Drug Trafficking: Joining A Gang

Gangs have been a growing issue across the United States for many decades now. Youth gang violence may have started around the ‘50s, but did not become a serious issue until the ‘80s and from there went through a downward spiral in some cities like downtown Los Angeles, which was where the notorious Bloods and Crips gangs both started. First, let’s simply define a gang as a group of people, mostly men ranging for ages 14-30, who claim territory and use it to make money for themselves and their neighborhood through illegal activities such as trafficking drugs and weapons. There are many reasons and components that are factored in when conducting research to hypothesize “why do people join gangs?” That is why it is necessary to compare and contrast all the social, biological, psychological, developmental, and substance abuse aspects and relate it to joining a gang. It is also important to touch base on the differences between males and females that join gangs, such as power differentials, social learning differences and social stratification differences.

When individuals decided to get involve in those type of activities many of them do it for specific reasons. For example, people join gang for acceptance, protection, and some are forced into it, because of their family are gang affiliated. Gangs partake endlessly in finding different method for individuals to more effectively get the things they want, particularly power. Therefore, people that are easily influenced tends to gravitate toward gang activities for recognition in the community. According to Goldman, Giles, & Hogg (2014), “Gang members’ actions impact other gang members as well as the wider community; everyone is at risk of being a victim of gang violence” (p. 825). Gang violence goes further than racial issue, but it more intensely touches African American and Latino communities.

Been in the gang gives it members a sense of belonging when there not wanted anywhere

This is called innovation “when individuals accept the goals of society, but are unable or unwilling to attain them through legitimate means… Innovation is most closely associated with criminal behavior” (Siegel, 2015: 151). As mentioned in The Made in America: Crips and Bloods documentary many people felt alienated, and joined gangs for protection, love, unity, identity, status and acceptance. Gangs are a community within themselves and there is an established hierarchy in which some members hold higher status over others. Being a gang member gives individuals a place to feel like they are important, whereas they might not feel that way in their regular community. In addition, gangs provide “employment” for those who cannot obtain jobs legally.

Power seekers are also drawn to gang life, which tend to commit crimes that victimize others. One ex-gang member, Lupita explains that she “liked belonging to a gang because people recognized her power and they respected her” (Bazan, Harris, and Lorentzen 380). Gang members use deceptive tactics to prey on the youth by promising protection, acceptance, power, and material wealth. Joining a gang seems to be the best option for disadvantaged youth because it gives them what they are longing for. However, this comes at a price.

Qualitative descriptions suggest that, for many, gang membership represents 104 Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice / May 2005an opportunity to enhance social capital as a means to cope with a multitude of problems. Although on balance gang life appears to be neither very rewarding nor satisfying (Hagedorn, 1988), identification with the gang is solidified in response to conflict—often with other gangs—as members pursue their individual and collective interests.

There are an abundance of reasons why some youth may choose to join a gang. The lacking of sense of guidance positively and

way to gain status within the prison. Gangs also find their benefits by engaging in

“Gangs have morphed from social organizations into full-fledged criminal enterprises” (Thomas, 2009, para 5). Gangs are highly sophisticated and more dangerous then ever. The number one reason to join a gang is money; and 95 percent of gangs profit comes from drug dealing

There are a variety of traditional socioeconomic factors that have an impact on an individuals choice to join a gang. These factors include a shifting labor market, poverty, disfunctional family, no or poor education, development of an underclass, and the enticement of what being a gang member offers the individual. The gang may offer the individual security, acceptance, and help just surviving.

The United States of America has a strong history of gang related violence inside and outside of correctional facilities. Federal law defines gangs as an ongoing organization comprised of more than five persons who engage in serious criminal offenses (Giffiths, Howell, 2016, p. 100). Typically, gangs are a social organization with their own law, order, politics, and economy. Gangs may have a written or unwritten set of rules in which all members need to oblige to. Gangs are notorious for being organized in a particular geographic territory or deteriorating neighborhoods that are usually poor economically (Decker, Van Winkle, 1996, p. 5). Gangs also have unique names, colors, symbols, and participate in particular criminal activities in order

Gangs have direct effects on a society, such as increased levels of crime, violence and murder. Gangs also have long-term or late suggestions in that gang members are more likely to drop out of high school, struggle with unemployment, abuse drugs and alcohol or in end up in jail. These factors not only contribute to the gang members, but they also force taxpayers to pay for welfare and community-assistance programs. Common reasons for the younger generation to join gangs, include trying to find a place where they belong and sharing in mutual desires for safety from family problems or life challenges. Together, the feelings and attitudes among gang members haze them to act violently, often self-contradictory with rival gangs. This violence leads to injury and death of not only members but also of bystanders in the community. High gang activity also causes fear among community members, discourages business activity and obstructs home-value appreciation. Communities, also must pay for higher levels of law enforcement when gangs are prominent.

Criminal gangs are there to rule, they have been there in every community for a long time. Gang's intentions are to commit crimes. Gang leaders oversee extortion, order killings or smuggle drugs. This paper studies gang formation, why individuals join gangs and the negative influence gangs have to the society and the economy. The study focuses on some of the prominent gangs in the world today; it explains the activities of the Russian mafia and other gangs. This paper explains power struggles within gangs and gives out recommendations to solve problems associated with gang operations. This paper puts into perspective a study on factors influencing gang membership; the study employs personal interviews as a method, causal research design and ordinal scale of measurement. Prisoners in California state prison are the sample population. Structured proxy question are used, and observation to study an individual's race. The study focuses male prison gang members. Findings from the study indicate that the less educated an individual is the likely for one join a gang, from the study it is evident that gang members feel disregarded when formulating policies, it is clear that race is not a factor to gang membership and that most of the gang members come from dysfunctional families.

The reasons as to why people join gangs are many and varied. Indeed, this has over time proven to be an issue of interest amongst many developmental psychologists. Familiarizing ourselves with the various reasons for gang membership could ease the development of programs meant to bring down the number of individuals joining gangs. Further, this could in the long-term turn out to be a step in the right direction as far as the suppression of gang activity is concerned. It is important to note that there exists an urgent need to discourage membership to gangs given the damage such groupings occasion to the society. Apart from raising crime rates, gangs are in most cases also blamed for encouraging drug use given the role they play in drug trade. It is however important to note that though quite a number of reasons have been advanced in an attempt to explain why individuals join gangs, the role household instability plays in influencing gang membership is more often than not underplayed. This effectively means that in seeking to explain the various reasons for gang membership, issues like the need for protection, economic benefit, influence from friends etc have been given more prominence than household instability.

Some of the direct causes for individuals to join gangs are due to the social aspect. It can be because of the peer