Part one of term paper
Originally the word gang had no negative connotation. In Old English, gang simply referred to a "number of people who went around together-a group." Today a gang can be defined in four basic ways: • an organized group with a leader • a unified group that usually remains together during peaceful times as well as times of conflict • a gro ...

Part two of term paper
... lives and join gangs as an alternative to boredom, hopelessness and devastating poverty. Studies have attempted to determine why gangs plague some communities but there has been no definitive answer. As a result, people working to solve gang problems have great difficulty. They find the situation overwhelming, and the violence continues. Early Gangs In United States History No groups completely fitting the above description of gangs existed in America until the early 1800s, but from the begin ...