...Why Youths Join Gangs and How to Prevent it from Happening Reaver J Childers Liberty University CJUS 310-B02 Professor Godwin Abstract Have you ever been watching the news and heard the news reporter say, “A young man was shot and killed outside of a corner store. It has been reported that he was a part of a known gang, referred to as the Crips. He was shot by a rivalry gang member.” Do you ever wonder what provokes a juvenile to want to join a gang? There are a lot of parents who ask this question after hearing about someone else’s child or their own child becoming a part of something so horrible. There are so many parents in the world who are losing their children to gangs. The gangs are coming into the communities and praying on what is considered to be the “weak ones.” The “weak-ones” are the ones who seems to be lacking something in their lives, and the only way they know how to fill that void or to get what they are looking for is by joining a gang. The gang gives them status, love, trust, attention, and most of all, it gives them an opportunity to have all the things that they think are important. They find all that they are missing without thinking about the consequences of being affiliated with such groups. This isn’t new to our society; youth gangs have been around for more than 150 years. The youth gangs have grown larger and bolder since the beginning of their time. This paper will discuss why so many youths join gangs...
Words: 2925 - Pages: 12
...Introduction Gangs have been around for over a hundred years. In the late 1800’s to 1930’s there were a lot of famous people known for their association with gangs, some are Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and Al Capone. There have been many movies about gangs and in the movies make it seem like being part of a gang is really cool, but in reality there are many risks with being part of a gang. This paper will discuss three articles discussing the risks of gangs. Article 1: “Why Do Youth Join Gangs? The Problem, Risks, and Attraction to Gang Life” This article discusses the increase in gangs across Canada. Most gangs in Canada are adult gangs, however there is an increase in youth gangs and problems arising in the community. The article further describes specific things that they believe attract youth to join gangs at an early age. This article addresses five characteristics that can cause youth to join gangs. They are poor school...
Words: 718 - Pages: 3
...Juvenile Gang Violence The expansion of youth gangs has widely increased since the 1960’s mainly due to the baby boom during this era. In the article “Preventing Adolescent Gang Involvement” from September 2000, Finn-Aage Esbensen describes the major impact on how gangs hurt the community. The population of children ages 13-17 rose ten percent corresponding to an increase of crimes of the American youth. In the 1980’s only seven percent of the American youth made up the population yet no signs of decrease in crime was slowing down. Movies and television brought notice of gangs to suburban and rural areas of America. With high rates of gang involvement and the increase of lethal weapons being bought by these gangs it turns attention to law enforcement to find a way to stop gang violence across the United States. In order to prevent the formation of gangs and youth to join new or existing ones it is necessary to understand the causes and attractions of gangs. The first criteria that concerns law enforcement is defining what elements resemble a gang. Some usual signs are groups larger than two people between the ages of 12 and 24. These groups may have a specific name, colors they wear, or symbol and handshake they use to define who they are. They must be stable for over a period of one year and have an area or “turf” of where they represent. The last and major area is to have some type of criminal activity in which they are involved in. The typical gang member...
Words: 975 - Pages: 4
...Gang Membership Esmeralda Sinanovic Thomas Edison State College February 09, 2014 Gang Membership “According to the 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment report, gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions, and up to 90 percent in others” (Gangs, n.d.). Such high numbers in crime involvement raise a concern. What are some characteristics of gangs? Gang members mostly are males with females being 20%-40% of gang members. According to NYGC 2012 survey most gang members are above age 18 with some as young as 11 years old with gang membership peak of 14 and 15 years old (Egley, Maxon, Miller, & Klein, 2014). When compared across area survey 1996-2011 surveys show that larger cities and suburbs where gangs have been for a long time, have more adult gang members than juvenile. Across all area types, the majority of law enforcement agencies report that African-American/black and/or Hispanic/Latino individuals predominate all gangs. (National Youth Gang Survey Analysis, n.d.). In early 1900s gangs were described based on their nationality while after 1950s gangs were identifies by race and ethnicity (Egley, Maxon, Miller, & Klein, 2014).Criminal behavior is the main characteristic of all gangs across all areas. The majority of crimes that gangs are involved are drug sales, aggravating assaults, robbery, firearm sales, breaking and entering, auto theft, and larceny. Researchers have brought forth theories on why youth joins...
Words: 1154 - Pages: 5
...Social Problems Associated with Street Gangs Gangs are becoming prevalent in today’s society and within our schools. More and more young people are turning to gangs in an attempt to escape their everyday lives and the future, which they perceive as dismal and bleak. They are initially attracted to the prestige and cash flow, which is glamorized by the street gang. Many gangs are actively involved in criminal misconduct, such as drug and gun trafficking, burglaries and homicides. However, street gangs are not just a criminal justice issue, but a social problem, which is triggered by poverty, peer pressure, boredom, despair and lacking a sense of belonging. A street gang can be defined as “an organized social system that is both quasi-private (not fully open to the public) and quasi-secretive (much of the information concerning its business remains confined with the group) and one whose size and goals have necessitated that social interaction be governed by a leadership structure that has defined roles; where the authority associated with these roles has been legitimized to the extent that social codes are operational to regulate the behavior of both the leadership and the rank and file; that plans and provides not only for the social and economic services of its members, but also for its own maintenance as an organization; that pursues such goals irrespective of whether the action is legal or not; and that lacks a bureaucracy (i.e., an administrative staff that is hierarchically...
Words: 1818 - Pages: 8
...Why Do Urban Youth Join gangs? There is no universal agreed upon definition of a gang. According to the national institute of justice the federal definition is “An association of three or more individuals whose members collectively identify themselves by adopting a group identity, which they use to create an atmosphere of fear or intimidation, frequently by employing one or more of the following: a common name, slogan, identifying sign, symbol, tattoo or other physical marking, style or color of clothing, hairstyle, hand sign or graffiti.” The purpose of a gang is to engage in criminal activity and which uses violence or intimidation to further its criminal objectives. Gangs come in all different types, there are multiple types of gangs; for example motorcycle gangs, prison gangs, hate groups, adult organized crime groups, terrorist organizations and other types of security threat groups. The reasons people tend to join gangs are lack of jobs, poverty, domestic violence, and lack of education. The most common age for youth to join a gang is between 13 and 15. Youth join gangs for various reasons; money, sense of support and belonging, peer status, and a sense of protection are seemingly provided by the gang. Youth in gangs are more likely to abuse drugs, engage in high risk sexual behaviors, and experience long term health and social consequences. The reason that today’s youth join gangs is because of environmental factors, early academic failure and lack of school attachment...
Words: 2068 - Pages: 9
...October 13, 2014 Da Hood Life Did you know the ages in which most gang members are between 13 and 21? Very interesting right? Another one, your ethnicity or where you are from does not exclude you from being part of a gang. Then again there are many other reasons as to why teens join gangs. It is not because of your age or ethnicity, but because of peer pressure, family members, and the need of excitement in their life. Many people experience peer pressure and teens are no exception. In a study done in 2009 in Sonoma County it was reported that “59% of youths identified as juvenile delinquents indicated that peer pressure and the absence of family bonding were the main factors of perpetuating gang participation” (www.myelsie.org/pp.gang.html). Also, gangs aim to get at teens because they are most likely to get easily persuaded into jointing them. “If they live in a gang-dominated area, or go to a school with a strong gang presence, they might find that many of their friends are joining gangs” (www.myelsie.org/pp.gang.html) and...
Words: 656 - Pages: 3
...The main idea of this source is to present five new studies being conducted on youth gangs. A broader developmental perspective, underscoring the need for ongoing inquiry linking the heretofore separate literature on youth gangs and antisocial peer influences from criminology and developmental science (201). Gangs have been present in America for decades. All through only in recent years are local and national observation studies showing gangs growing at an increasingly rapid rate. This section discusses the full range of youth involvement in gangs, from their entry to the significant amounts of activities that occur during their involvement to their disengagement. Understanding the complexity as to why youth join gangs is very critical and...
Words: 424 - Pages: 2
...The term “Youth Gang” has evolved to become a common term in the generation we live in. It is a term that is covered in most media outlets on an almost daily basis. In order to fully understand the weight of the influence of youth gangs in our communities, we must make an attempt to look at how various scholars define it. There seems to be no clear-cut definition for the term “youth gang” because different communities have their own perception on what they refer to as a “youth gang”. Various researchers agree that defining, recognizing and identifying youth gangs is perplexed by inappropriate labelling of youth social groups by outsiders (Mathews, 1993; Gordon, 2000; Church Council on Justice and Corrections, 1995). There is also insufficient...
Words: 1741 - Pages: 7
...Changing Course – Keeping Kids Out of Gangs Ashley Solipo Kaplan University CM107 Changing Course: Keeping Kids Out of Gangs The article I have chosen is Changing Course: Keeping Kids Out of Gangs by Nancy Ritter who is a writer and editor for the National Institute of Justice. The audience that the article is directed towards are parents, families, teachers, law enforcement, as well as youth groups who have interaction with our youth on a daily basis. I selected this article to write about because I believe it is a huge problem in our society today. Our communities should be forewarned of the violence and consequences of youth gang membership. Here in the United States gang membership has remained persistent and has been such a huge problem for many in the past years. It is said that One in three local law enforcement agencies have reported gang problems in their jurisdiction. In a 2010 national survey, about 45 percent of high school students and 35 percent of middle school students had admitted to being gang members. It is sad to see that this is the world we live in today! Because of the increase in gang membership, consequences for gang membership has increased tremendously and placed such a burden on communities and law enforcement today. The influence of gangs today has played a huge role in the generations to come. Our youth who are in gangs are more likely to be both victims and perpetrators of violence then those whose...
Words: 603 - Pages: 3
...Prison Gangs Prison Gangs According to (Wikipedia) a prison gang is a term used to identify any type of gang activity in prisons and correctional facilities. The difference between prison gangs and street gangs has become unclear because gang members are in and out of the prison system according to the (Street Gangs and Interventions: Innovative Problem Solving with Network Analysis, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2005). Prison gangs offer more than just simple protection for the members in prison; many prison gangs are responsible for drug, tobacco and other contraband handling. Prison gangs often seek to intimidate other inmates and bribe or intimidate prison staff. Prison gangs are a large influence of organized crime. Prison gangs are also known for laundering money from outside gangs while in prison. The forming of a prison gang is prohibited however; prison gangs are on a rise and without regard of the law prohibiting them. Many of the gang members are already in prison serving very long sentences; when another member is sentence they link up and look out for one another. There are multiple prison gangs in America such as the Aryan Brotherhood, the Nazi Low-riders, La Eme, those are just a few. (American Prison Gangs by Sharon White) According to this article prison gangs are in the Federal prison system and 32 state jurisdictions. There are 29 able to be identified and the prison guards know the member by names. Prison officials have identified 114...
Words: 3155 - Pages: 13
...Gangs Gangs have existed since before the start of the twentieth century. They usually consist of young men between the ages of ten and twenty-five. Most gangs exist in poor and high crime area, however in the last twenty years more gangs have been started in suburban and affluent neighborhoods. Throughout the years many criminologists, psychiatrists and sociologists have studied the potential causes of kids joining gangs. They do this because they seek to understand the willingness of youths to join groups that are known for their violence and illegal behaviors. Youths join gangs because they want to feel as though they belong, have status and are affiliated with something according to social learning theory. Gangs give a person an audience for their activities and behaviors and allows those who are or feel unloved and unwanted to gain the recognition that they lack in their own homes. Social learning theory is the concept that people showcase attitudes and behaviors are based on whether an action is rewarded or discourage. For many youths, their interactions with...
Words: 735 - Pages: 3
...Tina Huang CRJ 112 Professor Gutierrez July 7, 2016 Annotated Bibliography Papachristos, A.V. (2005). Gang World. Foreign Policy, pp. 48-55. Andrew V. Papachristos is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Yale University and has studied gangs for more than 12 years. In the article, Papachristos discusses how street gangs have proliferated around the world that one may now consider it a “gang world.” The focus subject of his research is Hector, a 19 year old member of the Latin Kings street gang, who happens to be the son of Mexican immigrants. He sells little bags of cocaine to make a living profit, about $50. The purpose of Hector being the central figure in his research was to demonstrate how the gang lifestyle is glamorized internationally...
Words: 1996 - Pages: 8
...HOW TO PREVENT LOOSING OUR YOUTH TO GANGS To prevent youth from being involved in gangs or gang-related activities more states should implement programs similar to A&E’s “Beyond Scared Straight” to let kids see what the consequences of their actions could lead to. Gangs and crimes are increasing each year that it’s no wonder why kids fall susceptible to them. There are currently about 400,000 youth gang members and about 600,000 adult gang members in the United States. Out of all the youth gang members 360,000 of them are boys and 32,000 of them are girls. A lot of youths that join gangs end up committing crimes which land them in juvenile detention, according to research 15% of youth females and 85% of youth males are incarcerated in juvenile detention. Gangs also often lead to death and in 1994, 24% of youth deaths were gang-related and I’m sure the number has tripled by now. Some kids are born into gangs because it runs in their family and others choose to join but no good ever comes from them. Youths are easy targets for gang members to recruit for many reasons. Children aren’t very mature and do not yet fully understand the consequences of joining a gang so their easy to convince. Children also don’t know that gangs can be very difficult to get out of and sometimes the only way out is death. Some gangs let females get out if they become pregnant but the other options are to get jumped out. Children also see gangs as a way to make easy money to buy those things they...
Words: 990 - Pages: 4
...Living in a small community one does not expect to see gang activity. You say to yourself not here, this is not a city with a large population nor is there easy access to guns, drugs, poverty, etc. some of the conditions to bring gang activity into the area. A youth gang is ‘”commonly known as a self-formed association of peers having the following characteristics: three or more members ,aged 12-24, a gang name and some sense of identity ,generally indicated by symbols such as clothing style, graffiti and hand signs, so degree of permanence and organization, and an elevated level of involvement in delinquent and/or criminal activity”. (http://www.ncvc.org/) Youth gangs even though considered uniquely American they also are in other countries as well. Gangs have been around for a long time, “In England in the 1600’s London was terrorized by organized gangs that called themselves the “Hectors”” Bugles”, “Dead Boys,” and other colorful names Even today, with the mention of the word gang one begins to see images of black jacket youths roaming the city streets bearing such names as the Latin Kings, MS-13, bloods, crips just to name a few of the many that are around,” (Siegel) Unfortunately, the growing with increase of Broadway shows, books, films and other media it has glorified being in a gang as well as popularized it as well. You ask yourself the questions why do these gangs exist and why do our children join them so easily? The answers to these questions I found...
Words: 1232 - Pages: 5
