Looking back at the number of homicides in the city of San Jose, California for the year 2000 it was 20, so there was an average increase of 8 homicides per year for the next 8 years. Then in 2010, despite a population increase of over one hundred thousand people, only 20 murders occurred in the city of San Jose. Now in 2011, through the month of July, there have been 26 homicides, which means that, based on the current rate, San Jose is on track to have more than 50 homicides in 2011, which would theoretically surpass a two-decade high . Now, despite having lived in a small town, I consider San Jose a home away from home because I go there often. I worked there and my dad has worked in San Jose for 28 years. In 2009 the San Jose area was ranked the seventh safest area in the country and when that happened I felt grateful that my family and I lived in such a safe area. Yet these days I seem to read about a different murder every week, which has led me to ask myself many questions about the possible causes of this increase in murders. From the research I have done, the cause appears to be an increase in gang violence and murders between rival gangs. In San Jose, the two rival gangs, Norteños and Sureños, have started to get bolder with their killings, as evidenced by 2011's already high and rising murder rate. Solutions must be determined in collaboration with the police department of San Jose and the task of the government gangs. forces to determine the best course of action to stop the continuing increase in violence (Associated Press). It is surprisingly difficult to pinpoint the origin of street gangs. This may be due to the inherent nature of gangs: a group of individuals who band together for the same purpose and, in the case of str...... middle of paper ......olor Bind." Metroactive 31 Aug . 2005Web.http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/08.31.05/gangs-0535.htmlRodriguez, Joe "In San Jose, anti-gang squad tries to end Sureño violence against Norteño. " January 16, 2009. Web. http://www.streetgangs.com/topics/2009/011609sanjose.html Schoville, Chuck, Brian Novotny, and Andrew Eways. Bureau of Justice Assistance. "Surenos 2008 Special Gang Report." Rocky Mountain Information Network, 2008.Web.http://info.publicintelligence.net/surenosreport.pdfWebby, Sean "Census Shows a growing income polarization in Canada Web.http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/." ci_18310537?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.comZill de Granados, Oriana Nuestra Familia: Our Family Center for Investigative Reporting and Latino Public Broadcasting, September 2006. Web /pages/film.html