Officers earn around $1000 per month, which is relatively consistent, except for reduced wages during times of gang wars. Being an officer is similar to a full-time job, they are unable to be also be employed by the legitimate sector, and the standard of living for these jobs is slightly higher than a full-time minimum wage job. The foot soldiers receive a flat wage, their earnings are not directly linked to the volume of their sales but the number of shifts they work and their position within the drug selling team. These wages are very low, around $200 a month, or less until the final year of the study. Based on these estimates, the wages of a foot soldiers are well below the federal minimum wage.…
In the article Policing in Honduras: Understanding Gang Proliferation it talks about how Honduras has a high homicide rate due to its organized gangs. (Ratcliff, 2015)Honduras has the unfortunate title and nickname “murder capital of the world” and for good reason. (Ratcliff, 2015)Honduras homicide rate in 2011 was 86 per 100,000 and has approximately 36,000 active gang members.(Ratcliff, 2015) The gang members are made up of 98 percent of 12 to 25 year of age. (Ratcliff, 2015)The nation’s communities are intimidated and controlled by the gangs through extortion, torture and violence.…
The most common definition of a youth gang involves self-formed group of young teens imbedded within a structured organization. The group is distinctly recognizable by those in their community, tend to have a name, and have a negative association with crime (Klein 1971). The group adheres to a strict agenda and often partakes in criminal behavior to reach a set of goals outlined within the guidelines (Thrasher 1927). Additionally, as determined, youth gang activity is contingent on an individual’s socio-economic status, race, and neighborhood (Klein 1971). However, given that such factors are never standard across all communities, it becomes difficult to place every individual into a standardized definition of gang members.…
A serious problem that is going on in the United States is criminal street gangs. The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) defined gangs as “an association of three or more individuals, who members identify themselves by adopting a group identity with a purpose to engage in criminal activity by using force and/or intimidation and such crime are used to enhance or preserve the association’s power, reputation or economic resources” (National Gang Center, National Youth Gang Survey Analysis). The term “gang” is not a new concept as historians have traced this term back to the mid-1700s. However, gang violence has changed and evolved since the first recorded gang activity. Gang…
al., 2014) what may be these visible problems in troubled families? Lack of guidance? The research in this article suggests that the more problems there are in the family and the more exposure there is to this undue violence the more coherent it becomes for an adolescent to become a gang member. Supporting evidence may be approached in a scarce way through the interactional theory by Thornberry and Krohn who combined that “gang membership result from a reciprocal relationship” (Alleyne and Wood, 2010) the theory in this report conducted by the secretary of state uses additional social domains built around this idea of peer pressure or schools but do focus on families as an add on so it cannot be applied by itself with Casey’s research. The effects of a dysfunctional family according to scholars and academics combined with and based upon social aspects turn ‘young children’ to ‘young gang members’ as shown by the report from…
In an article review by Brien et al. states that, “Given the close association between gang participation and violence, there is significant overlap between risk factors and developmental trajectories for involvement in violent and gang delinquency”. They create fear and violence within neighborhoods, transport in drugs, destroy property, involve youth in criminal acts, and drive out businesses. Gangs can attract teens away from school and home into a life of violence. One of the dangerous aspects of gang violence is its often unselective and…
The inner city youth of America is recently being faced with immense adversity, experts estimate that every day thousands of teens in inner city areas are being recruited to join neighborhood or city wide gangs. I am calling on the members of the Rich People of America to help resolve some of the main issues that involve teenage gang related activity. According to helpingyouthgang.com around eighty-five percent of male juveniles in detention facilities are there for gang related activities. The magnitude of inner city teens facing frequent harassment and pressure to join gangs is more prominent in society today than ever before. Tragically, most will wind up succumbing due to fear for their lives or families.…
The issue of gang violence has become rampant and a prominent issue in the society. Gangs involved in these shameful acts use violence as a primary means to enhance and regulate the sales of drugs in the society as well as to gain power, especially amongst their age mates. Gang activities are mostly rampant in low-income neighborhood where the less privileged children and youths are recruited into the gangs…
The factors associated with gang membership included were a lack of commitment to school, academic failure, and dropping out of school (Alleyne & Wood, 2010). Many studies have also linked to the perception of an unsafe school environment to adolescents feeling inclined to join gangs (Lenzi et al., 2015). These children feel the need to fulfill their desire for safety and protection, and for them joining a gang appears to be the best way to do…
Decker et al. (2009) elaborates on the social pressures on immigrant children that can lead to gang involvement. First generation children of immigrants have to deal with “culture shock” and are conflicted between the values that they learn from their parents and the values they learn from their new society (Decker et al., 2009). Decker et al. claims that “culture is critical” in determining whether or not a youth will join a gang (Decker et al., 2009, p. 400).…
It has been noted that “Youth gangs in the U.S. have existed since at least the 1870s,” (Mosher, lecture gangs). Since the establishment, gangs have grown across the globe. In the fourteenth and fifteenth century, gangs “robbed, extorted and raped,” (http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Wh-Z-and-other-topics/Youth-Gangs.html). Gangs have evolved into street gangs from the violent past. Although some gangs do participate in violence, violence is not their sole purpose.…
Trying to address the question of why youth join gangs requires the examination of multiple factors, and preferably, multiple theories. Social disorganization theory explains that the place where an individual grows up matters – disordered neighborhoods lead youth to join gangs. Due to its overemphasis on disorganization within neighbourhoods, however, social disorganization theory is not able to assess every factor that causes youth to join gangs. In this paper, I argue that youth join gangs because of neighborhood influence, poverty, and peer influence. Social disorganization theory is able to explain neighborhoods that lack resources and poverty as reasons for youth gang involvement, but it is unable to account for why gang-affiliated peers cause youth to join gangs.…
Long time holder of the title “Murder Capital of the World,” Honduras has only gotten worse over the past decade. In the past few years, Honduras has had roughly 7,000 homicides each year out of its population of 8 million. This is an extremely high number for a Latin American nation, even considering its long history of violence. As one can assume, many have been astonished upon learning this and wanted to investigate how this number came about and continues to quickly grow. What people found was a rule that unintentionally brought crime to this area and a part of the country that is hardly occupied by citizens or security officers.…
A youth typically begins hanging out with gang members at age 12 or 13 (even younger in some instances) and joins the gang between ages 13 and 15”(Slowikowski). Slowikowski quotes many turn to gangs for “protection, money, respect, fun, or because a friend” was in a gang. While these are common attraction of gangs that pose a appeal, these reasons only scratches the surface of how gang are formed. Based on extensive research by Slowikowski, the formation of gang have been categorized in 4 groups: Ethnicity, race, gender, and background. By illustrating demographic aspects of a person we are given a better…
Teens join gangs for a variety reasons from families, schools, friends, to what city they live in. Gangs are everywhere, even some of the nicest cities. Peer pressure, family, protection, and boredom are the main reasons I noticed that teens join gangs. In reflecting upon my own adolescence and witnessing teens joining gangs, I believe that all these reasons are closely associated. It seems as though gangs have no boundaries it affects the poor and the rich, small towns, suburbia, and some of the wealthiest cities.…