Gang Activity

Rakasha Adams

Professor Lee Wade

Juvenile Delinquency CJ150

August 14, 2015

Hispanic gangs began forming in California during the early 1920s. Gang members were male youths ranging from 14- to 20-years-old. Property crimes such as burglary, strong-arm robbery, and vandalism were their crimes of choice (Hoover, 1999). And then there were the African American gangs began forming in California during the 1920s. They were not territorial; rather, they were loose associations, unorganized, and rarely violent. They did not identify with graffiti, monikers, or other gang characteristics. These early gangs consisted generally of family members and neighborhood friends who involved themselves in limited criminal activities designed to perpetrate a "tough guy" image and to provide an easy means of obtaining money (Hoover, 1999). Gangs have changed a lot over the years and centuries and they have become more violent and more dangerous also. The Age limits to youths goings gang has lowered and now there are youths as young as seven years of age in organized gangs today. There are many types of gangs such as the Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, MS-13, Mexican Mafia, and the Skin heads we will not discuss them in great detail, but it is great information to know if you have time to do the research on each one.

Gang members have ways of standing out from normal people they want to be different. They want the world to know that they are far from average in my eyes. They do this in ways of letting their gang related behavior be known. Most people were unaware of the fact in the beginning but they easily caught wing of what was going on. Gang members think like the criminals that they are they want to make their money the through illegal means like dealing drugs and sealing from others. Another main thing to the members is conflict, street status, or street reputation. Members feel as it is important to have control of a certain territory in a city or town and feels...