Solutions For The Youth Violence

In the years prior to the creation for the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program, America’s inner cities was experiencing a substantial increase of gang membership along the youth living in impoverished communities. During the early 1990s, many viewed gang activity as a particular community’s problem, but as youth and gang violence was increasing drastically across the United States’ inner cities, the public’s perception about this social issue changed. Due to the rapid rise of gang violence and youth membership, delinquent behavior by youths began to receive a substantial amount of academic and media attention.

Throughout the years, many plausible solutions to gang violence have been presented. A commonly thought of solution to gang violence is to punish and arrest gang members. People want anyone who is in contact with gangs locked up, but that will only make gangs rebel more. By doing so, the streets would be rid of gangs, but jails would be overpopulated with them. It may seem like having gangs in jail would solve the problem, but gang leaders being in jail does not stop a gang from continuing what they’re doing. Arresting gang members teaches nothing except for children to hate the authorities. “From 1985 to 1994, the number of American youths arrested for murder increased 158%, to more than 2,200” (Teen Gangs and Crime, 1996). If a child resents the authorities, they would be more likely to join a gang that goes against authorities. Officials are aware that they cannot arrest their way out of gang violence, and they have to take positive measures (Parks & Recreation, 2009). The most important thing to remember is “To treat this not

In the United States children watch an average of three to fours hours of television daily (Cantor & Wilson, 1984, p. 28). Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent. Studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may become insensitive to violence. Consequently, they tend to gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems by imitating the violence they observe on television; and they identify with certain characters, good or bad. Therefore, extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater

In recent times, public officials, community groups and activists have expressed their concern over the growth of violence perpetrated by youth gangs. On their own, local governments are often restricted not only by budgetary constraints, but operating knowledge. There is evidence that when public officials and community groups are engaged, empowered and enlightened in a collaborative effort, change happens. When both the public and private sectors willingly cooperate together, deterrence of gang violence can be achieved. This paper delves into specific government programs that studies and provides information on gang violence. This information brings forward specific limitations and recommendations that a continued collaborative effort can deter youth gang violence.

Gang crimes, such as graffiti, burglaries, murder and extortion, are devastating to a community’s well-being and sense of security. “The vast majority of violent incidents involving gang members continue to result from fights over

Engaging yourself with homicidal, murderous, and vicious media leads to an increase in aggression, lack of empathy, and it desensitizes you to violence. Researchers have found immense evidence supporting the thought that high levels of violence in movies, television, and other media induce mental illness and disturbed behaviors. When children are exposed to brutal actions they start to blur the line between reality and fantasy. It is proven that “ ‘The amount of gun violence shown in PG-13 films have more than tripled since 1985’ ” (pg 29 paragraph 4). Children model what they see. When young children see people murdering each other in a video game, it desensitizes them into thinking it is okay. To what extent are we going to allow ourselves

Children are growing aggressively from watching media input into their undeveloped mind that violence is always the quickest answer and it is easy to do so while if you were to be a good guy, you will have to suffer and lose. Dr. Kunkle, Professor of Communication at University of Arizona wrote in an article on The Effects of Television Violence on Children wrote, “violence that is presented as sanitized or glamorizes poses a much greater risk of adverse effects on children than violence that is presented with negative outcomes such as pain or suffering for its victim or negative consequence for its perpetrators”. Dr. Kunkle came to this conclusion based on National Television Violence Study as a participated researcher in this study for over 20 years. Even with such evidences, teenagers do not care of this fact as it not relevant toward them since they know what is right or wrong. However, if they know the intermediate line between right and wrong, why are they continuing to watches all these violent shows on television and social media and act the same ways like those on social

But how do hours of violent television and video gaming result in aggressive and violent behavior? According to the American Psychological Association, children can become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others. The APA states, “Exposure to media can desensitize people to violence in the real world and that, for some people, watching violence in the media becomes enjoyable and does not result in the anxious arousal that would be expected from seeing such imagery.” This is because

▪ Of over a thousand studies that have been done on the effects of violence in television and movies, majority of them conclude that individuals, especially children who spend significant time watching violence on TV and movies are more likely to display aggressive or violent behavior, attitudes and values. (Senate Committee; Congressional Public Health Summit qtd. from the National Institute on Media and the Family)

Television is a powerful tool, shaping and influencing the lives of the world’s youth. More recently, violent shows are on the rise. Most programs are increasing the number of violent acts per hour. These violent television shows are causing an aggressive spike among young people. Violent television shows are desensitizing children to violence, leading children to imitating the actions of those they see.  This problem can be reduced or prevented in numerous ways.

This association has been easy to support and is substantiated in every major scientific report released in the last twenty years. It has become general knowledge to professional counselors and educators that excessive and unsupervised exposure to television violence increases the use of violence to resolve conflict, while it desensitizes these youth to acts of violence. This exposure to violence in the media makes viewers less critical of real life violence. Since the media often represents violence as “happy violence” devoid of pain, suffering, and consequences, they are not providing the audience with an accurate or realistic portrayal of violence. Many studies have also confirmed a cumulative effect of exposure to violence as researchers have traced patterns from childhood exposure to adult social behavior.

Also, video games have gotten so violent that some have been rated MA for mature audiences only. In addition to these, the media promote "role models" for children who have histories of violent behavior. Professional athletes, movie stars, and rock stars, whom children look up to, are in the news daily for illegal, violent behavior. So the constant barrage of the media promoting violence has definitely played a part in making our society more callous to human life, and thus more susceptible to violent acts.

One study I found said that children who watch violent television could become “immune” to the horror of violence. It also said that children could begin to accept violence as a way to solve problems(Children and TV Violence). What are these kids watching that is so violent? “A child spending Saturday morning in front of the television will most likely be learning about violence, consumerism, and stereotypes”(Kalin). This is disturbing to think that cartoons are the source of violence, but unfortunately they are. “The level of violence in prime time television is about five violent acts per hour, whereas the level of violence in children’s Saturday morning programming is about twenty to twenty five violent acts per hour(Kalin). With nothing but violence as a guide to solving problems, it is easy to see why kids are involved in so much violence.

For many years there have been links to how violence in media has been glorified as something harmless and normal especially dealing with music, video games, and social media. Often the disbelief of how violence in media cannot affect the brain is under looked but studies have shown otherwise. Indiana University School of medicine has linked visible alterations MRI brain scans for those who have played violent video games for about a week. In this case it has been shown that there has been an activation of the prefrontal portion of the brain otherwise know as the amygdala which activates the emotion center, but can also trigger, anger, aggression, and impulse behavior (Dale). Other interesting studies from Virginia Tech have shown several of their students violent and non-violent with an obvious increase in hostile behavior. The University of Alabama have conveyed coincidental results stating that the aggression did not just occur after but stayed with the students for quite sometime. Macquarie University for children’s health have researched that children who view violent movies were most likely going to view the world as unsympathetic or scary which could provoke aggression. Furthermore, the video game industry has collect around $66 billion dollars globally in 2012 with amongst 85% of those video games contributing to violence. Parental skills may have some effect on child behavior it ultimately depends on what you allow

You are what you watch! An examination of violence in the media reveals that media violence does create a more aggressive culture. Even though violent crime has decreased, violence in the media had doubled or even tripled. This violent activities viewed by children and adults in video games increase areas of the brain that control emotional arousal and decrease parts of the brain that deal with self control and empathy. Studies show that children become more