Preview

Sociological Theories Of Gang Violence

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
953 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sociological Theories Of Gang Violence
Gang related violence in the United States has been a plague for the last several decades. The serious crimes such as murder, drug trafficking, extortion, assaults, and kidnapping can all be attributed to organized gangs. Of all the established and recognized gangs in this country, motorcycle gangs are among the most vicious and virulent group of criminals with no regard or respect for law enforcement or human life in general. Members of these organized clubs appear to be linked by a common bond and like interests.
Many of the modern motorcycle clubs got their start in the years after the close of World War II through the late 1960’s. Many of the members of these clubs were former combat soldiers just home from foreign battlefields. It appears that these motorcycle clubs were quite benign in the beginnings of their formation only massing together because of the love of riding motorcycles and what members called the “freedom of the open road.” The turn toward rampant criminal activity was proliferated in the clubs that got their starts in the latter half of the 1960’s. The turbulent
…show more content…
Since the members of any established motorcycle gang or club attaches their entire indent to the patch that they all where this can be construed as symbolic. Also, it is reasonable to infer that the riding of motorcycles, the disdain for law enforcement, and the overall sense of freedom that members are emboldened to have can also be used symbolically. The interactions that they will have will always be about the commonalities that they all share for the subculture that they have created. Whether or not society accepts these gangs is ambiguous. The members of a motorcycle gang will interpret the actions of other members not by just being reactionary to other members; the loyal bonds that they all share are times not enough to garner trust among the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The author talks about the main features of their subculture. The main ones are brotherhood, the wearing of colors with the 3-piece back patch, and riding Harley Davidson motorcycles in group formation. These features hold symbolic meanings for the club members and serve important functions within the subculture. Through motorcycling, Enforcement Motorcycle Clubs provide their members with meaningful social participation and interpersonal relations, which re-establishes meaning and a sense of purpose in their lives. This book tells the stories of some club members to get their story on how they want the citizens to perceive what they do in their clubs. The author gives some information on how their political organization works. It consists of a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, road captain, and sergeant-at-arms. Localized groups of a single, large motorcycle club are called chapters or charters, and the first chapter established for a motorcycle club is referred to as the mother chapter. The president of the mother chapter serves as the president of the entire MC, and sets club policy on a variety of issues. The Renegade Pigs, the Warthogs…

    • 636 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gangs are often said to be known for most of the criminal activities in this country and around the world; why? We often ask ourselves, well this is because the many different gangs in this world. Some gangs are based on ethnic, race, religious backgrounds and then you have the turf gangs which are defined by territory. You also have prison gangs which almost every prison gang has street gangs that represent them outside the walls. Then there are motorcycle gangs which are often known as some of the most notorious gang members who venture into a little bit of all the types of gangs bases and their activities are just like all the other gangs activities. In this research paper I will be reviewing one of the most notorious street gangs and prison gangs in our nation in which, this particular gang has many of their gang member alliances in other countries as well. This gang is the “Mara Salvatrucha” also known as the “MS-13” and they are the number one most notorious gang in the United States of American and also in many other countries.…

    • 1519 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ms13

    • 1752 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Today, the gang has spread from Central America to the United States, originating in Los Angeles and evolving across 32 states. For this particular paper I will focus on the gang’s membership in the United States alone. I will take an ethnographic approach to attempt to understand why people join the gang and what they wish to accomplish by doing so. I will key in on the main goals of the gang, reasons for brutality, and how they have managed to spread with such popularity throughout America.…

    • 1752 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Outlawed motorcycle gangs believe in ranks and democracy. A prospect, as noted before, is the bottom rank of the gang. You must follow everyone’s orders. In simpler words, you’re the slave of the gang. These orders can range anywhere from getting a member a few members to wiping an ass. The highest rank is known as a Rocker. Queen had one mission, to be accepted in the Mongol gang, without any conflictions, and then lock them behind bars. The biggest challenged he faced was being accepted. William explains, “Sometimes gaining the trust of the gang requires engaging in violent criminal activity,…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Quantitative Criminology 29, no. 2 (June 2013): 143 – 166. Academic Search Premier EBSCOhost (accessed July 21, 2014)…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gang-related crimes are one of the most discussed issues in criminal justice system. The root of gang violence could to be traced to as early as the 1900s. In the film, Crips and Bloods: Made in America, African Americans were being oppressed under the Jim Crow Law, which allowed for the legal segregation of Blacks and Whites. By forcing Blacks into their neighborhoods, the LAPD’s actions resulted in segregation, alienation and development of self-hatred (Peralta, 2008). At first, many activist groups were formed such as the Black Panther, though they never considered themselves as a gang but as a club (Peralta, 2008). Eventually, the groups were terminated and then African Americans found themselves helpless which lead to the formation of street gangs. Crips and Bloods are the biggest well-known gangs: it was formed due to racism (Peralta, 2008). “The Punitive propensity in the U.S. gang policies all too often ignores the context of offending and…

    • 1456 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hell's Angels

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Hell’s Angels have put a big impacted on California sense 1948. The Hell’s Angels motorcycle club was formed in 1948 in the town of Fontana in California. During this time military surplus made motorcycles cheep and affordable. Meanwhile most of the veterans from the world wars were just sitting around with nothing to do, they decided to buy motorcycles and join in for the adventure. The Hell’s Angels gang remained in California until 1961, they opened there first chapter in Auckland New Zealand. The main guy who started the gang was a veteran by the name Otto Friedli. Eventually the club was across most of the United States and in 30 other countries. They say “the club was fueled by the outlaws making their own rules. (James)” On average a Hell’s Angels “members ride over 20,000 miles a year on their Harley.” (James Randy) This is how the club got to be so big.…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    After investigating adolescents’ gang involvement, I come to recognize that adolescents’ gang involvement has become a major societal concern. Adolescent affiliation with gangs and delinquent behavior numbers has soared as of recently and may continue to due to numerous societal issues. In the article “The Origins of Black Crime,” author, William Cross, agrees when he states, “black delinquency rate steadily increased between 1920 till 1940, with greater crime involvement in the more run-down sections of the black community, where broken black families resided” (Cross, 2003, pg 7). Societal issues that range from poverty, lack of proper education and poor schools, unbalanced family structures, abuse, neglect,…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gangs in America are incredibly widespread and continue to grow in size. Gangs are also known as Security Threat Groups (STG’s) in the correctional world. Both the outside world and prisons are affected by gangs daily. The threat of prison gangs seems to keep growing and shows no signs of coming to a halt. There are multiple types of gangs which include White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic. Many things can be done to stop Security Threat Groups and their related violence. This includes stopping community gangs as well as their related partners in prison. The impact of these groups can be extremely devastating. Prison gangs have effect of the outside world, their influence is just…

    • 1967 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    By doing this gangs are creating resistance identities. The resistance strategies that they are implementing may try to fulfill economic or political needs and may develop a distinctive identity through specific characteristics, symbols and rituals. Understanding the characteristics of gangs is significant in order to truly understand gangs. The depth and complexity of their alienation can only be completely understood by understanding their subculture identity. Understanding gangs means understanding them as social actors. This is critical in being able to create the proper policies and social movements (Hagedorn, 2005). Without a proper understanding of gangs the reduction of violence and inequalities will not be…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gang Violence in the U.S.

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages

    They have poisoned our streets with drugs, violence, and hateful crimes. I have researched many different kinds of gangs to motorcycle gangs like the “Hells Angels” to the prison gangs such as the “Latin Kings”. Why is there gang violence, how does it impact our daily lives, and how can it be prevented? Gang violence, is the most organized as a well sophisticated crime that comes into play here in America as well as other countries.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Most people have learned the little they know about motorcycle clubs from mass media (Harper & Moore, 1983). Pop-culture has depicted bikers and their clubs as vigilantes, loners, and rebels, giving the non-biker world an extremely distorted view of what being a biker is all about. A majority of these clubs are considered to be conventional and were brought together simply by brotherhood and for the love and pleasure of riding…

    • 4636 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Latino Gang Policy

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Gangs have become an epic problem in the United States. It is very essential important in attempting to solve this problem by fully understanding how we can prevent individuals from joining a gang. A gang is group of three of more people that share a common bond and that are loyal to one another, whether it’s for economic reason or violence. The National Gang Center estimates that 32.4% of all cities in the United States experienced gang problems in 2008 (National Criminal Justice Reference Service, 2010). There are three main reasons why I fell that gangs have impacted the criminal justice system in three phenomenal ways. One, gangs have affected many communities; two, gangs influence our…

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Youth Violence In America

    • 2086 Words
    • 9 Pages

    The presence of these groups are dated back to the nation’s start and arrived in multiple phases. Research suggests that the history of street gangs in the United States began on the East Coast around 1783, at the heels of the American Revolution. In regards to the magnitude of organized crime today, these gangs were not very serious and mostly consisted of youth fighting over turf in their new country. From the start of the twentieth century, gang presence became a different entity. The “Roaring Twenties” saw Prohibition, a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol. The law was finally repealed in 1933 with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, but the time it was in effect saw the flourish of a profitable and violent black market for alcohol. Prohibition had given organized crime a huge boost as opposed to reducing misconduct. The next period of the twentieth century was quite a tumultuous time; the segregation and generally unequal treatment of minorities bred resentment and a need to band together in defense of their respective neighborhoods. The next era of America’s gang evolution was that of crack-cocaine in the 1980s. The introduction of this powerful and highly addictive drug created a lucrative new market in the impoverished areas of major cities. The money earned from selling drugs was being used to purchase weapons to protect each gang’s own “banging” territory, where only…

    • 2086 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Inner City Drug Problem

    • 2563 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Aside from being among the most undesirable of places that a person could live, the inner cities of the United States are said to be a horrible gangland full of murder, prostitution, and drugs. While this description is overblown in some cases, the inner city definitely resembles the definition given. Inner cities across the country are havens for gangs and the activities that keep them financially viable: prostitution, robbery, and drugs. The focus of this paper will deal with the problem of drugs in the inner city. Rejecting a broad definition of “drugs,” that includes alcohol, cigarettes, and legal prescription drugs, I will be concentrating on the illicit “street drugs” that proliferate in the inner cities of the United States. In particular, this paper will deal with the inner city drug problem in the Chicago area.…

    • 2563 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays