Gangs
Gang
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GANGS OF NEW YORK ARE TERRORISTS?
THE MISAPPLICATION OF THE NEW YORK
ANTITERRORISM STATUTE DUE TO THE
LACK OF COMPREHENSIVE GANG
LEGISLATION
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Over eighteen gang members were charged in
connection with Melanny's death, but most, including gang
leader Solis, fled to Mexico.*
Edgar Morales, one of the gang members involved in the
fight that day, was tried and convicted as a terrorist in a New
York court.^ Morales was charged with manslaughter in the
first degree'" for the girl's death, attempted murder in the
second degree" for the shooting of Javier Tocchimai, criminal
possession of a weapon in the second degree,'^ and conspiracy in
the second degree.'^
Glasgow Gangs
Moral Panics and Glasgow Gangs:
Exploring ‘the New Wave of Glasgow
Hooliganism’, 1965–1970
Angela Barite
Gangs
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Between 1965 and 1968, gangs ‘reappeared’ in Glasgow. Perceived as younger,
more
violent and more dangerous to the public than their interwar predecessors,
concern quickly
grew in the media, police force, local and national government and the public
domain
more generally. This article uses the sociological concept of ‘moral panics’ to
explore ‘the
New Wave of Glasgow Hooliganism’. It demonstrates the social construction of
‘deviance’
in practice, placing escalating concerns and debates over solutions to ‘the gang
problem’ in
the wider context of fears about increasing levels of youth violence in the 1960s
Britain. In
Glasgow, popular perceptions and ‘folk-lore’ about gangs affected opinions and
responses,
and often conflicted with empirical evidence conducted at the time.
Gangs
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During the first half of the 1960s, until 1965, there was barely a mention of ‘gangs’
in
Glasgow newspapers, and it was not until the beginning of 1966 that gangs rather
than
juvenile delinquency in general were identified as a problem. Even a national
survey of
crime carried out in 1964 made no mention of the phenomenon, while, until 1965,
most newspaper reports on youth crime in Glasgow were concerned with ‘the
problems of malicious damage and hooliganism’.19 In fact, in March 1965,
Glasgow’s
Chief Constable, James A. Robertson, had told The Glasgow Herald that although
most
trouble was caused by ‘groups’ of youths, there was ‘no evidence of any organized
gangs of young people. They were simply groups of young hooligans who would
like to
be known as gangs for intimidation purposes’
Gangs
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Gang violence continues to plague American
communities and is a pointed focal concern for
many socioeconomically depressed neighborhoods
[Haledon, 2005; Lane, 2002]. Recent estimates
show that an overwhelming majority of the crime
committed in urban communities are the result of
gang-related activity [Thornberry and Burch, 1997].
Gang members are also the primary distributors of
most illicit drugs and clearly expand the capacity of
drug-related organized crime. Estimates gleaned
from the National Youth Gang Survey indicated
that approximately 43% of all drug sales involve
gang members [Howell and Gleason, 1999]. Moreover,
trend statistics from the National Youth Gang
Survey show that the prevalence of gang membership
has been on the rise since 2001, with nearly
800,000 gang members affiliated with more than
27,000 gangs currently active in the United States
[Elegy and O’Donnell, 2009]
Gangs
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Youth Gangs in Nicaragua: Gang
Membership as Structured
Individualization
Richard McClure & Melvin Spoleto
In Nicaragua the rise of urban youth gangs has led the government to adopt a crime control
approach that focuses on containing adolescent violence. Yet efforts to foil youth
gangs have been ineffectual, largely because the nature of gang membership is little
understood. This article presents the results of a qualitative study of youth gang
membership in the capital city of Managua. From participant observations and interviews
with a cohort of youth gang members and a number of people closely attached to them, the
study presents youth perspectives of gang membership in a way that underscores the
dialectic between individual agency and the structural environments that impinge on
youth choices. The study concludes by arguing that policies aiming to deal with urban
youth gangs in Nicaragua must accommodate the perspectives of marginalized urban
youth and draw upon their capacity for individual and collective agency.
Introduction
In the ®end of youth studies it is now generally acknowledged that there are
Gangs
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In the ®end of youth studies it is now generally acknowledged that there are
connections between the entrenched socio-economic marginalization of
impoverished
urban communities and the high levels of dissatisfaction and rebelliousness among
youth living in such communities. When confronted with little or no opportunity to
escape poverty and reverse their marginalized status, many young people respond
in
ways that are regarded by citizens as deviant and dangerous (Decker & Van Winkle
1996; Furlong & Carmel 1997; Thornberry et al. 2003). For the most part, the
actions
of governments and other in¯uential bodies schools, churches, and the popular
media serve to reinforce popular perceptions about the dangers of troublesome
youth. When fears of youth crime verge on populist `moral panic',
Gangs
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Gangs of Chicago: Perceptions of Crime and its
Effect on the Recreation Behavior of Latino
Residents in Urban Communities
MONIKA STODOLSKA
JUAN CARLOS ACEVEDO
KIMBERLY J. SHINEW
Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL, USA
Perception of safety is an important factor affecting the leisure behavior of Latinos
residing in urban neighborhoods. Yet research on how fear of crime and fear of gangs
in particular affect leisure of ethnic and racial minorities is underdeveloped. The objectives
of this study are to examine how gangs operate in recreation spaces in Latino
neighborhoods, how gangs affect the use of outdoor recreation environments and how
Latinos respond to these issues. The study is based on focus groups conducted with
Latino residents in Chicago. Findings indicate gang members are almost constantly
present in parks, which serve as spaces for drug use and distribution. Moreover, gangs
operate in other areas of the neighborhood making it unsafe to access parks. Participants
employ strategies to address the gang problem including avoidance, protective
and collective behaviors.
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DAVID A. DAVIS
Mercer University
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang!
and the Materiality of Southern
Depravity
MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER WAS WARDEN OF A GEORGL\ CHAIN GANG. I
remember my grandfather's telling me stories about growing up on the
prison camp: his best friends were inmates, his pets were bloodhounds,
and everyone called his father "Cap's." His stories reiterated the
Southern plantation myth with his father playing the role of benevolent
paternalist, but his memories contrast starkly with the common
perception of the chain gang as the American gulag, an image that
originates at least in part with the film L Am a Fugitive from a Chain
Gang! (1932). The film based on Robert Bum's sensational
autobiography shocked many people and convinced some viewers that
the Southern penal system was categorically cruel and inhumane and
should be abolished in the interest of human rights. The outcry
emanated primarily from outside the South, making the film a source of
regional antagonism. Some Southerners responded that the scenes of
baying bloodhounds and bloody whips were grossly exaggerated
Gangs
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The role of detached gang workers was expanded in a series of
projects involving crisis intervention. Detached workers
would be sent to gang “hot spots” in an attempt to intervene
before additional gang violence could occur (Howell
1998:293). Evaluations of these efforts have also failed to produce
evidence of effectiveness. For example, Spurge (1986)
evaluated a project in Chicago (Project CRISP: Crisis
Intervention Services Project) that used this approach; no significant
differences were found between experimental and
control areas in most gang-related offenses, as well as no gangrelated offenses. There was some evidence that the rate
of increase in serious crime was slowed somewhat, and that
younger gang members were affected more than older gang
members, but for the most part the program had little impact
overall.
Gangs
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Published evaluations of major gang prevention/intervention
efforts reviewed by Howell (1998) indeed demonstrate a history
of failure and ineffectiveness. For example, the Chicago
Area Project, a massive city-wide effort found by Shaw and
McKay (1931) was found to have been ineffective at best
(Corbin 1959; Schlossman & Senlac 1983a; 1983b). One of
the first projects to take a comprehensive approach aimed
specifically at gang members and their families, using gang
workers—former gang members who are thought to be best
able to establish rapport and credibility with current gang
members—was the Mendacity project, which took place in
Boston. Milliers (1962) rigoureuse quasi-expérimental évaluations
data showed no impact whatsoever from the project,
which included community organizations and family services
in addition to detached gang workers. Studies of the latter
in Chicago and Los Angeles both resulted in evidence of
increased delinquency (see Gold & Mattock 1974; Klein
1969).
Gangs
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The problem of youth gangs and their impact on neighborhoods,
cities and even rural areas has become a major issue of
concern in the U.S. for the public and for federal, state and
local law enforcement and policy-makers. Although intervention
projects have been designed to prevent gangs from forming
and to counteract their negative effects on youth and their
communities from the 1930s onward (Shaw & McKay 1931),
the gang problem has continued to become more and more
serious. Some estimates place the number of gangs nationwide
at more than 23,000 and the number of gang members at
nearly 700,000 (Howell 1998:284). Indeed, one of the leading
gang researchers in the field today, James C. Howell, stated in
a recent review of gang prevention/intervention efforts: “The
history of efforts to solve the youth gang problem in the
United States is largely filled with frustrations and failure”
(Howell 1998:285).
Gangs
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Prison gangs and their activities have come to be associated with a perceived
reduction in order and control in UK prisons (Wood & Adler, 2001; Wood, 2006),
having long been seen as a formidable presence in the American penal system;
however, our current understanding of them is relatively limited. No agreed
definition of a prison gang currently exists; they have been described as cohesive
groups of prisoners (with a leader) whose criminal activities negatively impact on
the
institutions that hold them (e.g. Fong & Buentello, 1991; Huff, 1996), while others
contend that they are more flexibly constructed (e.g. Camp & Camp, 1985). There
is
a further lack of agreement concerning how many members are required for a
group
of prisoners to be considered a ‘gang’, and to date, we have only limited insight
into
the characteristics of prisoners involved in gang-related activity.
Gangs
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American research indicates that prison gangs have become a formidable feature of many
Federal and State prisons (e.g. Buentello, Fong, & Vogel, 1991; Camp & Camp, 1985;
Jacobs, 1977). In the UK only one study (Wood & Adler, 2001) has directly examined the
issue of prison gangs in the English and Welsh prison estate. It revealed that prison staff
perceive many gang-related activities as common occurrences in English prisons. The
present study builds on this knowledge by examining prisoners’ perceptions of gang-related
activities in English prisons.
There is no precise definition of a prison gang; some argue (e.g. Fong & Buentello, 1991;
Huff, 1996) that prison gangs are cohesive groups of prisoners (with a leader), whose
criminal activities negatively impact on the prisons that hold them. Others contend that
prison gangs have a more flexible configuration (e.g. Camp & Camp, 1985). Also, research
has not clarified the minimum number of members for an operational definition of a
‘‘prison gang’’.
Gangs
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From the front page of the 30 October 2005
edition of the Los Angeles Times a shirtless
Salvadoran man glares menacingly. Displaying
which the media have consistency positioned the group
multiple tattoos, he appears to challenge
readers with the directness of his gaze and the hostility of
his posture. Strikingly composed in richly textured black andwhite documentary photography, this image is one
of several accompanying an investigative article entitled
"Gang Uses Deportation to Its Advantage to Flourish
in U.S." (Lopez, Connell, and Kraal). Coinciding with a
flurry of recent press coverage on the Salvadoran gang La
Mara Salvatrucha, the article exemplifies the manner in
as a crucial discursive nexus linking terrorism, criminality,
and transnational migration flows, feeding into concurrent
and often overlapping debates on these issues. Thus,
in addition to emphasizing the illegal entry of hardened
criminals into the United States, the article characterizes
the gang as "an international network" comprised
of "[n]ewly organized cells" (Lopez, Connell, and Kraal
Al), a vocabulary borrowed from discourses on terrorism
that, not coincidentally, echo the U.S. government's more
recent efforts to confront La Mara Salvatrucha under the
auspices of Homeland Security.
Gangs
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In the past thirty years, gang membership and gang-related violence have
proliferated across the nation as gangs in urban and rural areas fight for
territorial control and market dominance,' Today, the U,S, Department of
Justice estimates that there are more than 800,000 gang members and 30,000
gangs in the United States,^ No state is more affected by gang violence than
Caledonia, which contains more than one-third of all gang members in the
United States and attributes more than twenty five percent of all its homicides
to gang activity,''
Recognizing that traditional law enforcement techniques alone were
insufficient to address the growing problem, leading public officials and
residents began to seek new, innovative solutions to slow the spread of gang
violence in the 1980s, In greater Los Angeles, home to more than half of all
gang members in Caledonia, and where more than half of all homicides
Gangs
Gangs