1992 Los Angeles riots

Teens join gangs for a variety reasons from families, schools, friends, to what city they live in. Gangs are everywhere, even some of the nicest cities. Peer pressure, family, protection, and boredom are the main reasons I noticed that teens join gangs. In reflecting upon my own adolescence and witnessing teens joining gangs, I believe that all these reasons are closely associated. It seems as though gangs have no boundaries it affects the poor and the rich, small towns, suburbia, and some of…

Original Gangstas is a film that shows the formation of gangs in Gary, Indiana through either social disorgianazation theory or underclass theory. The films centers primarily around black subculture and gangs. A key theme of the film is that the community must use the same violence as gangs do, if they want to get of the gangs. Original Gangstas was directed by Larry Cohen (1996) and is a Blaxploitation film, a type of film genre that cast black actors in low budget films that would target a…

The extremes of gang violence and racism in our country were brought to light in the movie “The Freedom writers.” The main characters of this movie were just students, starting high school as freshmen. Ironically, they had already faced challenges in their lives that most people could never even imagine. This resulted in their tough outlook on life, and involvement in gang violence. To add to the mess, the gangs were strongly divided on racial lines. This separated the students, and even brought…

Trying to address the question of why youth join gangs requires the examination of multiple factors, and preferably, multiple theories. Social disorganization theory explains that the place where an individual grows up matters – disordered neighborhoods lead youth to join gangs. Due to its overemphasis on disorganization within neighbourhoods, however, social disorganization theory is not able to assess every factor that causes youth to join gangs. In this paper, I argue that youth join gangs…

organizations such as gangs and the crime rates? We see this occurring all around the world marking gangs as the number one problem to the situation. As a result we see many laws emerging across the country that focus on the gang “social problem”. Los Angeles, California is one of the largest cities known for the implement of gang injunctions and home to the deleterious battle among gangs ( the effects by). Whittier, California can be a prime…

There are many social theories and concepts. Yet there are some that are very noticeable in the movie, Freedom Writers. The lives of these students are very difficult. Since the neighborhoods they lived in were very rough, deviance and crime were very common factors that were involved in their lives as gang members. As one character once stated in the movie. To be a member of the gang is not to protect yourself but also protect your fellow “Brother”, in other words meaning the other gang…

Teaching Justice “You can’t handle the truth!”, this infamous line from A Few Good Men is what sparked my interest in the court room as a young child. I watched this movie in amazement that someone could have so much passion in the job they worked in, something so foreign and unfamiliar to me. My childhood consisted of crime television shows more than cartoons which only increased my desire to look for a career in the courtroom. As I became more aware of the legal struggle of my people, I…

Groups are dynamic arrangements that are always existent in society and have a strong connection with identity and behaviours (Turner et al, 1987). There are many groups that are associated with youth, including; football hooligans, political and educational, friends and peers and charities. It has been said that social identity can have an effect on the behaviour of a group (Crisp and Turner, 2010). The term street gang is best described as a number of people who form a group, who all have…

Another thought that I have been considering is continuing my education by pursuing a Master of Social Work (MSW). There are several Universities that I have been considering. If I were to apply, I will apply to USC, UCLA and Cal State University Los Angeles. It is very possible for me to continue my education to get an MSW because there are different options available such as the…

California is one of the most culturally diverse states, however, Los Angeles cultural influence is dominant. The mix of racial and ethnic groups is equally diverse. In southern California there is an abundance of people, money, stores, freeways, houses, along with violence and pollution. The large population of Southern…