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1 1.0 CHAPTER I - Introduction 1.1 Background Over the past couple decades; there has been an increasing amount of new Gangs in Jamaica. These gangs range from the community format, where the members of the Gangs solely belong to the community in which they live, to the institutions that they attend such as high school and sometimes even colleges where the associates come from different backgrounds but end up becoming members of Gangs. Gang membership has been held accountable for many acts in the Jamaican Society, these acts range from murder to rape, and also includes theft. The issue of Gang violence is important because there needs to be widespread knowledge to the Jamaican Society about how these gangs are formed, as well as what are the major factors that influences and further gang related activities and the implications to having so much gangs in the country. The ghettos of urban Jamaica have been seen to be the major starting point for gangs and these gangs are said to flourish on the bad economic conditions ( Sheehan, S. 2004). These gangs are

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1.0 CHAPTER I - Introduction1.1 BackgroundOver the past couple decades; there has been an increasing amount of new Gangs in Jamaica. These gangs range from the community format, where the members of the Gangs solely belong to the community in which they live, to the institutions that they attend such as high school and sometimes even colleges where the associates come from different backgrounds but end up becoming members of Gangs. Gang membership has been held accountable for many acts in the Jamaican Society, these acts range from murder to rape, and also includes theft. The issue of Gang violence is important because there needs to be widespread knowledge to the Jamaican Society about how these gangs are formed, as well as what are the major factors that influences and further gang related activities and the implications to having so much gangs in the country.The ghettos of urban Jamaica have been seen to be the major starting point for gangs and these gangs are said to flourish on the bad economic conditions (Sheehan, S. 2004). These gangs are also said to be rivals because they are attached to rival political parties mainly from the 1970s and 1980s. in 1982, the slums of Jamaica went to war when rival gangs and police had a battle resulting from close to 40,00 persons attending the funeral for a man said to be member of prominent gang. Almost a dozen persons died that day, and ever since, the government has tried to implement measures to put a stop to the violence, starting in 2001 where Minister Patterson sent over 3000 troops into the area to control violence and a more recent being the retrieval of one of the Dons known as Christopher Dudus Coke, who is said to be involved at the highest level of gang violence in and around the Kingston area. Lately things are starting to heat up again, since the arrest of the leader to the Klansman Gang who are seemingly having some disputes within the gang causing them to kill each other. This research paper will expound on the details surrounding gang affiliations to political parties and what influences these gang activities, as well as the negative implications to being in a gang or a victim of gang violence.1.2 Purpose of the study To obtain information and knowledge about the bases upon which gang violence originates, as well as the influencers and implications of the act.1.3 Statement of the problem Gang violence has become a prevalent act in the Jamaican society; the act takes up residence in both rural and urban Jamaicans causing the infliction of pain on their hearts through murders, and robberies among other violent crimes that gangs partake in.1.4 Research Questions In order to aid in the data collection process, subsequent questions were formulated from the predominant topic:1. What are the implications of Gang violence?2. What/who are the influencers in Gang violence?3. How is a gang formed?4. How is gang membership obtained?5. Why is gang membership so important?6. Why is a Gang formed?1.5 Significance of the study This study is aimed at educating the general public about gang violence and the effects it has on the Jamaican populous, as well as the roots from which gang violence stem. This study will also serve to inform the general public of the influences of the gang violence so that possible measures could be put in place to stop gangs from being formed.1.6 key definitionsGang - Agangis a group of recurrently associating individuals or close friends or family with identifiable leadership and internal organization, identifying with or claiming control over territory in a community, and engaging either individually or collectively in violent or other forms of illegal behavior.[Some criminal gang members are "jumped in" or have to prove their loyalty by committing acts such as theft or violence. Although gangs exist internationally, there is a greater level of study and knowledgeable information of gangs specifically in the United States. A member of a gang may be called agangster.

Influencers - Anything or persons with the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.

Implications - The action or state of being involved in something. It also speaks to the effects resulting from an act.

Society- It is defined as the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.2.0CHAPTER II Literature Review2.1Introduction Returning violence for violence multiples adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Martin Luther King Jr. Gang violence affects all segments of the Jamaican society. This is a fact that is well known worldwide to the extent that Jamaica is categorized as a criminal pool. (Anthony 2013). It is with this in mind that this literature review was done to highlight and determine the influences and implications of gang violence on the Jamaican Society.

2.2 Implications of Gang ViolenceGangs can be seen as a prevalent situation in many societies and gang members are predominantly in every community. In cities like Chicago, Boston, Detriot, Los Angeles, St Louis and Pittsburgh gang violence is related to 20 to 50 percentages of all homicides, (Papachristos et al. 2013). Correspondingly, members of gangs inflict friends, parents and relatives great fear of their own safety and well-being and fear for survival of their relatives who are gang members, (Los Angeles Police Department, 2015). To demonstrate for instance, Larry Mckay, according to Cruz (2014), a 16 year old teenager whom was troubled in his self by the effects of gang violence and had later become a victim of it; Mckay would read and watch documentary about gang violence and make comments on facebook social media that gang violence are immoral, later on, Mckay died by the actions of a gang member in his community. Furthermore, exposure of violence can have an impact on adolescents mental health and being victimized by gang violence means a person is witnessing and being a victim of the violence, according to Kelly et al. (2012), which is leading to depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress. Additionally, Kelly et al. (2012) stated that the outcomes of adolescents exposure to gang violence consist of some displaying externalizing behaviors that includes the use of violence, aggression and participation in gang activities and that studies have shown that violence exposure to adolescents increases the chance of more intent to engage in gang violence and become a member of gangs, however, a study was done in South Africa on the development of antisocial behaviors in 78 adolescents that had been exposed to community violence and discovered no substantial relation between the exposure to violence and the development of antisocial behaviors. On the other hand, gangs have a supporting side that serves as a means of protecting and defending their neighborhoods and ethnic boundaries, but in accomplishing those, gangs also re-establish larger community conflicts, (Papachristos et al. 2013). In addition, individuals that became a member of a gang in adolescence were three times more likely between ages 27 and 33 to report committing a crime, to obtain money from illegal sources and more than twice as likely to have been imprisoned the previous year, (Armstrong, 2014). Similarly, according to a study that was done by Gilman et al. (2013), it was discovered that in comparison with members of a gang and their non-gang peers, members of gang who had been matched on 23 confounding risk variables known to be related to selection into gang membership, those who had joined a gang in adolescence had poorer outcomes in multiple areas of adult functioning, including higher rates of self-reported crime, receipt of illegal income, imprisonment, drug abuse or dependence, welfare receipt, and poor general health and lower rates of high school graduation. Carlie (2002) and Benedict (2011), describes how gang violence depleted the economic benefits in a community in Chicago; many grocery stores were closed down, schools faced serious issues in terms of students safety going and coming from school and the community was unsafe to simply continue live in. Also, in the United States, many communities are facing escalating gang violence that increase public health concerns and the impacts it has on healthcare organizations; it has been reported that annual treatment of gunshot victims caused by gang violence ranges from US$100 to US$126 billion annually, (DiLuca, 2010).According to Leslie (2010), gangs have increasingly contributed to crime rates in Jamaica; particularly, statistics suggested that gang murders increase from three percentages in t983 to 52 percentages in 2009, however, it is stated by the Jamaica Constabulary Force that gang violence accounts for approximately 80 percent of violent crimes in Jamaica which is more than what official statistics have shown. Additionally, the World Health Organization stated that the direct cost to medical care for gang violence related incidents at public hospitals was USD 29 million which is 12 percent of Jamaicas total health budget; furthermore, the approximately USD 398 million losses in productivity are due to gang related violence which is also equivalent to four percent of Jamaicas gross domestic product, (Leslie, 2010). Dramatically, gang violence in Jamaica caused the educated people to migrate out of the country and the accesses to social service are reduced along with an overall climate of fear from gang violence, (Leslie, 2010). In summary, gang violence has major effects on individuals lives, the social, health and economic aspect of a country.

2.3 Influences of Gang ViolenceIn the Jamaican society there is a wide spread of gangs and clans in certain parts of the country. The many different reasons for such actions vary from peer pressure to high exposure of gang related activities. According to Gang Free (2008), there are six major risk factors that contribute to gang involvement in urban environments. These include lack of jobs for youth, poverty compounded by social isolation, domestic violence, negative peer networks, lack of parental supervision and early academic failure and lack of school attachment. As it relates to the lack of jobs, it is evident that when one is not earning an income, then will try to earn money by any means necessary. Gangs may present themselves as a means of survival to youth who lack basic essentials such as food, clothing and shelter. More and more, gang members use their affiliation to make a profit through illegal activities, such as selling drugs and auto theft (Gangfree, 2008). In certain communities there are different social backgrounds that will prevent youths living in these communities, like Tivoli Gardens, from being able to receive a job. This is one of the major influences and has been proven to lead to gang robbery and other such gang related activities. Also not earning an income also shows signs of poverty which is one of the influential reasons for gang violence.Kruk underlines the behavioral problems. Fatherless children have more difficulties with social adjustment, and are more likely to report problems with friendships, and manifest behavior problems; many develop a swaggering, intimidating persona in an attempt to disguise their underlying fears, resentments, anxieties and unhappiness. Gangs and violence and the adoration of the gun as power spring out of this condition (Henry, 2013). The lack of parental supervision and also the absence of a parent in the lives of many gang members resulted in the violence they create in the Jamaican society. Not only does the influence lay on the absence of parents but also it may have been passed down in the family and intensely entrenched in family traditions. It is really hard to escape from a generational curse especially when it runs in the family and due to pressure and exposure by family members. One juvenile detained at the Hilltop Juvenile Correctional Centre from a Kingston inner-city community said that he and his mother witnessed his father killed by police. His father was a gunman and most of his brothers, one of whom is in prison, and his cousins are involved in criminal activity. He said that his father had as many as 20 children, two of whom were with his mother. Another juvenile detainee and gang member from the Portmore area near Kingston lived with his father and stepmother. His mother lives overseas. His friends at school are not involved in gang activity, and he said his role model is his older brother who nuh watch nuh face [doesnt care about anyone or anything] (Mogensen, 2004).The political gang violence in Jamaica is prevalent in the society and is well known by many Jamaicans as the trigger for territorial gang violence. It focuses on one community who is on one political partys side (for example, the PNP) fighting against another community who is on the opposing partys side (the JLP). Therefore, these gang related activities are rooted on political affairs. In an article by Henry (2011), published by The Gleaner, Henry made a quote by Anthony Harriott, professor of Criminology at the University of the West Indies, which states This raises the issue of the political parties being criminal organizations. They are, of course, not criminal organizations in the same sense as organized-crime networks, that is, their raison d'tre is not criminal engagement. On the contrary, their primary objective is to form the government of the country, and both major political parties have a record of developmental achievements. They went on to say that, Nevertheless, the resort to criminal means of gaining office, and the alliances with criminals that are used for this purpose, give criminal networks considerable leverage on the parties, and lead to the use of criminal means to systematically plunder the resources of the state once office is acquired. These events of the political parties in Jamaica have intense associations in gang violence, so as to make it seem, in the eyes of the society, that they are able to implement measures that will look good in their speech. However in recent times, political gang violence has become dormant since there have not been any general government elections.Among a numberof issues, dancehall music has been known to be a contributing factor to gang violence in Jamaica. With the violent lyrics that Dancehall artiste portrays in their music, it resonates in the minds of individuals who are easily influenced or have it hard in life or lives in poverty. This will then create the idea of turning to violent measures to get what they want. According to Robinson (2013), in an article he wrote called Dancehall Pushing Crime, Security Minister Peter Bunting, made a quote from a song by the now incarcerated Vybz Kartel, and making the point that this contributed to the increased development in lottery scam. As long as dem naah buy nuh gun, dem naah support nuh war, big up the man dem star from near and far. Dem call it scam but we call it reparation," quoted the minister This he said used this as evidence of the social 'dysfunctionality' behind criminality in Jamaica.However, Tourism State Minister Damion Crawford, in an article by The Gleaner entitled Anti-Gang Bill May Seriously Impact Music Industry, stated that It starts from the premise that there is no research, which shows that the consumption of violent media leads to criminal activities. It is merely an assumption, and it is also an assumption that a reduction of violent media will reduce criminal activity. Also, in the article, according to Crawford, many people tune in to media with violent content, yet they are not impacted, which is an indication that saying violent media leads to violent behavior is illogical (Campbell, 2013). Therefore, it is evident that there is no one set scientific research that denotes dancehall to be a contributor to gang violence. Many are the influences of gang violence and the part takers in the ever unchanging nature of the development of gang violence are widespread.2.4 Why is involvement in gangs so important? It is postulated that the roots of organized violence in Jamaica trace back to the heated electoral disputes of the late 1940s between the founders of Jamaicas two political parties Norman Manley of the Peoples National Party and Alexander Bustamante of The Jamaica Labour Party.(Leslie 2010). This is what gave raise to what (Harriot, 2004; Mongenser, 2005) described as the antecedent, by twenty years, of violent, politically controlled housing divisions that were labeled garrisons. Jamaica is strongly divided into garrison communities popularly known as ghettos, and these communities are predominantly gang affiliated as within the Jamaican society there is and persist to be gangs. Despite the fact that most of these political crimes have lessened new rationale for the formulation of gangs has emerged. As there are corner gangs which are more informal gangs that may not be connected to politically motivated violence, these gangs may have youths and children involved in activities and may exist in communities dominated by area gangs (Mongenser, 2005). There are many reasons as to why gangs tend to flourish and proliferate but is must be noted that without the recruitment of gang members gangs would be as extinct as dinosaurs. It is asserted that when the fundamental needs of youth are not being met; many youth will seek to develop their own strategies to meet their basic needs. There is an abundance of gang-specific literature that have identified key factors in the decision to join a gang, research indicated that there is usually multiple factors associated in a youths decision to join (Decker & Curry, 2000). Studies have cited numerous reasons for gang membership, including status and respect (Decker & Curry, 2000), safety and protection (Decker & Curry, 2000), family connections (Decker & Curry, 2000), school connectedness (Ezarik, 2002), love and belonging (Ezarik, 2002) and community factors (Ezarik, 2002). Other researchers gave credit to the economic situation in Jamaica as a factor for gang involvement. Jamaica has experienced double digit inflation, financial meltdown , structural adjustment, the cost associated with structural adjustment, mistrust , low confidence in soci- political institutions , financial reform and financial crises (PIOJ and Statin, 2007:Powell 2007;Atkin, 2005; Kirpatrick and Tennant, 2002). Researchers have shown that these are amongst reasons why gang membership is important as these create the basis for much gang related activities in the ghettos such a robbery and other violent crimes as gang members adhere to a system of survival of the fittest. In support of this theory the Interactional theory (Thomberry, 1987; Thronberry and Krohn, 2001) posits that gang membership results from a reciprocal relationship between the individual and; peer groups social structures (i.e poor neighbourhood, school and family environs). Other researchers gave support to this theory as it is hypothesized and trends. Researches reveal that besides economic factors there is the focus on community risk factors. Community factors associated with gang membership is the most frequently studied risk domain (Esbensen, 2000). Communities that have been identified as high drug trafficking areas show an increased risk for gang involvement (Howell, 2000). Many researchers have argued that gangs are the result of a lack of access to resources within particular geographic locations, primarily inner city neighbourhoods (Klein, 1995; Spergel, 1995). A study conducted by David Eitle, Steven Gunkel and Karen Van Gundy (2004) explored risk factors associated to gang membership, focussing specifically on stressful life events. Financial difficulties and hardship, most often created by blocked opportunity, were deemed significant to adolescent ganging.Studies in the United States Seattle Social Development project shared similar views as the interactional theory as they found that learning disabilities, negative labelling by teachers, low achievement, and lack of commitment were predictive of gang membership (Hill, Howell, Hawkin, Battin, 1999). Similar research carried out by (Howell, 2000; Huff, 1998) yield the same results. Though some of these researches are applicable to Jamaica most of the gang members who are in Jamaica are drop outs or doesnt possess primary education. Other researches that are similar to those in Jamaica (Rizzo, 2003; Spergel 1995) whose research asserts that gang members in the US and UK are overwhelmingly young on entry of gang with 12- 18 years old. This makes them more vulnerable to peer pressure as they are easily influenced and controllable. Other researches states family factors as reasons for membership in gangs. There are several family risk factors that have been identified as contributing to delinquency and gang membership. Li, Stanton, Pack, Harris, Cottrell and Burns (2002) reported that youth who were exposed to violence and emotional distress in their childhood were more likely to become involved with gangs. These findings have been supported through earlier studies (Maxson, Whitlock & Klein, 1998; Eitle, Gunkel & Van Gundy, 2004). Overall, youth with gang involvement (current to former), compared with non-gang youth showed significantly lower social problem-solving skills, lower family involvement, lower open family communication, and diminished parental monitoring (Li et al., 2002, p. 183). The level of parental monitoring and involvement has also been identified as a significant factor in predicting gang membership. Thornberry, Huizinga and Loeber (2004) reported that low levels of parental monitoring and supervision are factors contributing to gang membership. These findings have been supported in previous research (Lahey et al., 1999).

2.5 How is Gang membership obtained?The onset of gangs in Jamaica began as early as the 1970s; its formation of gangs began in the ghettos of Kingston. Since the 1970s era, it has stemmed into a big tree, branching off into other parishes and was no longer limited to just grown men or adults. As time went by, the violent gang activities were beginning to branch off to the younger minority of the Jamaican populous. School children, more so, teenagers who were attempting to mimic those actions of the gang members that they deemed as role models. Moreover, joining a gang was not as easy as it was assumed to be, there were rules and legislations, sort of like a mini community where membership in the gang relied on certain key aspects or actions. According to Duffy (2004), gang membership has been obtained through mainly political affiliation in the Jamaican society. She states that since the early 1970s both political parties, them being the Peoples National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). These parties were seen as the base for gang operations back in the early days, and up to now in this current decade. The political parties, according to Duffy, hired gangs of armed street youths to intimidate their opponents. Therefore, political ties to a specific party guaranteed that a side was taken and hence leading to gang formation. Manwaring (2006), while agreeing with Duffy (2010) on the instance that political ties have played a major effect on gang membership, which leads to some level of immunity for gangs towards the law, had a different perspective on how gang membership is obtained, he states that membership can be obtained through recruitment. This is where lower members in the gangs hierarchy hire outsiders as opposed to their own, to operate as mules and street-level dealers. African Americans, Trinidadians, Guyanese, and even Chinese immigrants are given tasks at the worker-level. They are kept ignorant of gang structure and members identities. If outsiders are caught, the posse is not compromised; if they are not, the revenue continues to come in. Arguing from a positive standpoint, Hazen (2010) believes that rather than labeling all groups as gangs, they should base them on how they structure. She argues that persons view gangs based on two characteristics, one of which revolves around motivational characteristics, purpose, strength and contribution to society. The other involves key aspects like membership (recruitment) and logistics (food and weapons). She also states that how a group is viewed is based on its relation to the government and its capacity to perpetrate wide scale violence. She also mentioned that gangs or armed groups membership could be formed through friendship and were seen as harmless in earlier years as they dissolved as the members aged. Another way in which gang membership was obtained was through criminal acts. Densely (2012) mentioned the fact that gangs began as social groups through which friends from communities hang out, but over time it evolved into a much bigger thing, where violence and drugs got involved. According to densely boys, who represent the majority of gang members, were doing petty crimes such as stealing and smoking to gain membership into a gang, but a rapidly evolving cycle saw entry into a gang as prospective members killing and raping persons in order to enter, especially in Jamaica.Dancehall music and artistes also play a very key role in obtaining gang membership. Jackman (2012) provided some information that gave insight into the fact that dancehall artistes have an impact on gang membership. In 2009, the famed artistes, David Brooks (Movado) and Adijah Palmer (Vybz Kartel) had a musical dispute which escalated from the music industry into the Jamaican populous causing rival gangs of the two artistes to be in conflict. Jackman noted that this feud between the two artistes allowed for a turf war and borderlines between two sides. The Gully posse which belonged to Movado and the Gaza belonging to Kartel often did not have any problems outside of musical confrontation with each other but fans of both parties as far away as even Trinidad and Tobago labelling themselves on behalf of both artistes. Meaning any student that identified themselves as a Gully fan was seen as the enemy to Gaza fans and vice versa. In agreement with Hazen (2010), Rogers (2010) believes that gangs are sometimes misunderstood; he believes gangs are not always violent groups but are sometimes just a group of friends that hang out and keep themselves out of trouble. He however acknowledges that there is also a certain level of dangerousness associated with gangs, and with the various contents of youth, it makes leaving the gang inevitable.2.6 Conclusion In summation gangs continue to flourish in Jamaica and wider parts of the world, gang membership has become somewhat of a subculture in todays society of Jamaica and is deemed to be taking over as a result of the numerous reasons presented in this review. This review amongst previous literatures has brought these reasons to the fore front. These factors range from internal such as a sense of belongingness, protection and love to external factors such as the wider community, parents involvement, school and the economic situation of the country in which these gangs and gangs activities take place in most instances the economic situation tend to have a spin off effect on their immediate communities, in Jamaica these communities are popularly known as ghettos. However based on the review as the writer it is suggested that future researchers that embark on literature reviews of similar content focus more on in- depth reasons rather than just economic, community, school, and family but get more familiar with the youths as new reason, more personal may have emerged. This review topic have generated much literatures however they are not current hence my suggestion for new reviews which may yield additional and different finding in 2015.

3.0 CHAPTERIII Methodology3.1 Overview This section presents an overview of the methods to be used in the study. 3.2 Study Design

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