Criminal Street Gangs

Criminal Street Gangs

Introduction

A gang is a group of people who maintain a close and intense. It may be a group of friends whose relationship is based on mutual affection, but also a band with members that relate to criminal activity in a group (Gardner, 2011).

Risk youth away from criminal street gangs by creating a place where youth are valued and their strengths are used to build their connections and responsibilities to the community. There is no simple and straightforward answer to addressing the problem of youth involvement in criminal activity and gangs. Effective programs to either prevent gang membership in the ?rst place or to reduce its impact on subsequent behavior for those young people who do join a gang (McCarthy and Barshwell, 2011).

Discussions

Gangs

The term "gang" refers to groups of teenagers and young adults who share a common identity and display, repeatedly, the antisocial behavior or offending. The response plan is a wide variety of groups can be distinguished both by their level of organization and persistence with participation more or less sustained in violent criminal activity. The response plan provides for a continuum of services ranging from prevention to repression of youth gangs to street gangs to organized crime.

Modern gang members, while continuing their stereotypical fights for territorial control or boasting gang allegiance through colors, tattoos, and symbols, also adapt to their environment for survivability. One aspect of this adaptation is making money through criminal ventures; more specifically, their ability to create alliances with other criminal enterprises for the purpose of financial gain that benefits the gang and its members.

Street Gangs

The phenomenon of street gangs is complex, multifaceted and evolving. Therefore, it is often defined differently by each panel. Obviously, they adopt the definition corresponds to their respective intervention environment. Thus, the various agencies and institutions required to intervene in the matter can develop a variety of initiatives and interventions to influence this phenomenon.

Street gang is a group of youngsters who are perceived as a distinct group by others, recognize themselves as a distinct group, and have been involved in a sufficient number of delinquent acts that call forth a negative response from law enforcement or neighborhood residents. Usually, this conceptualization views gangs as groups with an identifiable leadership and internal organization that claim control over territory in a community, and whose members engage in violent activity or other forms of criminal activity. Often, researchers using this second formulation emphasize the changed character of gangs in contemporary societies because of their increased involvement in violence and other illegal behavior, especially narcotics trafficking. From this perspective, contemporary gangs pose a greater danger to public safety and call for an increased response from law enforcement.

Street gangs have existed for centuries. Saint Augustine (354-430), in his Confessions, described his involvement in criminal acts within a group of young people.

Street gangs may have the commission of one or more criminal acts including murder, firearms or explosives violations, obstruction of justice, narcotics distribution and other violent offenses such as carjacking, assault, burglary ...