Gangs, Belonging, and Acceptance Essay

Gangs have existed in America since the early eighteenth century, they first rose a outsider institutions that provided membership and sense of self to individuals who were not seen as part of the community. Traditionally, gang membership correlates to familial membership; parental and family membership in a gang elevates the possibility of youth also joining a gang. Though these outsider institutions have developed overtime, they pose some of the most violent threats to public safety, but also to those they say they will protect. It is this violence and lifestyle dominated by power associated with gang memberships that create an appeal to black youth and change the course of their lives. Gangs are a creation of an ongoing cycle, in which society has failed to improve conditions for teens who are looking for new ways to belong in the community.

It has been noted the vital role that mothers play in a child’s healthy development. Therefore if mothers are abused research done by Sandra A. Graham-Bermann, Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Family Violence Research Program, has shown that “Children who were exposed to parental violence had many more behavioral problems, exhibited significantly more negative affect, responded less appropriately to situations, were more aggressive with peers, and had more ambivalent relationships with their caregivers than those from nonviolent families.” (Graham-Bermann, S. A., & Levendosky, A. A., 1998). Another factor that can play a negative role in a child’s development is that parents may hold unreasonable expectations from their children due to how they themselves were brought up. Seymour Rosenberg a head of the department of Psychology at The State University of New Jersey helped their study come to the conclusion that “It has also been shown that abusive parents often have unrealistic expectations for their children-expectations based on distorted perceptions of their children's needs, feelings, and abilities” (Herzog, E. P., Gara, M. A., & Rosenberg, S., 1992). Due to this it can cause the child to grow up confused and scared which may lead them to use the same maltreatment towards their kids which will only further the intergenerational abuse. However, Research has also shown that

Young boys in the family who grow up watching their father mistreat their mother are more likely to abuse their spouse as they grow older. Past family history of domestic violence gives young boys the idea that women are weak and are not to be respected during their relationship. Young girls who eyewitness their family going through domestic violence are likely to be victimized by their spouse (Goldsmith 1).

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.

At any rate, it is very clear that some youths engage in more gang activity than others; some might be called "the wannabes" who move out of the influence of the gang on the basis of whether or not a program of interest intercepts drawing them completely away from the gang. Within the "wannabes" there are many little brothers and sisters, sometimes referred to as "pee wees." However, on separate and certain occasions they are sent home by their older siblings when something was about to happen for which only older members were being mobilized. Moreover, I am going to go into explicit detail on two Hispanic gangs The Mexican Mafia, the Nuestra Familia, and the Latin Kings.

The two most critical social issues that are impacting the Alvarez family are gang involvement and violence, and a lack of community involvement. Gang involvement is especially troubling to both the community and the immediate family as it is directly related to violence and crime. “Gang members engage in a higher level of serious and violent crime than their non-gang-involved peers. Research about gangs is often intertwined with research about gun violence and drug crime. It is clear that gangs, guns, drugs, and violence are interconnected.” (Gangs and Gang Crime, 2017)

His ethnographic data on both Homeboy Industries and Victory Outreach consistently showed that these men can replace a gang lifestyle with a religious lifestyle, and changed their view on masculinity to more family-oriented. The transformation is a difficult process, he managed to capture few examples to show the ways that members might rebound to the gang lifestyle. Mario, a respondent from the Homeboy Industries, had a job with the Homeboy Industries and a plan of forming a household with his girlfriend. Later, he started drinking again under the influence of his girlfriend. Few months later, his old friend died and his drinking problem got escalated so badly, Father Greg (creator of the Homeboy Industries) demoted him from his position and “sent him to drug and alcohol rehab for two months” (p. 120). He resumed work with Homeboy Industries after he left the rehab, but he broke up with his girlfriend and lost the “reformed barrio masculinity”. Sudden traumatic events could lead them back to the street life, and seek comforts outside of religious and spiritual enlightenment. Flores also found that new recruits “struggled to develop a secure sense of masculine identity outside of the gang and alternated between expressions of Chicano gang masculinity and recovered gang masculinity” (p. 133). Despite these examples, the general trend is still clear and is consistent with his statement. Religion and gender expectation help recovering gang members from integrating back to the

How does domestic violence between parents and parental figures affect the children who witness it? This is a question often asked by Sociologists and Psychologists alike. There have been studies that prove that children who witness domestic inter-parental violence experience mental health problems, issues with gender roles, substance abuse, the committing of crimes and suicide/suicide attempts later in their lives. This paper will explore all five of these 'effects' of domestic violence on children and show that there is evidence of a clear relationship in which increasing parental violence is associated with increasing outcome risks (Fergusson & Horwood, 1998, p.8).

According to John Lewis, An Examination of Psychological, Social, and Economic Motivations for Gang Membership among Hispanic American Youth, purpose of this study was to examine the influences of Latino’s participants who joined gangs in a large West Coast, American city. Lewis participants are former gang members whose ages vary eighteen through thirty, and he gathers his data by using qualitative research, and individual interviews. Zeiders, Roosa, and Tein (2011) writes, “Parental influences serve a vital role in either deterring deviant behavior or enhancing its likelihood (p. 32).” According to Harris and Ryan (2004), they concluded that “parental influences on youth are the strongest when both parents are living in the same home as

When was the last time you were able to turn on the news and not hear about some sort of violent act? Crime is a growing concern amongst most cities, and street gangs are behind a lot of the trouble. Street gangs have plagued the streets for centuries and there is no stopping the urge to commit such hideous crimes. Gangs grow from recruiting young kids but what makes a kid decide to join a crime filled lifestyle.

As mentioned before and regarding gender, women are far more likely than men to be victims of domestic violence (Kimmel and Holler, 2011, 375). Sev’er (2002) suggests an interesting finding regarding men and women who have fallen victim or have witnessed domestic abuse in their childhood. In her findings, Sev’er concluded that in comparison to non-violent men, violent men were three times more likely to have witnessed violence as a child, meanwhile, women who were raised in violent homes were twice as likely to fall victim to a form of domestic violence as opposed to women who were not raised in non-violent homes (109). As a child, if their role models, such as their fathers, got away with violence, they would assume that violent behaviour was acceptable (Sev’er, 2002, 109)

The men grew up with or without a history of childhood family violence that includes angry, controlling, and violent behaviors, substance use related behavior, and attitudes towards women. With the findings, men with family violence led to severe attitudinal and behavioral problems. This source is helpful to understand the behavioral relations between the attackers and the victims.

In a study published in 2007, Sarrazin and Cyr claim that aggression is more rampant if the child is left in the custody of the less dominant parent. If the child identifies him or herself with the less dominating opposite sex or the dominating same-sex parent there could be increased problems of aggression. If the father is the dominant figure then boys show fewer problems and vice-versa for girls if the mother is the dominant figure [ (Sarrazin & Cyr, 2007) ]. The father figure is very important especially to adolescent boys because when father is absent they react more aggressively than girls [ (Dreman, 2000; Sarrazin & Cyr, 2007) ]. Portnoy [ (2006) ] stated that “20 percent of divorced fathers do not see their children at all during their high school years” [ (p. 76) ]. Oftentimes when boys are placed in the custody of the mother these mothers “identify sons with their ex-spouse” which results in the child exerting more aggression either towards the custodial parent, non-custodial parent or others [ (Dreman, 2000) ].

Adolescents in single-parent households that were probably subjected to abuse as a child may go on to exhibit similar behavior toward their children in the future. Eliana Gil, PhD, suggests that “some adults abused as children do become aggressors…By acting out the role of the abuser, they may be unconsciously trying to understand why the earlier abuse occurred” (Gil, 1988). This clarifies the fact that though the adolescents may not at first demonstrate violent behavior, they may expose this role of the abuser when triggered later in life. Abused adolescents become abusers of their children due to frustration caused by how they were raised as a child, what current situation they may be in, or difficulties in accepting behaviors of their spouse or children. Ultimately, the individual abuses the people that are closest to them, such as spouses and children. As this continues, resentment and tension is built up within the family and thus recommencing the abusive cycle throughout generations.

Jaffe, Wilson and Wolfe (1986 cited in Edleson, 1997) express that children that are shown domestic violence from their parents can lead to the justification of their own violent attitudes and actions for boys this can be extremely challenging. For example, a boy hitting his mother gains the justification as he has watched his father do the same so he is mirroring his role model who shows how violence against women is a normal part of manhood and that they can get away with it (Gelles, 1987 cited in Kimmel, 2008). A study by Coatsworth and Bowden (1995 cited in Edleson, 1997) studied teenage boys who were in prison in relation to violent offences, they all expressed experiencing some form of domestic violence in their childhood from a male role model. This can lead them to believing it was an essential for them to live up to their toxic masculine image and to enhance their