On the Frontline Vs. Freakonomics BLA Final

In this edition of On the Frontline: Gangs, Guns, and Violence the program explains how neighborhoods and parks have now become a gang battlefield where innocent men, women, and children of the community are being gunned down by drive-by gang cars or being caught in a gang shooting in a seemingly safe area. The documentary goes into further depth of gangs by talking to police who specialize in stopping gang violence. The police explain how many young adults turn to gangs because they know they can confide in them like a family, they know that they can count on them for money and to earn a living through committing crimes or dealing drugs.

In Freakonomics the authors give a similar gang explanation but present it in a point of view of a student who was just trying to get his survey answered. The student later learned that gangs are very complex pyramids of workers and although they are all at different levels of the gang they are all family and they all have each others backs. The main issue that Freakonomics touched on was drug dealing and how common it was for even educated members to make a living off of. In these rough neighborhoods of Chicago "barely one in three men worked at all." Drug dealing was an easy way to make a living, support your family, and join a brotherhood.

Both Freakonomics and On the Frontline explain how gangs can become very appealing to young adults because of the trust they gain from their new-found family, the easy money from drug dealing, and the life they could be giving to their own family based on their income. However On the Frontline explains more on the increasing violence in neighborhoods and touches on the increasing drug dealing. Both present gangs in a violent light but Freakonomics shows gangs in the point of view through a student vs. police On the Frontline. Both do receive viewpoints and testimony's from gang members or ex-gang members.