CRIME

Gangs and crime in Los Angeles



Gangs and crime in Los Angeles

Introduction

Crime is said to be an act involving a breach of laws set by governing authority which could be the country or the state. The law is implemented via the legal system existing in the country. It is through such mechanism that the governing authority can sentence conviction and as well as provide justice. The definition of crime varies with the states and countries (www.criminal-law.freeadvice.com).

The state of Los Angeles has faced violence and crisis for more than 20 years. Underneath the citywide aura of tranquility and peace are the unimaginable types of violence as well as rages in the city with red-alerted crime zones.

A former epidemiologist belonging to the World Health Organization who was researching on violence linked to health problems found in the citizens deducted that the degree of violence in Los Angeles is equivalent to the degree of diarrhea cases in Bangladesh. He also said that Los Angeles is said to be a state where crime lives and matures. It is also estimated that the Los Angeles has around 700 gangs in number along with 40,000 gang members in totality who are constantly engaging in violence which has become a routine. Los Angeles has a violence oriented culture like no other state in the United States of America. It is chronically epidemic by nature. It is also researched that around 75 percent of the youth of the state of California is a part of gang oriented homicide cases in the county of Los Angeles. This has resulted in a long term and a large scale youth oriented homicidal incidents and the blame goes to the state of Los Angeles as a major contributor.

History of Crimes in Los Angeles

Watts Riots

Initiation of the Watts riots started on the 11th of August in1965. It started in the district of Watts in Los Angeles and hence it has been named the Watts Riots. An individual named Lee Minikus who was Highway patrol police officer. He pulled an individual named Marquette Frye on the basis of being intoxicated and rash driving. Lee started to question him and Ronal Frye who was his brother. During questioning, group of people started surrounding them. They group started to throw stones and various objects at the police. It went on till Frye's mother arrived at the scene which resulted in the 3 member of the family being jailed.

According to the statistics, around 34 people were killed amidst them were 28 African Americans, a fireman and the deputy sheriff. It also revealed that around 1032 individuals at the scene were injured which included 773 civilians, 90 police members, 136 firefighters, national guards were 10 and 23 government agencies. Around 4000 were arrested. In the riot, precisely 600 buildings were partially and wholly destroyed (www.mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu).

Sunset Strip curfew riots

The curfew is also termed as “The Hippie riots". These are said to be a series of clashes and conflicts that occurred amidst the police and young people ...