The Importance Of Reducing Gang Violence

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.

A two-pronged prevention approach has proven effective, with primary prevention strategies aimed at the community 's general population and secondary prevention strategies targeting youth between the ages of 7 and 14 who are at high risk of joining gangs. Prevention efforts undertaken by law enforcement departments around the country include: “Participating in community awareness campaigns (e.g. developing public service announcements and poster campaigns). Contacting the parents of peripheral gang members (through the mail or during personal visits) to alert them that their children are involved with a gang. Sponsoring gang hotlines to gather information and facilitate a quick response to gang-related issues. Organizing athletic events with teams of law enforcement officers and gang members. Establishing working relationships with local social service agencies. Making presentations about gangs to schools and community groups as a combined effort at prevention and information gathering. Sponsoring school-based gang and drug prevention programs (e.g. DARE and GREAT)” (Hess, 2013 p.230).

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

Police and probation officers use two words to describe their jobs, to protect and to serve. Not only do they put their lives in danger every day, but also help the community in more ways than one. Some ways that police and probation officers can help lower gang violence is by implementing laws more accordingly, establishing a relationship with troubled youth, and creating programs that benefit their well-being.

This article describes a project in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood that is designed to reduce gang problems, including violence and illegal drug activity. The Little Village Gang Violence Reduction Project was a comprehensive, community wide program designed to reduce serious violence in Chicago’s gang-ridden Little Village neighborhood. The main goal of this project was to reduce the extremely high level of serious gang violence, first at the individual youth gang member level, and then at both the gang and community level. The project appeared to reduce arrests for violent crimes, serious violent crimes, and drug crimes, but did not have an effect on arrests for property crimes or total arrests.

Our article is “Supporting Gang Violence Prevention Efforts: A Public Health Approach for Nurses”. Health providers might not think they would see the words “gang violence” and “public health” together. But the nurses who work in emergency rooms, schools, local public health agencies, and health clinics in an environment with high levels of gang activities are higher at risk to encounter gang situations. In this article, it said that from 2002 to 2006, gangs were responsible for approximately 20% of homicides in the 88 largest United State cities. The CDC and OJJDP survey collects information of many forms of violence in a nationally representative sample of 4,500 children, ages 17 and younger. It was estimated that 2.2% of children in the U.S. experienced a group of gang-related

Community crime prevention programs incorporate practices that target changes in a community’s culture, physical environment, or infrastructure to reduce crime such as gang involvement and violence (Citation Needed). This paper will examine the following three different strategies used in crime prevention programs: focused deterrence strategy, problem-solving policing, and situational crime prevention. Deterrence strategy or theory states that crimes can be prevented when the costs of committing the crime are perceived by the offender to outweigh the benefits of committing the crime (Braga et al., 2001). Programs that use the theory of situational crime prevention believe that crime can be reduced by identifying and then eliminating the forces that facilitate would-be offenders’ criminal acts (Clarke, 1992). Problem-oriented policing is an analytic method used by police to develop strategies that prevent and reduce crime. Under this method, a law enforcement agency will systematically analyze the problems of a community, search for effective solutions to the problems, and evaluate the impact of their efforts (Weisburd et al., 2004).

The Ending Gang and Youth Violence policy initiative is aimed at analysing problems with gangs and find intervention to tackle crime connected to young people. It is focuses on preventing gang violence, finding pathways out, punishing offenders, working as partners with different forces and providing support to individuals who got in to gangs.

In order to come to a solution, an understanding of different aspects of the problem is required. Gangs are not a recent trend. “While they have existed in some verifiable form in the United States since the 19th century, the 1950’s showed the worst juvenile delinquency statistics the world had seen (Siegel and Welsh, 2011).” Major cities such as New York enacted curfews to help curb this issue, however at the time not many studies had been performed to realize the widespread activity and cause of such delinquency rates.

These comprehensive gang and delinquency prevention programs uses different techniques and to direct youth to positive alternatives. It begins at the local level by using community leaders and Club staff to discuss local gang issues, design a community-strategy and clarify each organization’s or person’s role in providing services to the youth. Meanwhile on the local

As a commander of the Gang Unit, I would first look at the neighborhood, see what changes can be made first that would be easy. When we think of gangs, most often, we think of the mafia-style gangs. These gangs moved a little more discreetly than the gangs that we have today that are pretty much in your face. The gangs of earlier times moved money and drugs in different ways like through gambling, liquor, and prostitution (Hoover, 2014). There was violence back then, but not like it is today. these youths of today will kill you over senseless things like sneakers, rims, boyfriends, girlfriends, and disrespect. The gangs of today contribute to higher violent crime rates, they tear down the communities with behaviors that result in vandalism, graffiti, drug dealing, and increased public fear of being victimized (Langton, 2010). These young gang members join these

My topic is to discover gang prevention programs and their effectiveness. The prevention programs being discussed are the G.R.E.A.T. program and the Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative (CAGI). The problem is that these prevention methods are not effective in alternatives to gang life. The alternatives could include family, protection, and these support that gangs give to their members. If these programs are not successful in offering these alternatives then the program will not be as effective.

Being educated and aware of your children’s action is key to a safe environment. First by knowing the signs that your child is in a gang will help prevent it. Second, you have to realize gang activity and how gangs operate. Next, by improving your community’s supervision while allow young adults less chance in joining a gang. Ways you can

The problem of gangs and violence are commonly found in Chicago, especially during the night time. Although the rate seems to be lower compared to the past, the violence rate is still shocking compared to other states. Therefore, violence in Chicago 's neighborhoods and communities cannot be overlooked. Statistics show that 1,109 school-aged youth were shot, and 216 of those were killed in 2010. As a student of UIC, I often receive crime alert emails as violence cases seemed to occur quite often around the campus area. In order to improve the public security to ensure residents’ safety, it is essential to find ways to solve these issues. It is because violence can cause negative effects in many different aspects. Besides individual’s physical well being, it may also lead to some long-term psychological problems; such as anxiety, eating and sleeping problem. Moreover, violence also affects the community as it became unsafe to live in. The value of the properties will decrease because the quality of life became worse.

Unfortunately, gang members mostly start out at a young age. Almost all adult gang members had received their start in the gangs in their youth (Hoover, 2013.) In the city, I feel that a lot of the youth are led to the gangs by the area they live in. Most of these children have family members who are in gangs and most of the friends or school kids they know are in gangs. Most of the kids are never shown that they have better options and have no positive role model in their life. To assist in preventing the youth from joining a gang, I think the cities could deploy after school and youth programs. Keeping them active with sports and other activities rather than just hanging out on the streets.