The Effect of Gangs in There Are No Children Here Essay -- There are N

The Effect of Gangs in There argon no.Children Here Throughout There Are No Children Here, a continuous, powerful tension always lurks in the background. The gangs that are rampant in the housing projects of Chicago cause this tension. In the Henry Horner Homes, according to Kotlowitz, aneness person is beaten, shot, or stabbed due to gangs every three days. In one week during the authors study of the projects, police confiscated 22 guns and 330 grams of cocaine in Horner only when (Kotlowitz 32). For the children of the projects, the pressure to get together a gang never waivers. Quick cash and protection are hard forces to resist in a terra firma of poverty and violence. However, the childrens role in these gangs is inferior to that of the leaders. At first, the concept of connectedness is quite attractive. According to Lafeyette, one of the two brothers profiled in the book, When you first join you think its good. Theyll buy you what you want (31). However, You have to do anything they tell you to do. If they tell you to blot out somebody, you have to do that (31). What Lafeyette refers to is frighteningly true. In the inner city, gangs often repossess young children to do their dirty work. Shortly after joining, a fourteen-year-old acquaintance of Lafayettes allegedly shoots and kills an older man in an alley half a block north of Lafayettes building (31). Acording to Kotlowitz, life in the Henry Horner Homes is controlled to a great extent by gangs, particularly the Conservative Vice Lords. Residents so fear and respect the Vice Lords control that they refuse to call 911 (34). Snitching bottomland get a resident killed. Even though the Chicago natural law Department installed a hot-line number and promise confidentia... ...rime, Social Forces, Vol. 75 No. 2 December 1996, pg. 619-645. Lo, Chun-Nui, A Social Model of Gang link Violence, Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology, Vol 19 no. 1, whitethorn 1991, pg. 36-43. Osgood, Wayne et al., Routine Activities and Deviant Behavior, American Sociological Review, Vol. 61 no. 4, swaggering 1996, pg 635-655. Brantley, Gangs, Vol.63, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, May 1,1994, pp1-8 (Article) Kennedy, Leslie and Stephen Baron, Routine Activities And A Subculture Of Violence A determine Of Violence On The Street, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 30 No. 1, Febuary 1993, pp. 88-112 (Journal) Lo, Chun-Nui (Celia), A Social Model Of Gang-Related Violence, Free Inquiry In Creative Sociology, Vol 19 No 1, May1991, pp. 36-43 (Journal) Shakur, Sanyika, Monster The Autobiography Of An L.A. Gang Member,Penguin set aside Ltd., 1993