Gangs

Gangs

Amanda Hiber, Book Editor

Elizabeth Des Chenes, Director, Publishing Solutions

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Gangs / Amanda Hiber, book editor.

    pages cm. -- (Issues that concern you)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7377-6294-5 (hbk.)

1. Gangs--United States--Juvenile literature. 2. Juvenile delinquency--United States-Prevention--Juvenile literature. I. Hiber, Amanda, editor of compilation.

    HV6439.U5G35785 2013

    364.106'60973--dc23

2012043871

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 17 16 15 14 13

Introduction

1.   Gang Presence in Suburban Areas Is Rising

Michael B. Mukasey

2.   Girl Gangs Are a Growing Problem in Many

Parts of the World

Dolly

3.   Gang Members Are Infiltrating the US

Military in Increasing Numbers

Matthew A. Roberts

4.   Claims That Gangs Are Infiltrating the US

Military Are Overblown

Max Fisher

5.   Decriminalizing Drugs Would Disempower Gangs

Jerry Paradis

6.   Decriminalizing Drugs Would Not Solve the

Gang Problem in Central America

Ralph Espach

7.   Stopping Illegal Immigration Would Weaken

Hispanic Gangs in the United States

James Walsh

8.   Illegal Immigrants Do Not Commit More

Crimes than Native-Born Americans

Stuart Anderson

9.   The Youth PROMISE Act Would Decrease the

Numbers of Young People in Gangs

Bobby Scott

10. School Counselors Play an Important Role in

Decreasing Gang Membership

Jim Paterson

11. City Parks and Recreation Departments Provide

Young People with Effective Alternatives to

Joining Gangs

Boris Weintraub

12. Christian Organizations Can Transform Gang

Members by Offering Them Second Chances

Robert Brenneman

13. Government Programs Discourage Youth from

Joining Gangs and Reform Current Gang Members

Ely Flores

Appendix

What You Should Know About Gangs

What You Should Do About Gangs

Organizations to Contact

Bibliography

Index

Picture Credits

While gangs may seem like a fairly modern social problem, reports from the 1600s reveal that organized criminal gangs in London vandalized and destroyed property and fought violently with each other. Gangs appear to have emerged in the United States around the time that the American Revolution ended in the 1780s. Despite the existence of street gangs in the United States for more than two centuries, and despite their similar traits across this time, there has also been considerable change within these organizations, as well as in their impacts on society. The most apparent shift in the late twentieth to early twenty-first centuries was in the sheer volume of gang members. There was a sharp increase in gang presence and activity from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, followed by a decline up until 2000 or so, when the rates began to rise again. In its National Gang Threat Assessment, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported a 40 percent increase in gang members in the United States between 2009 and 2011.

One of the most prominent changes in the operations of US gangs has been their geographical expansion. Most people associate gangs with large cities, and historically this association has been accurate. According to the National Gang Center, nearly half of the large cities in the United States report that they have experienced gang problems since before the 1990s. But that decade brought a dramatic rise in gang presence in nonurban areas: Suburban counties saw a 42 percent increase, small cities saw a 38 percent increase, and rural counties saw a 34 percent increase during the 1990s. Gangs have spread beyond large cities for a few reasons: first, simply to add territory (and often, more affluent customers) to yield higher profits. But some migration has simply happened because gang members moved to the suburbs with family, and their criminal operations moved with them.

In addition to broadening their territories, gangs in the United States have become involved in a broader spectrum of criminal activity. Gangs have historically been known for their drug and weapons distribution, and while this continues to be a mainstay, they have become increasingly active in white-collar crimes such as counterfeiting, identity theft, and mortgage fraud. These activities appeal to gangs because they tend to bring higher profits and less visibility than trafficking of drugs or weapons. Gangs’ involvement in prostitution, human smuggling, and trafficking has also increased. In 2011 federal, state, and local law enforcement officials in at least thirty-five states and US territories reported that gangs in their jurisdictions were involved in one or more of these crimes.

As perhaps a cause and effect of the diversification of criminal activity, gangs have become much more closely aligned with transnational criminal organizations, particularly drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). These relationships have allowed gangs to work at a much higher level of the drug distribution hierarchy. Instead of obtaining their products from third parties, they are now purchasing them directly from the drug cartels. According to the National Gang Threat Assessment, the vast majority of DTOs that US gangs are affiliated with originate in Mexico. This is not surprising, given that Mexican DTOs control the production of most illegal drugs in the United States. While their relationships with larger criminal organizations have brought US gangs higher profits and greater power, they have also resulted in an increase in kidnapping, assaults, robberies, and homicides along the US-Mexico border.

Law enforcement authorities at various levels have attempted to rise to the challenges posed by increased and broader gang presence and activity. Several different organizations and programs have been set up since 2000 to gain and share information and to develop strategies for dealing with the changing face of gangs in the United States. For instance, in 2005 the FBI opened the National Gang Intelligence Center, a repository for information on gangs from various federal, state, and local law enforcement entities. That same year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement initiated Operation Community Shield to combat the growth of transnational gangs.

The ten most-wanted gang members are displayed for the press by the Los Angeles Police Department. Criminal gangs are not a new phenomenon, though their tactics change with the times.

At the same time that law enforcement authorities have combined and strengthened their resources to target gang activity, gangs are using increasingly sophisticated tactics to elude these authorities. Since police organizations commonly rely on indicators of gang membership such as tattoos, gang signs, and colors, many gangs have either stopped using these markers or modified them. There has also been an increase in hybrid gangs, which defy many commonly held beliefs about gangs. Hybrid gangs are composed of members of more than one race or ethnicity, and they may display colors, signs, and graffiti of different gangs and even switch affiliations from one gang to another. Another historically predictable trait of gangs has been their unmitigated rivalries with other gangs. But as gangs have begun working with transnational organizations, they have started collaborating with rival gangs for the profit of all parties; this is especially common among prison gangs, a relatively new trend in and of itself. The most disturbing strategy employed by numerous gangs in the United States is to infiltrate law enforcement and military organizations. The National Gang Intelligence Center has reported that gang members in at least fifty-seven jurisdictions have applied for or gained employment in judicial, police,