Gangs: Illegitimate Opportunity Structure

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Illegitimate Opportunity Structure- The theory is that individuals commit crimes when the chances of being caught are low. People think that people in gangs join because they come from a broken home or a poor life that was not the best. Surprisingly that’s not the reason most people join gangs. Most people just want the access to money and the ‘Hustler’ lifestyle. People want nice things and money so they join gangs because the risk of getting caught are low. People also see gangs as another way to make money other than working that dead-end job. Being in a gang there is protection when committing these crimes.
Recruitment- When it comes to ms13 recruiting and growing to the size it did it falls back on the US government. When we first started …show more content…
The gang controls city blocks and everything that happens on the streets of these blocks. In the video it showed a man selling food on the sidewalk MS13 protects that man from harm but he has to pay them sometimes half his profit for the protection. They use violence as a threat sometimes horrific violence which makes people afraid to mess with them so they stay more powerful.
Never Ending Cycle- MS13 you die for your gang once you are in you are in for life. So, when it comes to recruiting for the gang they tend to go after the young kids so they have people in the gang for long periods of time. With the gang being for life there is more commitment to the gang. To get into the gang you must kill. In the movie, a young man was 9 years old when he killed his first rival gang member. MS13 is so dangerous because they are about violence and murder if you cross them they will kill you no matter what.
Violence- This is MS13’s biggest scare tactic to not only keep people from trying to leave or cross with them but to keep their power. In the movie, a young girl who was pregnant was talking to the police about how MS13 runs and all the inside details and they brutally stabbed her to death even though she was pregnant. When a rival gang member walks on to your territory they will kill you. They are labeled the most dangerous gang in the world because of their violent
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