Crips Essay

Not only in the past but in today society the term “gang” is a hard word to define, because “No two gangs are alike” (Mays & Winfree, 2006, 313) The National Institute of Justice report adopted the the definition of street gangs as “groups of youths and young adults who have engaged in a sufficient amount of antisocial activity to warrant attention by the criminal justice system. owever to add on to that definition, the law enforcement uses the definition ” an ongoing, organized association of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, who have a common name or common signs, colors, or symbols, and members or associates who individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in criminal activity.

” However when talking about gangs you need to be specific in which gang you are talking about because there are over hundreds around the world.

With that being said this paper will be giving information about the gang “Crip. ” To give more insight on the Crip gang, you should know that they “consist primarily of African-American males, and according to the “NDIC there are approximately 35,000 members throughout the United States.

” But in “1970 the gang was established in Los Angeles, California by two men Raymond Lee Washington, and Stanley Tookie Williams,” before they were expanding around the United States.

Unlike normal people who work the gang gets it’s income by doing illegal crimes. The Crip gang members are represented by the color blue, there style, and some of the symbols they make with there hands. When many gang member get caught they all go through different procedures through the juvenile system because not all crimes are regulated on the same actions. Even though there are many minorities that make up the Crip gang such as Hispanics, Caucasians, Asians, African Americans, and others the group is primarily made up with African Americans.

With all of the minorities coming together and joining along in the gang there are approximately 35,000 members through out the United States. With those numbers being so high, it is also said to be that there are around ” 400 different Crip sets throughout the United States,”(P. O. I. G) and when I say different Crip sets I am talking about how they like to be “referred to by their geographical names such as the Inglewood Crips or the Hoover Crips, and further by their set names such as the GrapeStreet Watts Crips or the Rolling 60s Crips. ”

When they call themselves by there geographical name it does not mean that they are not in the ”crip gang” that makes up the United states it is basicly just saying that is where they come from and how the group likes to be recognized as. Just like how many other things start, the gang was made up of individuals. Founder Raymond Lee Washington who was fifteen at the time and Co-founder Stanley Tookie Williams. Stanley Williams joined because he “was not old enough to join in the Panther movement in the 60’s so he decided he wanted to take what he had learned, regarding control of neighborhoods, and start his own.

That is just what the young boy did to. Both boys were from the Los Angeles, California area. Eventually gathering more people to join and the list started to add up of members day by day. Many members did not go by there first name and they all had nicknames or also known as ”street names. ” The main reason to start the group was to protect their neighborhood and act like community leaders. Many people got the same idea and started to have a copycat affect and decided to call themselves the “crips” too.

However on a real note you could tell they were copycats because they would “fashion themselves by regional cultural indicators that have nothing to do with Los Angeles. ” (Crip Gang. Internet 4) Like mentioned previous in this essay we talked about Geographical names, some of the following below: East Side Crips, Compton Crips, West Side Crips, Avalon Garden Crips, 43rd Street Crips, Harlem Crips, Hoover Crips, Inglewood Crips, and Grandee Crips should be added to the list. “(Crip Gang. Internet 4) Both men Washington, and Williams passed away and the gangs kept rising and becoming bigger.

The men both passed away from different incidents, Washington passed away on “August 9, 1979 by a former gang member because of a verbal dispute. ” Williams on the other hand did not pass away until the later years of 2005 when he was fifty one years old. Before he passed away he was “currently on death row at San Quentin for murder. ” Well like unlike many normal people who worked for there money legally, the gang did it in an illegal manner hoping to make it day by day risking there lives and family’s lives.

Although there family members might not of been in he gang they would be the first people targeted at when that family member in the gang messed up. Gang members are known to do anything from “uncountable murders, assaults, the gang is involved in drug trafficking, racketeering, extortion, murder, prostitution and robbery,”(P. O. I. G) ” drive-by shootings, graffiti, and violent takeover bank robberies. “” Most of the gang’s murders involve disputes over territory and drugs. ”

One they have done all of the above and haven’t gotten caught they continue to do it and risk there lives and others. However after selling drugs, and participating in the other illegal acts the money adds up where they then can afford to “purchase expensive cars, watches, and clothes” Like any other type of gang or club there is always a symbol that the group goes by, and in this situation there are a select few important ones that should be talked about. There is anything from the color clothes, hand signals, and how they dance.

The color that crips like to go by are shades of blues. However the “Grape Street Crips in Watts and New Jersey wear the color purple. ” There style of clothes is just like any other young adult would wear jeans, t-shirt, sweat shirts, sneakers, polo and a hat. However many of them “wear a blue rag or handkerchief as an identity item. ” Another type of symbol the gang likes to go by are the hand signals that they throw up at others or even each other. Some symbols they like to go by are making the letter “C”(P. O. I. G) with there hands, this means “Crip up, and Crippin. “(P. O. I. G. )

Not only do they make the letter “C” but they are also aware of making the letters ‘”BK” which stand for their status as blood killers. ‘ They talk about blood killers because the gang blood is one of there biggest rivals. They are also known for the symbols they make in graffiti the gang is also known to “replace the letter “B” with the letter “C” in writings, and go by the six pointed star which represents Life, Loyalty, Love, Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding. ”

The thing that gets me most about this is how they may be loyal to there ”gang” but what about others? They are out there killing and breaking the law for no reason they don’t know what any of the things they preach mean! Above it stated that they talk about blood killers because the gang blood is one of there biggest rivals. Just like the Crip gang the Blood gangs have symbols and identifiers that they go by so you know who’s gang they belong to. Unlike the crips that wear blue and use the “C” in hang gestures the bloods like to wear red, usually a bright color.

Not only to they wear read but they make a hand gesture. One of there most common gestures in spelling out the word blood with there fingers. When crips and bloods get together they will fight and fight untill one finally wins. In todays society all cases are looked upon differently, which basicly gets down to how each case gets ran through the juvenile justice system. Many people think that children can not be charged as adults through the system, however “Today, all states allow juveniles to be tried as adults in criminal courts in one of four ways. (Siegel, 2001, 466)

The four ways that a youth can be tried as an adult would be through direct file wavier, excluded offense wavier, judicial wavier, and reverse waiver. A direct file wavier, is were “the prosecutor has the discretion of filling charges for certain legislatively designated offenses in either juvenile or criminal court. About 15 states have this provision. “(Siegel, 2001, 466) The excluded offense waiver, “states laws exclude from juvenile court jurisdiction certain offenses that are either very monor, such as traffic or fishing violations, or very serious, such a murder.

About 29 states now have sch laws for certain crimes. “(Siegel, 2001, 466) Believe it or not but after doing some more research I stumbled upon some shocking news about juveniles. Which was a quote that I found stating that “After all, juveniles commit almost 9 percent of all the murders in the United States and about 15 percent of all rapes”(Siegel, 2001, 451) Last but not least the judicial wavier comes into play “after a formal hearing at which both prosecutor and defense attorney present evident, a juvenile court judge may decide to waive jurisdiction and transfer the case to criminal court.

This procedure is also known as binding over or certifying juvenile cases to criminal court. (Siegel, 2001, 467) Then lastly there is the reverse wavier, which “states laws mandate that certain offenses be tried in adult court. Once the case is heard in the adult court, the trial judge may decide that the offender would be better served by the juvenile court and order a reverse waiver. About 25 states have this provision for certain circumstances. (Siegel, 2001, 467) With that being said you know how juveniles can be tried through the adult system, but did you know that “The problem of youths processed in adult courts is a serious one.

About 8,000juvenile delinquency cases are now being transferred to the adult courts each year. Supporters view the waiver process as a sound method of getting the most serious juveniles offenders off the street. “(Siegel, 2001, 467) Even though trieing youths as adults is now aloud many people think that it does more harm then it does good. If you think about it they are right, because now juveniles will be in cells with adults were they can be targets of the adult predators. Youths held in adults prisons and jails are five times likely to be victims of attempted sexual attacks or rapes that those held in juvenile institutions. (Siegel, 2001, 467)

Also not only will they be victims of attacks but it also states that “The suicide rate for juveniles in adult prisons and jails is nearly eight times higher than that for juveniles in youth detention centers. ” (Siegel, 2001, 467) Just like any other crime probation can always be a type of punishment to depending on how serious the crime was. Probation is “a sentence entailing the conditional release of a convicted offender into the community under the supervision of the court (in the person of a probation officer),subject to certain conditions for a specified time.

The conditions are usually similar to those of parole. “(Siegel, 2001, 336) Probation however can be revoked just as quick as the person was put on it. If you brake the probation rules, or commit another crime you will be put back into a prison in most instances. In todays society there are approximately four million people on probation. However if there was not probation facilities would be even more overcrowded then they already are. If none of the above programs work they can be charged as a Juvenile delinquent as well. It basicly would all be based on what the crime did and how big of a crime it was.

Each judge is going to have a different outlook on the situation. Not only will they have a different outlook on the situation but another thing that plays a major factor is weather or not you have been caught before for doing a crime. If you were caught before for oing a crime, or something else that was illegal that could affect the way you are charged through the system. Below I would like to talk about some of the reasons people join gangs and some of the things that people need to do in order to be accepted into the gang.

Some kids join gangs because they need to feel “acceptance, excitement, to earn money, peer pressure, protection, to socialize and etc. ” (S. A. P. D) If kids have nothing better to do or don’t feel like they mean anything at home they are going to find mischief to get into because one way or another someone will notice them. Many minority groups have this problem because there family members have a tough time trying to live so they work alot and try to make money to support there family’s. In situations like that though it pushes the child away because there is never anyone around.

Then they go seek and find other ”kids” with the same problem and they become a family. It’s not as simple as it sounds to get into a gang. Not every gang is the same but some of the ways you can enter into a gang is by being rolled in also known as jumped in, quoted, lined in, then there are ways like being courted in, walked in, sexed in, and commit crimes. Being rolled in means ” usually consists of the recruit having to fight 3 or more members of the gang for a specified amount of time.

The time limit is different from gang to gang, but usually last somewhere between 15 seconds and 1 minute. The reason for the beating is to see how tough the recruit is and if he is a fighter. ” (S. A. P. D. ) Courted in is were, “sometimes and individual is asked to join a gang without going through any initiation. “(S. A. P. D) If you are offered a spot in a gang like this that usually mean that you have something the gang wants rather it be talent, or special connections.

Being walked in means that you can just join it is very similar to being courted in. Sexed in is as bad as it sounds, being sexed in means ” female recruits are required to roll 2 dice. Whatever number is thrown is the number of gang members the recruit has to have sex with. Lastly committing crimes is pretty self explanatory and means that you have to commit special crimes in order for them to see what you can do and if you are talented enough to do it without getting caught.