Gang violence unsustainable in the U.S.
Posted May 3, 2023
By Mariah Anderson and Remy-Rose Morgan
Cub Investigative Reporters
Gangs are all over the U.S., thriving in states such as California , Nevada , and New Mexico which have been known to have the biggest gang activity.
Some of them are known as the Mims, Hectors, Bugles, and dead boys. These gangs often come in conflict with each other. Members dress with colored ribbons to distinguish the different factions. During the Victorian era, criminals and gangs started to form organizations that could collectively become London's criminal underworld. Criminal societies in the underworld started to develop their own ranks and groups which were sometimes called families and are often made up of lower-class folk and operated on pick-poetry, prostitution, forgery and counterfeiting, commercial burglary, and money laundering schemes.
Unique also were the use of slang and argots used by Victorian criminal societies to distinguish each other, similar to those propagated by street gangs like the peaky blinders. In the United States, the history of gangs began on the East Coast in 1783 following the American Revolution. Gangs Arose further in the United States by the middle of the nineteenth century and were a concern for city leaders from the time they appeared. The emergence of gangs was largely attributed to the vast rural population immigration to the urban areas.
Photo courtesy The Borgen Project
The first street gang in the United States, the 40- thieves, began around the late 1820s in New York City. The gangs in Washington D.C had control of what is now Federal Triangle, in a region then known as murder bay. Organized crime in the United States first came to prominence in the Old West and historians such as Brain J, Robb, and Erin H. Turner faced the first organized crime syndicates to join the Cochise Cowboy gang and the wild bunch.
Prohibition would also cause a new boom in the emergence of gangs; Chicago for example had over 1,000 gangs in the 1920’s outside of the US and UK, gangs exist in both urban and rural forms, like the French gangs of the Belle Epoque like the Apaches and the Bonnot Gang. Many criminal Organizations like the Italian Cosa Nostra, Japanese Yakuza, Russian Bratva, and Chinese Triads have existed for centuries.
Many types of gangs make up the general structure of an organized group. Understanding the structure of gangs is a critical skill in defining the types of strategies that are most effective in dealing with them. From the at-risk youth to the gang leaders. Not all individuals who display outward signs of gang membership are actually involved in criminal activities. An individual's age, physical structure, ability to fight, willingness to commit violence, and arrest record are often principal factors in determining where an individual stands in a gang hierarchy; how money derived from criminal activity and ability to provide for the gang also impacts the individual's status within the gang.
The structure of gangs varies depending primarily on size, which can range from five or ten to thousands. Many of the larger gangs break up into smaller groups, cliques, or subsets (these smaller groups can be called “sets” in gang slang.) The cliques typically bring more territory to a gang as they expand and recruit members. Most gangs operate informally with leadership falling to whoever takes control; others have distinct leadership and are highly structured, which resembles more or less a business corporation.
Criminal gangs may function both inside and outside of prison, such as the Nuestra Familia, Mexican Mafia, Folk Nation, and the Brazilian PCC. During the 1970s, prison gangs in cape town, south african began recruiting street gang members from outside and helped increase associations between prison and street gangs.
In the US, the prison gang the Aryan Brotherhood is involved in organized crime outside of prison. This is where it gets serious, like we stated at the beginning how gangs affect schools. in addition, gangs may commit violence against other schools and students in the community where they are active, even if the students do not belong to a gang. Global data on the prevalence of these different forms of gang violence in and around schools is limited. However, available evidence suggests that gang violence is more common in schools where students are exposed to other forms of community violence and where they fear violence at school.
Children who grow up in neighborhoods with high levels of crime have been identified as a risk factor for youth violence, including gang violence. According to studies, children who knew many adult criminals were more likely to engage in violent behavior by the age of eighteen years than those who did not. Gang violence is often associated with carrying weapons, including in school. A study of 10-19-year-olds in the UK found that 44% of those who reported belonging to s delinquent youth group had committed violence and 13% had carried a knife in the previous twelve months versus 17% and 4% respectively among those who were not in such a group.
According to a meta-analysis of fourteen countries in North America, Europe, the middle east, central and South America, sub-saharan Africa and the Pacific also showed that carrying a weapon at school is associated with bullying victimization comparison of Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) data on school violence and bullying for countries that are particularly affected by gang violence suggests that the links may be limited. In El Salvador and Guatemala, for example, where gang violence is a serious problem, GSHS data show that the prevalence of bullying, physical fights and physical attacks reported by school students is relatively low, and is similar to the prevalence in other countries in Central America where gang violence is prevalent.
Most gang members have identifying characteristics that are unique to their specific clique or gang. The bloods, for instance, wear red bandanas, the Crips wear blue, allowing these gangs to “represent” their affiliation. Any disrespect of a gang member's color by an unaffiliated individual is regarded as grounds for violent retaliation, often by multiple members of the offended gang.
Tattoos are also common identifiers, such as an “18” above the eyebrow to identify a member of the 18th Street gang. Tattoos help gang members gain respect within their group, and mark them as members of life. Tattoos can also represent the level they are in the gang, being that certain tattoos can mean they are a more accomplished member.
Accomplishments can be related to doing a dangerous act that shows your loyalty to the gang. They can be burned on as well as inked. Some gangs make use of more than one identifier, like the Nortenos, who wear red bandanas and have “14” , “XIV” , “x4” , and Norte tattoos. Some members of criminal gangs are “jumped in” (by going through a process of initiation), or have to prove their loyalty and right to belong by committing certain acts, usually theft or violence.
Gangs are very normalized in certain locations such as Nevada , Idaho , New Mexico, and Illinois. Places like New Jersey and Massachusetts are not as likely to have gangs. Gang-like crimes have a lot to do with society these days.
Gangs have a huge impact on schools, for instincts a education minister once said ‘we are breeding little monsters in schools’. As you can see here young kids are getting themselves involved with gangs and its ruining their education slowly.
The OJJDP Comprehensive Gang Model highlights such a holistic approach by coordinating the roles of all agencies and organizations within a community that are responsible for addressing gang-related crime and violence. Schools are part of the larger community. Law enforcement is an integral component in the development and implementation of any collaborative and comprehensive safety plan to address gang activity within a school setting and the surrounding community. Law enforcement can assist school administrators in identifying problems occurring at school as gang-related. Gang-related crime in violence in the community can spill over into other schools. School administrators can take an active role in providing a safe school and environment by collaborating with law enforcement to assess gang-related threats; document gang-related incidents; address gang-related conduct; and implement a continuum of prevention, intervention, and suppression practices. When youth feel disconnected from family, school, community, or future work possibilities, they may view gangs as viable opportunities for support, respect, protection, or income. While youth involved in gangs comprise only a small portion of the adolescent population, they are disproportionately involved in violent crime–both as perpetrators and victims.
Youth involved in gangs also are more likely to drop out of school, abuse substances, engage in high-risk sexual behavior, and experience other long-term problems such as employment instability. The effects go beyond those directly involved, as well, Communities also can be affected in terms of reduced quality of life., increased crime, families moving out of neighborhoods, and economic costs, e.g., losses in property value, local businesses, and tax revenue.
In 2019, 9% of the U.S. students ages 12-18 reported a gang presence at their school. When youth are exposed to violence or feel unsafe at school, it can negatively affect their health, mental health, and academic performance.
Gang affiliation is not something that students leave behind when they come to school. Gang members do not leave their behaviors, attitudes, and conflicts outside the school environment. Gangs, unchecked and unidentified in a school setting, often engage in threat and intimidation; physical and cyberbullying; fighting; recruiting; and criminal activities such as the introduction and use of weapons, assault, sex trafficking, vandalism, and illegal drug sales. The absence of a well-developed, strategic, collaborative, and effective school safety plan can lead to violence and other unsafe and disruptive activities within a school setting. It is not solely the responsibility of schools to create and maintain a safe learning environment, free from the disruption gangs can cause; for students, faculty, and staff. Developing a comprehensive plan that identifies effective, evidence-based strategies to address gang issues in the school environment requires the involvement of law enforcement, school administrators and staff, and other key sectors of the community.
The majority of youth who join gangs do so between the ages of 11 and 15. Earlier prevention among children is critical, along with cross-sector efforts that strengthen families, schools, and communities. Few schools have dynamics and behaviors that are associated with gangs. Think, for example, about bullying, disruptive intergroup conflicts, drug sales and abuse, and vandalism such as theft, graffiti, and other forms of property change. From both a policy and practice perspective, it is essential for schools to understand and address gang-related problems that interfere with productive schooling.
“There is no single, accepted nationwide definition of youth gangs. It has been firmly established that the characteristics and behaviors of gangs are exceptionally varied within and across geographical areas (Egely, Howell, and Major, 2006; Klein, 2022; Weasel, 2022) and that a community’s gang problem – however affected. From other areas – is primarily and inherently homegrown. Thus, state and local jurisdictions then develop their own definitions. The terms ‘youth gang’ and ‘street gang’ are often used interchangeably, but use of the latter label can result in the confession of youth gangs with adult criminal organizations. A youth gang is commonly thought of as a self formed association of peers having the following characteristics: three or more members, generally ages 12-14; a name and sense of identity, generally indicated by such symbols as style of clothing, graffiti, and hand signs; some degree of permanence and organizations; and an elevated level of involvement in delinquent or criminal activity” stated the National Youth Gang Center.
In 1996 there were over 30k gangs reported in America. Over the past decade, annual estimates of the number of gangs have averaged around 27,000 nationally. In the early 1900’s to the late 2000’s the number of gangs started to increase through 2012. Larger cities have a 41.6% chance of having gangs/gang related crimes than small cities. There are over 850k gang members in America. The total number of gang homicides reported by respondents in the NYGS sample averaged nearly 2,000 annually from 2007 to 2012. During roughly the same time period (2007 to 2011), the FBI estimated, on average, more than 15,500 homicides across the United states.In virtually every survey year, law enforcement agencies report that there is a greater percentage of adult (18 and over) gang members compared with juvenile (under 18) gang members.
There is clear evidence to prove that this problem has not been sustained, there's still a bunch of gangs spread all over the US.