Gang-Living

Battle Ground; The Streets of the United States;

Gang-living

Joseph Cardwell

Columbia College Online

Abstract

Here, I will be walking you through the battle ridden streets of gang-living as it began in the United States, up until the current street models of gang life. Be cautious, as the areas that I’ll be briefing you on, can be found in our very own backyards. I will be touching areas that plague our streets, home, and family lifestyle, from the different types of gangs, their demographics, dynamics, and even ways that our society is trying to fight to get our streets back. The gangs have changed numerous times and have under gone several subtle changes over the years in order to make them easier to join, yet harder to track and affiliate groups together. Just, when you thought that your kids were safe from the streets, the gangs started coming into your homes by going viral, thereby making it easier for gangs to reach out to our youth, even if they are homeschooled!

        Before, we can delve into the precise ideology of gang life, we must come up with a generalized definition. “One of the first problems encountered by those who study gangs and gang behavior is how to define a gang. Is it just a group of people who hang around with each other? Can adults in a group be defined as a gang? Do the people in the gang have to engage in criminal behavior,” (Kinnear, K. L., 2009)?

        “Defining gangs is often a highly political issue that reflects the interests and agendas of the various individuals and agencies involved with gangs, including law enforcement personnel, politicians, advocates, social workers, the media, and researchers. Researcher Frederic Thrasher offered this early definition in 1927: ‘A gang is an interstitial group, originally formed spontaneously, and then integrated though conflict. It is characterized by the following types of behavior: meeting face to face, milling, movement through space as a unit, conflict, and planning. The result of this collective behavior is the development of tradition, unreflective internal structure, esprit de corps, solidarity, morale, group awareness, and attachment to a local territory,’” ( Kinnear, K.L., 2009).

        Since, the original textbook definition given by Thrasher, there have been a number of additives to enhance the terminology. The more recent one, was to include criminal behavior or activity. The federal definition, according to the National Institute of Justices’ homepage, “as used by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is [1]:

1. An association of three or more individuals;
2. 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, hairstyles, hand sign or graffiti;
3. Whose purpose in part is to engage in criminal activity and which uses violence or intimidation to further its criminal objectives.
4. Whose members engage in criminal activity or acts of juvenile delinquency that if committed by an adult would be crimes with the intent to enhance or preserve the association’s power, reputation, or economic resources.
5. The association may also possess some of the following characteristics:

1. The members may employ rules for joining and operating within the associate.
2. The members may meet on a recurring basis.
3. The association may provide physical protection of its members from others.
4. The association may seek to exercise control over a particular geographic location or region, or it may simplify defend its perceived interests against rivals.
5. The association may have an identifiable structure” (nij.gov, What is A Gang? Definitions).

“Much has changed in ‘gangland’ since the publication of the first empirical study on the topic, Thrasher’s The Gang. In this study, ‘gang boys’ are primarily children of immigrants living in industrial slums. Their participation in gangs is deemed a ‘natural’ response to the problems and contradictions of their world, a mode of adaptation that includes rituals, symbolism, folklore, and concepts that provide a basis for solidarity and sense of collective purpose. The influence of Thrasher’s account on theoretical and empirical work on gangs is strong in the 1930s and 1940s. A more deterministic (neo-positivist) logic can be found in the 1950s, which Hardman (1967) aptly characterizes as ‘the decade of theorizing.’ In the two of the most influential works of this decade- Cohen (1955) and Miller (1958)- gang culture is theorized along a single dimension; norms and values,” (Kontos, L. & Brotherton, D., 2008).