Gang Violence in Los Angeles Paper Example

Introduction

Gang-associated violence in LA has since seen a significant decline over the years. In 2012 the city reported an all-time low crime rate since the 1970s, reporting a steady decline in crime for the 10th consecutive year (Ward, 2013). Over past decades, crime rates in the city have varied. The peak in gang-related violence occurred between 1970s and 1990s, when gang violence such as the Watts riot, crack epidemic, 1992 riots, and the North Hollywood shootout, among others were reported across the city (Ward, 2013). In 2013 and 2014, homicide rate reports claimed a decline of violence, from 34.2 per 100,000 population reported back in 1980 to 6.3 and 6.7 per 100,000 people respectively. With constant violence reported in Los Angeles, it is essential to understand the origin of gangs in the city and their motives that lead to violence.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The Origin of Gangs in LA

Gangs in Los Angeles go way back in history, with some founded almost a century ago. Although some of the gangs now pose as criminal organizations, they all began differently. Most of them started as simple organizations aiming at protecting minority groups from racial violence. Back then, minority groups faced violence from the hands of white nationalists and other gangs (Arana, 2005). Although a gang could have begun as a form of protection for its population, different cliques within the gang itself could feud sometimes. For over a century, LA has become home to various gangs like 18th Street Gang, the Crips, West Coast Blood, 38th Gang Street, Surenos, and Mexican mafia among others. Often at times, different cliques within a gang have little unity unless their members go to prison, which can bring them together again (Arana, 2005). Most of the common gangs in Los Angeles, therefore, are not a solid group.

Origin of 18th Street Gang

The 18th Street Gang was founded in the 60s in LA's Rampart district, near 18th Street and Union. Over a couple of past decades, it has grown to the leading gang in the city of LA (Arana, 2005). It began as a branch of a Mexican clique but soon grew into a home for many Central American nationals. Apart from operating in LA, 18th Street Gang also has various sets in numerous other states. Its cliques also extend into other Latin American countries where most of its members often get deported. This gang is widely known for its violence; it has committed almost three times as many robberies as any other gang across LA (Ward, 2013). Apart from violence, 18th Street Gang is also known for involvement in drugs, kidnappings, extortions and welfare fraud. Currently, 18th Street Gang has close to as many as 65,000 members around the world (Ward, 2013).

Origin of West Coast Blood

Numerous cliques have been formed under the Blood's umbrella, including New York's United Blood Nation and Chicago's Black P. Stone Bloods. A faction of young menfolk who sought defense, from raids by the Crips squad created the Bloods gang. Initially, the Bloods gang was called the Pirus before uniting other numerous unrelated cliques in Los Angeles (Arana, 2005). After the addition of other circles-from late-1960s to mid-1970s-it adopted the umbrella name "Bloods". The gang is also known for indulgence in selling drugs, especially crack cocaine; In the 1980s it generated significant revenue trading crack cocaine, enough to expand its territory across Los Angeles. After decades of battling with the Crips, the war stopped briefly in 1992 in what was termed the "Watts Truce". Bloods gang has approximately up to 20,000 members across the United States. However, its operations have been debilitated significantly by internal strife, both between and in sets (Ward, 2013).

Origin of the Crips

The term Crips stands for a splinter assemblage of sets under the umbrella name "Crips gang". The gang was started in Los Angeles back in 1969 and has since broken into numerous other cliques. Some of the cliques use names like "Gangster Crips" to distinguish from other Crips cliques. Other sets of the Crips gang include Neighborhood Crips and Compton Crips, among other cliques. These Crips cliques often indulge in internal feuds, with some of their contentions outclassing the renowned war with Bloods. This gang has approximately up to 35,000 members (Ward, 2013). One unique feature about the Crips gang is their shared complex iconography among their cliques; in the iconography, specific letter combinations are forbidden in writing. For instance, the gang forbids the use of letters "B" and letter combination "CK" within the gang as they mean Blood and Crip Killer respectively.

38th Street Gang

The 38th Street mob was started on the border between the City of Vernon and South Central LA in the 1920s (Arana, 2005). The gang got famous in 1942 after five of its gang affiliates got arrested for participating in the murder of Jose Gallardo Diaz-what was termed the Sleepy Lagoon Murder. During that time, the zoot suit hysteria-where white police force in Los Angeles harassed Filipino and Latino youth for wearing oversized suits-had become rampant (Arana, 2005). The five gang members-deliberately put into oversized suits-became heroes when their conviction got overturned. Afterward, 38th Street mob grew and became seriously involved in trade of narcotics. Like other gangs, 38th Street gang has several cliques which are not related apart from sharing a name. The gang has long-standing violent rivalries with other gangs and have also been targeted by both law enforcement and other gangs.

Reasons Youths Join Gangs

Most gang member often joins their various gangs by either committing a crime-set up by the gang-or by initiation. During initiation, old gang members usually beat new recruits to test their courage and abilities to fight. Every individual joining often has a motive to join a particular clique. Some individuals join for recognition and identity; to them, being part of the gang allows them to achieve a certain level of status that they feel they could not achieve outside the clique. While some members join for identity, others join for protection purposes; most neighborhoods inhabiting gangs usually experience a lot of violence from attacks by other gangs (Ward, 2013). Those living within the neighborhood would, therefore, opt to join one of the cliques to protect them from rival gangs during attacks. Joining usually guarantees support, and retaliation during an ambush. To other members, the gang functions as an extended family. Some members may often lack companionship in their families. Therefore, they would opt to join a gang to get the companionship in what is termed "fellowship" or brotherhood.

While most members join gangs for protection, identity, and fellowship, making their motives seem ideal, some members end up joining due to intimidation. These members are often forced to join the gangs to participate in criminal activities. Others, on the other hand, join to intimidate others in the community who are not members. Other members also join various cliques to engage in narcotics activities and benefit from the protection and profits of the group (Ward, 2013).

Though research studies have been conducted on gang recruitment of adolescents, studies are yet to nail down why street gangs are still a social problem and a phenomenon. Researchers try to learn more about childhood tendencies and pre-dispositions that facilitate recruitment of adolescents into gangs (Arana, 2005). Existing research depicts that gangs often target individual youths for recruitment rather than groups of gang hopefuls. Potential individuals are usually assessed based on their characteristics, which the gang may feel can further their goals and add to their numbers. Most literature often overlooks the fact that gangs do not assess potential recruits based on groups of gang hopefuls.

One of the most likely factor to facilitate membership from individuals has been noted as being the individual's home life. For most gang members, their pivot to joining the gang probably comes when they begin to experience inner conflicts, low frustration tolerance, and anxiety. At the point of frustration, the recruiting gang members would offer friendship to these potential recruits and encourage them towards joining (Arana, 2005). At that point, the gang offers safety and protection. The potential recruit would then view their recruiters as social and accepting of them. They would then feel like they can build an identity and earn respect by joining. Since the potential recruit could have once felt internally conflicted, they may decide that the gang would accord them masculinity and reputation of being tough. Most delinquent youths are usually convinced that violence can release their frustrations. These youths would be confident of getting a chance to participate in activities that would allow for a temporary escape from their frustrations.

Other recruiters influence potential gang members using the notion of making money from their membership. In most cases, these recruiters would offer cash as an incentive and promise more if the recruit joined. Other luring objects usually involve owning a car and receiving positive attention from girls (Ward, 2013).

Influence of Gangs in LA

Gangs have been known to influence violent activities wherever they are established. In Los Angeles, gangs have been reported to have the highest influence when it comes to homicide, aggravated assault, and robbery. Although some cases of forcible rape are linked to the gangs, they account for a small percentage altogether. From the report released by the Sheriff's Department jurisdiction of Los Angeles in 2012, out of 502 cases reported of forcible rape, only 8 were directly linked to gangs, accounting for only 1.6% of the cases. In the report, 105 homicide cases out of 175 reported were gang-related, accounting for up to 60%. Out of 6,974 reported cases of aggravated assault, gangs were responsible for 17.9%, accounting for 1,250 of the cases. Elsewhere, out of 4,740 reported robbery cases, gangs were responsible for up to 728. According to the Sheriff's department report, Los Angeles gangs are mostly known for homicide cases; out of the homicide cases reported, the largest of them occurred in Compton.

During when gang violence was most rampant in Los Angeles-between 1970 and 2000- one-third of the murder victims were not related to any violent gangs. On average, the victims were in their early 20s. During that time, gang-related deaths of African-American males, in their late teens, tripled while those of Latinos increased by just over 30%. According to a report published in the American Medical Association Journal, close to 95% of all gang-related deaths-between 1979 and 1994-involved guns; semi-automatic handguns accounted for up to 40% of the cases while assault rifles only contributed to 3%. Although most gang violence is thought to be fueled by mishaps during narcotics trade, less than 5% of the homicide cases reported during that period resulted from trafficking narcotics.

According to Chang, C., and Lau, M. (2016), violent crime increased in L.A for thre...