Essay On Gang Affiliation

Initially gang activity could only be found in large metropolitan cities, but now gangs have invaded neighborhoods of all sizes across the country. Gangs introduce violence and fear to the communities they occupy, raise the level of drug activities, and destroy businesses and property which brings down the overall value of the whole area. Instead of going to school, many young people find themselves drawn in to the gang life which in most cases either leads to being locked up or death. There are various reasons why people would want to join a gang, but no matter what that reason might be one can only expect a life of violence and troubles.

From the outside looking in, many would few gangs as a tight knit, criminal enterprise that causes violence and problems for the community. They believe that their violence and feuds are with rival gangs. In reality, gang members fight against members of the same gang, they are not organized in their structure and many join gangs to meet some psychological or emotional

Gangs have been a growing issue across the United States for many decades now. Youth gang violence may have started around the ‘50s, but did not become a serious issue until the ‘80s and from there went through a downward spiral in some cities like downtown Los Angeles, which was where the notorious Bloods and Crips gangs both started. First, let’s simply define a gang as a group of people, mostly men ranging for ages 14-30, who claim territory and use it to make money for themselves and their neighborhood through illegal activities such as trafficking drugs and weapons. There are many reasons and components that are factored in when conducting research to hypothesize “why do people join gangs?” That is why it is necessary to compare and contrast all the social, biological, psychological, developmental, and substance abuse aspects and relate it to joining a gang. It is also important to touch base on the differences between males and females that join gangs, such as power differentials, social learning differences and social stratification differences.

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

People seem to struggle to understand the concept of gangs. There are a lot of strange factors that go into the makeup of gangs. Yes, there are no positive aspects of gangs, but those negative aspects have reasons as to why they are so negative. It is the people who join, that make gangs so threatening. Men and women who join are trying to get away or rebel from someone or something. They may feel that joining a gang will give them the security of a “family”. Those who join are so broken that they try to put the pieces together when joining a gang. This has been the case throughout U.S.

Many years of research have gone into studying why youth turns to gang involvement. A sector of this population has only recently been a focus of any study at all and that is the female. From the authors De La Rue, Espelage research they estimate that female gang membership is anywhere from 10 to 35% of the total gang population (De La Rue, Espelage 2014 pg. 1). There are many pieces that drive females to join the gang lifestyle. There are three major causes that drive females to gang involvement; family influences, relationship drives, and prior victimization.

This is a ‘touchy’ subject to most, as most people who live in an urban setting know someone either initiated into a gang or affiliated with a gang in one way or another. This is not a subject that is only skin deep. This is something that was created out of years of struggle and oppression, until the pressure years of social injustice found an outlet in the form of rebellion and organizations designed to fight the power that once suppressed them. At least that is how it began. Now the Gang mentality isn’t about protecting the community, it’s about power, local respect, fortune, and most of all fear. These are the same organizations that recruit children and adolescents to become drug dealers and

Future gang members tend to become involved in delinquency--including violence--and alcohol or marijuana use at an early age. During childhood and early adolescence, friendships with aggressive peers, conduct problems, and involvement in delinquency are stepping stones to gang membership. Future gang members are likely to have other gang members in their school classrooms, they perform poorly in elementary school, and they have a low degree of commitment to school. They often are identified as learning disabled. They show higher levels of stability in the family, peer group, and school settings, and they spend lots of unsupervised time with friends. Many youth gang members have none of these characteristics. These are good kids, from good families, and they are good students; however, these youths do not remain in gangs long. Adolescents ' allegiances to friends, gangs, and other peer groups tend to be brief.

There are many reasons why young people join gangs. Some reasons would be a very unstable home or family life, poverty (so the person thinking they need to join to be able to make money fast from doing crimes, such as drug dealing and theft), or the need for protection. Joining a gang could also be a family tradition, just joining out of peer pressure, or wanting to be more attractive to members of the

People join gangs to feel welcome or people that live/once lived in a broken family and want another family, that group is now a family of ‘brothers’. The gangs want money and so they commit crimes and/or make and sell

Gangs are becoming prevalent in today’s society and within our schools. More and more young people are turning to gangs in an attempt to escape their everyday lives and the future, which they perceive as dismal and bleak. They are initially attracted to the prestige and cash flow, which is glamorized by the street gang. Many gangs are actively involved in criminal misconduct, such as drug and gun trafficking, burglaries and homicides. However, street gangs are not just a criminal justice issue, but a social problem, which is triggered by poverty, peer pressure, boredom, despair and lacking a sense of belonging.

Gangs have direct effects on a society, such as increased levels of crime, violence and murder. Gangs also have long-term or late suggestions in that gang members are more likely to drop out of high school, struggle with unemployment, abuse drugs and alcohol or in end up in jail. These factors not only contribute to the gang members, but they also force taxpayers to pay for welfare and community-assistance programs. Common reasons for the younger generation to join gangs, include trying to find a place where they belong and sharing in mutual desires for safety from family problems or life challenges. Together, the feelings and attitudes among gang members haze them to act violently, often self-contradictory with rival gangs. This violence leads to injury and death of not only members but also of bystanders in the community. High gang activity also causes fear among community members, discourages business activity and obstructs home-value appreciation. Communities, also must pay for higher levels of law enforcement when gangs are prominent.

The term youth gangs refers to a group of three or more members, who are between the age of 12 and 24; they share an identity through the use of names or symbols; they see themselves as gang and are recognized by others as a gang; there is some amount of permanence and degree of organization; and the group is involved in an elevated amount of criminal activity (National Gang Center Staff, n.d.). Risk factors for gang involvement are based on factors such as individual, family, school, community. School risk factors include poor school performance, poor connectedness to schools, low degree of commitment to and involvement in school, and weak attachment to teachers (Howell, 2010). Community risk factors includes such things as greater level of criminal activity, neighborhood youth are involved in illegal behaviors, widespread access to and the use of firearms and drugs, and low level of neighborhood attachment (Howell, 2010). Additional factors that lead to gang involvement include learning disabilities and emotional disorders, school failure and truancy, no positive involvement outside of school, friends and peers are delinquent, low income, and early involvement in petty crimes and behavioral disorders in grade school (Hernandez, 2015). Reasons given for joining a gang as reported by youths includes for protection, for fun, for respect, for money, family members are part of the gang (and because a friend was in the gang (Howell, 2010).