayor James K. Hahn, voiced his support for this new weapon in the battle against gang violence and drug trafficking. "Law abiding citizens shouldn't be afraid to go get a carton of milk at night," he said. "This ordinance will put gang members on
However, some gang members specialize in multiple criminal activities such as street robbery, human trafficking and drug trafficking. Street Gangs Street gangs are the major concern to parents, school administrators and the communities because they recruit students and the youths across the United States to enhance the growth of gang memberships. Street gangs are the most prevalent type of gangs in the United States because they influence a strong control in
Introduction A far greater number of US citizens become victims of gang-initiated violence as compared to mass shootings or terrorist attacks. Gang members contribute to a disproportionately high percentage of the violence and crimes witnessed in the nation. Roughly two-thousand gang-linked murders are reported across the country per annum, which makes up 13% of overall murders in the nation. America's gang-connected murder rate alone (approximately 2 for every 100,000 individuals) goes
641). Both of these concerns present a validity and a legitimacy that would certainly temper the expected growth of such areas of the city, and, if left unchecked, have the potential to overwhelm the benign effects of reduced crime and social and salutary outreach benefits. The most successful way to deal with the former of these issues, is to implement a policy specific to the activity of minors. There is
Gangs as Culture and Subculture Subculture Gangs are a global presence. There are gangs in nearly every culture. While they are variations in intentions and behaviors, there are general patterns and basic characteristics of all gangs. The paper will briefly explore the definition of gangs, the history of gangs, the effects of them both locally & globally, as well as the reactions from the communities in which they gangs reside and conduct
There are many factors that are not dealt with within the ambit of the theory; for example the extent to which the Hispanic culture has become a part of the mainstream culture. Therefore there are many critics of this theory who believe that it is an oversimplification of the reality on the ground. "Many scholars of criminology, however, believe the alien conspiracy theory is an oversimplification of the very
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