Gang Violence In The Media Essay

In Chicago, and all over the nation, the effects of gang activity have been displayed, specifically in low income and poverty torn communities. Poverty is measured depending on a family’s annual income and determining if the amount falls below the poverty threshold for the family’s size. If the annual income does fall below the threshold, then the family and every individual in it is considered to be in poverty. Gang activity is more visible in the areas specifically in major cities similar to Chicago where poverty is a commonality in communities. although gangs might add structure in order where the government fails to do so in the projects and and similar low income communities the negative effects such as the distribution of drugs, violence,

Gang violence is an increasing problem in Urban Minority Communities. Young people are dropping out of schools in record numbers, and higher percentages of the population are withdrawing from the labor force. The more people that drop out can turn their heads to joining a gang. Those that don’t find work can find themselves joining a gang and doing crime to fill their time. The number of young people joining gangs are increasing and more crime will happen as a result.

In the 1990s, gang violence was on the rise, where it was dominantly founded in youths. Anderson, Dyson, and Lee (1996) argued that when a group of African American youths join together and commits delinquent acts and crime, they already categorized as gangs to the American public. This affect and many other affects is what creates an increase in gang violence. Those other factors are socioeconomic status, history, race, gendered, and geographic background. They play a huge role on the creation and formation of gangs.

Gang activities have been increasing over the years from crimes ranging from robberies to homicides. In California, estimates were made by the Justice Department that approximately 175000 to 200000 persons were members of gangs. In the county of Los Angeles gang activities for over a period of five years accounted for over 23000 of the crimes that occurred.(Friedrichs. M. 1999). Gangs have become not only a problem for those communities where the gang's ar located but has become a problem for everyone.

Introduction This paper gives will give depth information on gang activity in the U.S. and explore the causes of gang memberships and it will also mention several policies that have been studied to prevent youths from joining them. As of today, gangs continue to be a huge problem in the U.S. gang members are violent and are also responsible for committing crimes from assaults to murder using firearms and other weapons to intimidate rivals, law enforcement, and the general public. The purpose of my paper is to address why many youths join gangs. My paper will also address a few policies and programs that can prevent youths from joining a gang and prevent those who are already part of it from committing crimes.

Throughout the 17th-century gangs have been causing havoc in people's life and destroying the society. The National Institute of Justice (2011) has defined a gang as "A group of collective members which create an atmosphere of intimidation among citizens. " Many of these gangs are well organized, using different forms of violence to control neighbourhoods and to conduct their illegal activities. The National Gang Threat Assessment (2011) reports that “Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions.” Street Gangs have caused incidences of violence that is confined in the inner city of many countries.

Gang violence has been a problem in society for several of years and is a growing problem each and every day. The youth that is involved in gang violence will have numerous effects upon them that will come soon or later when associated with a group of thugs. Children and teenagers if they still go to school when accompanying a gang, they face the heightened risk of dropping out of school; teen parenthood; be victimized by another gang ; abuse drugs and alcohol; commit petty and violent

In the United States, every year there are around 2,000 gang-related homicides and in the realistic fiction novel, The Outsiders, by S.E Hinton, it explores the issues of gang violence, and teenagers in gangs. Around 40% of all members in gangs are teenagers, who are getting involved in some dangerous things very early in life. In the novel The Outsiders, the “Greasers” which is a gang of all teenagers, fight other gangs and commit serious crimes such as murder. We as a society need to pinpoint why teenagers join gangs and stop them beforehand. We also need to help people get out of gangs if they are already in one.

It is very rare for someone who had taken a firsthand experience in gang life to come up in the open and narrate these experiences to the public as well as the dangers which they go through. This is irrespective of the fact that the realism of gang life can be seen in news, movies or in the actual streets, reading about it and visualizing the scenes in one’s mind is like taking a firsthand experience in these

a. Deviance: Page 194, the violation of norms (or rules or expectations). This gang is a deviant group of people because they are breaking the rules of law. They extort money from business owner for protection. They are taking over large areas of entire cities and they are expecting non-gang membered people to follow their rules or face the consequences.

Gang effects on the community: Gangs has their own culture and characteristics that includes their dress codes, identifying symbols, language, graffiti, drugs use &trafficking, use of other narcotics, and involvement in other illegal activities. However the nature and characteristics of gangs differ from community to community. Gangs however are found to be more prevalent in high crime areas and are also responsible for the majority of crimes committed. However to understand the function of gangs within the community we have to delve once more into the definition which is characterized as an identifiable group of people who: are generally perceived as a distinct aggregation by others recognize themselves as an street identifiable group (almost invariably with a group name) have been involved in a sufficient number of delinquent incidents to call forth a consistent negative response from neighborhood residents and/or law enforcement agencies.

But there can also be a forced alliance as many can be compelled to join or work for a gang under threat so they don’t have a choice and have to follow orders for the sake of their own lives. Much of whether gangs are seen as a social problem comes from perspective. Society is more prone to seeing gangs in a negative point of view because the social reality is not reaching the ideals and standards of people’s conception of a perfect world. Many external factors such as the media and personal opinions encourage a bad outlook on gangs. The media inflicts fear and depicts gangs to be a threat, which the community looks at in a negative view.

The gang is a way to obtain the goals they could not obtain by legal means such as work due to the outsourcing of jobs. Gangs show violence and a criminal subculture that attracts youth. The communities surrounding youth are unstable. Families are often single parent creating a strain between parents or the child and a parent. Schools are underfunded due to the lack of funding from the government due to segregation and crime.

struggling with their self-worth and identity, the acceptance and respect from their peers are extremely important. This sense of belonging that the gang provides is what the gang members are missing within their own families who mostly have troubled family history. In many cases, these peer groups draw their solidarity on the shared characteristics of being disadvantaged or discriminated against on factors such as race or social class. Being an active member of a group with common interests allows individuals to feel a sense of status and importance that they do not otherwise feel in the larger community (Thornberry and Krohn, 2001, p. 289). Involvement in gangs also leads to experimenting with high-risk behavior such as drug and alcohol abuse

Community gangs can affect a person on gangs, alcohol and drug use. The communities can join together to end the gang violence in their communities. According to gang prevention, “In 2010 4,828 young people aged 10 to 24 were victims of homicide an average of 13 each day in 2010”