Gang Violence Research Paper

Abstracts

As I went to our local library, I notice a group of young people dressed with bandannas and dark clothing. I later understood this group to be a gang, which sparked the curiosity for the research of this paper. Gangs in the United States are a problem, although there has been a decrease in certain areas. This paper will outline the social and psychological problems of youth and prison gangs. The study will speak to the current issues and present suggestions for the future.

Table of Contents

Introduction page 4
Background pages 4-5 Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Documents,
Survey, and Statistics

Graph page 6

Research Questions page 7

Literature Review pages 7-11

Method pages 11

Recommendation pages 12-14

Conclusion page 14

References pages 15-16

Introduction

There is a quote by Mohandas Gandhi that states, "Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain." The youth of today are out of control because families are dysfunctional and out of control.
There are systems in place such as educational and preventive strategies to reduce gang participation. Even now, there are gangs in prison. Studies have indicated that the more we are able to reach young people the better society will become (Parry, 2009). What is going on? Documentation presents a genre of methodical ways to highlight the concerns of youth and adults entangled in gangs in the United States. Reviewing gangs psychologically and from a social perspective in literature will assist in determining the best way to reduce gang
involvement.
Background

There is a belief that the behavior of all gangs are the same and that they all behave the same, this is false (Jensen, 1994). Gang participation is widespread according to the study in 2002 by the Department of Justice researcher, which also involves criminal behavior (OJJDP, 2004). The survey in 2002 requested information about gang participation from county agencies. The survey found that gang participation is especially problematic in urban settings, with 100 percent of cities with populations of over 250,000 reporting youth gang problems and 87 percent of cities with populations between 100,000 and 249,999 (OJJDP, 2004). While urban populations experienced the largest percentages of gang participation, suburban and rural cities also had gang participation in between 12 and 27 percent of counties (OJJDP, 2004).
In 2002, it was estimated that there were 731,500 gang participants in 21,500 gangs in the United States (OJJDP, 2004). While gang participation reportedly declined between 1999 and 2002, researchers argued that this was primarily due to a decline in smaller cities and rural communities, while urban populations remained consistently high (OJJDP, 2004).
The Justice Department also assessed the nature of violence caused by the gang participants. In Justice Department survey, 142 cities with populations above 100,000 reported both gang participation and gang-related homicides (OJJDP, 2004). In this group, 51 cities reported that no gang-related homicides had occurred, 91 cities reported one or more gang related homicides, and two cities reported 655 gang-related homicides (OJJDP, 2004). These two cities, Chicago and Los Angeles, reported approximately 600 total gang-related homicides out of about 1,250 homicides record in 2002, or 50% of homicides resulting from gang participation (OJJDP, 2004). In urban settings, victims were more likely to report that violence occurred because of gang participation as compared to violence that occurs in either rural or suburban populations (Harrell, 2005).
Researchers have attempted to determine the variables that influence gang participation and the nature of prevention measures, including education-based initiatives for juvenile populations and punitive initiatives for adult populations. The existing literature provides a variety of data regarding the nature of gang participation, the role of the gang vs. the role of the family, and the preventative strategies commonly employed. Most gangs are organized status performers.

Organized Gang Statuses and Roles ****There is also another group that is referred to as cliques which is not on the diagram above; they are considered outsiders or want to-be-gang members.

Research Questions

The following are the research questions that will be addressed in this study:
1. Why do people participate in gangs?
2. What has the criminal justice response to gangs been in recent years?
3. What programs have worked to decrease gang participation?
4. What are the theoretical underpinnings of prevention strategies?

Literature Review

Research suggest that juveniles and adults participate in gangs due as a result of family dynamics, morals and a child 's up bring. Woodson (2001) argues that there is an outbreak of kindred separation that has resulted in the development of a criminal culture (p. 269). The correlation between juvenile delinquency and gang participation has been noted, as has the connection between gang participation and familial dissolution. Woodson noted (2001): that about fifty-eight out of every hundred children are born into dysfunctional environments. In some urban districts, this ratio is as high as eighty per one hundred births are. However, social inquiry continues to produce facts of the crippling crash of this craze (p. 269). Children born into familial dissolution have a greater chance of delinquency, of dropping out of school and a variety of anti-social and atypical behaviors (Woodson, 2001; Kuperminc and Allen, 2001). Woodson sites Patrick Fagan, who stated "the evidence of the professional literature is overwhelming: teenage criminal behavior has its roots in the habitual deprivation of parental love and affection, going back to early infancy” (Woodson, 2001, p. 269). The assessment of existing views regarding this problem relate to the correlation between disintegrating family life and delinquency that can subsequently lead to long-term deviant behaviors. Some negligent invariably have a disorderly and disintegrating family. Consequently, this leads to frustration and anger towards outsiders (Woodson, 2001, p. 269). Comparisons are between children in similar urban settings with differentiated family scenarios, and assessments that are made regarding the impacts of family functioning. Children who are from two parents, stable and safe homes 90 percent of them do not become delinquent. However, 10 percent of the children from unsafe, unstable homes avoid crime (Woodson, 2001, p. 269). Therefore, the assertions regarding the correlation between gang participation and family systems theory, then, has become a substantial part of the existing literature. The methodology utilized by Woodson (2001) relates to the review of existing statistics and the application of family systems theory to the information derived. Kuperminc and Allen (2001) utilize a quantitative methodology that assesses the response of 113 male and female adolescents regarding social skill adaptation and adolescent behaviors deemed problematic. These researchers have noted that the application of social theory can provide a basis for understanding the nature of interactions and the juvenile response to existing family systems. Problematic social skill development, then, can result from a lack of adaptive processes that are define by constructive theories related to family function (Kuperminc and Allen, 2001). Other theorists have also maintained the benefits of relative family coping mechanisms to the interactions that lead to problematic adolescent behaviors, including gang participation (Beyers et al, 2001). Family systems theories were applied with the understanding of the way in which the gang becomes like a family, while replacing the link to family. Individuals who participate in gang behaviors often do so because the gang takes the place of family interactions and supports relationships that replace family support. When one person has a social skill or behavioral deficiency, other members of the gang help to compensate, creating a reciprocal process that is underscores the importance of gang relationships as coping mechanisms (Kerr and Bowen, 1988). Researchers have maintained that adolescents often seek out gangs because of the presence of inadequate parenting in the home or a lack of emotional support within the family structure. Sociologists have applied critical theory to an understanding of this process and the impacts for children who begin early participation in delinquency. Researchers have also recognized that children who become gang participants in their youth are likely to become adults who also participate in gangs. Adult gangs often include individuals who have experienced long histories of delinquency and include individuals who have been incarcerated in adult correction facilities for their crimes (Fleisher and Decker, 2001). Fleisher and Decker (2001) use a narrative methodology, which is qualitative to provide a review of gangs that have been problematic in the criminal justice system. The researchers maintain that above the existing juvenile gang population is a large population possibly more than 100,000 adult gang participants, currently incarcerated across the country (Fleisher and Decker, 2001). Though this may be true, Trulson, Marquart, and Kawucha (2006) maintain that national data suggests that there are very few gangs in state prison systems that are active in any way. In the Department of Justice surveys in 2002, data collected suggested that there was 15,398 prisons gang members" and that most states had "fewer than 1,000 gang members" (Trulson, Marquart and Kawucha, 2006, p. 26).
Though prison incarceration may be a suggested underlying reason for participation in gangs, research that is based on statistical evidence suggests that gangs are less of a problem in prisons than in the general population. When other people are included in the total, including gang members from the street, it still appears that inmate gang members embodies less than 5 percent of all inmates across the United States (Trulson, Marquart and Kawucha, 2006, p. 26).
Though this suggests low incarceration rates for prison populations, the researchers also argue that gangs play a disproportionately high role in problems in prison management. The prisoners who participate in gangs are more likely to cause violence and disorder that result in the need for response in the prison or criminal justice system. The disruption gangs ' cause in prison takes it is most terrifying form in the threats they use against staff members (Parry, 2006). Threats were initially against witness and victims that he or she is unable to testify in court, however threats are made towards everyone including police officers and official officers (Parry, 2006). Getting gang members off the streets did not necessarily curtail their activities but in many ways, their numbers and power grew inside prisons. The gangs also found prison to be a fertile recruiting venue; many inmates who had never been gang members before joined in prison, and allied with the gang after their release (Martinez, 1999). This study suggests that the real problem is not in the numbers of gang members as noted, but in the fact of how deficient the gang members are in what we might call social skills (Krienert and Fleisher, 2001). The inmates who self-identify as gang members tend to be poorly educated and tend to be drug users and violent (Krienert and Fleisher, 2001, p. 47). This means that it is difficult for prison officials to design and implement programs to help them find employment upon release, for example (Krienert and Fleisher, 2001). These inmates will first have to have programs in "remedial education and intense substance abuse counseling" before any other programs can be effective (Krienert and Fleisher, 2001). Studies of gang participation suggest that there are variables that determine the onset of participation and the continuation of participation over time. For example, children who come from broken homes are more likely to participate in gangs than children who do not. Children who participate in gangs are more likely demonstrate juvenile delinquency that can subsequently result in incarceration. Incarcerated youths are more likely to become incarcerated as adults, and adult incarceration can result in a variety of negative indices of long-term productivity, subsequently resulting in gang participation. This type of systems approach to assessing gang participation, then, suggests that there are familial links and social components that must be assessed from both traditional and multicultural perspectives. Many who are involved in gangs or have friend who are often have no social skills or have any type of religious affiliation (Day, R., Jones-Sanpei, H., Price, J., Orthner, D., Hair, E., Moore, K., et al. 2009).
Method
One is unable to make any recommendation unless one possesses knowledge of the operation or history of gangs (Decker, 2000). Any type of prevention need to be based on realistic goals with the understanding of the offender (Petersen, 2000). Therefore, I suggest an injured religious group of ex gang members to assist with an intervention program. This is a non-profit multicultural group men and women. Their primary purpose is to reach gang members, their family, and community in hope of creating a sense of worth and positive activities. This team will assist is cultivating a positive mental attitude in the youth with the goal of reforming. Of course, there will be obstacles with ex gang members communicating with gang members but the challenge will be within them. Members of this team are interested in making a difference in the community. There will be mental challenges for those reformed gang members for status and roles however, if focused this non-profit organization can be successful. The central purpose of this team is to be an agent of change and strategy. In order to accomplish this goal one must elect officers; send letters to city council, and the police department. This will be a community effort, which will be beneficial to the community and city at large. Many people should be included. In addition, as a strategy envisions an array of available interventions are psychological, contextual, family involvement, employment opportunities, recreation, the community, and criminal justice (Goldstein & Soriano, 1994).

Recommendation
Applying critical theory to research on gang participation, including a focus on the factors influencing social exclusion, could have an impact on the direction of the research. Critical theory suggests that there is a greater need to look at the context through which increased gang participation has occurred over the past two decades, with a focus on the social components that have influenced social exclusion. In particular, factors like the decline of the family as a social condition relative to delinquency and the desire of children to seek out a social "family" would be of greater focus in this study.
The application of critical theory, then, might suggest that there is a greater need to assess familial context, including interviews with the family members of delinquent youths or gang participants, in order to conceptualize the response of the youth population interviewed. The reason for this relates the nature of juvenile delinquency, the specific focus on family dysfunction, and the factors relative to social context that influence the choice of gang participation. Over the course of the last two decades, researchers have attempted to determine the underlying reasons for juvenile delinquencies, including gang participation. Theorist stated that poverty and familial status is a determinant of delinquency, while others state that lack of education and non-religious affiliation have an impact on whether a youth will turn to crime.
The current literature, though, reflects a significant perspective on the major underlying causes of juvenile delinquency, especially if critical theory is applied, and relates most of the variables linked to delinquency and criminal behavior to environmental elements, including familial dysfunction. Research suggests that the role of parents and the significance of the family setting are both determinants of whether children with turn to juvenile delinquency or not. It is not enough to turn the situation over to, or simply blame, parents, social services, or other “authorities.” Instead, the combination of factors that have caused one individual child to act out the way he or she does must be examined as a part of rational interventions. This study suggests that the issue of children’s attitudes towards gangs and the application of a constructivist approach and an understanding of foundational culture could be beneficial in creating prevention programming for juveniles. One of the distinct components of prevention programs for gang participants in general is the acknowledgement that juveniles who become gang members are likely to become adult gang members, creating a system through which gang participation is cumulative. The identification of factors that lead to gang participant can be valuable to future studies, as is the application of a multicultural perspective, one that addresses the significance of demographic variations in gangs and the impacts of particular views, including the views of young children, of gang participants. The glamorization of gangs in the mass media, with attention paid to gang activities in films, can also create a culture of acceptance, one that denotes a level of positive association with gang unity. Elements should be considered when developing a research study of gang participants in their impact in creating gang systems. Emerging research should define both the issues related to the problem of gang participation and the factors influencing them. The development of definitions of the following terms would be important to future research: gang participation, juvenile gangs, prison gangs, systems theory, family dissolution, single-parent families, multiculturalism, cohesion, gang unity, gang identity, and critical theory. The development of strategies that are based on the definition of these elements and the integration of future studies regarding their impact on gang assessments will be valuable in creating a plan for prevention. Gang prevention strategies have been relatively ineffective in the urban setting and this may be the result of the need for more distinct methods for addressing family and social needs within the educational setting. Researchers have noted a variety of programs that are school-based and have had some success in reducing gang participation. Educational opportunities that address cultural and social gaps may be an important element of future studies.
Conclusions

One of the problems in assessing gang violence and gang participation is that figures regarding the level of gang violence often come from a criminal justice perspective, rather than a sociological view. One must take a deeper look at his or her environment. Existing studies that relate the problem of gang violence to problems in the family provides an interesting view of the issue, one that is not purely statistical. As conditions in the American family decline, the level of gang participation will continue to increase. This shapes the view that gang violence is a cultural and social manifestation of our failing families and therefore a condition that is significantly problematic. The religious group would not only look at this but also work at joining or reviving the family structure, with a family counselor involve. Understand that to treat a behavior one must connect to the mind and many times the mind is connect to his or her surroundings. Whether discussing juvenile gangs or prison gangs, it is necessary to recognize that gangs are the result of failed family systems and the creation of collective identification that would have occurred in the family setting if the family setting were intact. As a growing number of children in the urban setting are raised in single-parent families and familial dissolution is common, gang participate may surge again. As a result, there is a need to consider the impacts of these elements on gang participation at the center of emerging research and focus on multicultural team approaches to prevention that address the problem of juvenile delinquency. There is no one solution to the prevention of participation in gangs. I will say that

individuals who participate in gangs have made a conscious decision. In order for one to leave a gang he or she must have the will and determination to separate from this way of life. It is clear that there are many factors which contribute to one participating in a gang yet, the most challenging way to break away from a gang is leaving one 's place of comfort. The gang provides a nurturing environment which is condusive for one 's safety and acceptance into the family. The gang tends to redefine the traditional definition of "family" as it relates to our society. Therefore, members who participate in such deviant behavior become deprogram in how he or she views life. There morals and values plays a major role in how they interact with outsiders. In making the above statements, I tend to believe that those who participate in such violence are not hopeless individuals. Many individuals have transitioned into our society living productive lives. Some have even given back to society by sharing their story and by working in the community. Their spiritual commitment to God has played a major role in living a stable life. Changed occurred because of a changed mind. Ro 12:1-2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Power Bible CD).

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