And Causes Of High School Gangs In Schools

In society today, there is a major problem We live in a society where gangs are taking over our neighborhoods in numbers. It is the responsibility of the individuals to part take in getting their neighborhoods back under control. Gangs are becoming a growing problem in American society. More young people are turning to gangs to solve problems in their lives or for acceptance. When youths join gangs, they drop all their social activities with school, family, and friends. However, individuals ruin their lives, and the chances of them having a decent education, and a successful life by getting involved in gang activity.

Gang involvement and its associated violent crime have become a rapidly growing problem for the United States. Generally, gangs consist of young people of the same ethnic, racial, and economic background. Usually of a low socio-economic status, these gangs engage in illegal money making activities and intimidate their neighborhoods and rival gangs with violent crimes and victimization. Gang members exemplify a high value for group loyalty and sacrifice.

Gangs originated naturally during the adolescent years of a child. They started from small play groups that eventually found themselves in conflict with other small groups of youth. Due to the conflict between the two small groups of youth it became a part of a child’s mind set to come together as a gang and protect their rights and satisfy the needs that their environment and families couldn’t provide. There are about 24,500 gangs in the U.S and out of those gangs 40% of them are juveniles (Hess, Orthmann, Wright, 2013). There are numerous reason why a child would join a gang, and the

In the study of two different school gangs conducted by William J. Chambliss, there is a difference in how each gang is perceived by the community, school officials, and the police. These differences in perception can be attributed to several factors. There are visibility indicators, such as how members of each gang dressed, the type of vehicles they drove, and where they were seen within the community. Secondly, there are behavioral indicators, measured by their demeanor when interacting with police, teachers, and others within the community. Lastly, there is a bias indicator, which is the perceived seriousness of the gang’s delinquent activities.

According to the article 45% of high school students say that they are in or a part of a gang. (Arciaga, Sakamoto, & Jones, 2010). Middle school students gang participation is 35%. Private school students only report 2% as their gang involvement rate while public school record a staggering 46%. However, schools in urban areas are affected the most by the presence of gang activity at 36%. Because gang members do not leave their attitudes, conflicts, and behaviors outside of school doors, staff members and administration need to make a plan to deal with gang activity.

The Social Work Dictionary defines a social problem as “a condition among people leading to behaviors that violate some people’s values and norms and cause emotional or economic suffering”. The above definition accurately describes the social problem that gangs are, and their impact on a community. People who live in gang infested neighborhoods live daily with fears of losing their lives and the lives of loved ones. That fear, along with the fear that their family members will join the gang, or that they will be physically harmed in some way by the gang. They may exhibit many emotional, psychological and physical problems that people who don’t live in gang infested neighborhoods do not. Since before the 1940’s law enforcement and others have attempted to put a stop to gangs. These solutions usually hampered gang activity but didn’t eradicate it. Gangs evolve their practices over time to adjust to law enforcement tactics. Today gangs are involved in sex trafficking rather than drug dealing. Sex trafficking is easier to hide, more profitable and has less legal ramifications.

Subsequently, a fundraiser would be the best approach to would curtail the amount and relieve stress. As a result, the money raised from a fundraiser (baking sale, car wash, coin drive, etc.) would be invested towards school uniforms for students. Although, enforcing uniforms would lead the gang members to prevent recruits toward academic malaise, criminal activity, and incarceration. Plus, allowing gangs to distinguish themselves in a certain way, settles pressure on students that conceive the general conduct and appearance of gang members. Realizing the considerable amount of threat around them, it would be their instinct to feel compelled to join a gang for protection in order to contain themselves. Moreover, using dress codes makes everyone prevalent in a school or district; this can still alleviate the worries of students by reducing the gang’s visibility and therefore attenuating pressure for students to join a

This behavior fosters a climate of fear and disrespect that can seriously impair the physical and psychological health of its victims and create conditions that negatively affect learning, thereby undermining the ability of students to achieve their full potential. The goal is to make it clear to students that gang behavior in any form will not be tolerated at school in order to ensure the safety of all students during the school day.

This issue is very important because kids should not be ruining their lives joining gangs, instead they should be focusing on school and important stuff like that. A lot of gang related activity happens in places like West Jordan, West Valley, Kearns, etc. Not a lot has happened to take care of it it seems like. There are lots of things happening in these cities but a lot more is happening in the schools. A lot of my evidence comes from being in one of those schools and having to deal with it. The school didn’t really care and they would not take action. Half the time the student would just get sent to lunch detention and in lunch detention you got to talk to all of your friends and the lady supervising the lunch detention would just be on her phone and not say anything. Lots of these gang members fight with lots of people, steal, sell

In order to make the case for the problem of gang activity in and around our schools, we need to gather data and make an assessment of it. The assessment needs to consider the area the school is located, local gang related crime activity, and programs available that could help the local area officials to combat the problem (Arciaga, Sakamoto & Jones, 2010). When we have true numbers in relation to gang related crimes and activity, we will be able to provide the community leaders and parents with the data that will probably shock all and give us a good launching point to begin developing an action plan. Our action plan must include the input from parents, school officials, guidance counselors and law enforcement as well as serve as an educational tool for the youth in our schools. Educating both the parents and the youth is important to knowing the signs of gang activity and keeping our kids from becoming involved. Additionally, after school programs, educational clubs, or athletic programs keep our children involved in outside school activities while keeping them from struggling to find something to do with their free time (Arciaga, Sakamoto &

There is no easy way to fix this issue, and no quick solution, but still there are many things that can be reduced gangs from the world. The initial solution that families and the government should concentrate on is the education. Education is basic thing that every child should have. Including from the study that done in Stanford University in 1999, that the parents should learn how to spend some time with their children and make them far away from the gangs by teaching them the consequences from joining to gangs and the risks from doing that (Friedrichs, 1999). As a result, families should care about their children lives and tell them about the risks of joining gangs and how would their life change to if they enroll. In addition,

With many gangs out on the street there is a good chance that they will lead into school. Gangs and fighting are acts of violence in which most cases can become deadly for the individuals involved and innocent bystanders. Guns, knives, and other weapons are commonly found among gang members. According to Jenkins (2004) “Youth violence and gangs pose a serious threat to schools. Many of the problems students face outside of the school manifest and explode on school campuses. Gangs use the school as a means of doing business, recruiting new members, and showing their strength.” The school is no place for gangs, fighting, or any other acts of violence. These types of acts must be kept from the school so that other students are safe and won’t cause a distraction. According to Jenkins (2004) “Violence is widespread, and our children are at risk by attending school. As a result, the United States has seen a rise in the number of children enrolled in private schools or receiving home schooling.” If there isn’t a method to eliminate violence at school then parents may find an alternative or use the home schooling.

Gangs are present in many schools in the United States. Approximately 45% of high school students say that there are gangs or students who consider themselves a part of a gang in their schools. Around 35% of middle school students say that there are gangs or students who consider themselves part of a gang in their schools (Arciaga, Sakamoto, and Jones, 2010). According to the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (2007), 23 % of students reported the presence of gangs of their school campus or in the surrounding area in 2007. This is a 21% increase from the 2003 survey conducted (Arciaga, Sakamoto, and Jones, 2010).

to rival gangs. Another crucial factor is the need for money. A 6 year old kid,

There are approximately 27,900 gangs, with 774,000 members, impacting towns, cities, and communities across the United States. According to a recent bulletin released by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 23 percent of students aged 12 through 18 years reported presence of street gangs in their schools. Almost half (46%) of students in public schools reported street gang presence. In addition, 21 percent of students in suburban schools and 15 percent in rural schools reported presence of street gangs. According to a survey conducted by the National Parents' Resource Institute for Drug