Intro Sociology Paper Essay Example

Intro Sociology Paper Essay Example Intro Sociology Paper Essay Intro Sociology Paper Essay Through Gang Gun Violence and Prevention of It Gang violence has been causing problems in America since at least the latter half of the 20th century. Many cities are subject to have large gangs and this by no meaner is a good thing. To name a few cities New York, Los Angels, and Detroit have been known to be grounds for all different sorts of gangs. Whether it is a biker gang such as the Hells Angels, or an African American street gang such as the Bloods or Crisps, all across America we are seeing the concerns over crime rate increase while the rime and murder rate have gone down. Chicago is one of the biggest cities to have been prominent on recent increase in gang violence. Most people blame inner-city violence in Chicago on the existence of gangs. But I think that the murder rate remains high in Chicago because of the amount of illegal firearms in circulation. Thus, I hypothesize that a decrease in the number of illegal weapons will result in a decrease in the murder rate. Criminals with no prior gun experience that participate in violent gang activities have caused the murder rate to increase twenty five percent n the last year (Venerates, 2012). According to the article Understanding Kids, Gangs and Guns by Sudsier Venerates (2012), since 2001 over 5,000 deaths caused by shootings have placed Chicago over the 2,000 deaths of soldiers in the war on Afghanistan. Sudsier states, that for decades he thinks that efforts to stop gun violence are not as efficient as they should be. He found that young gang members have large arsenals of weapons with little to no training on how to use them. The gang members however, do not care. The sole purpose of gun possession by the gang members was to intentionally harm an enemy. Unfortunately, during these gunfights the stray bullets from the reckless shooting end up striking bystanders, which severely injure or possibly kill them as well. It is clear that the gang bangers for the most part, do not own legal licenses to carry such firearms. In order for them to obtain weapons they have to illegally purchase them from gun-runners, who are peddlers of guns from legal owners to illegal buyers. This however, only covers how sixty percent of gang members obtain their guns. The other forty percentile are known to have received firearms from friends, family and other gang members. Many strategies have been put into effect to try and slow down and eventually stop these gun related crimes. According to Vengeances article (2012), a useful strategy used by many cities along with Chicago is the gun buy back program. A $100 gift card is handed to individuals in exchange for bringing a real gun. Many B guns and replica guns have been returned too but the money was for strictly real guns. This particular strategy however, did not severely decrease Chicago crime rate. The main purpose of this program was to show the society that the police were using a more sieve-aggressive attempt at taking guns off the streets. A criminologist from Boston by the name of David M Kennedy (National Institute of Justice, 1995) introduced the and gang members about the subject of firearms. This program caused an extreme decline in crime rates and was soon immediately used in other cities. However, different views on this approach have led some police chiefs to be more hesitant than others on agreeing to this method. Many feel that it will become a sort of charity event and that philanthropy and law enforcement should not mix. One of the big here sociologists, Emilee Drummers played a large role in crime understanding and social deviance. He argues that deviance is the state of departing from usual or accepted standards, especially in social behavior. This could include criminal acts and anything that deviates from societys norms. Deuteriums view on crime was considerably different than others views. His point of view was that crime serves a social function and that crime, to a certain degree is good for society. Once again, the crimes that Drummers is referring to are small deviances. He saw crime and deviance as necessary elements in modern society. Drummers was a firm believer that all deviance stems from anomie, which is when social norms lose their hold over an individuals behavior. Anomie exists when no clear standards to monitor behavior are seen in any given area of social life. Coming from this point of view on the topic of Chicago crime rate, this is not the type of social deviance that is good for society. Anomie is clearly shown in the gang violence causing murders. This also goes against Deuteriums theory of organic solidarity. This is the social cohesion that results from the various parts of a society functioning as a whole. Murder Just may be one of the biggest examples of corruption of organic solidarity because it is causing people to kill others which effects how a society functions as a whole. One example of a situation that would follow Deuteriums view of crime is stated in the textbook. Neighborhood residents that are faced with a drug related murder in theyre neighborhood might Join together in the aftermath and commit to making the area as a drug free zone. (Giddiness, p. 194) According to a third source, our class textbook (Giddiness 2012). One section explains how media coverage of rising crime rates play a ole on focusing on the moral breakdowns of young people and highlights the deviant acts. Such as vandalism, truancy and drug use to illustrate the social tolerance o f young crime. Other youths, not only gang members can lead the public to think of all young people as some sort of deviant human. For example the Columbine shootings was a massacre covered by the media and all the attention has led many to perceive that all young adults are monsters. To some youngsters, they might like this sort of attention. This type of media coverage placed on young people may persuade some individuals to the road of gang life. Often young children from minority groups see these criminals as famous, and they would love to be famous like them. Others may have grown up in the lifestyle already. Typically raised by either one, or both parents that were gang affiliated. To all the young ones, this is all they knew. They saw family members and friends in the media and wanted to follow in the footsteps even if they were in a negative light. As we previously read, this source also states that while more attention was being put on children and the crimes they were committing. The fact on how easily these youths obtained firearms were not ally brought into the light. An article titled Truth in numbers: Former gang members discuss the reality of Chicago rising homicide numbers(2012) we learn estimated 70,000 members make up Chicago gang population. These once organized crime groups, over time have splintered into these smaller more corrupt gangs and have since doubled the numbers of conflicts within communities. Former gang member Benny Lee says there is now a total lack of accountability on the streets. Lee was once a gang leader of Chicago Vice Lords; he also goes on to say there was always members of the gang keeping you in check. Even tough he was a leader of a gang; it was a smaller gang that belonged to the Vice Lord nation. Once Lee starting making regular appearances to prison, he noticed a negative change in the gang life. Every time he returned home the streets seemed a little worse, these older gang members who were keeping everyone in the gang community in check, were disappearing. The loss of these leaders has caused the gang world today to spiral out of control. We see gangs killing Just to kill with no responsibility for anything. There are a lot of gangs out these running wild doing whatever they want cause they dont have a true leader. Unlike the vice lords of Benny Lees day, gangs today are much more violent and younger than ever. Causing what seems like a youth gang epidemic in the streets of Chicago and many other cities. Getting guns off of the street reduces violent crime. Although many efforts have been put out and are still being carried out today, murder due to illegal firearms is still prominent. Personally, a proposed approach I would take would be similar to the ceasefire program. Instead of the city spending millions on buy-back and advertisements on UN policies I think some money should go to former gang members, such as Benny Lee. Individuals who are willing to fight back against young, violent gang crimes by telling their stories and informing these future criminals about the consequences of these actions. It is nearly impossible to keep illegal gunrunners off of the street, but I also believe that a different approach can be taken to the streets to slow down these suppliers. In conclusion, by creating a program to severely decrease the number of illegal firearms in circulation we should see a large decline in violent gang crimes in many cities.