As I began reading this chapter on fighting gangs in Urban Issues, the first thing that came to mind was that I take a lot for granted. I have lived in a decently safe neighborhood in Queens from the time I moved to New York and I also attended schools and now college in relatively safe neighborhoods as well. Hence, it never really occurred to me how big of a problem gangs really are in the United States. According to Urban Issues, gangs have posed a serious threat in the United States especially as the number of gang related crimes are on the rise. This is particularly due to social media which makes it much easier for gang leaders to recruit new members. It was quite surprising to me how there is an increase in the number of women and girls who are involved in gangs since police are least likely to suspect women as criminals. It was even more surprising to me that some of them actually take up leadership roles in gangs. It was also surprising to me that military bases also have gang related activity especially dealing with prostitution. In addition, one thing I found interesting was that prison gangs tend to operate street affiliated gangs from inside their institutions. This is supporting evidence that there needs to be even stricter security in prison facilities to prevent gang related operations. However, there will always be limitations in how much guards can see and scrutinize.

One major systematic flaw I noticed from reading this chapter was the fact that sometimes crimes are reported as “gang-related” even when they aren’t since states receive extra funding to fight gang crime through state and federal programs. This seemed corrupt to me but at the same time maybe the funding that states receive in the first place to deal with their current gang situation isn’t merely enough and so they find the need to “trick” the system. However, when they do “trick” the system, it’s unclear whether or not a gang problem actually does exist or they’re just doing it to get additional resources, as Urban Issues states. To fix this discrepancy, I think the federal government should come up with a more defined provision of gang related activity that is applicable to all states and the state government should come up with its own.

Another issue I found quite interesting was the use of injunctions to stop gangs. According to Urban Issues, injunctions restore neighborhoods by clearing out gangs that intimidate residents. However, I think injunctions don’t exactly fix the problem. This is due to the fact that affiliates in gangs can easily move elsewhere and start up their gang there and at which point gang activity would have been displaced and not stopped as was intended. The solution therefore to stop gangs in communities, is to provide more resources and greater job opportunities so that people wouldn’t have a reason to turn to gangs in the first place. The main cause of gangs in neighborhoods is poverty and to combat this issue, there should be more programs that stress the importance of education and facilities that offer vocational training.