Blog post title: Giving the Youth a Voice
In this blog post this week I wanted to talk about a couple issues within many at risk neighborhoods. I recently read an article written by Brian Higgins titled “Helping at risk youth say NO to Gangs”. In this article the author talks about ways to prevent the youth from joining gangs. He talks about a program called the “The Gang Resistance Education And Training”, The G.R.E.A.T. Program. This program is to teach kids to avoid getting involved in gangs and help them develop positive relationships with law enforcement, Higgins (2015). I believe the G.R.E.A.T program doesn’t provide these kids with the guidance that is necessary for them at the vulnerable age and stage they’re in. In order to prevent kids from joining gangs we must
…show more content…
Most of these kids struggle to find healthy ways to express themselves, and they usually don’t have a strong support system. In the article it states how the G.R.E.A.T Program helps kids to develop relationships with Police officers. I for one am not in favor of this program. I don’t feel it helps the youth or the community in a positive way. I believe schools should first build relationships with these students and provide programs such as Big Brother, Big Sister. With the Big Brother, Big Sister programs they can have someone who can actually connect with these students on a mental and emotional level. The Big brother or sister could be young adults who have possibly been in their shoes before. They would know how to connect with the younger people. They would be there for these students and also provide moral support and guidance to our youth. The G.R.E.A.T program mentioned in the article, does no good for neighborhoods of the sort. They need people who have made it out of the situations such as current college students, business owners, and public figures
References Egley, A., & Howell, J. C. (2012). Highlights of the 2010 National Youth Gang Survey. Retrieved from: https://www.ojjdp.gov/pubs/237542.pdf Sanders, R., & Moore, S. (n.d.). Mandatory Waiver for Juvenile Gang Members in Tennessee. Retrieved from: http://www.belmont.edu/burs/pdf/Social%20Work-%20Sanders%20and%20Moore.pdf Searles, K. (2017).
Seeing as many of these “at-risk” youth lack educational goals, this is a great and effective way of laying out possible future goals and educational paths. As a result of the Cops Mentoring Kids program, there has and continues to be a drastic increase in class attendance, healthier attitudes toward school and home, and probability to enroll in college. This program also introduces a decrease in liability to skip school, use of alcohol, “tempt to initiate drug use, and incline to strike another person” (Sanchez, 2017). Thanks to Hollywood, Florida, Police Department (HPD), over 20,000 at risk youth have participated and benefited from this miraculous program (Sanchez, 2017). The CMK program has been a lifesaver for many youth and their families, therefore this program deserves to be recognize and
In the journal article, “School Strictness and Disproportionate Minority Contact: Investigating Racial and Ethnic Disparities With the ‘‘School-to-Prison Pipeline” talks about how in schools with higher minority ratings have more prison like features such as, security or police officers within the schools, surveillance cameras and strict disciplines that must be obtained. Policing black lives and this article both share the same ideas on the topic of how minorities are treated in the educational system. The article explains
In every facet of society, youths were under constant scrutiny and their daily routines and activities were exposed to high rates of subjectivity; thus, their behaviors were perceived as threatening or problematic, regardless if they truly were. School personnel, police officers, probation officers and other adults in the community had created an environment that made young people feel criminalized from a very young age, even when they had good intentions (82). “Criminalization is embedded in Oakland’s social order,” (37). However, despite keeping these individuals under their constant surveillance, the police often ignore those in need if they are part of the “criminalized” youth, or merely associated in any way with
Greg Boyle once said “You can’t reason with gang violence: you can’t talk to it, sit it at a table, and negotiate with it.” A big problem with the US educational system is that they don’t do anything to stop gangs in school. The gangs inside the school and outside the school are constantly influencing the students making them more violent and aggressive against each other and teachers. In the memoir, Holler If You Can Hear Me By Gregory Michie, Michie and his students face gang problems inside and outside the school.
The city of Memphis is in need of a program that will reduce the amount of gang violence present within the community. The City Council is having a difficult time proposing a program without the essential expertise, that’s where I come in. The intervening variables of the program must be revealed in order to propose a program that will be both effective and beneficiary. By understanding the variables that could possibly have a positive or negative affect on a program and its participants will result in a higher probability of success.
The third step includes involve prevention policies, strategies, and programs that are intended to reduce risk factors and increase protective and promotive factors. According to the Article “What Can Do to Help Prevent Gang-Joining” by Gary D. Gottfredson he explain Those who were involved in the program showed less problem behavior, absenteeism and poor school performance; more employment at a one year follow up; and fewer court records at a five-year follow up(93). Thus to further Gery evidence he also stated “school wide strategies to promote a safe climate via clear and consistently grams clarity expectations for students behavior and disciplinary action, and they communicate rules and consequences(96). Gery Gottfredson point out Programs Implement policies, strategies and programs that are intended to reduce risk factor and increase more protective and promotive setting for young
Utilizing research findings and realistic experiences, Shakur, Howell, and Griffiths disprove myths about gangs, justify the reasons for young people being recruited because of their desire to be understood by others similar to them, and girls integrating themselves into the groups from their relationships with members. Howell and Griffiths managed to explain the principles behind gangs and their members' lifestyles, while Shakur provided real gangster experiences as supporting evidence for the research findings. Theories to gangs may be existent, but without proper research leading to the findings, or experiences from subjects who lived the lifestyle, beliefs about the organizations merely become empty
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.
According to the federal bureau of investigation crime rates have significantly dropped since 2010. There has been a plethora of efforts to make the current averages plummet, such as G.R.E.A.T., Comprehensive whole child intervention and prevention program, Truancy reduction program, School resource officer program, Scared straight program, etc. The core focus of this paper is to analyze these programs and their results to see whether or not these programs are effective in preventing and suppressing gang involvement. While also pointing out a few implications, and possibly recommendations for future research. Koffman et al.
Social Disorganization is an obstacle one has to overcome and the BGCA helps at-risk children defend against stereotypes and build a better tomorrow. The BGCA helps get kids off the streets, thus deterring crime in neighborhoods that are the most vulnerable. The BGCA gives children who are seeing evidence of social disorganization, such as broken windows and graffiti, to have a refuge that is safe and away from the wicked world outside. These organizations help kids struggling to find a place to stay. In areas where there is higher ethnic diversity there is a higher percentage of crime.
Luis wrote this book for his son who started to get involved with gangs and who was later incarcerated. Despiste the school board recent sentiments regarding the lack of value that fiction provides, fiction should remain in the schools curriculum due to they can bring to light real world problems, they can influence the reader to take the right path, and they help the reader to use their imagination.
A lack of quality education is common in impoverished areas such as Baltimore, but with more funding, it is possible to provide a safe learning environment for a child. Education is a key factor in a child’s life; with more education, “the more their lives are going to be improved” (“Education Breaks Cycle”). While there is a general idea that education can only influence one thing—the knowledge a child has—it can also aid in supporting a child emotionally. One way that a child’s life can be improved by education is through support: “Schools also offer children support in the form of teachers and staff who have mandatory reporting requirements that can help alert officials to cases of abuse and neglect” (“Education Breaks Cycle"). Allowing children to seek out a figure to help them out opens a pathway to breaking the cycle by gaining better role models and allowing children to have the support they need while growing up.
did a study and concluded that poor math scores for males and a student’s weak attachment to his or her teacher are both strong indicators that he or she will join a gang (2003). Researchers also said that youths who feel unsafe at school are also more likely to join a gang—for protection (Curry, Decker, and Egley, 2002; Decker & Curry, 2000). Schools that have a high teacher to student ration or schools that have poor academic quality can also increase the likelihood of a youth joining a gang (Curry, Decker, and Egley, 2002; Decker & Curry,
Documentation proves that social values make a commitment to criminal behavior, but that the presence of a genuine elective culture in out society has not been found. In any case, a few subcultural pockets, especially with respect to inner-city gangs, certainly exist and gives a few legitimacy for this point of view of deviance. With respect to social disorganization, we’ve established that neighborhood crime-fighting organizations are the hardest to set up in high-crime neighborhoods and the easiest to construct in low rate crime. With all that being said, there have been a few victories. Looking into intervention and outreach programs based on the cultural and subcultural perspectives might be a way to help lower-class, middle-class, or even inner-city