when reading this article, it does come to surprise me the rise in gang activity in America. It makes me sick to think that most gangs would put their own members out there for money and prostitution and think that its a better way than selling drugs, this may be true but its still discriminating to the gang member having to put their body out there for profit for the gang. Another term for what these gangs are doing is human trafficking and this is a very serious issue that needs to be focused on and stopped by police, I know it may not be easy but anyone in the right mind could see many signs that indicate a women or man is being trafficked. But even with the growing concern of that, gangs will find a way to continue this disgusting system of money making. Hunter123
When gangs want to make more money for their profit they will do anything from killing reveal gangs on their street and even sell their own in to prostitution. It is sick to think that people would do that but you have gang members that this is all they know because they joined at a young age and that is what happened to them when they joined. USMC_123
Gangs are typically formed to protect one another and basically everyone in the gang is considered family. After reading that article and they said the gang will send their own members out there for trafficking or drug smuggling it is disturbing to think about. It’s basically like you’re telling your brother or sister to go do horrific things just to make money to satisfy your own needs. Sounds to me gangs are more selfish than family like. RAWR_BIL_123
I completely understand the reason of why gangs were first formed. All gangs formed due to the need for protection from others. For example, a black kid is in a new neighborhood and is getting jumped by another group of black/Hispanic/white kids. Well to keep this from happening he/she will seek out a few more black kids to even out the odds. Also, gangs formed as a kind of "social club". But, as we all can see, rivalries and crime became the "norm" for gangs. With police cracking down on how gangs make their money, I am not surprised at all with the gangs moving towards a "safer" way of how they make their money. The article said that they even pimp out their female members, which doesn't shock me either, because they are viewed as property anyways and 99.9% or them are sexed into the gang to begin with. While reading this article, a lot of what was said I heard in the Human Trafficking seminar. These gangs target victims of abuse, give them something that they've never had (feeling of belonging to a "family") and then they're turned out. Until the public fully realizes that human trafficking isn't something seen in the movies or other countries and the fact that it is in the U.S., then gangs will continue to use this to make their money to receive lesser penalties than that of dealing drugs. Spartan123
Gangs may have started out by protecting other kids but it has grown into very negative and hateful reasons. They not only view females as just a sex symbol but they also will turn on there members and kill each other. Depending on what neighborhood you are in you better hope you are not wearing the color of clothing that is there color they think they own. I personally have been in wrong neighborhood at wrong time and a boy few inches from us was shot cause he had blue on and was not in there gang. I witnessed the shooting and looked the gunman straight in the eye. By God's grace not one bullet hit me. It was nothing i will forget. Drive by shootings are also big thing with gangs. Yes gangs will keep making money the safest way they can and do not care the price that is paid. Put the pimps and drug dealers out of business and than the prostitution will slow down. dolphin123
I think there has to be something done to crack down on this kind of stuff happening in America. I dont understand how our country can spend our money on defense when we have our own problems. Gangs are a big problem facing teens these days but not enough provisions have been made to stop gangs and teens from joining gangs. baseball123
I have seen a show a couple times before called “Gangland” and they show the gangs dealing drugs, talking about prostitution and how they kill all these people. But they need to show how they get these kids to join their gangs and what they put them through. I know these kids are mostly from broken homes and gangs give them the “family” support, along with protection. Which if they don’t join that gang they will harass them all the time. So it’s a tough situation for these kids. Also the location is usually in the inner cities where the education system isn’t the greatest so they so can slide though the cracks. When kids can see how they can make selling drugs and whatever else the gang makes them do, with no education they drop out and that becomes their way of life. Making a complete circle, making them recruit new juveniles to take their spot on the street while they move up the ladder in the gang. This is not only a nation wide problem but it is worldwide. USMC_123
I like how you said this is not only a nationwide problem, but a worldwide one as well. I do not think people have begun to realize just how prominent the issue of human trafficking and prostitution has really become throughout our society. As I read this article, I could not help but to think back to times in my life where human trafficking could have been in play. Now that we know this issue is more prominent than we thought, we may be able to help someone out of a serious situation they have gotten into. GoCardsGo_123
I was not real surprised to read about gang memberships going up. Look at how disrespectful and cruel kids are these days. Bullying is a gang of kids tormenting one child when you have more than one child doing it. The problem really starts with a lot of parents not being the parents they should be. Some of us parents do everything we can for our kids even sacrificing for them. The abuse that goes on behind closed doors and hidden is so high. It is more higher than people think. It does not surprise me that gangs sell out their girls. When you really look at the gangs who commit crimes you can see they have no respect for anyone. Drugs are a huge problem everywhere cause people can make lots of money from it and the drug dealers have ways around the system. We have lawyers and cops and judges buying drugs so that even adds to the problem. I can say from being a survivor of abuse i did not trust cops for years because of an experience so most girls who are in trouble will not accept help until you prove to them they can trust you. dolphin123
I agree with you it really does go back to parenting. If these kids were taught the importance of education then maybe we would not have so many gangs. also if they were raised in a loving and supportive environment then maybe they would not seek the protection and family like structure gangs give them. Zipping123
When reading this article it stated that in San Diego prostitution it was the second most profitable gang activity after drug dealing. It also stated that about a third of the 1.5 million runaways in America have resorted to prostitution. The gangs even prostitute the female members to make a profit. A big reason women join gangs is for the protection. After reading the information from this article I went back to the beginning to read what the parents had done. It stated that the daughter was a frequent runaway. I feel this shows there was a problem in the parenting to begin with. they should have gone to the police and not commit the crime. If they had committed the crime to save their daughter then they did not think this plan through. if they both go to prison and then the daughter will be sent to other family or a foster home. Zipping123
In a city like San Diego where gangs utilize their female members as a profitable means there would most likely be police involvement in trying to take on gang activities. I agree with your thoughts of going to the police to ask for help because law enforcement personnel are more experienced and have more resources to tackle on gang activities. The Sand Diego Street Gang Unit was a readily available asset to the parents and it would have been best to have resolved the issue with an arrest rather than a homicide. Runner123
The child sex trafficking that gangs are involved in is a practice that they have found to be less risky and to be lucrative to their advantage. Some of the juveniles who run away from home are victims of sexual abuse. When they run away they do not know who to turn to. When those juveniles who run away feel alienated from their families or society they turn to people whom they see to have the same problems as them. The "skip parties" the article specified at first glance promoted delinquent acts of skipping school and drug use, but it does not end there and from there they are taken advantage of by the gang members. Gang members have a higher risk of being a victim of a crime than a person who is not involved in one. The problem with sex trafficking in gangs is that some of the women only know how to live the life they are in as a gang member than as a member of society so it in turn makes it hard for members to alleviate themselves immediately from the things that they already know. I like the idea of the "Safe Harbor" laws being utilized by certain states because the victims of the child sex trafficking rings are not charged as prostitutes. Their pimps are charged and the women has access to long term counseling and rehabilitation programs which is a lot more cost effective than locking them up. Runner123
It is sad that girls feel the need to be wanted so badly that they take being exploited as bad as sex trafficking as a good thing. Clearly there is something wrong with their home life as the article pointed out. Those safe harbour laws are such a good idea and every state should have them. Those young girls need the proper form of protection and help, not the ones provided for by the gangs. Throwing them in jail will do nothing but make it worse. They will just wait it out till they are out and they will be back on the streets. Bama123
There was a lot of good points made in the article with the relationship between gangs and the sexual exploitation of girls. It seemed to be that the gang members would target runaways because they will be easier to convince, but it also said that a girl who was from a rich neighborhood and still lived at home was also targeted and was forced to have sex with multiple men. That shocked me a little. Gang members must know exactly what an insecure girl looks like to pick their victims. The girls were said to most likely be sexually abused before. Having been sexually abused before, this is nothing new to the girls, it is all they know. At the end of the article it said that only a few states had "safe harbour" laws, which treats the girls underage as victims and not offenders. How can only a few states feel this way? This should be pretty common knowledge I would think that an underage girl who is being forced to have sex is a victim and not an offender. These girls need rehabilitation and counseling, not to be locked up for what has happened to them. Bama123
While reading throughout this article, there were really two main points that surpirsed me. The first was the statistic that presented the idea that gang involvement has increased 40% percent from 2009. This stuck out to me because I was beginning to think that the youth in America were beginning to make an attempt at staying on the straight and narrow in life. However, I am not naiive in thinking that a hungry juvenile would not at least be tempted to join a gang if they were willing to provide food for their family. The second point that stuck out to me was when the article quoted a statistic from January 2012 which said prostitution was the second most profitable act for gangs behind drug dealing during that year. I never realized how prominent this issue is throughout our society.Especially after going to the human trafficking workshop a week ago, my perception of this issue in our society has really began to increase. GoCardsGo_123
Many people are beginning to realize just how prevalent human trafficking is in America. However, the issue is definitely not talked about enough. Workshops such as the one that we could attend a week ago are helping to bring awareness to trafficking. As time goes on more and more people are becoming advocates to stop human trafficking. The victims do not just need to be rescued because, like the article said, girls that are rescued will most likely still have a drug addiction and need to go to places like Courtney's house to get counseling and rehab. Milly123
I can see how kids that run away from home are approached by gangs or pimps in the first 48 hours. A runaway is vulnerable and has no one to protect them so they think that a gang could be protection and a family that that person that they have never had before. With a rise in gang membership since 2009, protection and a new life sounds good to a runaway but it can turn to the worst if the person is a female. For a female, its easy to be brought into a gang and turned into a prostitute. I think that in America, the problem of rising gangs and prostitution isn't being resolved by the police or public. I think that there has to be a crack down on teens joining gangs when it will only hurt them in life. If schools and parents wouldnt allow teens to think gangs are the right solution to their problems then the number of gang members would decrease. baseball123
Runaway kids see a gang as a positive or protection as you noted and can be the main reason they join. I understand where you are going with the parents possibly influencing them to join gangs but the only part I question is the schools doing this? Jays123
In the article it says, “Gangs may find these new recruits at ‘skip parties’ hosted in an empty house or apartment where children are encouraged to skip school and bring a friend.” This statement describes deviancy training or in other words (peer pressure). After reading the article I feel most people that join gangs start off in a social gang where there are few delinquent activities and little drug use, and slowly move toward organized gangs where the member are heavily involved in criminality. Another quote that caught my eye in the article was when it said, “we are in a period where we blame these victims (prostitutes), and they are not genuinely being treated as victims of child sex trafficking.” I agree with that statement 100 percent; the world is so quick on labeling that they don’t look at situations from that person point of view. They don’t take the time to think that maybe that prostitute was sexually abused as a child or grew up seeing their parent prostituting and that’s all they really know. Peers play an important role in why juveniles join gangs. RAWR_BIL_123
Oh goodness yes peers play a very important role in a girls or boy joining a gang. Family that have been in the gang for year and maybe even founded it. Family that is dysfunctional and pushed the child away, sort of helping them dream of a better world. Cousins and class mate girls can have an influence.."There is a party tonight at Joker Loc's house Jamie, come with me" , Ive witnessed it.. And we all know that preachers daughters just want to have fun and get away from the fire and brimstone teachings. :) It is sad that the victims are blamed, when they need treatment and a safe place. You know this may not fit right now but LOVE is what they need. Even the johns a nice beat down filled with love. BeeRose123
Organized gangs are no joke, they are out for profit and it doesn't matter how they make their money. In a video I watched the reporter quoted a john saying there is no protection for the girls, because they eat,drink, and sleep coming up with ways to trick the girls. The gangs have embraced the hip hop culture which provides them with a new identity whereas mainstream culture may have excluded them. The girls who join are looking for that sense of new identity, they are looking for some sort of status, and their family dysfunction is rampant. The article spoke of girls who were in gangs that weren't runaways, I can relate. I wasn't a runaway and my cousins were from a crip gang out of Oklahoma. Observing them they were always seeking thrills, always laughing and oh boys did they have alot of cute friends. And oh what a mess it was that I did not see. I could imagine a little rich girl with a dysfunctional family seeking thrills and fun. And you know these young 22 year olds that are coercing and "protecting" the girls are trained by those older O.G. men. They have passed down their wisdom so to speak. Blood in Blood out was the movies the gangs in my day doted on. I do think that Courtney's House is a great idea and would hope there a quite a few around L.A. and Houston and Chicago. There are not any shelters for runaways that are between the ages of 10 and 17 and you know the predators know this. Survival leads to the giving up of oneself to the gangs or johns. The runaway in the article was so psychologically attached to this guy and her parents hearts probably broke every time she disappeared. I mean, I would have wanted to hurt the guy also but their may have been other ways around killing him. Like leaving state and seeking help for her. Its hard to judge but that would be what I would try to do. BeeRose123
Many of the girls getting human trafficked are putting themselves into situations that make it easy for gangs to traffic them. The girls may not know exactly what they are getting into when they join a gang and when they figure it out it is too late for them. Many of the girls joining street gangs only look at the sense of importance and protection that comes with joining. They also like the boost in self-esteem that the gang aspect brings. These girls that join gangs should be looked at as victims, not as juveniles. Most of them come from a background of sexual abuse and they are scarred for life. If these girls get rescued they need to get counseling and rehab, not just get thrown into prison. Once the girls join the gangs they are stuck. Their pimps will not let them go because they can make a profit off selling the girls. One of the only ways to get out is what Barry and Lupe did. I'm not saying what they did was right, but if they didn't shoot that pimp, the girl they rescued would probably still be getting trafficked. Milly123
After reading this article there was a couple things I was not surprised about. First off the fact that gangs are growing did not surprise me. I think that this number will more than likely always be going up. Then the fact that there is trafficking going in gangs for money doesn't surprise me at all. Some gangs have some of there own that they have trafficked and then they can also make other people outside of there gang. The people could be too scared to seek help and will have no choice to do what the gang tells them to do. The article said that there was ways that the police have been stopping some money flow through the gangs. I understand the fact to were this is important but would nice if there was a way to stop other crimes as well. Jays123
when reading this article, it does come to surprise me the rise in gang activity in America. It makes me sick to think that most gangs would put their own members out there for money and prostitution and think that its a better way than selling drugs, this may be true but its still discriminating to the gang member having to put their body out there for profit for the gang. Another term for what these gangs are doing is human trafficking and this is a very serious issue that needs to be focused on and stopped by police, I know it may not be easy but anyone in the right mind could see many signs that indicate a women or man is being trafficked. But even with the growing concern of that, gangs will find a way to continue this disgusting system of money making.
ReplyDeleteHunter123
When gangs want to make more money for their profit they will do anything from killing reveal gangs on their street and even sell their own in to prostitution. It is sick to think that people would do that but you have gang members that this is all they know because they joined at a young age and that is what happened to them when they joined. USMC_123
DeleteGangs are typically formed to protect one another and basically everyone in the gang is considered family. After reading that article and they said the gang will send their own members out there for trafficking or drug smuggling it is disturbing to think about. It’s basically like you’re telling your brother or sister to go do horrific things just to make money to satisfy your own needs. Sounds to me gangs are more selfish than family like. RAWR_BIL_123
DeleteI completely understand the reason of why gangs were first formed. All gangs formed due to the need for protection from others. For example, a black kid is in a new neighborhood and is getting jumped by another group of black/Hispanic/white kids. Well to keep this from happening he/she will seek out a few more black kids to even out the odds. Also, gangs formed as a kind of "social club". But, as we all can see, rivalries and crime became the "norm" for gangs. With police cracking down on how gangs make their money, I am not surprised at all with the gangs moving towards a "safer" way of how they make their money. The article said that they even pimp out their female members, which doesn't shock me either, because they are viewed as property anyways and 99.9% or them are sexed into the gang to begin with. While reading this article, a lot of what was said I heard in the Human Trafficking seminar. These gangs target victims of abuse, give them something that they've never had (feeling of belonging to a "family") and then they're turned out. Until the public fully realizes that human trafficking isn't something seen in the movies or other countries and the fact that it is in the U.S., then gangs will continue to use this to make their money to receive lesser penalties than that of dealing drugs. Spartan123
ReplyDeleteGangs may have started out by protecting other kids but it has grown into very negative and hateful reasons. They not only view females as just a sex symbol but they also will turn on there members and kill each other. Depending on what neighborhood you are in you better hope you are not wearing the color of clothing that is there color they think they own. I personally have been in wrong neighborhood at wrong time and a boy few inches from us was shot cause he had blue on and was not in there gang. I witnessed the shooting and looked the gunman straight in the eye. By God's grace not one bullet hit me. It was nothing i will forget. Drive by shootings are also big thing with gangs. Yes gangs will keep making money the safest way they can and do not care the price that is paid. Put the pimps and drug dealers out of business and than the prostitution will slow down. dolphin123
DeleteI think there has to be something done to crack down on this kind of stuff happening in America. I dont understand how our country can spend our money on defense when we have our own problems. Gangs are a big problem facing teens these days but not enough provisions have been made to stop gangs and teens from joining gangs.
Deletebaseball123
I have seen a show a couple times before called “Gangland” and they show the gangs dealing drugs, talking about prostitution and how they kill all these people. But they need to show how they get these kids to join their gangs and what they put them through. I know these kids are mostly from broken homes and gangs give them the “family” support, along with protection. Which if they don’t join that gang they will harass them all the time. So it’s a tough situation for these kids. Also the location is usually in the inner cities where the education system isn’t the greatest so they so can slide though the cracks. When kids can see how they can make selling drugs and whatever else the gang makes them do, with no education they drop out and that becomes their way of life. Making a complete circle, making them recruit new juveniles to take their spot on the street while they move up the ladder in the gang. This is not only a nation wide problem but it is worldwide. USMC_123
ReplyDeleteI like how you said this is not only a nationwide problem, but a worldwide one as well. I do not think people have begun to realize just how prominent the issue of human trafficking and prostitution has really become throughout our society. As I read this article, I could not help but to think back to times in my life where human trafficking could have been in play. Now that we know this issue is more prominent than we thought, we may be able to help someone out of a serious situation they have gotten into.
DeleteGoCardsGo_123
I was not real surprised to read about gang memberships going up. Look at how disrespectful and cruel kids are these days. Bullying is a gang of kids tormenting one child when you have more than one child doing it. The problem really starts with a lot of parents not being the parents they should be. Some of us parents do everything we can for our kids even sacrificing for them. The abuse that goes on behind closed doors and hidden is so high. It is more higher than people think. It does not surprise me that gangs sell out their girls. When you really look at the gangs who commit crimes you can see they have no respect for anyone. Drugs are a huge problem everywhere cause people can make lots of money from it and the drug dealers have ways around the system. We have lawyers and cops and judges buying drugs so that even adds to the problem. I can say from being a survivor of abuse i did not trust cops for years because of an experience so most girls who are in trouble will not accept help until you prove to them they can trust you. dolphin123
ReplyDeleteI agree with you it really does go back to parenting. If these kids were taught the importance of education then maybe we would not have so many gangs. also if they were raised in a loving and supportive environment then maybe they would not seek the protection and family like structure gangs give them. Zipping123
DeleteWhen reading this article it stated that in San Diego prostitution it was the second most profitable gang activity after drug dealing. It also stated that about a third of the 1.5 million runaways in America have resorted to prostitution. The gangs even prostitute the female members to make a profit. A big reason women join gangs is for the protection. After reading the information from this article I went back to the beginning to read what the parents had done. It stated that the daughter was a frequent runaway. I feel this shows there was a problem in the parenting to begin with. they should have gone to the police and not commit the crime. If they had committed the crime to save their daughter then they did not think this plan through. if they both go to prison and then the daughter will be sent to other family or a foster home. Zipping123
ReplyDeleteIn a city like San Diego where gangs utilize their female members as a profitable means there would most likely be police involvement in trying to take on gang activities. I agree with your thoughts of going to the police to ask for help because law enforcement personnel are more experienced and have more resources to tackle on gang activities. The Sand Diego Street Gang Unit was a readily available asset to the parents and it would have been best to have resolved the issue with an arrest rather than a homicide. Runner123
DeleteThe child sex trafficking that gangs are involved in is a practice that they have found to be less risky and to be lucrative to their advantage. Some of the juveniles who run away from home are victims of sexual abuse. When they run away they do not know who to turn to. When those juveniles who run away feel alienated from their families or society they turn to people whom they see to have the same problems as them. The "skip parties" the article specified at first glance promoted delinquent acts of skipping school and drug use, but it does not end there and from there they are taken advantage of by the gang members. Gang members have a higher risk of being a victim of a crime than a person who is not involved in one. The problem with sex trafficking in gangs is that some of the women only know how to live the life they are in as a gang member than as a member of society so it in turn makes it hard for members to alleviate themselves immediately from the things that they already know. I like the idea of the "Safe Harbor" laws being utilized by certain states because the victims of the child sex trafficking rings are not charged as prostitutes. Their pimps are charged and the women has access to long term counseling and rehabilitation programs which is a lot more cost effective than locking them up. Runner123
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that girls feel the need to be wanted so badly that they take being exploited as bad as sex trafficking as a good thing. Clearly there is something wrong with their home life as the article pointed out. Those safe harbour laws are such a good idea and every state should have them. Those young girls need the proper form of protection and help, not the ones provided for by the gangs. Throwing them in jail will do nothing but make it worse. They will just wait it out till they are out and they will be back on the streets. Bama123
DeleteThere was a lot of good points made in the article with the relationship between gangs and the sexual exploitation of girls. It seemed to be that the gang members would target runaways because they will be easier to convince, but it also said that a girl who was from a rich neighborhood and still lived at home was also targeted and was forced to have sex with multiple men. That shocked me a little. Gang members must know exactly what an insecure girl looks like to pick their victims. The girls were said to most likely be sexually abused before. Having been sexually abused before, this is nothing new to the girls, it is all they know. At the end of the article it said that only a few states had "safe harbour" laws, which treats the girls underage as victims and not offenders. How can only a few states feel this way? This should be pretty common knowledge I would think that an underage girl who is being forced to have sex is a victim and not an offender. These girls need rehabilitation and counseling, not to be locked up for what has happened to them. Bama123
ReplyDeleteWhile reading throughout this article, there were really two main points that surpirsed me. The first was the statistic that presented the idea that gang involvement has increased 40% percent from 2009. This stuck out to me because I was beginning to think that the youth in America were beginning to make an attempt at staying on the straight and narrow in life. However, I am not naiive in thinking that a hungry juvenile would not at least be tempted to join a gang if they were willing to provide food for their family. The second point that stuck out to me was when the article quoted a statistic from January 2012 which said prostitution was the second most profitable act for gangs behind drug dealing during that year. I never realized how prominent this issue is throughout our society.Especially after going to the human trafficking workshop a week ago, my perception of this issue in our society has really began to increase.
ReplyDeleteGoCardsGo_123
Many people are beginning to realize just how prevalent human trafficking is in America. However, the issue is definitely not talked about enough. Workshops such as the one that we could attend a week ago are helping to bring awareness to trafficking. As time goes on more and more people are becoming advocates to stop human trafficking. The victims do not just need to be rescued because, like the article said, girls that are rescued will most likely still have a drug addiction and need to go to places like Courtney's house to get counseling and rehab.
DeleteMilly123
I can see how kids that run away from home are approached by gangs or pimps in the first 48 hours. A runaway is vulnerable and has no one to protect them so they think that a gang could be protection and a family that that person that they have never had before. With a rise in gang membership since 2009, protection and a new life sounds good to a runaway but it can turn to the worst if the person is a female. For a female, its easy to be brought into a gang and turned into a prostitute. I think that in America, the problem of rising gangs and prostitution isn't being resolved by the police or public. I think that there has to be a crack down on teens joining gangs when it will only hurt them in life. If schools and parents wouldnt allow teens to think gangs are the right solution to their problems then the number of gang members would decrease.
ReplyDeletebaseball123
Runaway kids see a gang as a positive or protection as you noted and can be the main reason they join. I understand where you are going with the parents possibly influencing them to join gangs but the only part I question is the schools doing this? Jays123
DeleteIn the article it says, “Gangs may find these new recruits at ‘skip parties’ hosted in an empty house or apartment where children are encouraged to skip school and bring a friend.” This statement describes deviancy training or in other words (peer pressure). After reading the article I feel most people that join gangs start off in a social gang where there are few delinquent activities and little drug use, and slowly move toward organized gangs where the member are heavily involved in criminality. Another quote that caught my eye in the article was when it said, “we are in a period where we blame these victims (prostitutes), and they are not genuinely being treated as victims of child sex trafficking.” I agree with that statement 100 percent; the world is so quick on labeling that they don’t look at situations from that person point of view. They don’t take the time to think that maybe that prostitute was sexually abused as a child or grew up seeing their parent prostituting and that’s all they really know. Peers play an important role in why juveniles join gangs. RAWR_BIL_123
ReplyDeleteOh goodness yes peers play a very important role in a girls or boy joining a gang. Family that have been in the gang for year and maybe even founded it. Family that is dysfunctional and pushed the child away, sort of helping them dream of a better world. Cousins and class mate girls can have an influence.."There is a party tonight at Joker Loc's house Jamie, come with me" , Ive witnessed it.. And we all know that preachers daughters just want to have fun and get away from the fire and brimstone teachings. :) It is sad that the victims are blamed, when they need treatment and a safe place. You know this may not fit right now but LOVE is what they need. Even the johns a nice beat down filled with love. BeeRose123
DeleteOrganized gangs are no joke, they are out for profit and it doesn't matter how they make their money. In a video I watched the reporter quoted a john saying there is no protection for the girls, because they eat,drink, and sleep coming up with ways to trick the girls. The gangs have embraced the hip hop culture which provides them with a new identity whereas mainstream culture may have excluded them. The girls who join are looking for that sense of new identity, they are looking for some sort of status, and their family dysfunction is rampant. The article spoke of girls who were in gangs that weren't runaways, I can relate. I wasn't a runaway and my cousins were from a crip gang out of Oklahoma. Observing them they were always seeking thrills, always laughing and oh boys did they have alot of cute friends. And oh what a mess it was that I did not see. I could imagine a little rich girl with a dysfunctional family seeking thrills and fun. And you know these young 22 year olds that are coercing and "protecting" the girls are trained by those older O.G. men. They have passed down their wisdom so to speak. Blood in Blood out was the movies the gangs in my day doted on. I do think that Courtney's House is a great idea and would hope there a quite a few around L.A. and Houston and Chicago. There are not any shelters for runaways that are between the ages of 10 and 17 and you know the predators know this. Survival leads to the giving up of oneself to the gangs or johns. The runaway in the article was so psychologically attached to this guy and her parents hearts probably broke every time she disappeared. I mean, I would have wanted to hurt the guy also but their may have been other ways around killing him. Like leaving state and seeking help for her. Its hard to judge but that would be what I would try to do. BeeRose123
ReplyDeleteMany of the girls getting human trafficked are putting themselves into situations that make it easy for gangs to traffic them. The girls may not know exactly what they are getting into when they join a gang and when they figure it out it is too late for them. Many of the girls joining street gangs only look at the sense of importance and protection that comes with joining. They also like the boost in self-esteem that the gang aspect brings. These girls that join gangs should be looked at as victims, not as juveniles. Most of them come from a background of sexual abuse and they are scarred for life. If these girls get rescued they need to get counseling and rehab, not just get thrown into prison. Once the girls join the gangs they are stuck. Their pimps will not let them go because they can make a profit off selling the girls. One of the only ways to get out is what Barry and Lupe did. I'm not saying what they did was right, but if they didn't shoot that pimp, the girl they rescued would probably still be getting trafficked.
ReplyDeleteMilly123
After reading this article there was a couple things I was not surprised about. First off the fact that gangs are growing did not surprise me. I think that this number will more than likely always be going up. Then the fact that there is trafficking going in gangs for money doesn't surprise me at all. Some gangs have some of there own that they have trafficked and then they can also make other people outside of there gang. The people could be too scared to seek help and will have no choice to do what the gang tells them to do. The article said that there was ways that the police have been stopping some money flow through the gangs. I understand the fact to were this is important but would nice if there was a way to stop other crimes as well. Jays123
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