Due before 5:00p.m tom (ATTACHED PREVIOUS ASSIGNMENT U WILL NEED TO DO IT)

Research problem: what is the origin of gang violence in the United States and how this problem be done away with?

Gangs poison the streets of the United States with all manner of illegal stuff and activities, such as all manner of crime, violence, and drugs. In the United States, there are a number of gangs, including motorcycle gangs, local street gangs, national street gangs, ethnic gangs, organized crime gangs, and prison gangs (Braga, Hureau & Papachristos, 2014). Research carried out by the FBI found out that about 1.4 million people were part of gangs and there were 33,000 active gangs in the country by the year 2011. The gangs are well organized and very sophisticated. They use violence as a mode of controlling their criminal activities, such as boosting their gun and drug trafficking, illegal money making activities, prostitution rings, extortion, and robbery. According the report brought forward by National Gang Assessment in the year 2011, 48 percent of violent crimes in many jurisdictions are attributed by the gangs. This figure goes up to 90 percent in other areas. Many of the gangs began in the urban areas, and they still exist in the urban areas. Gangs originate in major cities, such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and New York, and then they migrate to other areas, such as Detroit, Houston, Orlando, Atlanta, Dallas, Memphis, and Cleveland among others (Papachristos, Hureau & Braga, 2013).

It is believed that the rise in gang activities is directly related to school failures, decreases in adult mentors, the differentiation in gender sphere, decrease in after-school programs, and failure caused by the adults, especially in the lives of the children. “While kids from more affluent neighborhoods may turn to other less dangerous alternatives, children from poorer neighborhoods often turn to gangs both as protection and a place to find love, understanding and a sense of belonging/purpose” (Patton, Eschmann & Butler, 2013, p. 55).

Gangs are also believed to arise from the minority population, especially the African American population. This is because of mass ideological shift in the urban communities from very conservative family values to very anti-social establishment and liberalized values. This shift or activity started in the year 1960 from Black Socialist movement.

The best strategies for dealing with the issue of gangs are those that are focused on prevention and intervention, but not enforcement and suppression. The parents should undergo education on how to spot signs related to gang association in their children, and how to help their children stay out of gangs. They should teach their children by making gangs look less glamorous, and when they realize their children is related to a certain gang, they should seek appropriate intervention (Ullrich et al, 2013).

The schools should also be active in gang prevention, and this can be achieved through giving learners the real information relating to drugs and alcohol, teaching the learners how to reject the use of drugs and providing them with different intervention, teaching students the skills relating to decision making and the effects of their behaviors, and teaching learners to resist peer pressure and building their self-esteem.

The community has also come strong in trying to do away with gang related problems. Various states have come up with gang prevention programs that try to suppress gang violence. The program keeps the gangs out of the community and out of the reach of children (Jones, 2013). The final solution to the problem of gang violence is the enforcement. This has been carried out majorly by the police and the government. All the above mentioned strategies have greatly contributed to reducing cases related to gang violence.

References

Braga, A. A., Hureau, D. M., & Papachristos, A. V. (2014). Deterring gang-involved gun violence: measuring the impact of Boston’s operation ceasefire on street gang behavior. Journal of quantitative criminology, 30(1), 113-139.

This article is about a research carried out by Anthony Braga and his colleague. The research was after measuring the effect of the Boston’s ceasefire on the gang related behavior. It tries to establish whether that operation had any significant effect in deterring gang-involved gang violence. This article relates to our research since it deals with gang violence and its looks at ways of deterring the problem.

Jones, N. P. (2013). Understanding and addressing youth in “gangs” in Mexico. Working Paper Series on Civic Engagement and Public Security in Mexico, Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

This resource is about understanding and addressing the youth, especially in gangs in Mexico. It takes a look at the experiences taking place in Mexico as a means of strengthening the rule of law and increasing security due to rise in the organized crime violence. The relationship between this article and our research is that part of the gangs in the U.S. is the Mexicans, and it helps us in understanding the reason behind the rise of gangs formed by Mexicans.

Papachristos, A. V., Hureau, D. M., & Braga, A. A. (2013). The corner and the crew: the influence of geography and social networks on gang violence. American sociological review, 0003122413486800.

This resource is trying to find out how social network and geography have influence on the important social problem, which is gang violence. The research carried out used the data obtained from non-fatal and fatal shooting to try and examine the effects of organizational memory, group process, and geographic proximity on gang related violence.

Patton, D. U., Eschmann, R. D., & Butler, D. A. (2013). Internet banging: New trends in social media, gang violence, masculinity and hip hop. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(5), 54-59.

The social media has become a platform where gangs try to mobilize members, and part from that, the gang use this media to trade insult or threaten others. These insults are threats normally lead to victimization and homicides. This articles is about social media and gang violence. It informs us how some gang recruits members and it directly linked to our paper since it deals with gang violence.

Ullrich, S., Keers, R., Bebbington, P., DeStavola, B. L., Kallis, C., ... & Donnelly, P. (2013). Gang membership, violence, and psychiatric morbidity. American journal of psychiatry, 170(9), 985-993.

The author f this article tries to establish the association existing between gang membership, use of mental health services, and violent behavior. It finds out this there is a direct relationship between gang members and psychiatric morbidity. It tries to come up with solution to gang violence and that is how it relates to our paper.