Gang crime has been around for along time. From many studies done race is a major factor in gangs. It has been noted to cause gang violence. In many communities in the United States racial animosity is at the centre of some dark chapters of its history. This goes back to the 1940s when Latinos were beaten by white sailors in the zoot suit riots and in 1965 the deadly Watts riots. However the racial issue is not acknowledged due to the political implications thus it is down played. That not withstanding most gangs are formed along ethnic ties and most are formed to control the drug business and other crime related businesses. There is a relationship between street gangs and prison gangs as well as the behavior of individuals and the gangs. This paper will look at an individual and group perspective in gangs.
There are street gangs and prison gangs. It is said that those in the street end up in prisons and there they join prison gangs. People join gangs for various reasons. On a group perspective this could be due to social disorganization, need to belong as identity is very important to a human being and it feels good when one is considered as an insider of a group rather a than an outsider. On the other hand on an individual perspective, individuals join gangs for protection, money or family (Walker, 2009:1).
The two types of gangs in the recent times overlap. This is because when one goes to prison they join a gang to seek protection and for a sense of belonging. These gangs pose a threat to the other inmates and the prison staff. They have been known to disrupt programs in the correctional facilities. It therefore becomes very difficult to rehabilitate these individuals because they move from one gang-in the streets to another –in prison. Many studies show that members of gangs who leave prisons are soon brought back as repeat offenders because they do not change their ways. In the US there are six main prison gangs. They include: Mexican Mafia, Aryan brotherhood, Texas Syndicate, Neta, La Nuestra and Black Gorilla family. They have been identified for their violence and organized criminal activities and they are formed along racial lines (Walker, 2009:1).
In the United States every state has street gangs and they are mainly formed to engage in drug trade. These groups are formed on geographical lines and when they land in prison they protect one another. When an inmate from another region clashes with another members of their respective geographic groups get involved. These groups may seem to be harmless but they are very violent and often develop rivalries. They evolve slowly and get names for the gangs and later recruit members from prisons.
Individuals who leave prisons maintain communication with the gangs in prisons. The communication is coded to avoid being detected and thus illicit activity continues in prisons and in the outside community. Some gang members manage to corrupt the prison authorities and thus they are able to have access of prohibited goods as well as services (Gang security Threat n.d).
Members of gangs often serve longer sentences and most life sentences. This is because as a member of a gang one is more likely to be violent and to break rules. On the other hand the relationship between gangs in prisons and on the streets is a strong one. Members of the street gangs adore the members in prison gangs. They admire them for thriving in prison under hard circumstances. In addition they view being behind bar as an opportunity to learn about the criminal activity from the experts in the trade. From the gang members they are able to learn the language which is normally in codes, they learn how to carry themselves in the community and carry out their criminal activities. This means that when an individual goes to prison they learn more about criminal activities and this makes it very hard to curb crime rate in the society that continues to increase with each new day (Gang security Threat n.d).
Prevention of individuals from joining the gangs thus becomes very important. Because many of the identified prison gangs are recruiting members in prisons to continue their criminal activities. Some of these gangs do so under the disguise of protecting members. The members are required to take an oath and remain loyal to the gang for life. It has also been found out that the behavior of the gangs is similar to that of individual members (Walker, 2009:1).
It is important for parents and the community to join hands in reducing gangs in the society. Gangs have bad implications of violence and the members may end up becoming addicted to them for life. Therefore parents need to be aware that the gangs exist as many are ignorant of their existent. The children are lured into the gangs which are camouflaged to look like good organizations to help them. And in this way the gangs are able to recruit the unsuspecting kids. The relationship between gangs in prison and streets need to be looked into carefully. This is because the gangs keep on evolving as well as the reasons for joining them. Thus it is important to learn about the structures of the gangs in terms of race, gender, cohesion etc to be able to develop policies about prevention that will be effective. More importantly to note is that the gangs will continue to thrive as long as there are potential members. The best method of dealing with the problem of gangs is to discourage individuals from joining them by making them aware of the repercussions of joining such groups. Solving this problem must start with an individual.
Bibliography
- Gang and security Threat Group Awareness (n.d). Florida Department of Corrections.
- Short, F.J & Hughes, A.L. (2006). Studying Youth Gangs, Maryland: Rowman Altamira, Walker, R. Original Prison Gangs.(2009).