Statistical Trends of Violent Crimes in the US
Violent crimes result from hostility between offenders and victims of the offenses. The crimes become gang violence when the conflict between offenders and victims involves groups of people with similar intent. Since criminal gangs threaten the security and order of various communities, evaluating their activities is critical for the management of societies’ safety. The assessment is a necessary element for developing the security systems of communities.
The threat of gangs to neighborhoods manifests in the trends of their crimes. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), identifying gang members is necessary for individuals to evaluate the significance of their threats to communities. This ability allows law enforcement agencies to differentiate between gang-related and unrelated crimes. From 1992 to 2008, 5% of violent crime victims identified their offenders as gang members. Meanwhile, 4 out of 10 victims of violent crimes were uncertain about their offenders’ membership in gangs. Moreover, males and Hispanic victims respectively had more reports of violations from gang members than women and non-Hispanics victims (BJS). These findings imply that the lives of male Hispanics are the best sources of data for analyzing gang crimes.
Functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives demonstrate variable attributes about gang crimes in the United States. Structural functionalism uses a macro perspective to evaluate gang crimes in America. The approach portrays the gangs as platforms for nurturing criminal behavior. Gangs manifest this function by developing reputations of encouraging their members to commit various crimes (Muncie 3). Contrarily, the Conflict perspective portrays gang crimes in the United States to be the consequence of competition for resources and power. The gangs demonstrate this argument by killing individuals from rival groups over the control of territories (Siegel and Welsh 342). The symbolic interactionist perspective portrays gang crimes as symbolic activities. For instance, the approach portrays crimes such as assault of gang members as signs for the demand for respect from rival groups (Siegel and Welsh 342). Although the three perspectives develop different theories about gang violence in the United States, their findings are not mutually exclusive.
Police, courts, and prisons collaborate in managing gang crimes in the country. The police manage the issue by either preventing gang crimes through deterrence or arresting the offenders. Deterrence ends the government’s conflict with gang members while the arrests mandate the police to take crime suspects to court (Siegel and Welsh 506). Presenting them in court allows the judges to assess their involvement in crimes and sentence them if they are guilty (Siegel and Welsh 545). Imprisonment is the last stage for convicted gang members to correct their behavior. The institutions offer multiple programs for convicts to achieve behavior changes. The roles of the three institutions imply that they have to collaborate for them to be effective in their duties.
Structural functionalism and conflict perspectives are necessary for developing a plan for gang crimes. Structural functionalism is vital in preventing the function of gangs as platforms for nurturing criminals. For instance, the elimination of groups of various drug cartels allows the government to stop the trafficking and sale of drugs in different regions. This measure limits the cases of gang-related violence over the control of gang territories. Besides, the conflict perspective is vital for reducing the motivation for gangs to commit crimes. For instance, the government can eliminate the competition for territories among gangs by providing alternative sources of income for the members. Since this measure reduces the dependence of individuals on drug business as their sole source of income, the strategy prevents crime such as the killing of rival members due to competition for territories.
In conclusion, the evaluation of gang violence in the United States is necessary for the government to develop effective security systems for various communities in the country. The assessment reveals proper sources, theories, law enforcement, and plans for reducing gang crimes in the United States. These findings imply that researchers in law enforcement fields should join current professionals such as the police, courts, and prisons in managing the issue.
Works Cited
Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Gangs.” Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=36.
Muncie, John. Youth and Crime. SAGE Publications, 2009.
Siegel, Larry J., and Brandon C. Welsh. Juvenile Delinquency: Theory, Practice, and Law. Cengage Learning, 2014.