Many forms of hate face American citizens in this day and age. Sexual preference, Race and religion seem to be on everyone"s minds. Every time you turn on the news you read about somebody that was hurt or even worse killed because they had a different view of a subject. However one problem you don't hear too much about any more is gang violence. .
Gangs have been around longer than anybody can remember. They did not always have to be violent. They could be considered as more of a way to be associated with others like you. Almost like a second family for some. This is partially the reason the violence started. If another gang would encroach on your turf or another member of your gang than something would have to be done. Then the other gang would have to retaliate for what you did to their member. And so a long chain of successive events would follow. .
These events are demonstrated even more so amongst the inner city gangs of today. Police have over 13,000 documented gang members in their records. Keep in mind these are only the ones they know about. Some conflict can not be prevented with this many gang members running around. However police have noted that in certain cities gang violence has been decreasing. In other cities that is not always the case. .
In Denver two youths were left dead near the school they attended. They were both known members of a local gang. Their murderers were from one of the local rival gangs. The cause of the attach was nothing more than an argument between the two gangs. Murders like this have prompted police to take more aggressive measures in dealing with gangs. However those measures are often accused of being to aggressive so the police try to avoid any interference.
Police are faced with more and more youths joining gangs. The police attempt to sway the youths minds in the right direction, but this is becoming more and more difficult. The reason is lack of funding from the government.