The development of gangs over the many years of their existence has caused the growth of different gangs and gang members to all parts of the world. These developing gangs have created major attention and awareness to this culture of life that is becoming so common amongst our communities. There have been said to be around 30,000 or more gangs with at least 800,000 gang members in the United States, whom were fully active in 2007. In 2009, the statics showed 147,000 in the United States prison and detention (jail) facilities and 900,000 living within our communities around the United States. Gangs in America and around the world often bring our young kids into this violent life of guns, drugs, murder, burglary, and many more criminal activities and heinous crimes.…
Presently, youths and adolescent teens have become progressively enticed to join gangs. An individual joining a gang or a non-criminal group consists of different pushes and pulls that work in tandem to represent an attraction or dominating force. In this case, for example, “gang membership can increase status among peers, especially girls (for boys)” while also allowing the opportunity to be with them (Why Do Youth Join Gangs?). Gangs also provide a sense of excitement through illicit drug selling and the ability to earn money. By committing these illicit acts, youths perceive themselves making a rational choice in their decision to join a gang. It is assumed candidates for gangs are already delinquent or have a high probability for delinquency…
In the article that we read entitled "Are the Risk and Protective Factors Similar for Gang-Involved, Pressured-to-Join, and Non-Gang-Involved Youth? A Social-Ecological Analysis” written by Gabriel J. Merrin, Jun Sung Hong, and Dorothy L. Espelage. I found that the article was a very great source of enlightenment of the world of the gang involvement. I am going to share with everyone the things in the article that got my attention. I found that it was strange that males are more than likely to become involved in gangs more so than females. Youth boys and girls are higher risks for joining or being involved with an organized group of criminals if the youth has depression, traumatic stress, anti-social behavior and suicidal ideation. In addition to…
Teenage gang prevention often involves early intervention by special at-risk programs that offer mentorship and activities to do after school. If teens feel that they can find summer jobs and fun activities that will keep them off of the streets, they may choose to participate rather than join a gang that could get them arrested or killed.…
There are three distinct types of gangs that might form in neighborhoods: criminal gangs, conflict gangs, and retreatist gangs. Criminal gangs exist in organized communities in which younger offenders can gain the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful criminals from older offenders. These gangs are likely to commit crimes such as drug dealing, commercial theft burglary, and other crimes with an economic motive. Conflict gangs don’t have the access to these illegitimate opportunity structures to obtain their goals. These gangs are highly disorganized; there are no adult criminal role models to tutor these youths. Most of the crime these gangs do is individualistic and unorganized. These people may do crazy acts of violence out of anger and frustration. Retreatist gangs may exist in neighborhoods that either do or do not have illegitimate opportunity structures, or they may not have access to those structures. These gangs sell small amounts of drugs. Criminal and Retreatist gangs sell drugs. Conflict and Retreatist gangs do poorly…
Sheley, Joseph, (1995). Gang Organization, Gang Criminal Activity, and Individual Gang Members ' Criminal Behavior. . Social Science Quarterly. 76 (1), pp.53-68…
This article discusses several different ways to prevent youth gang violence. It talks about how youth and gang violence is ruining the country. It enlightens you on how youths are being robbed, raped and killed by one another. It talks about strengthen law enforcement and about securing a safe haven for the next generation. I had no idea youth gang violence was this massive. Gang violence involving youth membership has gained attention worldwide and this article will be useful toward research…
Youth gangs in Maryland have been a problem for years. With members being at a rapid pace and at younger ages it seems as if there is no end to their reign of terror. Most of the young people joining these gangs are between the ages of 12-24. These youth gangs have been larger and larger as time goes on. In 1997 the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) released a Fact Sheet on youth gangs which stated that, the population of youth gangs in major cities grew from 2,000 gangs with nearly 100,000 members in 1980 to more than 23,000 gangs and more 650,000 members in 1995. Something must be done to stop this rapid growth and slaughter of young people.…
Yes, I do. Juvenile gangs I think are more dangerous. They are more dangerous to me because it seem like they tend to get away with things like crime. Young adult are more violence than mature adult which is why it is scary. Juvenile tend to go through with their criminal act more than adult. The reason they go through with is because they are still young minded, and they want to join the gang. Knowing juvenile gang is rising in many states including North Carolina, it is alarmingly scary to me. I am very concern, and I hope we as society can do something about the situation.…
The article I chose to read was titled “The Gang Culture Continues to Grow”. This article explained aspects of the gang culture in America, and how it has grown over the years to be bigger and more violent then ever. Gangs have been around for centuries. The earliest recording of a gang was a gang named rebellious children, which was mentioned in 2 Kings 2:23-25 of the Bible. Gangs have continued to grow over the years, and now are present in almost every bigger sized city in America, and around the world. In the 1980’s, gangs were usually found only on the east and west coasts of America. Now, they are spreading in land to more rural areas to set up shop. This means more violence, more criminal activity, and more problems for the police and the surrounding communities with its law biting citizens. Very rarely will anything good come from gangs, so controlling them and prosecuting its members for crimes committed is a very important aspect of police forces of bigger cities.…
By understanding that youth association with gangs are becoming a growing problem, the need for prevention, intervention, mentorship, therapeutic programs have also become an apparent reality. Author, Dishion, T. J and etl., agrees when they also state, “By linking the academic failure and peer rejection to early gang involvement, it will be useful to consider family centered intervention, after school prevention, gang intervention and any other positive program to focus on the school system” (pg 70). With adolescents gang involvement steady raising, the call for more early prevention programs maybe apparent and could help. But, if this societal issue is not address with urgency adolescent gang involvement numbers may continue to soar.…
When a gang becomes a genuine gang it is at this time when they become a great concern as a threat to society. The formation, expansion and the consequent actions of gangs greatly affect society. It has been consistently found that gangs are normally linked to serious crimes and violence (Decker, Melde & Pyrooz, 2013). As these gangs become constant and stable fixtures in their community they become a permanent option for marginalized…
Although initially gangs were mainly in the inner cities they have now become prominent throughout all communities. When a family member is involved in a gang this can entice a young person to want to join the gang as well. “The finding that adolescent gang membership has significant consequences in adulthood beyond criminal behavior indicates the public health importance of the development of effective gang prevention programs” (Gillman, Hill, & Hawkins, 2014). Hopefully by getting programs in place to help the young people fully understand the consequences of joining a gang, as a society we can prevent and close gang activity in our…
Gangs are fully entrenched in many suburban communities across the nation. Gangs are a dangerous and a plague that has infected almost every city in the United States. Many notable gangs such as the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples, Black Peace Stones, and Latin Kings are the root of this epidemic. At this time gang activity was largely confined to urban areas, which raises a huge problem with the recruitment of the youth of this nation into gangs littered with murders and drug dealers. This problem has gone on for decades and the real issue isn’t the gang violence the real issue is the recruiting of children from low income families into these gangs. Kids from low income communities feel like they have no way out of the gang because of the gripping reins of socioeconomics holding them back. We are so disgusted when we hear about children in Africa that are forced to hold a gun and go to war, but that is what is happening here on American soil. This should be a top priority among citizens to stop this recruitment of children into gang warfare.…
Gangs have become an epic problem in the United States. It is very essential important in attempting to solve this problem by fully understanding how we can prevent individuals from joining a gang. A gang is group of three of more people that share a common bond and that are loyal to one another, whether it’s for economic reason or violence. The National Gang Center estimates that 32.4% of all cities in the United States experienced gang problems in 2008 (National Criminal Justice Reference Service, 2010). There are three main reasons why I fell that gangs have impacted the criminal justice system in three phenomenal ways. One, gangs have affected many communities; two, gangs influence our…