Personally I feel the majority of the kids involved in gangs are lost and out trying to find themselves. Then we have the young kids who are labeled gang members, but are far from it. These kids usually grow up together and have strong bonds with one another; they occasionally dress alike, hang together, and claim to belong to a certain neighborhood only by personal childhood reasons. But the local authorities see things different, they feel as if you wear certain colors, hang in certain areas with 3 or more kids claiming to belong to anything other than a sports team are considered gang related. With the rise of drug use amongst teen is also a major contribution to the growing number of youth kids joining gangs. Being that drugs from marijuana, to heroin has become so easy to get a hold of the kids are experimenting more freely now. A lot of kids get addicted to different drugs and begin to act out, committing crimes, joining gangs, and running away from home chasing their addiction. And once out on the streets these gangs become there new family & friends.
Peer pressure has been the decision maker of many of our teens when it comes to joining gangs. Many of today’s youth join gangs just trying to fit in with their peers. Many of our kids are widely influenced by hip-hop artist who give the impression that gang life got them where they are at in