7 min read · Jun 1, 2022
Gang-related violence continues to threaten the well-being of citizens residing in urbanized areas and can be easily attested as being one of the major urban social problems cities have endured throughout history. Plaguing city streets with violence, an interview conducted by Scott H. Decker (1996) seeking to identify the centrality of violence to gang life found that drugs, violence, killing or murder, assault, and robbery were all forms of deviant behaviour mentioned numerous times by gang members throughout their interview. With this in mind, one can further analyze gang violence as an urban social problem by examining a specific city in particular. Notorious for the high prevalence of crime and gang-related activity, in this essay I will discuss the city of Compton, California in terms of its gang-related violence both historically, generally, and theoretically, how the problem has been confronted by city officials, and concluding with commentary regarding this social problem.
To begin, before explaining Compton’s gang-related violence, it is important to acknowledge the city’s history as a means of explaining how these conditions have arised. With the cities Black population subject to heinous forms of racial discrimination and segregation, this originally led to the subsequent formation of gangs to protect the civil rights of their fellow Black counterparts (Saunders 2019). Comprised largely of a European American population, racism thrived as seen through the barring of African Americans from owning property and limiting of occupational opportunities that allowed for slim job selection (Saunders 2019). Eventually, with Compton being one of the first cities to allow racial minorities to move into its homes, this caused the white population to leave, creating lost revenue for city businesses and segregation amongst education and housing, thus increasing racial hostility (Saunders 2019). In 1970, with seventy percent of the city’s population identifying as Black, the rivalry between two Compton high schools led to the formation of factions, known as the Crip’s and the Pirus’s, who would go back in forth in murdering rival gang members or their family members (Saunders 2019). Thus, how Compton came to be known as a “gang-ridden city” has a complex, yet important history that helps explain its current situation concerning its gang problem.
After reviewing Compton’s origins of gang violence, one can come to define it to get a better sense of the social problem at hand, provide reasoning for its occurrence, and illustrate its effect on city residents. The US Legal (2022) definition of gang violence is described as “Criminal and non-political acts of violence committed by a group of people who regularly engage in criminal activity against innocent people” (1). Pervading urban cities such as Compton, California, Alonso (2013) found that above all else, “Racialization and disenfranchisem*nt of Black youths in specific geographic locales was a driving force behind initial gang formation…” (669). Notably, this finding is supported by the history of the city as previously discussed, whereby both the oppression and systemic racism imbued within law and legislation caused Compton’s residents to conform to gang life. Not exclusive to Compton, the desire to join a gang lies in one’s hopes of discovering a sense of belonging or excitement, as a method of survival, “Or to gain ‘respect’ or ‘status’ among their age group” (Why do People Join? 2022:1). Fasting forward to today, Compton, “The town of about 10.1 square miles, has experienced peaks and declines in violence over the decades and gangs are responsible for a significant portion of these violent crimes” (Relf 2014:4). Consequently, if the effects of gang violence on Compton civilians were not already made evident through the fact that “Gangs made up one hundred percent of killings in the city by July of 2013” (Relf 2014:4), gang violence bread for greater likelihood of crime occurring in “Public places, and to involve more weaponry and more lethal weapons… The victims are more likely to be either ‘accidental…” (Klein, Thornberry, Weerman 2006:415), making gang violence a harsh reality that threatens the well-being of Compton citizens.
Considering this explanation, one can also approach this question from a theoretical perspective as a means of describing the occurrence of gang violence. Coming about through research, Shaw and McKay coined the social disorganization theory to highlight the significance of location in acting as a contributor to greater association with crime (Social Disorganization Theory 2016). Explaining the disparities in crime rates within cities from a disorganization perspective, crime and juvenile delinquency are not seen as being evenly dispersed, making the sorts of areas in which adolescents grow up predictive of high delinquency rates (Social Disorganization Theory 2016). Of Compton’s mainly Hispanic (68%), white (35.2%) and Black (28.9%) demographic reported via the US Census Bureau (2021), 20.5 percent of its 95,740 residents identify as living in poverty. Taking this into account, social disorganization theory becomes applicable in this case, as “Community characteristics such as poverty and ethnic diversity lead to higher delinquency rates because they interfere with community members’ abilities to work together” (OJJDP Bulletin 2003). Therefore, it is a combination of both the poverty present amongst the city and the clashing of opposing racial groups who all reside in a specific geographical location that makes way for gang-related violence. With city residents being economically disadvantaged through histories of discrimination and oppression or simply as a result of families who find themselves stuck in the vicious cycle of poverty, gang violence is induced by gang membership being it acts as one of the only ways for Comptonian’s to attain certain goals or provide for their family through both income and protection from other gang conflicts.
Being that gang violence has been a reoccurring social problem that Compton has faced, recent efforts by officials have been carried out to mitigate the issue that has been ignored for quite some time. Leading up to the twenty-first century, attempts to fix Compton’s or more broadly, Los Angeles’ problem of gang violence and corrupt policing units was minimal, as a newspaper stated that: “Los Angeles’ response to street gangs has been a failure for decades… It is time for a new approach, time to consider new ideas.” (Los Angeles Daily News 2004 cited in Spergel 2007:13 ). More presently, with Compton’s mayor declaring a state of emergency in 2013 to address the violence and determine feasible solutions, progress has begun in eradicating gang violence amongst the city and is overall moving in a positive direction (Relf 2014). Although, this process has not been made easy, as “Numerous studies document the positive ramifications of locally based crime prevention efforts, but also reveal that neighbourhoods are not equally positioned to engage in such efforts” (Becker 2012:31). Between the youth programs that work to improve the tarnished perceptions of law enforcement while keeping kids off the streets, to working with federal partners such as the Bureau of Justice to increase the utilization of resources to help combat crime, as of 2018 “The city has developed a five-year strategic plan to guide ongoing efforts to reduce violent crime and build upon the relationships developed with federal partners” (Public Safety Partnership 2018:para 11). More importantly, these initiatives have fostered noticeable change in the city, as “Gang shootings dropped 40 percent from August 2016 to August 2017 and then another 30 percent from August 2017 to August 2018 (Public Safety Partnership 2018:para 14).
In conclusion, Compton has had a longstanding history of gang violence that has deeply affected its residents. With the root of gang formation entrenched in historic efforts to racially exclude minorities amongst a time of unstable population and social change in the area, several policies informed by the social disorganization theory can be implemented to attenuate gang violence. In collaboration with what is currently being done by the city, one can suggest increasing job opportunities as a method for incentivizing as well as keeping citizens off the streets and out of gang activity. With Compton’s unemployment rate reaching heights of twenty-two percent during the pandemic (Compton, Ca Unemployment Rate 2021), not only would occupational offers lower poverty and unemployment rates, but would generate further income that could further progress in elimination city gang violence. Overall, Compton is proof that with effort and the right resources, cities with gang violence can work together to limit all together as a social issue.
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