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.
The National Gang Center Bulletin was written in order to give us information on the presence of gangs in the schools. The percentage of students in both middle and high school really shocks and saddens me; I did not realize that this number was so high. There should not be thirty-five and forty-five percent of students in any grade level affiliated to gangs. This article also reveals that not only are male students joining, female students are becoming members as well. Everyone knows that gang life follows you no matter where you go, so by these kids still being in school, they bring the trouble around other students and if affects and jeopardizes their safety. I feel as though private schools have little to no crime because over half of the students in these communities cannot afford the yearly tuition.
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.
Prison gangs have been and are a growing problem. Prison organizations throughout the United States have tried many different strategies to address the issue of prison gang members. One of the problems is that gang members are more of a threat to the staff and other inmates than regular inmates who are not in a gang. The prisons have problems begin able to house certain serious offenders that need to be kept separate because of the limited spacing. Gangs in the prison have a higher disruption and incident rate then non gang members. Prison gangs thrive on crime within the facility. If not addressed their involvement in crime will continue to grow and pose a threat to other inmates, staff, and the institution. If procedures are not put into place then gang membership will only continue and remain a safety concern. Administration must ensure their staff members are adequately trained and know how to act and deal with the gangs. Because the prison community is so private more research needs to be done to understand the workings of prison gangs and get more current, detailed, data. The community needs to be aware of the issues as well since they
Also, from my observation of the author’s interaction with the gang members, he acted in a way, that was out of respect, and in no way condemning of the gang members or their culture. He befriended them and truly showed great interest in their personal lives. He also knew that he couldn’t’ approach these gang members in a hostile manner, as he learned this from a gang member, who stated that “You can’t just walk into the neighborhood and act like a tough guy, you get beat up.” Moreover, I also observed that the author seemed mild mannered, and certainly did not come across as this know it all, arrogant researcher. I can only imagine how scary this entire experience may have been for him, but nonetheless, he allowed himself to “hang around” the gang members as they drove him around their dangerous neighborhood.
In order to be able to understand the reason why violence is highly used in prison gangs we most know the history behind their organization. For example, the NF originated in Soledad prison in California in the mid 1960s. They were formed because they were tired of being the victim of abuse from the EME so they branched off and made their own organization. The NF members that started the prison gang were once Mexican Mafia members. The EME would prey upon those who weren't part of them. The Mexican Mafia known as the EME, was the first Hispanic organized criminal gang within the prison. It was primarily made up of Mexican American males, they formed in order to protect themselves from other prison gangs at the time. They were typically male,
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
The fourth time period the author looked was gangs in times of mass incarceration. During the incarceration times street gangs have been more assimilated into prison gangs. Many of the youth do not want the older men controlling them so they rebel. As the street gang's youths went to prison they had to join with the prison gangs or risked of being attacked. The street gangs and prison gangs unify which means that the collective association is close and have more resources. .
How well Wes Moore describes the culture of the streets, and particularly disenfranchised adolescents that resort to violence, is extraordinary considering the unbiased perspective Moore gives. Amid Moore’s book one primary theme is street culture. Particularly Moore describes the street culture in two cities, which are Baltimore and the Bronx. In Baltimore city the climate and atmosphere, of high dropout rates, high unemployment and poor public infrastructure creates a perfect trifecta for gang violence to occur. Due to what was stated above, lower income adolescent residents in Baltimore are forced to resort to crime and drugs as a scapegoat of their missed opportunities.
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.
With gang violence continually getting worse in the United States, prisons and their staff need to make sure they are ready to take on dealing with them. This includes having the right amount of staff so chaos doesn 't break out. It is important for everyone to be aware in these situations so in the long run the government systems do not actually make it worse (Trulson, Marquart, and Kawucha). Correctional officers and guards are an important reason to why prison gangs exist and are thriving. Officers use to be able to know the names of all the inmates, thus the inmates tended to behave better for they knew if they violated a code they would get in trouble. However, now with so many inmates, guards and officers have lost control and reputations
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
Violence is an issue in all schools. School fights have decreased by 51 percent and drug use has decreased by 69 percent (“School Uniforms”). Gangs are one of the leading causes of violence in schools. Gangs can be formed by clothing, like students wearing a certain color or symbol on their shirts. If all students wore school uniforms, there would not be a way for gangs to be formed.
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
Juvenile Delinquency is a phenomenon that affects communities worldwide according to media reports, both print and electronic, where worrying images of youths involved in behavior outside societal norm has been highlighted. This issue has been studied by researchers locally, regionally and internationally where results has shown that delinquency has been influenced by a number of factors such as age, gender, race, family circle, environment, socioeconomic status et cetera.