Family Dysfunction, Breeding Future Gang Members

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 affiliation has a huge impact on the way people live. In the not so good communities it tends to have the worse gang members and trap houses in the areas. More than most people who live in the ghetto tend to be gang affiliated or wind up in prison, and the others are the lucky ones who make it out the hood. It's not as easy as people think it is to live in the ghetto, people think you can just move away from the, but most people live there because they have low income. People that go to schools in the ghetto and that are not affiliated with gangs start thinking they are in a gang because they may hang out with some groups that think they are a do called “gang” when they really aren't. Nowadays people think gangs are about colors and

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

Gangs come into existence and flourish because the needs of the young people in a neighborhood or culture or family are not being met. The gang, in essence, fills the void, there are several gangs in the south, west and east sides of Chicago, with gang wars over territories that become disastrous. The gangs known in Chicago are the Latin Kings, Maniac Latin Disciples, King Cobras, Gangster Disciples, Vice Lords, Black Disciples, but there are up to hundred or more street/folk gangs in the different neighborhoods of the sides of Chicago. Many consist of young children that may have dropped out of school or have family members affiliated with gangs, they are easier to persuade and control, they are more likely to search for somewhere where they could feel needed or apart of something, and that’s how gangs grow and recruit new

‘’Teen shot dead in gang wars’’, ‘’ two bystanders killed in gang shootout ‘’, these are familiar headlines at the front page of the local newspapers, aren’t they? Every day thousands of people are affected by gangs across the world. Women are left widowed, children are orphaned and parents are left childless. Let me put what most people are thinking ‘’ gangs are a threat to all of us no matter what sex, age or background we are from. They ruin the safety of a society as a whole, is a never-ending cycle which needs to be stopped and finally being a gang member most probably wrecks an individual’s life.

Before continuing, it is crucial to understand how gangs originated. In the article “Where All the Madness Began: A Look at Gang History”, Hoover stated that both African American and Hispanic Gangs began forming in the 1920’s, but it wasn’t until the 1980’s when gangs became organized and violent to the extent for which they are recognized today (2). In the midst of the desperate conditions blacks and Latinos found themselves in, young men from these racial or ethnic groups created units within their neighborhoods as a sign of brotherhood. They wanted to show, white people specifically, that they were powerful and that they were not broken or limited by of the environments that powerful white people had created. Furthermore, in the 20’s, gangs

Gangs are often associated with violence, however, how gang members are themselves victims of larger, violent circumstances is rarely thought of. Although it is undeniable that gangs commit acts of violence, the path that led them to a life of crime, is one filled with victimhood. Inner-city communities are affected by the violence continuum, committed against them by individuals who profit from their subjugation, and are often guilty of misrecognizing the root cause of their domination and perpetuating their own oppression.

Gang affiliation is a major problem today. No parent would like to see their children in harms way or in a bad situation. Gang affiliation may make someone feel as if they are fitting in and etc. but it only causes more negative outcomes. It all begins with one mistake which then goes to how some people are for gang affiliation, leading to consequences because of that incident but there are many ways this can be prevented.

Adolescents who join criminal gangs are often continuously exposed to violence, drugs, and other negative behavior because they reside in socially disorganized neighborhoods. Individuals who reside in crime prone areas are more likely to become delinquents. In addition, many youths learn deviant behavior from their peers who engage in criminal activities. According to Miller’s (1992) estimation, in1982, there were about 760 gangs within the cities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. Miller (1992) notes that these criminal organizations recruited youths which caused more gang activity within the public school system. Furthermore, gangs that had a large membership of deviant youth were more likely to use gun-violence towards rival gangs than other gangs with older active members (Miller,

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.

From 2002 to 206, 20% of all homicides in Urban areas could be attributed to gang violence (McDaniels, 2012). One notable characteristic of gang membership in the United States, is that youth who join gangs are more likely to engage in assault, robbery, felony theft, and breaking and entering, than their non-gang peers (Hill, et al., 2001). The lack of proper parental supervision in communities with high risk factors such as high poverty rates, is closely associated with delinquent behaviors in juveniles. It is therefore worthwhile to study the impact of socioeconomic factors in a child’s upbringing, and how such factors influence a child’s tendency to engage in deviant behavior. Consequently, it is also equally as important to study the protective barriers parents and community provide to their youth that assist in better coping with adversity.

Urban communities fall victim to drug and gang involvement. “Gangs and violence are associated with urban poverty, and gang life is seen as a source of social identity in the face of impoverished living conditions (Weisel, D. L., McNamara, R. P., Nugent, H., Spelman,, W., Ayres, M. B., & Capowich, G. E., 1999).” Also, living conditions and economic resources have diminished rather than prosper in urban communities. Over the years, America has become more occupied with gangs especially with their relationship with drugs and violence. “Gangs are now increasingly and almost exclusively blamed for the drug and violence problems of the last decade (Weisel, D. L., McNamara, R. P., Nugent, H., Spelman,, W., Ayres, M. B., & Capowich,

A contributing factor to the increase of gang members is the categorizing of oppressed communities as “low-income” areas. With the lack of organization and prison-like hyper-surveillance through constant intervention of police, gangs start to form around these conditions. According to Alleyne and Wood, "organized neighborhoods are starting points for gang involved youth, since even if the neighborhood and family are stable, individual factors such as psychopathic personality traits, high levels of anxiety, hyper activity, low IQ, low self-esteem, and/or mental health problems may influence an inclination for gang membership" (Alleyne and Wood). Becoming extremely difficult for children of color to fit in, and having parents that place most

Unfortunately, gang members mostly start out at a young age. Almost all adult gang members had received their start in the gangs in their youth (Hoover, 2013.) In the city, I feel that a lot of the youth are led to the gangs by the area they live in. Most of these children have family members who are in gangs and most of the friends or school kids they know are in gangs. Most of the kids are never shown that they have better options and have no positive role model in their life. To assist in preventing the youth from joining a gang, I think the cities could deploy after school and youth programs. Keeping them active with sports and other activities rather than just hanging out on the streets.