Urban Gangs

                                                                   Urban Gangs

                                                             Marygrace Wyckhuyse

                                                                    SYG 2001

                                                                 Professor Smith

                                                                      1/29/17

                                                                  Urban gangs

Many people would classify gangs as the association of three or more people that use a common name, saying, using gang signs, tattoos, or colors of clothing to identify what gang they are from. According to the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), “The federal definition of gangs excludes drug trafficking organizations, terrorist organizations, traditional organized crime groups, such as La Cosa Nostra, and groups that fall within the Department of Justice’s definition of transnational organized crime” (What is a gang definition, 2011). Gangs can be groups of people that are adolescent and adults who form allegiance for a typical reason which includes delinquent or criminal activities. I think that it is the polices duty to make proactive laws to control gangs before they get out of control. According to Henslin, “The gangs earned money through gambling, arson, mugging, armed robbery, and selling moonshine, drugs, guns, stolen car parts, and protection” (Henslin, 2015).

People did not join gangs to escape from a broken home in which meant a single parent home, or to find another family. People join gangs because they were attracted to making fast money and other thing including sex and drugs. Gangs wanted to maintaining their anonymity to commit crimes.  People joined gangs to get protection and also to help the community in which they lived in from the people that didn’t live there. The people that joined these gangs did to help their family that were having a hard time finding work or jobs that were not paying then well.

The residents in the neighborhood were blind to the fact that gangs were becoming a problem because they were in fear of the violence. People also have family members that are members of a gang. According to Henslin, “As functionalists point out, gangs fulfill needs of poor youth who live on the margins of society” (Henslin, 2015). The youth are like magnets because they are attracted by the way of life of gang members and will hang with them to attempt to show their loyalty. Gangs will request the youth to carry out crimes to claim themselves, and once they have carried out their duty they will them be initiated in the gang.