What Are the Effects of Gang War on the USA?

Gang members bring guns onto the streets, leading to heavy police crackdowns.

From street gangs operating in Los Angeles, such as the Crips and the Bloods, to the neighborhood gangs that have menaced parts of Chicago for years, gang culture has made its mark on America. Conflicts between the various gangs influence social relations between U.S. citizens and politics, affecting the agendas of law enforcement agencies.

Rise in Crime Figures

In some large cities, the presence of gangs and the conflicts that erupt between them account for a worrying rise in crime statistics, in particular violent crime such as homicide. In Los Angeles in 2006, for example, a gradual decrease in crime over the preceding five years was replaced by a 14 percent increase in violent crime attributed to gang wars, as reported in 2007 by the "Christian Science Monitor." Other urban centers have experienced sizable leaps in violence that police have linked to gang warfare. In Atlanta during the 2000s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared the level of homicide among black males between the ages of 15 and 24 to be epidemic, as the Gang War website reports.

Race Relations Deteriorate

Gang wars often erupt between two groups divided by their race. For example, an urban area might include Hispanic gangs, black gangs and white gangs, all competing over the same patches of land. While gang war might occur among these groups for reasons other than racial identity, violence between black and Hispanic gang members, for instance, could escalate into a general souring of relations between the two races in that area. This then extends to civilians who are otherwise unconnected to gangs, who may become angry and blame members of other races as being responsible for gang violence. Gang warfare also fuels campaigns by supremacist groups, as the Gang War website notes, who blame certain races for a rise in violence.

Police Show Force

In areas troubled by gang violence, local law enforcers need to take pro-active measures to crack down on the problem. In many cases, this counterattack involves regular armed patrols in areas affected by gang war, as well as gang prevention initiatives such as investment in youth services and school programs. The result is that armed police presence often increases; as the "Christian Science Monitor" reports, these officers may take to patrolling gang-dominated streets in more numbers and utilizing greater displays of power than usually seen.

Enforcement Spending Increases

Heavy police enforcement is just one of the measures put in place by governments to try and curb gang warfare; other tactics include increasing the length and severity of punishments handed out to those convicted of gang-related crimes, and surveillance activities in areas where gangs are based. These measures all cost plenty of the taxpayer's money; as reported by the Justice Policy Institute in 2007, Los Angeles authorities alone has spent billions of dollars in combating gang wars.

References

• Gang War: Street Gang Dynamics
• Chicago Gangs: Home
• "Christian Science Monitor"; A Friday Night on the Front Lines of L.A.'s Gang Wars; Daniel B. Wood; March 2007
• "Justice Policy Institute Report"; Gang Wars: The Failure of Enforcement Tactics and the Need for Effective Public Safety Strategies; Judith Greene, et al.; 2007