John Hagedorn is very dedicated to doing research on gang economics. He is an associate professor of criminal justice and studies violence in Chicago communities. While Hagedorn studied gang relations throughout many Chicago land areas, he quickly discovered that gangs are a way for young people to organize their selves on the street just as regular people decided to join fraternities and sororities to feel like they belong to a family who cares. His website: http://gangresearch.net is very interesting in that it talks about gangs in Chicago and how the black metropolis is constantly expanding over the near west and south sides.
As I look at his map labeled Chicago’s Black Ghetto 1910-2000. I see the large change that the state of Illinois has undertaken including the majority of white populations decreasing almost everywhere except for the northside. In poor economies, gangs are a huge economic force and there is no sign of them disappearing anytime soon. So what is society to do about this gangs and violence? In my opinion, I think there is a lot of work to be done by our federal government and our politicians. Instead of them just trying to find ways to arrest and punish all of these gang members, I think there should be more public funding for programs that will work with these members to help them get off the streets and encourage them to make better life choices. As Hagedorn suggested, I believe gang members should write their own stories so that we can not only get more insight on the problem, but that a variety of approaches to better our economy can come from hearing their sides of the story.
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