Why Do Kids Join Gangs
Why Do Kids Join Gangs?
Factors motivating kids to join gangs vary individual to individual. A multitude of social and economic reasons can be involved. Power, status, security, friendship, family substitute, economic profit, substance abuse influences, and numerous other factors can influence kids to join gangs. Gang members also cross all socio-economic backgrounds and boundaries regardless of age, sex, race, economic status, and academic achievement.
Each case must be evaluated on an individual basis, thus the importance of knowing what to look for and how to intervene early before the problem becomes entrenched!
Gang versus Non-Gang Activity
Gang violence is different from non-gang violence in several ways:
Gang violence …show more content…
Otherwise, the problem can escalate so quickly that a school lunchroom fight between rival gang members will escalate into a potential drive-by shooting just hours later at school dismissal.
School officials must still discipline individual students involved in gang offenses on a case-by-case basis based upon their individual actions in violating school rules, but educators must see the forest with the trees and recognize that these offenses are interrelated and part of a broader pattern of gang-related misconduct and violence.
Recognizing Gangs
Typically, people look for graffiti or bandannas as the main indicators of a gang presence. However, gang indicators can be quite subtle, particularly as awareness increases among school officials, law enforcement, parents, and other adults.
Depending upon the specific gang activity in a specific given school or community, gang identifiers may include:
Graffiti: Unusual signs, symbols, or writing on walls, notebooks, etc.
"Colors": Obvious or subtle colors of clothing, a particular clothing brand, jewelry, or haircuts (But not necessarily the traditional perception of colors as only …show more content…
When they dropped him off, her son told her, "Mom, he's the governor of the Folks."
Folks, an offshoot of the famed Gangsta Disciples, is one of at least a dozen street gangs known to operate in Dayton.
Opinions differ on how widespread the influence of gangs are here, but local law enforcement is beginning to take a more pro-active stance against them. So too are neighborhood leaders and activists.
"Dayton needs to own up to gangs being here," said David Greer, president of the Northwest Priority Board. "We all know trends start on one coast and spread to the other overnight all the time."
Still, he said, residents have not complained specifically about gangs.
"It's a socioeconomic issue more than anything," Greer said.
The FBI is coordinating with the Miami Valley Anti-Gang Task Force and Dayton police to monitor local gangs through the use of a federal grant. The move follows years of public denials that gangs existed locally and were a
Factors motivating kids to join gangs vary individual to individual. A multitude of social and economic reasons can be involved. Power, status, security, friendship, family substitute, economic profit, substance abuse influences, and numerous other factors can influence kids to join gangs. Gang members also cross all socio-economic backgrounds and boundaries regardless of age, sex, race, economic status, and academic achievement.
Each case must be evaluated on an individual basis, thus the importance of knowing what to look for and how to intervene early before the problem becomes entrenched!
Gang versus Non-Gang Activity
Gang violence is different from non-gang violence in several ways:
Gang violence …show more content…
Otherwise, the problem can escalate so quickly that a school lunchroom fight between rival gang members will escalate into a potential drive-by shooting just hours later at school dismissal.
School officials must still discipline individual students involved in gang offenses on a case-by-case basis based upon their individual actions in violating school rules, but educators must see the forest with the trees and recognize that these offenses are interrelated and part of a broader pattern of gang-related misconduct and violence.
Recognizing Gangs
Typically, people look for graffiti or bandannas as the main indicators of a gang presence. However, gang indicators can be quite subtle, particularly as awareness increases among school officials, law enforcement, parents, and other adults.
Depending upon the specific gang activity in a specific given school or community, gang identifiers may include:
Graffiti: Unusual signs, symbols, or writing on walls, notebooks, etc.
"Colors": Obvious or subtle colors of clothing, a particular clothing brand, jewelry, or haircuts (But not necessarily the traditional perception of colors as only …show more content…
When they dropped him off, her son told her, "Mom, he's the governor of the Folks."
Folks, an offshoot of the famed Gangsta Disciples, is one of at least a dozen street gangs known to operate in Dayton.
Opinions differ on how widespread the influence of gangs are here, but local law enforcement is beginning to take a more pro-active stance against them. So too are neighborhood leaders and activists.
"Dayton needs to own up to gangs being here," said David Greer, president of the Northwest Priority Board. "We all know trends start on one coast and spread to the other overnight all the time."
Still, he said, residents have not complained specifically about gangs.
"It's a socioeconomic issue more than anything," Greer said.
The FBI is coordinating with the Miami Valley Anti-Gang Task Force and Dayton police to monitor local gangs through the use of a federal grant. The move follows years of public denials that gangs existed locally and were a