American Street Gang Problem Is Term Paper

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 969 words ( 3 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 5

Page 1 of 3



Deglamorizing American Street Gangs

Social researcher and author Deborah Lamm Weisel (2002) says that the glamorized image of the American street gang as drug dealers is not the image that is consistent with historical research (Lamm Weisel 75).

The drug gang} is certainly not a typical street gang... They didn't even grow out of a street gang. These kids started out to make money by pedaling crack and that is a very different phenomenon than street gangs (Knox 66) (Lamm Weisel 75)."

Lamm Weisel has gone back to the essence of the historical gangs that go back to the earliest immigrants who carved out sections of neighborhoods for themselves using coercion and violence to maintain territorial boundaries. However, it is easy to disagree with Knox, because for decades now street gangs have been associated with the violence and trafficking of illegal drugs.

In a journal article by John M. Hagedorn (2006), the social scientist-writer examines a century of street gang activity in Chicago (Hagedorn 194). Hagedorn writes:

It is an enduring, progressive insight of the "Chicago School" of sociology that criminal behavior is not a racial characteristic, as nativists, klansmen, and racists of all stripes might claim.

Stuck Writing Your "American Street Gang Problem Is" Term Paper?

View All Our Example American Street Gang Problem Is Term Paper

Have A Custom Example Essay Written

Rather, the Chicagoans' doctrine stressed that violence, gangs, crime, and other "social dislocations" are primarily consequences of the intersection of urban ecology and social stratification. For example, "gangs," said the Chicago School's founder Robert E. Park, sprouted in the "city wilderness" without regard to race, creed, or color (Hagedorn 194)."

Hagedorn says that the concept of a racially blind street gang is a myth, and that in fact street gangs have been influenced by a "deep-seated" racism (Hagedorn 194). This difference in professional and historic opinion demonstrates how much we do not understand about street gangs, other than the violence that is printed in American newspapers daily. There is much more research that needs to be done in order to better understand the problem of street gangs in America. Without the understanding, there is no way to address the problem other than through law enforcement, which is an after-the-fact solution. Overcrowded American jails are testimony to the fact that law enforcement on its own is failing to curtail the problem of street gangs in America.

Works.....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"American Street Gang Problem Is" (2008, May 14) Retrieved May 18, 2024, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/american-street-gang-problem-29844

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"American Street Gang Problem Is" 14 May 2008. Web.18 May. 2024. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/american-street-gang-problem-29844>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"American Street Gang Problem Is", 14 May 2008, Accessed.18 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/american-street-gang-problem-29844
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example