Corrupting The Gang Way Research Paper

Jocelyn Espinoza

English 112

Gaumer

April 06 2017 Corrupting the Youth, The Gang Way According to ABC News, in 2012, more people were murdered in Chicago in a year, than in Afghanistan. 61% of these homicides were committed by gangs and around 40% of gang members are juveniles (Rosenzweig). Gang activity has been flourishing since the American Revolution in 1783 (Sante, 1991). Sadly, a great percentage of teenagers have thrived off of this gang activity. Gang activity within the youth is continuing to grow in many places such as Chicago and New York. Gang related homicides have even taken place in small towns such as Lynchburg, Virginia recently. The gang activity that is growing in the Unites States is directing our youth to death

Many street gang members were employed, mostly as common laborers. Some were bouncers in saloons and dance halls, as well as longshoremen. A few were apprentice butchers, carpenters, sailmakers, and shipbuilders. “They engaged in violence, but violence was a normal part of their always-contested environment; turf warfare was a condition of the neighborhood”.

The most popular gangs were: The Smith's Vly gang, the Bowery Boys, the Broadway Boys, the Fly Boys, and the Long Bridge Boys.

Around 1840, gangs began to compete for territory, employment, economic, and political positions. For this reason, many fights broke out among the different races in bars and saloons. Gangs began to be seen as a negative due to all of the violence and fights between rivals. Their focus in their recruits became more about defence, loyalty, and honor. Getting money was one of the biggest goals because of their competition in the economy. As time progressed, they discovered many drugs, such as cocaine, and began to do inside jobs for politicians, which involved murdering people for money. At this time bigger gangs, such as mafias, were introduced in New York

They grow into these gang environments and start at a young age. The sad part is, it's harder for them to let this lifestyle go. Michael grew up around gang activity and with his father not being in his life and his mother being at work the majority of the time, he fell into the trap. His mother seen the negative effect it had in his life and tried to involve him in activities to keep him busy, but he ran right back into the horrid lifestyle. Orlando is Michael's role model and his big brother. Orlando didn’t agree with the lifestyle that Michael was living and after Michael had gotten shot, Orlando decided he needed to separate himself from his brother and stop their communication. Michael now had a child on the way and was trying to get out of his gang ways. He reconnected with his brother aswell.

Gang activity in the United States is destroying our youth. Many great young people are dying because of poor actions influenced by the people around them. Instead of encouraging each other to kill and sell drugs, we should be encouraging each other to find jobs and do well in school. Creating opportunities for the youth through education, sports, and fun activities can help get a lot of kids off of the streets and into the right