Gangs Influence On Black Youth Essay

When individuals decided to get involve in those type of activities many of them do it for specific reasons. For example, people join gang for acceptance, protection, and some are forced into it, because of their family are gang affiliated. Gangs partake endlessly in finding different method for individuals to more effectively get the things they want, particularly power. Therefore, people that are easily influenced tends to gravitate toward gang activities for recognition in the community. According to Goldman, Giles, & Hogg (2014), “Gang members’ actions impact other gang members as well as the wider community; everyone is at risk of being a victim of gang violence” (p. 825). Gang violence goes further than racial issue, but it more intensely touches African American and Latino communities.

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

Gang activity and gang violence have been a major issue in the urban community for over half a century, dominated by mostly minority youth. This essay will review the question: Does growing up as a minority with a dysfunctional family setting aide or contribute to joining a gang, therefore continuing the cycle of gang violence and activity? In order to dive deeper into this subject, several references from the internet and Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez will be stated and discussed. After the discussion of the web articles and passages from the book a solution will be suggested to help the misguided youth of America to make better life decisions than just throwing their lives away as expendable tools of urban guerilla warfare.

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.

In James Howell’s “Gangs in America’s Communities” book he mentions that a gang should be looked at more of as a social network rather than an “organization” (Howell, 2012, p.60). This can be especially true for the youth who get involved in gangs. For the youth it is normal for them to want to belong somewhere so their peers have major influences in what they do and even how they think. The emergence or involvement of a gang among youth is identifying with each other and eventually giving themselves a name. Howell then describes the next step as grasping the gang culture by wearing distinctive clothing, colors, having rituals, gatherings, and the exclusion of other youth. Most youth join gangs between the ages of 11 and 15, the peak of gang involvement usually occurs between the age of 14 to 16. Some of the risk factors that get them involved in a

There is no definite term for the word “gang”. State and other local government organizations tend to create their own definition. The depiction of “street gang” is consistently intertwined with “youth gang”. However, the term “street gang” can mean two particular meanings that raise it’s face value. 1st, it proposes a common quality of gangs: They usually contain a street presence. Street socialization is a huge attribute of young gangs. 2nd, this expression also refers to “street crimes,” that is, violent and grave crimes (e.g., assaults, drive-by shootings, robberies, homicides) that happen on the streets and that frequently cause concern to citizens and policymakers. “More than 1 million young people in the U.S. (about two percent of youth) belong to a gang”("Study Finds 1 Million Juvenile Gang Members in U.S."). The ongoing activities of these infractions cause distress among the inhabitants within the community. Recently teenagers have been getting more and more involved. Questioning the future of the country. The majority portion of high-schoolers who attach to a gang do so at a young age, usually consisting between 11 and 15 years old. Well knit families are a huge protective factor in helping kids resist the urge of joining gangs. Youth join gangs for a vast amount reasons, including money, feeling of support and belonging, peer status, grasp a sense of protection, or portray an outlaw

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.

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.

This article provides literature to explain why certain boys join gangs using the Erikson life phases: industry versus inferiority stage and earlier. For this study, the researcher interviewed people who were associated with gang member or who was an actual gang member. The respondent are five experienced gang members in Los Angeles, an ex-gang member who is the intervention worker for the program, two Black high school teachers whom are natives in Los Angeles. One of the teacher stayed away from the gang, while the other teacher during his youth. The research program chose the teachers because of their status in the community now, and an active gang member who use an under covered name. From the study, researchers have enough information collected

According to a recent study, 400,000 teens join and leave gangs each year (Pyrooz n.p.). Moreover, teenagers are responsible for 89 percent of the violent crimes in Denver (Teen Help n.p.). Teenagers are actively involved in gangs despite the pressure of law enforcement. This crisis is due to the developmental changes in their minds and the negative socio-cultural influences from society. Teenagers become increasingly susceptible to joining gangs due to insecurity and low self-concept.

Abstract: This review studies in depth research done on street gangs. Social issues have social scientists turning away from including this in their research around this time. Sociological views have been changed dramatically in the past 40 years due to gender and racial studies. Also, women have started to join gangs since America has been changed with woman equality laws passing.

We live in a world where everybody wants to be excepted. In some form or fashion, people want to fit in with other people in society and feel like they belong. However, we live in a society where that is not always the case. Today, the youth have a far more difficult time in terms of finding acceptance in our society. As a result, they often gravitate to other like-minded youths for guidance and support. This in turns leads to them choosing the wrong path in life and joining a street gang. Their motivations for joining the gang are varied. Currently, it is thought that some 756,000 gang members are active in more than 29,400 gangs across the United States in 2010. Approximately 40 percent are also thought to be juvenile members. Some of the various reasons why youth join gangs are for the same reasons adults join gangs.

Gangs have gotten worst over the years. An article by Sandy Banks in the Los Angeles Times stated that “residents fear gangs more than they trust the police”. In 2012, the National Gang Center posted information concerning gangs and they found that those groups were responsible for over 2300 deaths in that year. In July of 2015 a former classmate of mine was shot and killed as a result of gang violence. He was only 15 years old. According to communications specialist, Beth Kuhles, currently, there are 1.5 million gangs members here in the United States and majority of them are minors. A lot of the children are involved in gangs because they lack friendship or a true family at home. My classmate who recently passed away did not have strong,

Gang Culture has increasingly become a subculture for many teenage youths. Mainly minority teens, these social outcast are often have no real economic stability and no parental supervision or guidance. As a result, teenagers often rebel and seek comfort in gangs. These gangs provide what is lacking in their lives, a sense of belonging. Minorities are often stereotyped and criticized, especially minorities born into poverty. They are condemned simply because they are not of the same race or of the same class as the majority (often middle class whites). Before these minorities can even prove themselves equal, society already pushes them towards the subculture that has risen out of oppression and rebellion. Gang culture reinforces, and in