...Gang Violence 1 Running Head: GANG VIOLENCE IN SALINAS Gang Violence in Salinas Angelica Mejia-Rutland Portland State University Gang Violence 2 There are certain distinct crime problems that notably stand out to the citizens of a community. Problems that the community would like addressed, reduced, and eventually eradicated. The crime problem I would like to address in this paper is the dilemma with gang violence in the community I was raised in, Salinas, California. I will explain the problem, the underlying theory of the root causes of the problem, and deliver a proposition on what we can do to fix it. I was born and raised in a town in central California called Salinas. While I currently reside in Washington State with my husband, I typically spend five months out of a year in Salinas. For as long as I can recall, Salinas has always had a strong presence of gang members dwelling in the community. “There are several hundred gang-related crimes in Monterey County annually. These crimes include homicide, felony assault, robbery, and other[s]. In Monterey County there are over 60 active gangs with an estimated 3,000 individuals involved in various levels of gang activity. Of the 60 active gangs, 16 are located in Salinas with an estimated 1,500 [certified] members” (http://www.scyp.org). Salinas has always seemed to have had a reputation for gang violence. “One of...
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...RUNNING HEAD: Gang Violence in our Schools Gang Violence in our Schools Tonya Upton ENGL 103-1403A-29 Professor Lisa Reason CTU Online August 5, 2014 Gang violence in our schools has become a national epidemic. Every day we send our children to school expecting for them to have a safe learning environment. Sadly in this day and age that is not so. “Today’s gangs are more violent, their activities are more widespread and they are more entrenched within communities” (Cahill, 2010). Gang violence in our schools not only affects our children but also our community. With gang violence on the rise more extreme measures must be taken to combat this important issue. Gang violence has become so common in our schools that by some standards it has become socially acceptable by our youth. Peer pressure has been an influence on our society since the beginning of time. In today’s world it’s more present than ever. Our children see violence in the world around them on a daily basis, so why should it be strange for them to see it in their schools environment? It’s what all the cool and popular kids are doing. It makes them part of a group and they are not alone anymore. They now have friends who like them and make them feel accepted. Getting good grades and following the rules are not as important to them as their new friends are. By succumbing to their peer’s pressure of joining a gang or group they may feel that they are a part of extended family. This would be...
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...Gangs in the United States James C Vincent II Metro State University of Denver Abstract Gangs are not really addressed a lot. The criminal justice system really doesn’t have a big effective way to combat gangs or gang violence. You can arrest people that are affiliated with gang related things but there will always be someone behind them. Gangs in the United States today only serve 3 purposes. To protect, make money and gain power. As long as there is one of those variables available someone will always be up for anything. The youth are the most important in this factor because they are the future of our society. I don’t personally agree with the current solution of incarceration of minors. If there was another way that involves turning their lives around, I personally believe less of our youth will be recruited. There was an after school program for troubled youth but it has been shut down due to funding. If there was some type of big organization to stop development of gangs and recruiting this would not be a problem. Gangs are in every city of every state and one of the leading causes of some type of crime. The system fails to realize the true cause of gangs. Without knowing anything about gangs there will not be a solution to the violence or crimes. There are some things that are obvious. For example, there are more minorities in the gangs in the United States. While that...
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...Why Do Urban Youth Join gangs? There is no universal agreed upon definition of a gang. According to the national institute of justice the federal definition is “An association of three or more individuals whose members collectively identify themselves by adopting a group identity, which they use to create an atmosphere of fear or intimidation, frequently by employing one or more of the following: a common name, slogan, identifying sign, symbol, tattoo or other physical marking, style or color of clothing, hairstyle, hand sign or graffiti.” The purpose of a gang is to engage in criminal activity and which uses violence or intimidation to further its criminal objectives. Gangs come in all different types, there are multiple types of gangs; for example motorcycle gangs, prison gangs, hate groups, adult organized crime groups, terrorist organizations and other types of security threat groups. The reasons people tend to join gangs are lack of jobs, poverty, domestic violence, and lack of education. The most common age for youth to join a gang is between 13 and 15. Youth join gangs for various reasons; money, sense of support and belonging, peer status, and a sense of protection are seemingly provided by the gang. Youth in gangs are more likely to abuse drugs, engage in high risk sexual behaviors, and experience long term health and social consequences. The reason that today’s youth join gangs is because of environmental factors, early academic failure and lack of school attachment...
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...The effects of Gang Violence Gangs have been around since the beginning of time. Humans have always banded together for mutual protection and support - and to better dominate others. Gangs have always provided a way for people to more effectively get what they want, especially if it comes to force. And weaker members of society gravitate toward gangs that they feel can offer a sense of community and protection from others. But today were going to reflect on the effects of the most modern gangs. I watched the movie “Boys In The Hood” Directed by John Singleton in 1991. And it was an onscreen representation of what takes place in the urban areas of our country. Street gangs in the U.S. arose with Italian immigrants related to the Sicilian Mafia and others. These street gangs in New York City stole and killed to get what they wanted. One of the most famous street gang members was Al Capone, who later moved to Chicago in 1919 to help keep the other gangsters in order. Street gangs of this type were quite popular in the 1920s and 1930s.Gang Violence as we know goes beyond racial barriers, but it more vividly affects black and Latinos in America. I have chosen this topic because I have witnessed the effects of gang violence culturally, socially, and personally. It’s no secret that even St.Louis, MO is well known for gang violence. I don’t condone gangs but there are key factors that give reason for its existence. Gangs today have similar practices of creating their own sub-language...
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...Corrections Branch Submitted by: Joseph Smith CRJ 201: Intro to Criminal Justice Instructor: Janice Bella Submitted on: 1 June 2015 In this paper, I will review the origins of the Corrections and how it helps us today with those who choose to commit crimes. I will also cover the basis of how Constitutional given rights are upheld within the prison system itself, and how the public is involved with the goings on within the prisons. According to the article Why State Prisons by W. David Ball, state prisons in 2012 held approximately 1.3 million people which is almost twice the amount of people in county jails and more than five times the federal prison populations. This number is only estimated to go up as the years go on if left unchecked. Also according to the article, California passed policy to reform their prison and jail population problems, their state prisons now only accept violent offenders and sexual predators rather than all types of felons, with the remaining criminal elements serving their time in local jails. The state prisons began to be overpopulated due to the government taking on more and more prisoners to use as labor (road crews, ditch digging, etc;) and granted the government a flow of surplus cash as a result. That helped the economies then but...
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...Gangs By: Kanan Suleymanov A gang is a very complex group of people made by certain people in order to obtain money and power. It maybe hard to believe and one may think how is a gang even remotely complex? A gang is far from being simple and easy to establish it takes a lot of man power and intelligence. It is considered somewhat like a business an illegal one of course but a business never the less. In the dictionary a gang is defined as a group of people through organization, formation and establishment of an assemblage they all share a common identity. In the industrial age, which is the 1800s the word gang did not denote to a negative connotation but it actually referred to a group of workmen. In Britain the word is still used today as the original meaning but it later underwent what is known as Semantic Change. People always wonder why do others join gangs? Why would they just ruin there lives devoting it to crime and all these other terrible things that come along with problems within the gang? Some reason might be money, identity, discipline, recognition, love, belonging, and peer pressure. Others really have no choice. Imagine you’re a little kid living in the urban world, you know your family cannot provide for you the care that you want and the basic needs a child needs. The reason being for this is because they do not have enough money what would you turn to? You would of course go into the one thing that you may think is really easy and a fast way...
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... 7th grade Violence has affected my life by making me scared to go outside to hang out with my friends without someone getting shot. Also, violence has affected my life by making me feel sad and depressed every time I watch the news and hear about young people getting shot and killed. Another, reason how violence has affected my life is by making me realize how dangerous it is in the world and how I have to be very careful when I go places. Violence has affected my life by making me fearful for the future. Also, violence has affected my life by making me wonder if the world is coming to an end. One of the main reasons how violence has affected my life is by making me have no hope for the future. Some, other reasons how violence has affected my life is by making me nervous for the future. Violence has affected my life because some of my family members have died because of violence. Since some of my family members have died because of violence it affects my life because I miss my family members and then I remember how they died because of senseless violence. Another, reason how violence has affected my life is because it makes me question the future. Will there still be violence in the future? Or will the future be different? I hope that there would be less violence in the future. I really hope that there will be less violence In the future because so many children are dying. These are all the main...
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...Juvenile Gang Violence The expansion of youth gangs has widely increased since the 1960’s mainly due to the baby boom during this era. In the article “Preventing Adolescent Gang Involvement” from September 2000, Finn-Aage Esbensen describes the major impact on how gangs hurt the community. The population of children ages 13-17 rose ten percent corresponding to an increase of crimes of the American youth. In the 1980’s only seven percent of the American youth made up the population yet no signs of decrease in crime was slowing down. Movies and television brought notice of gangs to suburban and rural areas of America. With high rates of gang involvement and the increase of lethal weapons being bought by these gangs it turns attention to law enforcement to find a way to stop gang violence across the United States. In order to prevent the formation of gangs and youth to join new or existing ones it is necessary to understand the causes and attractions of gangs. The first criteria that concerns law enforcement is defining what elements resemble a gang. Some usual signs are groups larger than two people between the ages of 12 and 24. These groups may have a specific name, colors they wear, or symbol and handshake they use to define who they are. They must be stable for over a period of one year and have an area or “turf” of where they represent. The last and major area is to have some type of criminal activity in which they are involved in. The typical gang member...
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... guns, gangs, drugs, and the fear that walks alongside those terrors. In a violent crime, a victim is harmed by or threatened with violence. Violent crimes include rape and sexual assault, robbery, assault and murder. Violent crime and victim rights are on the rise of major concern for most of the citizens in the United States of America. | “When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw” (Nelson Mandea). There are many Americans have become victims of violent crimes. In these violent acts of crimes guns, gangs, wars, drugs and even mental disorders may be the cause to commit these crimes or even a weapon of choice. Violent crimes have become very common in this day and age. So many of these violent crimes are based on self-defense. Victims are forced to protect themselves against other individuals trying to cause harm against them. Violent crimes are not only brought on with weapons but they also include any situation where a victim has been threatened or is harmed in an aggressive manor. Even though it seems like violent crimes maybe on the rise many statistics have indicated a decline in violent crimes in our country and an increase in our national prison population. As the population grows in prisons many of the prisoners hat have been in jail for a long time are starting to be released but they are coming out and continuing to commit violent acts and the violence is not ceasing. One of the main causes of violent...
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...reducing the overall number of youth homicide s, and led to a decrease in shots-fired calls. This new program was a form of problem-oriented policing. Problem-oriented policing starts by identifying what is wrong, and why things are wrong, then responses are formed using untraditional approaches. The Boston Gun Project is a problem-oriented enterprise geared at decreasing the number...
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...techniques of public relations in nonprofit organizations: Modifying the public’s opinion. Vanessa S. Perdomo Saint Martin’s University Abstract This paper studies what is necessary for non-profit organization in the area of public relations. Public relations encompass all forms of communication from writing press releases and distribute promotional brochures to talk to friends, family and coworkers. The nonprofit organizations generally obtain their funds and economic resources of individuals or corporate donors, some sell products or services to develop their social activities. Therefore it has a necessity for public relations to have a relationship with its audience. It is difficult to get funds for a social organization, even more if you do not have a relevant public image or media from local, national and international media are used to disseminate their actions. Public relations help build communication channels or improve existing ones with different social actors to become better known socially. In addition to promoting the development of partnerships between peers and other sectors of the community, able to build a good reputation and image of the organization, designing efficient strategies for fundraising, etc. With the lecture review we have an understanding what tools are necessary to achieve their goal and providing non-profit specifics strategies to appeal their target audience. The decade of the 90's, led to profound changes in how public relations is practiced...
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...Vanessa Romero Per.5 Gang violence hurts families, communities, and jail does not help they need educated. According to Pope John Paul II violence is a crime against humanity for it destroys the very fabric of society. Violent crimes in the U.S have fallen sharply over the past quarter century. Meaning they have expanded not just outside of the world, inside jails, but also inside schools. There are a large geographic violation in crime rates. The FBI Uniform Crime Reports states that 65% of crime violation and that all around the U.S. Violent and Crime shouldn’t have to be 65% all around the U.S it is ruining our in environment and everyone in the environment. Drugs and alcohol are very destructive. Gang members are more likely to...
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...Gangs and the corrupt and destructive things that they bring and lead to is dangerous to people and communities are them.Gangs are are forcing the teens and people to join them to that way of life.The rate gangs are shooting up,in a couple of decades this nation would be lead by gangs and the people behind.So this paper is about gangs and the influence and the danger they bring becasue they are very harmful and can cost some people there lives. Gangs are having a Major effect on the youth in some of our gang communities, According to Princess Kimbrough from the Indianapolis recorder,’’there are an estimated 24,500 gangs and 1 million gang members, 400,000 being teens and 600,000 adults. About 147,000 of these gangsters are currently...
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...Gang Life The term gang (noun) is simply defined as an organized group of criminals. However, the gang sub-culture is more complex. A gang is better defined as a group of adolescents and young adults who are united upon on a common idea/identity, and are often involved in delinquent activities to better their own stature. Gangs usually have a somewhat military like structure, with leaders at the top, lieutenants and sergeants, and soldiers at the bottom. Young children have various reasons for joining street gangs, but do not realize the ramifications caused by the gang life. Children often believe joining a neighborhood gang will make them become recognized, or safer, but the harsh reality is that so many youths don’t realize the hazards associated with gangs until it is too late. The history of street gangs in America dates back to the formation of America herself. The first gang-like groups formed in the Northeast right after the Revolutionary war ended, in 1783, in New York City. These groups were mainly young white immigrants from Europe who just fought over turf in the city. In the Midwest region (mainly Chicago) the first street gangs developed in the 1860s and were mainly white immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Lithuania. In the most western region of the United States Mexican gang-like groups started appearing in Los Angeles sometime around 1890s. Gang-like groups have been around America for quite some time but a few key events escalated gang presence in the...
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