Gang Violence And Social Media

THESIS STATEMENT: The world’s media today seem to have more violence than ever. Video games have vivid depictions of accident catastrophes, fighting and murder. Television news programs generally lead with a violent story in order to gain an audience. This is free society people can stay what they want. ‘’ Media violence has many negative effect on youth today to commit crimes in society.’’

It is a matter of great importance how much of media content children are exposed to and what exactly they are viewing on media. The issue of violence is not a new phenomenon among children and keeps increasing with time and change in technology and information technology. The causes of violence in children are seen to be multifactorial and exposure of children to media violence is said to be an important factor when it comes to the etiology of behaviors that are violent among children.

When it comes to the topic of violent media, some of us would readily agree it’s a controversial subject as to whether kids should or shouldn’t be exposed to it. This is because many children who view violent media react negatively rather than not being affected at all. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of what effects does it have on children. Whereas some are convinced that it is a healthy alternative for kids to express themselves, others maintain that it causes kids to become more aggressive and contributes to juvenile crimes.

Youth gang violence has turned into an unmistakable issue in the public eye reaching across national boundaries as well as socio-economic, cultural, racial, and class distinctions. Not only is the problem widely dispersed geographically, but its incidence is also extensive, making it a common, acknowledged, and a mainstream behavior for many teens. Gang activity is extremely common in lower income neighborhoods and ethnic ghettos where underprivileged children are regularly recruited. Youth gang violence has always been an issue in the United States since the 1950’s but many crime analysts tended to overlook the problem of youth gang violence in major cities due to historical events such as the Korean War, U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation was illegal in the Brown v. Board of Education decision, and the Civil Rights Movement. The first nationwide study undertaken of the nature and extent of gang violence was reported by Walter B. Miller. Miller whose study concentrated primarily on the increase of gang violence and four major motives such as respect, guarding local communities, control, and gain the of monetary goods.

Therefore, studies exist and reveal that media violence does increase the likelihood of one acting aggressively. Such studies link an increase in aggressive thoughts, an increase in hostile perceptions of the environment, and a desensitization towards aggressive behavior (Busching, Allen, and Anderson). More importantly, clinical psychology presents evidence that when people are exposed repeatedly to situations eliciting negative affective reactions, they become used to such reactions, thus reducing the negative effect leading to a propensity towards acting aggressively with a lesser prospect of aiding victims (Busching, Allen, and Anderson). Furthermore, some recent examples of Facebook live feed violence include Steve Stephens shooting down an innocent elderly man, a fifteen- year old girl being gang raped by five to six suspects in Chicago, four African American suspects beating, taunting, and torturing a white mentally challenged teenaged male, and Colleen Ferreri who committing suicide by shooting herself. Clearly, these videos should have never aired, as often these crimes are for notoriety or for the purpose of inciting further violence. Such live feed videos are often without regard to the victim’s rights, while others follow with immediate harm. Both of these instances raise contradictions to the First Amendment, which allows freedom of expression and speech.

(1).The problem is that in the last four decades, the government and the public health amassed an impressive body of evidence identifying the impact of media violence on children. Since 1969, when President [Lyndon] Johnson formed the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, the body of data has effectively grown and grown and it leads to an unambiguous and virtually unanimous conclusion: media violence contributes to

Gangs are very dangerous to everyone in society. “Gangs are groups of people (mostly young males) who band together for protection and a sense of belonging. The U.S. Department of Justice officially defines a youth gang as a group of young people involved in criminal activity” (Gangs 1). There are about one million gang members in more than 20,00 criminally active gangs in the United States. Also, that group of about one million people, are accountable for up to eighty percent of our nation’s crimes. Since 2005, gangs have nationally added about 200,000 members (Targeting Gangs 1). This is why more action from the community needs to be taken to help with the growing gang-related crimes here in America.

The development of social media (television shows, Facebook and video games) has increased tremendously in the 21st century, and its influence in daily lives has also affected young teenagers and their parents’ contemplation about violence. In the past, the function of social media was to discover hidden events and tell parents the right way to raise and educate their kids. However, in the 21st century, young teenagers can see violence on television shows, movies, YouTube, and Facebook as if fights, sexual conduct, injuries, drug use and deaths are for entertainment. In Maggie Nelson’s essay, “Great to Watch,” she argues the idea of “video and image flow” can lead to different understandings, distractions, and even problems, which explains the Broken Windows Theory introduced in “The Power of Context” written by Malcolm Gladwell that people engaging in certain kind of behavior (crime and violence) are evoked by a feature of the environment. Video and image flow via social media in the 21st century can induce crime. In the age of distraction, young teenagers are easily misled by things they see, hear, and contact with in their daily lives. Societal behaviors exposed via social media raise awareness of kid’s health and safety to parents in the 21st century; however, exposing societal behaviors not only protect kid’s safety by warning parents, but also cause violence to young teenagers that those protections become meaningless,

While some people work hard on keeping their children safe from violence on TV or online, it is becoming common knowledge that every child will be subjected to at least one form of violence while growing up. (Ciaran Connolly, 2014)

Throughout the year 2014 Andrew V. Papachristos, Anthony A. Braga, Eric Piza, and Leigh S. Grossman published an article on street gangs, social networking and gun violence. The tile of the article is THE COMPANY YOU KEEP? THE SPILLOVER EFFECTS OF GANG MEMBERSHIP ON INDIVIDUAL GUNSHOT VICTIMIZATION IN A CO-OFFENDING NETWORK. The group of authors wrote the article to show what gangs are capable of while they are out on the streets of Newark, New Jersey. Per the authors, having friends who identify as gang members of certain gangs makes you more likely to be a victim of a gang shooting.

Media violence is one of the most debated public issues society faces today. Television screens are loaded with the glamorization of weapon carrying. Violence constitute as amusing and trivialized. Needless portrayals of interpersonal violence spread across the television screens like wild fire. Televisions spew the disturbing events such as children being assaulted, husbands inflicting domestic abuse on their wives and children succumbing to abuse by their parents. Scenes of betrayal, anguish, infiltrate the television screen. Unfortunately, a child becomes subjected to media violence. Everything a child sees or hears in the media affects them in some way or another. The precise effects of media violence on children are

The media in today’s society is very influential on children. There are many things that children at a very young age are learning, for example violence. Many children learn violent behavior and they become violent and aggressive children because they are exposed to so much mature content. Many parents are not aware of what their children are watching, and without knowing it, their children are raised by the media. Many television shows contain a lot of violence, for example kids fighting each other, kids bullying other kids and kids yelling and disrespecting their parents. Unfortunately, at a very young age children are learning to be aggressive and violent because they are spending more time watching television than spending it

Premise 1: You have easy access to social media nowadays with it being on phones, laptops, and tablets makes it easy for people to access and get involved in things that may later lead to trouble.

            In recent times, the news media has cried out against violent media, painting it as the leading cause for youth violence. Following events such as the Columbine massacre, news sources have vilified violent media, claiming that it is a primary cause of violent behavior in youths. This analysis provides firm research on the subject from the opposing and supporting sources, giving a thorough definition to the term “violent media” and  brings forth evidence that other psychological effects and environmental factors are more significant causes of increased youth aggression than violent media.

In the book Critique of Violence ,author Walter describes Violence as "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, male development, or deprivation .The violence that is portrayed in the media has been debated for decades ,and it has rose a question about how does it influence the youth?. From movies to video games society has been accustom to seeing violence in their everyday entertainment. Since children are easy to be influence by their environment, it is safe to say that violence in the media can and will contribute to violent behavior.