Why do Gangs exist

Los Angeles is considered the Gang Capital of the world

In this Blog Post we discuss all types of gangs, their effect on society, territory maps, gang prevention and suppression efforts, and agencies that combat gangs. Gang members commit a myriad of crimes. They often extort “rent” from businesses, steal cars, deal drugs and commit murders. Latino gangs typically have ties to the Mexican Mafia, an organized criminal enterprise that charges large local gangs with collecting “taxes” from smaller second-tier gangs. Gangs can cover a very large or very small territory; however, no matter the size, they usually have quite a bit of muscle in their respective area. This muscle is derived from the collective strength of several individuals. These individuals use intimidation and violence to impose their will on members of the community and even the community as a whole. To understand gangs you must first understand the definition of a Gang. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a "Gang" as "a group of persons working to unlawful or antisocial ends; especially: a band of antisocial adolescents". Although technically correct, this definition is much too broad to encompass the entire dynamic definition of a gang. Any police officer working a gang infested beat can tell you that the definition of a gang is almost impossible to narrow down to exact wording.

Gang behavior and the reason for it is an extremely complex issue

As complicated as the definition of a gang is, the reasons people join or form a gang is even more confusing. There are several perspectives when it comes to why a youth may join a gang. Some experts believe that a combination of poor parenting and social inequality is a key reason that a young person may join a gang. Others believe it is as simple as a general lack of morality; especially in those areas in which social inequality is in the gang member's favor. However; the most prevalent reason given by gang members themselves that we interviewed here in Los Angeles was "protection". The threat of death heavily outweighed the negative aspects of gang membership. The irony is, however, that the risk of dying increases when a person joins a gang. Once in the gang, a member is held to a certain standard by the leaders of the gang. Certain criminal tasks must be completed or the member faces retribution from the other gang members and is looked upon as a "Buster" or "Leva" and immediately loses respect. This cycle continues and begins to weed out the weak and grow the gang with stronger more violent members. The more violent and aggressive the behavior, the more respect the gang member will get from his peers. A gang member will begin to view his own violent behavior as respectful to his neighborhood, in defense of boundaries, or in the name of expansion (aka: for the set). This neighborhood pride becomes the driving force behind the behavior of gang members. The desire for respect and belonging becomes overwhelming. This sense of belonging and pride at times leads to the death of the gang member in defense of (or the death of a rival gang member in the name of) the neighborhood. Loyalty to "the Hood" will often outweigh any thought of personal preservation if it conflicts with the ideals or preservation of the gang. This thought process tends to lead to a promotion of sorts within the ranks of the gang; the more fearless the member, the more "work" that is put in, the higher the chances of upward mobility. Younger gang members, with the desire to move up quickly, will actually reputation build by purposely initiating events which will gain them notoriety and respect.

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