Persuasive Essay On Gang Violence

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. There is a number of reasons that range from simple to complex, on why teenagers join gangs, and we can help by finding solutions to their specific problem before they choose to join one. To help someone get out of a gang, we as a society need to show there’s more out there in the world that they could do that will make a positive impact.

In the city of Nashville, Tennessee juvenile violence and gang-related crimes continues to rise, and nearly fifty percent of gang members are under the age of eighteen (Sanders & Moore, n.d.). Furthermore, in 2005 gang prevalence became immediately apparent in Nashville, and in 2011 gang-related crimes increased by approximately twenty-five percent state wide (The Tennessean, 2012). Additionally, from 2005 to 2011 the entire state of Tennessee had a one hundred and ten percent spike in gang related incidents (The Tennessean, 2012).

Since the beginning of time there have always been clicks and groups that were made up of people who had the same goals in mind or same interests. However, nowadays gangs consist mostly of people who commit the same type of crimes together that involve drug charges or murders. Gangs noticeably started getting their “bad image” beginning with a man named Al Capone. The rebellion started with the prohibition era. Al Capone was the most powerful gangster in Chicago during this era. The gangs or mobs of the 1920s and 30s sold alcohol illegally for huge profits. They were the forerunner of today's gangs who thrive on illegal drug profits”(p.40 Barden, Ronardo). Prohibition was a huge deal in this time, so in order to continue making a profit off

Political Factors are also considered as an important reason for gang violence. One of the reasons for people joining gangs is to find an alternative to earn money. Gangs include a lot of publicly feared members and members that has links to business elites and politicians. However, there is always a cost for earning money through gangs. Gangs often choose to rob or steal money from institutions and individuals which includes major risks. However, the money business elites and politician who exploit gangs to achieve their own aims. For them is far easier to earn and it gives a great income to the gangs. The Asian Foundation (2012), claims that politicians and businessmen often offer drugs and alcohol when gang members complete an illegal task set by these politicians and businessmen. Hence, there is a reciprocal relationship between gang members and politicians and businessmen; gang members get easy access to drugs and alcohol, while politicians and businessmen get their dirty work done by the gang members. Moreover, Criminal behavior among gang members is caused by receiving drugs and money from the politicians and businessmen for the crimes they commit.

There are many ways to stop gang violence in the US. One reason I think gang violence could stop is having more jobs and summer jobs. The summer jobs will give the younger kids work experience and skills. If you keep them out the streets they will stay out of trouble. The teenagers can work with cleaning up the city, work with elderly people or work Green Jobs that help them with their future for them to get jobs.

According to the website article written by Doyle Murphy in the New York Daily News L.A. gangsters were charged in 2002 for kidnapping, raping, and murdering a teen. In 2002, a fifteen-year-old teenage named Brenda Sierra was on her way to her school in the morning. As she was walking on the sidewalk suddenly she was snatched off by the fearsome Lott 13 gang. The next day, her body was found in the San Bernardino Mountains. Before then, the gangster knocked her out by hitting her head, the teenage girl was sexually assaulted. Three Los Angeles gang bangers face murder charges in the killing of an innocent teen found raped and beaten to death, Brenda Sierra. The L.A. County prosecutors announced victims that

Another focal concern is “toughness.” Toughness essentially means that when gangs are hanging out on a street corner, they won’t back down from

Consider the trend of more females becoming involved in gang activity. How does this trend change the way law enforcement devises programs to suppress, intervene, and combat gangs?

Youth violence in school continues to be a significant issue in the United States and research has repeatedly acknowledged being in a gang as one of the main causes of the violence in youths (Egley, Howell, & Harris, 2014; Huizinga & Lovegrove, 2009; Miller, 2001; Snyder & Sickmund, 2006). Youth violence can range from bullying, pushing/shoving, or emotional harm to gang violence or assault, with or without a weapon (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). Research shows that in recent years, gang activity has been steadily growing—outward from larger cities (Egley, Howell, & Harris, 2014)—and about 8 percent of the youths, who surveyed for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, had belonged to a gang at some point between the

Gangs are believed to be a type of human conflict in sociology. Some believe that gangs are a problem because they have been around within society and therefore it is assumed to be a problem. However some think that it is manufactured paranoia that is created by people who want to assert fear and panic to profit from such as to agencies and special groups. Knowing that Gangs inflict problems in society makes society believe that gangs are the roots of all problem, therefore it is a social problem, however this is argued to be contradictory as people themselves can create the problem by pinning it on what society has already agreed to be unacceptable. To understand the nature of gangs and to know if they are a social problem, you have to break

The term gang can be attached to a legion of groups which would include outlaws from back in the nineteenth century in the west of America, a congregation of unruly prison inmates, members of the triads, the mafioso, and other organised criminal entities such as sons of anarchy a know motorcycle gang, and groups of socially displaced inner city youths. Despite its diverse definition, the term gang most of the times denotes the involvement to illegal or disreputable activities.

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.

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. Most gangs are made up of young males that are of a similar background and have a desire of acquiring

Juvenile delinquency due to gang relation has increased drastically. Many people fail to realize that gangs have a considerable influence on the decisions juveniles are making. Adolescents are easily influenced by the members of the gangs and manipulated to commit certain crimes. As juveniles they are not mentally and emotionally mature to make such critical decisions, which in turn allow gang members to manipulate and control the youth they recruit. Juveniles become a part of gangs for several reasons, including, gaining protection, governmental, and social issues. Overall, gang engagement has evidently shown to negatively impact the youth.

Gangs are negative groups of people to associate with. They are composed of very dangerous people. Gangs and gang violence should be eliminated so that the amount of people that get harmed because of these can be decreased. Gang violence should be stopped because it negatively affects businesses, schools, and communities.