Gangs Should Go Straight

In society there is no possible way to turn every gang member into a changed person. But there is a way to lead these young teens away from that type of lifestyle. It’s through many projects and programs that are completely centered on these teens to help get them off the streets and into school to get a good education. On television they have a show where at

Chapter Four is entitled, “[The] Scope and Nature of the Current Gang Problem.” It focuses on recent trends in number of gangs, gang members and gang-related crimes in each city. In Inglewood, almost all the neighborhoods were claimed by at least one gang, with gang-unit officers agreeing that the city was facing a major gang problem. In Albuquerque, gangs were involved in drug trafficking and property offenses, with 7 out of 8 gang-unit officers believing the city had a major gang problem. In Las Vegas, migration from other cities was thought to be the primary cause of an increase in gang members. 50% of crime in Las Vegas is attributed to gangs, with most officers believing they had a moderate to major gang problem. In Phoenix, the gang problem is described as wave-like, with 70% of gang-unit officers thinking the city had a major gang problem. These statistics were backed up through interviews with officers and city records.

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.

            Youth violence is a problem among young teens because it causes a division, which unfortunately result into gangs. Moreover in the past, gang violence results into youth crimes such as robbery, and drug sales. In this new generation, the youth resort in selling marijuana and heroin, even more than crack cocaine now, this means where the drugs are is where the gangs are, also the weapons to protect to their territory. While writing his article Michael Blanding quotes a young man of 16 years of old named Sharodeny Finch, who said, “People get tired of wearing the same damn jeans”. This young man was referring to the fact that he gets tired of the gangs, and tries to do the right thing by finding an actual job. But when he got turned down his response was, “ You try to do the right thing, find a job to earn money, and you can't. You got a block right here, you know what I'm saying?” Basically Finch is explaining that, sometimes young people will try to escape the gang life, but when they try and do not get what they intended for, they go back to the gangs. This overall shows in order for the youth not to resort back to the gangs, they have to be dealt with in the proper format. Gang violence does not have broaders, however in the urban areas of Boston it tends to receive the most attention. This problem causes emotional stress, group tensions in communities, and many other troubles. This issue tends to thrive in communities that already have drug addictions, and low property rates.Moreover, gang violence influences these other issues to worsen over time. Therefore, youth violence should be a priority to resolve for it causes and affects many other issues in Boston.

For the children of the projects, the pressure to join a gang never waivers. Quick cash and protection are hard forces to resist in a world of poverty and violence. However, the children's role in these gangs is inferior to

Individuals who are affiliated with gangs commit crimes such as homicide consistently. Gangs target areas where people are not unified and would be less likely to contact authorities if violence broke out. Drive by shootings occur so often that Detective Dale Wallis says “they [gangs] do not care who’s going to get shot” (qtd. in Minty 1). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did a report to determine the top five United States cities to have high levels of gang homicide. Those five cities were Los Angeles, California; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Long Beach, California; Oakland, California, and Newark, New Jersey. The study

The correlation between gangs and drugs has always been an issue for the United States government. Major cities often overlooked the problem of youth gang violence, thinking it was only a 1960’s trend. Sixty years later, gangs and drugs continue to be a problem, but in an increasing number within urban, suburban and rural areas in the United States. People may characterize this problem with words such as violence, increase drug activity, and delinquencies, but not many seem to see the bigger picture. Lack of interaction, collaboration, and strategies from law enforcement, youth centers, businesses, churches, and political icons are increasing gang violence and drug related offenses in major cities. In such cities as Chicago, minority groups are the most vulnerable to joining a gang, which then leads to an involvement with drugs; they are faced with barriers – lack of family support, poverty, segregation, unemployment, etc. An incident that happened in Chicago history is the closing of the Cabrini-Green Project, where people involved with gangs had to find a new home, scattering gang-members throughout the city, and eventually leading to their spread and growth.

“Gangs have morphed from social organizations into full-fledged criminal enterprises” (Thomas, 2009, para 5). Gangs are highly sophisticated and more dangerous then ever. The number one reason to join a gang is money; and 95 percent of gangs profit comes from drug dealing

Although these types of programs sound wonderful on paper, most of these programs are unsuccessful and show no signs of deterring at risk youth from joining a gang. A study conducted by Esbensen, Peterson, Taylor, Freng, Osgood, Carson, and Matsuda, (2012), evaluated the success of the G.R.E.A.T. program and found that the rates of violence, delinquency, and gang membership in comparison to the control group were not statistically significant (Peterson et al., 2010). As argued in the study justification midterm question, policy implications geared toward gang reduction focus on social learning and social strain theories, however this has proved thus far to be ineffective in lowering crime rates and gang membership. While policy implications toward gang membership has proved to be unsuccessful and unproductive, I suggest that gang disengagement should instead be heavily focused on, with the specific focus on the types of criminological theories that impact the choices for disengagement and less

In the article Helping At Risk Youth Say No to Gangs by Brian Higgins, says “from 1995 to 2001 found that the program reduced several risk factors associated with gang membership and delinquency” (Higgins 1). It connects back to my thesis because this is a con and the program isn’t getting the help they need. There is another way to weaken gangs and it is showing the members their options. In the article Treating Gangs As a Mental Illness by Lawrence Harmon, Roy Martin of the Boston Health Commission declares, “They turn right back into kids after you spend time with them,” “They get rid of the mad dog look”. This is another way that gangs can be weakened and that if more gang members pick the correct option in life, then they won’t turn back on kids. This relates to my thesis because this is a pro and this is another method to help youth stay away from gangs. There are all of ways gangs can be weakened, by social programs and making the correct decisions with the options you got. Now we are going to the dark

Samantha Wallace English101 Will Gangs Ever End Throughout the world, dangerous street gangs have emerged as a major threat to community safety and now represent one of the most challenging criminal justice issues we face today. The United States government is much to blame for the popularity and escalating numbers of gangs in the United States. Gangs influence youth negatively and lead them into lives of crime. The government helps people in many situations but why not people who are associated with gangs in our neighborhood? If the government would help young youth with not affiliating with gang memberships crime and death rates would decrees tremendously in neighborhoods where people are forced to live with fear every time they walk outside their doors

from joining gangs. Prevention responses, therefore, are targeted at the largest segment of the problem: youths at risk

The sociological analysis of gang membership explores the different types of effects that arise due to criminal involvement. Because of the social conflicts that are associated with gang membership, this paper will explore the different theories of social learning and both personal and control issues that relate to the recent surge in crime across Chicago. As we open the doors of a crime ridden society, the truth begins to unfold. It isn’t just the thought of helping, it is the action that remains the barrier between living a life of crime or a life that carries hope.

The Social Work Dictionary defines a social problem as “a condition among people leading to behaviors that violate some people’s values and norms and cause emotional or economic suffering”. The above definition accurately describes the social problem that gangs are, and their impact on a community. People who live in gang infested neighborhoods live daily with fears of losing their lives and the lives of loved ones. That fear, along with the fear that their family members will join the gang, or that they will be physically harmed in some way by the gang. They may exhibit many emotional, psychological and physical problems that people who don’t live in gang infested neighborhoods do not. Since before the 1940’s law enforcement and others have attempted to put a stop to gangs. These solutions usually hampered gang activity but didn’t eradicate it. Gangs evolve their practices over time to adjust to law enforcement tactics. Today gangs are involved in sex trafficking rather than drug dealing. Sex trafficking is easier to hide, more profitable and has less legal ramifications.

Taking Positive Steps also provides additional solutions to tackle the issue of gangs in schools consequential thinking, and divert children on the periphery of gang membership from getting recruited into a life of crime and under achievement. Notwithstanding this Taking Positive Steps is able to offer a holistic resettlement service to resettled offenders, which the government has recently termed as ‘Through The Gate’