Gangs Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gangs - Research Paper Example Frederick Thrasher defines a gang as: A gang is an interstitial group, originally formed spontaneously, and then integrated through conflict. It is characterized by the following types of behavior: meeting face to face, milling, movement through space as a unit, conflict, and planning. The result of this collective behavior is the development of tradition, unreflective internal structure, esprit de corps, solidarity, morale, group awareness, and attachment to a local territory (Thrasher 1927). The very definition given by Thrasher gives an elaboration of different aspects of the gangs. The very objectives of the gangs vary from one group to another. Some have political means while some have mere zest of wealth. And these means can only be found in young people so some of them are adult while most of them are not adult or grown up people. And these people have innovative ideas in order to become millionaire just in days. Miller and Vigil says: The association of young people with ille gal and violent activities or crimes is the one which separates them from other violent groups. (Miller 1982, Vigil 1988) From the above statement of Miller and Vigil it is not sure that other people are not going to involve in such activities if they are not young but there is also the possibility of young people to involve in such violent activities. But on the other hand it is true that the young people are known well in doing such illegal acts in the society because there are inherent in their nature and they are inherently associated with these violent actions. Young people are mostly involved in criminal and violent activities and it is inherent in their nature. Most of the illegal or violent activities are associated with young individual gang members but society links them with membership of a gang instead of individual criminal behavior. (Cohen 1990) The extent or degree of crime is not a matter of concern but the major issue revolves around the actions performed by differe nt gangs. Some gangs are involved in drug dealing and this obnoxious business they even don’t hesitate to kill other people. Some are involved in human smuggling and other high violence actions but there are some gangs which are involved only in low level violence. The low level violence covers street gambling, drinking, looting and plundering. All of these violent activities are considered as part of youth gang. These different gangs show that the violent activities and behavior of young people vary from one gang to another gang. There are many different sorts of conflicts which may arise among rival gangs for example there may be the conflicts of area or territory in which they are going to perform their violent activities. During these conflicts the rival groups use different techniques to feat each other like use of knives, fists, sticks and other dangerous weapons like grenades. Gang membership is one of the core or peripheral issues (Klein, 1995). There are some members in a gang which play a vital role in collective activities of a particular group. The involvement in different activities does not effect the membership of an individual because most of the members in a gang