The period between 1988 and 1998 was referred by some people as the death decade since almost a thousand people were murdered every year in Los Angeles. The city of Los Angeles is divided ethnically into three street gang types: Asian, Black, and Hispanic. Sometimes white young gangsters joined Hispanic gangs if their neighborhoods were dominated by that type of gangs. The gangs did not control every neighborhood, however, the ones they run, they terrified. The gangs openly moved drugs in every corner of the town, there were frequent drive-by shootings, and a simple mistake like dressing in wrong T-shirt color on the wrong road could lead to death. These gangs have gained a bad reputation all over Los Angeles. However, although they are reputed badly, not all gangs in Los Angeles are uneducated, violent and disrespectful.
Los Angeles is the home of many minority ethnic groups and has always been known for having many gangs but the current gangs are not as bad as they were before. Even though statistics indicate that the city of Los Angeles has greatly improved in reference to violence there are still few parts of the city where gangs still believe in blight reign and brutality (Roussell" Aaron 815). According to the Pacific Standard Magazine, between 2008 and 2012, there was a decrease of 16% in violent crime in the United States. The magazine also noted a significant drop in crime in the gang zones of Los Angeles; Bell Gardens, 50%; Compton, 30%; and, El Monte 50%. Homicides related to gangs in Los Angeles have decreased by 66.7 % in the last 8 years, and crimes related to the gangs have dropped by 55.3 % from 2005(Roussell" Aaron 816).
Joblessness on the minority ethnic groups’ young people in Los Angeles can be considered as the main cause for gangs’ emergence. These youths feel hopeless, angry, and alienated due to lack of employment and low economic developments in the communities. After completing education, these young people have the idea that their education would help them to successfully get jobs. However, they are later hit with the reality that there does not exist any employment opportunities for them even after completing their studies. This realization causes despair and hopelessness and as it is known, a hopeless person is lost and lacks dreams and loses vision (Roussell" Aaron 816). Consequently, despite being educated, the young people find refuge in joining gangs so as to make a living and feel ‘useful’ in the community.
However, after the introduction of community programs in Los Angeles for the minorities like the African-American and the Latinos, the gangs have significantly reduced and they are no longer as bad as they were before. This is because when a household has a working head, he/she maintains a higher life perception, the feelings of hopelessness are diminished and their children gain confidence in living to 25 years unlike those who have no working adult in the family. Mostly, the youths tries to obtain jobs after their parents or heads of their families already unsuccessfully tried to find a job thus leaving their families financially insecure. Studies indicate that children from poor backgrounds express their despair and hopelessness through irrational decision making and behaviors that could lead to death or even violence(Roussell" Aaron 817).
Some policymakers in Los Angeles County together with community activists suggested a truce between the gangs as an alternative way of settling their disputes instead of relying on police to intervene. This truce has been a resolution of zero violence among different gangs and, it has had a positive effect on the violence levels and other types of criminalities in Los Angeles (Barragan, et al.145).This resolution has significantly reduced violence among the gangs and the cases of violence are hardly reported in the city. They do this by negotiating terms on how to solve disputes among themselves whereby any leader or gang member who do not solve the dispute by using the set norms risks seeming as weak to his fellow gang members or members of the rivaling gangs. This significant step has led to the reduction in violence in Los Angeles.
However, some gangs still believe in violence and as the violence cycle rises, social customs change to the valuation of solving violent conflicts; violence is the most understood and largely available option of settling conflicts. A truce between the gangs involved in the violence should be moderated by a third person. The third party is believed to able to break through such type of violence by offering the involved gangs with a time to cool off during which, less dangerous activities and different behaviors may be developed between and within them. A part of the efforts for gang violence reduction in Los Angeles can be attributed to faith-based societies, the community networking in the city, and the services currently being offered to the gangs in public schools(Barragan, et al. 147). Earlier, gangs were known and feared for their violent activities but recently, things in Los Angeles have changed and little or no gang violence is reported.
In the implementation of intervention programs, the city of Los Angeles not depended on just the suppression strategies but has offered support to the gang members. For instance, Homeboy Industries help to prevent close to one thousand five hundred former convicts from going back to their previous street gangster life for one year. The industry also offers them with services like the removal of tattoos, free legal services, drug abuse canceling, and parenting lessons. With these interventions in place, the community constantly outdoes gangs(Barragan, et al. 150). With this programs and lessons, the gangs are able to treat the community with respect and everyone can live in harmony.
Recently, gangs in Los Angeles have positively changed and they are not as bad as they were eight years ago; most of them are no longer violent or disrespectful, and many are able to attend schools and get a proper education. A change in how to administer discipline to Los Angeles public school children has greatly improved on how the children behave when they grow up. Earlier, children were expelled from schools for defying willingly but after realizing they were just engaging in bigger problems out the school compound, the community introduced many post-school activities, wellness centers, and have placed social workers in universities to assist the defiant children. This has helped many children to reform before breaking the law. It could be seen as an insignificant change, but when combined with other efforts, has assisted in making the city of Los Angeles to be among the top successful municipal stories in the 21st century.
Work Cited
Roussell, Aaron. "Policing the anticommunity: Race, deterritorialization, and labor market reorganization in South Los Angeles." Law " Society Review 49.4 (2015): 813-845.
Barragan, Melissa, et al. "“Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t” Perceptions of Guns, Safety, and Legitimacy Among Detained Gun Offenders." Criminal justice and behavior 43.1 (2016): 140-155.
