Did you know Gangs have been around for centuries dating back to 1200 AD when the gang Thugz was formed? Or that there are approximately 20,000 gangs in the United States with an estimate of one million members as of the year 2000? Probably not because most people aren't that knowledgeable; they only think they are.
Many people don't know that gangs are classified by race and ethnicity because of discrimination and economic struggles. However, it should not imply that any particular ethnic background leads to gang membership. Although white gangs have been known to encourage and act on racist beliefs by committing hate crimes. Hispanic gangs worry about self-respect and honor. Asian gangs are organized in dealing with prostitution, drugs, and gambling than other gangs. Now days the old classified gangs are starting to become obsolete due to the rainbow gangs being racially diverse. Meaning they have affiliates with both sexes and two or more races unlike the traditional single race gangs.
List of criminal gangs in Los Angeles, California
Image depicting member of MS13 gang. Work of the F...
English: An MS-13 suspect bearing gang tattoos is ...But what is a gang? No one actually knows simply because everyone has a different perspective of what a gang is, for example:(Klein & Maxson, 2006, p. 6). defines gangs as "any denotable group of youngsters who: (a) are generally perceived as a distinct aggregation by others in their neighborhood; (b) recognize themselves as a denotable group (almost invariably with a group name) and (c) have been involved in a sufficient number of delinquent incidents to call forth a consistent negative response from neighborhood residents and /or law enforcement agencies."Walter Miller (1975, 9) defines gangs as "a group of recurrently associating individuals with identifiable leadership and internal organization, identifying with or claiming control over territory in the community, and engaging either individually or collectively in violent or other forms of illegal behavior." As you can tell there...