Juvenile gang activity

Juvenile Gang Activity

2005

Gangs are groups of individuals , who are united by some common identity (religion , age , ethnicity , preferences , etc ) and who are involved into some particular activity , mostly with criminal background . Juvenile (youth ) gangs , or street gangs , are unofficial formations of teenagers and young adults , who spend a lot of time together and have own territories ' as an area of the city or the whole small city or district , which they control and possess . As a rule , members of the gangs hang around together and commit acts of burglary or robbery

, sell drugs , do graffiti , etc . for own financial advantage or satisfaction

The problem of youth gang activity became al in the United States in the early 70s , when movements of hippies and other young rebels started taking place . First reports about criminal backgrounds of such gangs were connected with drugs distribution . Besides , many former soldiers , whose psychology was seriously affected or damaged during their participation in Vietnam War , started controlling juvenile gangs and introduced elements of cruelty and amorality into the street life of the teenagers

Within the time , the activity of street gangs has been growing more and more brutal . In the 80s youth gangs started being involved into the fights for illegal markets , smuggling and other serious criminal activity . The list of criminal behaviors of street gang members was enlarged with numerous types of vandalism , thefts and murders . Gang activity spread from big cities into suburbs and small towns , and besides , it extended over the whole area of the country

Of course , not all the activities of street gangsters include delinquent , criminal or illegal actions . There are crowded street gangs which are based on same preferences or hobbies of its members : for example , famous motorcycle gangs Hell Angels , Mongols , or Vagos , etc Many gangs are formed by origin and ethnic principle : for example Chinese or Mexican gangs . But overwhelming majority of the gangs is dangerous for safety and security of American cities , especially so called prison gangs or organized criminal mafia groups

Mostly , activity of juvenile gangs is connected with the following concepts : armed attacks and robbery , violence and offences , drug distribution , vandalism , graffiti , etc . Another type of activity of the gangs can be connected with extortion , which is called providing protection . For example , the most common scenario is the following gang members establish financial relations with some owners of small business or sellers , and protect them from possible attacks of local criminals for regular payments

Gun possession is very frequent practice of many young gangsters including even teenagers and adolescents . This factor makes gang activity especially dangerous , because the presence of guns always provokes and escalates different conflicts , though it not always results in shooting . Guns are very good tools for threatening and scaring people , especially in cases of burglary , robbery , or for other types of violence

Availability and power of new advanced fire arms , especially automatic guns , caused huge increase of violence and aggression , demonstrated by street gangs throughout the country . Researches , investigating...