=Gang Violence in California The city of Los Angeles is the "gang capital" of the nation. There are more than 450 active gangs in the city of Los Angeles. Many of these gangs have existed for over 50 years. These gangs have a combined membership of over 45,000 individuals. Gang violence has been a major problem for a long time. It may not be as bad now as it was in the 1990s when it first emerged, but gang violence is still a critical problem. One place where gang violence has really been a problem is none other than the state of California. Now, from 1988 to 1998, California was considered the “Decade of Death” as over 1000 people per year died in Los Angeles. And that's just Los Angeles, not to mention the entire state of California. It is now down from the years 2008 to 2012, when violence, overall, fell 16%. But even with this decline, it appears California has a major problem containing gang violence. A place like Compton, California is known for gang violence and even though they have seen a 30% drop in gang related crimes. And in the city of Los Angeles, gang-related crimes have decreased by 66 percent since 2005. But if you do the math there are still about 500 gang-related crimes a year, which is too many. In 2002, to help resolve the situation, former NYPD Chief William J. Bratton added 1,000 more police officers to patrol the city of Los Angeles. In recent years, the state of California has spent a lot of money to rid the streets of gangs and gangs. related violence. The money spent is just recently starting to pay off as the city of Salinas, California, which has a population of 150,000 people and 3,500 gang members, had 131 shootings and 15 murders in 2010. Now even a.. . half of paper... reads, the first part being illegal to "commit a crime by participating in a street gang and assisting in any criminal conduct by members of the gang." The second part makes it illegal that “anyone who commits a crime for the benefit of a gang will be punished with mandatory imprisonment”. So in conclusion, California law, through some laws, punishes gang members and those who associate with gang members. And finally let's talk about how social media impacts gang plans and their activities. With the help of social media, people can help stop gangs' plans for violent crime by capturing a possible tweet or Instagram post. They can catch him and report him to the police before anything happens. Instead, it is used as an advantage for gangs as they are planning to commit their crimes through social media sites like Twitter.