Gang Negative Effects On Children

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

In today society many of our youth are joining and becoming gang members. The criteria that is very often classify groups as gangs is the group usually have three or more members that ranges from 12-24. Among these members they share an identity typically linked to a name, and often other symbols. Members tend to view themselves as a gang, and they are recognized by others as gangs. The group is involved in a superior of criminal activities.

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.

There are approximately 1.4 million active street, prison, and outlaw gang members comprising more than 33,500 gangs in the United States, according to the National Gang Intelligence Center of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Gangs are defined as a group of people who form an alliance for a common purpose and engage in violent or criminal activity. Gang violence continues to grow in California. It is inarguable that the gang problem has become more entrenched, over the past 25 years, especially here locally in Porterville.

In this case joining a gang will qualify as the guidance within peers and themselves. However, there are many different types of gangs, but most gangs lead to destructive paths which includes negative impacts and influences. The term gang can be defined as a group of people with mutual interests who gather together for social reasons. Most people in a gang are of youth and adolescent age. Seeing how some youth can be emotionally unstable may feel the need of comfort with others who are just as the same. Negative unstable behavior with others can create destructive outcomes which will lead probably to a road of crime.

Defining gangs have been compared to packs, teams, and groups. Participants of gangs do not necessarily commit violent acts or commence in illegal matters. The National Gang Center has come to a consensus on defining gangs with the commonalities of three or more members between the ages of 12 through 24, shared identity, recognized by others as a gang or crew, has levels of organization, and usually involved in criminal activities (Shelden, Tracy, Brown, 2013). Some gangs are excluded from this definition due to not proportionate with their usual activities. Overall, we can consider gangs to be founded when members share similar characteristics and establish a symbol to represent their livelihood.

Statistics Canada has done research on identifying the facts that are contributed to the definition of a youth gang member. Partnered with the Montreal Police Service, Statistics Canada was able to generate the definition of a gang member: "An organized group of adolescents and/or young adults who rely on group intimidation and violence, and commit criminal acts in order to gain power and recognition and/or control certain areas of unlawful activity [2] (Statistics Canada, 2008).

     A gang is defined as a group of individuals with the same objective that are bound together by a bond of trust. The majority of gangs are

What is a gang? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary explains it as: A group of persons working together or associated together; a group of criminals or delinquents. Gangs date back to the 1700’s. They were started in different regions for different reasons. The ones that started in the Northeast and Midwest were formed due to immigration and poverty. They came in two waves but all were poor. The first of these people were called the old immigrants they came from (Great Brittan, Germany, and Scandinavia), they tried to fit in and settle into urban areas. They had problems due to the fact they had no marketable skills thus poor job prospects, the next group were made up of Polish, Italian, Irish, and Jews. They ran into the same problems as

I have some similar concept with you about the gang problem. The Gang is a big issue affect the young generation in the society. This negative power of gang make people affair and have unsafe environment for living. Many young age kids have possible become gang member by learning form congener teens. I understand many parent worried their children get hurt form gangs or become a gang member bullying others. You give me good idea think about how should everyone treat the gang problem and notice parent should seriously look at the effect of gang and prevent their children to be one of them. The best way to protest children become gang member is teach them what should and shouldn’t do.

As a parent, the best thing you can do to help keep your children from joining a gang or a so-called "Social Group" is to talk to them on a daily bases about the negative impact gangs have on the community and on people lives. Talk to them about the consequences of joining or just hanging out with people in or associated with a gang.

A gang is a group of individuals closely associated. This group is in the form of an organization whose members report to a leader who controls activities within

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).

The first step we should take is bettering the children that are already incarcerated because of gangs. 90% of juvenile boys in a correctional facility are gang affiliated. Why is this number so high? Something that could be done is starting a program in the jail. The program could help motivate them and keep them focus. It also would also be a step closer in steering them away from being in the gangs they are in. Or restrain them from trying to join them. Why are so many young boys interested in joining gangs anyway? The main reason why so many young people are affiliated with gangs are because there are not enough interesting extracurricular activities or programs to keep these young people off the streets.