英语小论文Gangs in America.docx

1、英语小论文Gangs in AmericaGangs in America Qujin Abstract: This paper concerns the gangs in America, which intends to analyze the history, culture, classification, and harmfulness of the gangs that has been causing a lot of problems in the United States, in order to expose a dark aspect of American socie

2、ty and show that the gangs appeared when the nation was founded and it is very hard for the United States government to put an end to the gangs.Key Words: Gang, Origin, Immigrants, Development, Crime, Large Cities, and Unavoidable1 Introduction This paper shows the American gang issue in the aspects

3、 of the origin of the gangs including the cause of the early gangs and some information about the first gangs, the development of the gangs consisting of the characteristics of the gangs, the types of the gangs, and three major gangs cities. There are some information and classification of the Chine

4、se gangs, and other similar notorious organizations in the US. And this paper is written to make a conclusion about the future of the gangs according to what we have showed and collected.2 Origins2.1 Immigration There have been a large number of immigrants in the United States known as “melting pot”

5、. Among the immigrants, in order of priority, the Irish, Italian, African, Mexican, and Chinese have their own gangs in America, which have taken up a large proportion of all the gangs.2.2 Problem After many Europeans migrated to the East coast of America for a better life, the savings of them was q

6、uickly depleted and many were forced to take out loans with local merchants and colonization companies, who charged steep interest rates. Life for the migrants was more difficult than they imagined. Many of them died due to poverty and disease. And there were also many who died orphaning their child

7、ren. It became a common problem in many cities that there is no money to send the children back to their homeland and not any relative to care for them in America. At the same time, some immigrants formed some certain kind of clubs as a means of self-protection. Then lots of immigrants and the orpha

8、ned children got involved in the clubs. And the clubs began bigger and bigger.2.2 The Early Gangs In the late 1800s, some of the big clubs formed the early gangs in the US. Irish gangs like the Whyos, Dead Rabbits, and Plug Uglies terrorized streets of New York City. The most notorious gang during t

9、his era formed in New York during the late 1890s and early 1900s. This gang was called Five Points Gang, because its home turf was situated in the Five Points section of lower Manhattan, changed the mold of the American outlaw.3 Developments3.1 Characteristics One of the earliest and most frequently

10、 definition of a gang is made by Thrasher (1927). Thrasher defined a gang as a group that forms spontaneously and without any special attachment to existing parts of society. Gangs tend to have many common characteristics. Residence is a common component. Most gangs will be formed in cities. Another

11、 common Characteristic in gangs is the age of their members. Gangs are mostly comprised of teenagers or young adults in their early twenties. Gender can also be considered among the common characteristics. Gangs tend to be male dominated. Millens (1975) national study found that over 90% of gang mem

12、bers were male. At last, gangs very often reflect their ethnic composition. There are gangs that are formed based on their ethnicity such as the Latin Kings and the Chinese gangs.3.2 Types of Gangs It should be noted that there are in fact different type of gangs. Not all gangs are the same. And for

13、 this reason, their businesses are for different purposes. One kind of classification is that there are three types described by Taylor as follow. (1) Scavenger: Social and violent gangs (2) Territorial: Organized around defending a particular territory (3) Corporate: Similar to criminal gangs Fagan

14、 took it one step further and described four types as follow.(1) Characterized by low rates of illegal behavior and drug use(2) Characterized by low rates of illegal behavior other than vandalism, drug use, and drug sales, also is called “serious delinquent” gangs(3) Involved in most forms of illega

15、l behavior, but only moderately involved in hard drug use and drug sales, also is called “party gangs”(4) Heavily involved in all forms of illegal behavior, including hard drug use and drug sales, and is highly cohesive and organizedThe different types of gangs range from the social to the criminal,

16、 and have different agendas.3.3 Three Major Cities3.3.1 Brief View Gangs are usually found in large cities. They have been flourished as well as the large cities. New York, Chicago and Los Angeles are most typical among all the cities. The number of gangs in the three cities has been always ranked o

17、n the top. For example, in 1900s, there were approximately 2,000 gangs in the whole country while there were about 1,500 gangs in the three cities. That is to say, the number of gangs in the three cities took up about 75% of the country.3.3.2 New York As the place of origin, New York has an importan

18、t position in American gang history. Besides the Five Point Gang, there was another big gang at the same time. That is the Forty Thieves Gang operated as professional murderers, smugglers, burglars and pickpockets. In 1825, the Forty Thieves Gang and many other youth gangs caused New York City offic

19、ials to announce their city had a gang problem. By the 1850s, gangs such as the Plug Uglies Gang, the Dead Rabbits and the Chichesters Gang were formed which were established by the Irish and Italian. At the same time, the gang problem was virtually described as an Irish and Italian problem. Then th

20、e gangs in New York spread and influenced other cities like Chicago. Since 1900s, because the Irish and Italian have not considered second-class citizens and the government has taken some strong actions, the gang problem in New York seems less serious. But there are still some African, Chinese and M

21、exican gang crimes heard in New York.3.3.3 Chicago Chicago is considered as the largest gang cities in America. Gangs have been classically viewed as a by-product of social disorganization, the weakness of traditional institution, like the school, to replace the lost primary networks of the traditio

22、nal world. Race profoundly shaped the history and contours of Chicagos gangs. While other ethnic groups were on the ladder of assimilation, African Americans were crowded into the south side “Black Belt”. As WW brought more and more African American into Chicago to find work, tensions rose. In 1919

23、a race riot broke out spearheaded by Irish gangs. In the following years, African Americans would stay segregated, while Europeans did not. Violence met attempts by Black families to move out of apartheid conditions into White areas. Mexican immigrants also came at this time. In the 1920s, Italians

24、replaced the Irish on top of the rackets. The Irish ran the legal politics and the Italians ran the illegal one. They worked together just fine. In 1950s, the spaces of the city began to be more sharply contested, as the number of African American had grown so large. At the same time, most White gan

25、gs faded away. And it can be seen both an involvement of Black and Latin gangs in the underground economy nowadays. Chicago is a gang city. From the European immigrant gangs to African American and Mexican gangs, the Chicagos gangs have institutionalized.3.3.4 Los Angeles Compared with New York and

26、Chicago, Los Angeles is a young gang city but it is the new warm bed for gangs to grow. And it has becoming more and more important in the development of the American gangs. Its history of gangs began after the Westward Movement during 1920s-1930s. At that time, African American and Mexican street g

27、angs began to be formed and became major gangs in Los Angeles. Because there were no Irish and Italian gangs influences in the new city, the city has become the base for Black and Mexican gangs. There are two biggest gangs in Los Angeles. One was the Crip founded in East Los Angeles during 1960s and

28、 1970s. Another is the Pirus first involved in L.A. during 1970s as a Black street gangs that formed for self-protection from the Crips gangs, which predominated this areas. The Pirus were later known as the Blood gangs, because they claimed the color red. Blood gangs began to spread across the US d

29、uring the 1980s, and were frequently portrayed in music, movies and other media formats. There is a tendency that the gang centers begin to move from east coast to west coast of the US with the development of west coast.By the mid 1990s there were an estimated 650,000 gang members in the United Stat

30、es (U.S. Department of Justice 1997), including 150,000 in Los Angeles County.In addition, in 1996 there were over 600 Hispanic gangs in Los Angeles County along with a growing Asian gang force of about 20,000. With gang membership increasing, gang-related homicides in Los Angeles County reached epi

31、demic proportions for black and Hispanic males that represented 93 percent of all gang-related homicide victims from 1979 to 1994 (Hutson, et al. 1995). From 1985 to 1992, gang-related homicides had increased in each of the eight consecutive years.4. Chinese Gangs4.1 Formation For self-protection, C

32、hinese gangs began to form in various American urban centers in the mid 1960s. They rapidly expanded in the 1970s. It seems these gangs were more like martial arts clubs. When one considers the gang problem that exists in the US, very often the Chinese gangs receive little attention. It was not until serious gang shoot-outs erupted in Chinese communities, were they given much attention. Since the mid-1980s, Asian gangs have become a major force in the illicit drug trade in the US. Asian gangs, primarily of Chinese origin, operate on both coasts as significant players in internat