Hawaii has had a long history of gang activity caused by the diverse cultures that sometimes clash in the islands. Some gangs in Hawaii are branches of larger mainland or national gangs, others are unique to certain islands or areas.
List of some of the known gangs and affiliates in Hawaii:
-MS-13
-Vietnamese black crew
-Mexican surenos
-Honolulu CIRCO boys gang
-Sons of Samoa
-Bloods (loyal to certain areas ie. "kalihi bloods")
-Crips (loyal to certain areas)
-Hawaiian Mafia
-Filipino's
A majority of these gangs are located in areas such as Kalihi, Palolo and Waipahu, where heavy populations of filipino, samoan, and hawaiian cultures are found. 40% of filipino youth are suspected of gang membership, While 22% of samoan youth and 12.5% of hawaiian youth are suspected of gang membership. Studies have shown that these figures are direct results of economic struggles of these cultures. Samoans for example, constitute only 1.8% of the juvenile population of Hawaii, yet are responsible for nearly a quarter of gang related activity.
Experts say: Samoans in Hawaii experience extreme poverty that puts severe pressure on the communal values in traditional Samoan culture. In addition to the stresses of poverty, immigration to a country that places little value on sharing and care for the whole community and a great premium on individualism, consumerism, and competition produces a landscape that is difficult for Samoan youth to negotiate.
Back in the 1960's-1970's gangs of Hawaiians and other locals formed to regulate the disrespectful "Haole's" or other tourists who overstepped what they felt were boundaries. Many locals on the north shore of Oahu regulated the surf spots to make sure that the Haole surfers who didn't earn their respect were not allowed to surf. This group of men called themselves: Hui o He'e Nalu aka Da Hui. It is arguable whether Da Hui was a typical gang or merely a group devoted to protection of local rights, but there was violence and threatening involved.
Some other causes for Local youth to join gangs:
● Impulsiveness
● Low school achievement/alienation from school
● Poor parental supervision
● Child physical abuse
● Punitive or erratic parental discipline
● Parental conflict and disrupted families
● Substance abuse by a parent
● Poverty
● Susceptibility to peer pressure
● Substance use
● High-delinquency-rate schools
● High crime neighborhoods
Despite a definite gang population, Hawaii as a whole has seen juvenile arrest trends decline since 1992. The number of arrest trends has declined 36.3%, due to a huge decline(50.6%) in arrests of youth for property crimes in recent years. Youth arrests for violent crimes has decreased 5.5% from the last decade, and arrests for curfew and runaway have decreased 19.2 %
1 comment:
I was suprised to see that how many different gangs emerged in Hawaii. When you were presenting I got a good understanding of why. I can understand why when so many groups of different cultural and racial backgrounds are mixed together gangs would form. I think that the numbers have decreased so drastically regarding gang related violence because the different people of Hawaii have learned to live together and share their culture with their neighbors. I noticed that a lot of the reasons of why young people join gangs is becasue of something relating to their parents. That really too bad and hopefully one day more parents will realise this and do something to prevent it in their children.
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