On November 5, 2015 we had the privilege of having Dr. Charles Katz come into our class to speak about his work with gangs, specifically Gang Truce as a Form of Violence Intervention. For this paper, I will be sharing what I learned about gang truce and its relation to public health by answering several questions involving violence and how it can be used to effect public health. These questions include why gang violence is considered a public health issue; how a gang truce and its mechanics address the public health issue of gang violence; and what are the problems surrounding the gang truce model as a means of addressing gang violence. Gang violence is a large issue that involves the wellbeing of many individuals, from the gang members to
How well Wes Moore describes the culture of the streets, and particularly disenfranchised adolescents that resort to violence, is extraordinary considering the unbiased perspective Moore gives. Amid Moore’s book one primary theme is street culture. Particularly Moore describes the street culture in two cities, which are Baltimore and the Bronx. In Baltimore city the climate and atmosphere, of high dropout rates, high unemployment and poor public infrastructure creates a perfect trifecta for gang violence to occur. Due to what was stated above, lower income adolescent residents in Baltimore are forced to resort to crime and drugs as a scapegoat of their missed opportunities.
Studies show that youth have a higher rate of serious and violent offending while they are actively taking part in the gang than before or after gang affiliation. Thornberry suggest that the Facilitation effect on gang membership is a model that can be used to study this relationship between gang involvement and crime. He suggests that the norms and the group processes of the gang are thought to facilitate involvement in delinquency and violence. For example, Esbensen and Huizinga (1996) reported that “Prevalence rates are highest during the gang member’s years of actual membership.” This finding reinforce the model Thornberry provided earlier in the reading; that gang members take part in crimes because of the norms and lifestyle put in place by the
However, in cities where this is not the social scene, violence is active and occurring. Once violence is a part of someone’s daily life respect and family reputation become important (Matsuda, Melde, Taylor, Freng, & Esbensen, 2013). Gangs become a sense of security and a mindset of toughness and revenge become normal. In the social realm of gangs and violence, a community would create their own “Code” like Anderson talks about. They create their own rules, morals and expectations that are reinforced by gang group members (Matsuda et al. 2013).
The city of Memphis is in need of a program that will reduce the amount of gang violence present within the community. The City Council is having a difficult time proposing a program without the essential expertise, that’s where I come in. The intervening variables of the program must be revealed in order to propose a program that will be both effective and beneficiary. By understanding the variables that could possibly have a positive or negative affect on a program and its participants will result in a higher probability of success.
In the chapter, Sante (1991) believed gangs emerged in rapidly growing cities out of the conditions created by multiple waves of immigration and urban overcrowding (1). The book suggest that street gangs emerged from conditions of social disorganization, overwhelming housing, and welfare capacities of the Northwest (2). Government corruptions such as that of the Civil war clause gave rise to gang riots resulting in the deaths of over 15 black men and the disappearance of over 50 more (4). Other explanations given were: marginalization, youth conflict, and defiance (6). Still the book offers more examples like that of racial unity and empowerment, as well as gangs provided lower income tenants protection and financial resources they otherwise
In the United States, every year there are around 2,000 gang-related homicides and in the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, it explores the issues of gang violence, and teenagers in gangs. Around 40% of all members in gangs are teenagers, who are getting involved in some dangerous things very early in life. In the novel The Outsiders, the “Greasers” which is a gang of all teenagers, fight other gangs and commit serious crimes such as murder. We as a society need to pinpoint why teenagers join gangs and stop them beforehand. We also need to help people get out of gangs if they are already in one.
The problem that faces most of Chicago's violent neighborhoods is that they have never been able to truly recover from the gang activity from the 1900´s. These factors has given Chicago the nickname of Chi-raq for it’s vast amount of violent
Gang violence is running rampnd across the nation. Just last week over two hundred cases of gang violence were recorded. As a nation, we can’t stand for this any longer. This is getting out of hand and it puts the public in danger. Now I have created a novel solution to this problem.
According to the federal bureau of investigation crime rates have significantly dropped since 2010. There has been a plethora of efforts to make the current averages plummet, such as G.R.E.A.T., Comprehensive whole child intervention and prevention program, Truancy reduction program, School resource officer program, Scared straight program, etc. The core focus of this paper is to analyze these programs and their results to see whether or not these programs are effective in preventing and suppressing gang involvement. While also pointing out a few implications, and possibly recommendations for future research. Koffman et al.
They examine current gang management strategies and see what works and does not. They completed their research by survey. “First, according to the respondents, inmate containment and sanctions were perceived to be very effective at managing gangs…. The second strategy is based on investigations, which if successful, also increases the costs of being affiliated with a STG through internal and external sanctions… Last, respondents placed great value on using the products of these investigations through intelligence sharing within their prison system, other correctional systems, and with law enforcement (Winterdyk & Ruddell,p. 734.
Why do you think that gang problems are somewhat stubborn in large cities but not in small cities, towns, villages, or rural counties? Why may gang activity vanish in smaller jurisdictions? Why may gang troubles become progressively serious in some cities but not in others? Gang problems in larger cities are tenacious because of the economic conditions of the residents in larger cities. Very few small cities or and rural areas have the necessary population base and extremely deprived community circumstances to support gangs.
In Policing Gangs in America, Charles Katz and Vincent Webb discuss the issues that take place within American Gangs today. This book goes into great detail on how the gang officers work and the different kind of atmosphere they work in. Their job isn’t like other law enforcement jobs. It’s one of the more dangerous occupations in the Criminal Justice system. These gang officers focus on how they react to public gang issues.
During his time studying these boys, he found that most cases of conflict were resolved without the use of weapon(s), but rather with “harsh conversation”. This observation highly contradicts the typical view of gang members who are commonly stereotyped by their local community and justice system in Oakland. Rios describes how the boys “Conversations often involved references to guns as analogies for resolving conflict and demonstrating manhood”. The fact that most conflicts are dealt with in non-violent ways, highlights the negative role
While these situations seem to be prevalent among gangs, it is not their goal to create such an environment. Gangs are generally composed of African-American men living in impoverished neighborhoods who are seeking some sense of stability and support in their lives. The reason they turn towards gangs and gang behavior for this support is that they are “...trapped in a political and economic system that oppresses them” in the United States and not simply joining out of delinquency (Keiser 2007:74). These men, usually quite young, see their community struggle to support itself, watch people rotate in and out of prisons, and understand the struggle they will face in such an oppressive society that they are destined to fight back against. This type of background brings a
Gang violence has been a problem in society for several of years and is a growing problem each and every day. The youth that is involved in gang violence will have numerous effects upon them that will come soon or later when associated with a group of thugs. Children and teenagers if they still go to school when accompanying a gang, they face the heightened risk of dropping out of school; teen parenthood; be victimized by another gang ; abuse drugs and alcohol; commit petty and violent