Crime

If you city is of any respectable size, it likely has some sort of gang problem. While this may seem like some sort of local issue they tend to a global reach, either through associates or by being a chapter of a larger gang. Gangs are not a new issue, sure they may look and act differently from gangs one hundred years ago but they essence remains the same. I am not an expert on the subject but from my observations of human organization we seem to generally be a pack animal- we tend to organize our selves into groups and as little as we would like to admit it these groups share similarities with wolves, chimpanzees and other pack animals. When you strip down the complications things like spoken and written language these our groups have the same basic dynamics as any other pack animal. The more dangerous or shitty our lives are the more dependant we become on our friends, family or members of our group.

The city I grew up in has for the past few years been facing a gang problem. While this has been somewhat beneficial to the local news broadcasters- providing them with nightly eye-catching, interesting and titillating tales to tell to their oh so willing (including myself) viewers. When the shootings first started, most of us tolerated them acting like we wished they would stop wile secretly enjoying our own local nightly CSI. Five years on the gang activity in Calgary has become some reality show we are sick of (like survivor) and can’t wait till it is canceled.

The situation has become too real- the gangsters are shooting each other in public places were we would like to frequent and on our roads! All helping to turn our formerly friendly city into the cut-throat boomtown it has become. The Gangsterism on our streets is just one of the obvious symbols of a sick city. It distracts from the other equally damaging aliments Calgary is facing. Some people seem to think that if we get rid of the gangsters the city will once again become a pleasant place and are looking for a fast simple solution. Many of the Gangsters involved in shooting each other and the occasional bystander or witness originally came from Vietnam or from a Vietnamese Canadian family (in recent years they have expanded beyond this demographic. This is not to say that it is because of the ‘foreigners’). So one of the simple solutions seems to be send them back where they came from deport he criminals from our country. But we must ask the question if this is the right thing to do?

I recently watched a BBC program on El Salvador’s gang problem the focused on the 18^th street gang who are originally from Los Angeles. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMqVd0PAm4Q&feature=related ) Under the Clinton administration (and I’m assuming the trend has continued) the founding members of the gang and their rival gang MS were deported to their country of birth El Salvador. Once there they resumed their turf war recruiting local youths. The gangster problem of LA multiplied exponentially and has bloomed into something much larger. In El Salvador the government has a separate prison for each gang as their rivalry is so intense and their numbers are so large. Instead of acting like a correctional facility the prison acts like a university for gangsters; a common thing in prison but it is explicit the case.

Gang busting is not an easy job, gangs create a parallel society and reality. Like pirates in days of yore gangs can provide disadvantages individuals with the opportunity to become very powerful and enjoy riches, family and a sense of belonging they would not otherwise have. Once someone has entered a gang they are basically committed for life. Not only is there a sense of obligation to the gang, the more you are connected you become the more dependant on it you become. Much of Gang activity is illegal so it is hard to resume regular a law abiding life after. For starters your fellow gangster may not want you to depart with secrets and the police and regular citizens will hold prejudice against you if you manage to break free; thus creating a wider gap than had existed before. This is a problem for criminals in general how can they become ‘respectable’ citizens after they have started down the road of criminality. Obviously some criminals do not deserve to rejoin civil society as they do not want to live with in our social norms and are content or compelled to pray on others; however some people have been forced down the road by bad choices and social conditions.

for anther interesting doc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ekqt27CwJqk&feature=related its about Russian criminal's prison tattoos