Why Do Gangs Focus On Teenagers

When young teens get involved with gangs they pretty much throw their lives away because they leave school and frequently get arrested taking away any hope of getting a real job and honest living.

Gangs have been a growing issue across the United States for many decades now. Youth gang violence may have started around the ‘50s, but did not become a serious issue until the ‘80s and from there went through a downward spiral in some cities like downtown Los Angeles, which was where the notorious Bloods and Crips gangs both started. First, let’s simply define a gang as a group of people, mostly men ranging for ages 14-30, who claim territory and use it to make money for themselves and their neighborhood through illegal activities such as trafficking drugs and weapons. There are many reasons and components that are factored in when conducting research to hypothesize “why do people join gangs?” That is why it is necessary to compare and contrast all the social, biological, psychological, developmental, and substance abuse aspects and relate it to joining a gang. It is also important to touch base on the differences between males and females that join gangs, such as power differentials, social learning differences and social stratification differences.

Young people are definitely joining gangs due to marginalization. People who are left out of the main stream, flow to the margins, forcing them to find societies/groups that are no the best. This is how they end up in the streets and in gangs. Young people need a good structure to grow up in. They tend to follow what they see. They need to be a part of the regular mainstream society to become a contributing member of society.

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

What influences youth to join and leave gangs in America? This essay strives to seek and inquire an answer or explanation to this question. I will try to approach the answer to this question by analyzing the biggest factors of it such as the influence of social institutions, psychological behaviour, media and many more to determine the push and pull factors of a gang. Understanding that the dynamics of gang membership can be separated into formation & joining which will allow theories & methods of gang-related research to be refined.

There are an abundance of reasons why some youth may choose to join a gang. The lacking of sense of guidance positively and

Teenagers and young adults join youth gangs for many reasons. Reasons a teenager would join a gang include family

Teenagers are now starting to join gangs and it is ruining their lives, most gang members range from the ages of 12-40. The reason why people will join a gang is because they want something to

“Violent crimes committed by juveniles are not diminishing, as other crimes, as reported by the Justice Department statistics, are (Siegel and Welsh, 2011).” We see that juveniles have more access, and more use of the weapons of violence, including gang affiliation. So why do young people join gangs? First of all, the gang

and influenced many parts of the U.S. The youth, being its main targets, become influenced and

Juveniles often join gangs to be accepted into a society of their peers. These juveniles are looking for acceptance and a sense of belonging. They join these gangs for special status amongst their friends, protection from other gangs, financial help, peer pressure, excitement and for some juveniles, they are born into a gang society and it is a family tradition. Gangs can also act like a family. They will praise, chastise and show them a form of love and respect that they are looking for but cannot get at home.

It was sad to see that many of the prisoners in Kentucky interviewed had a family member or friend that had been detained before, and that even having them in their lives as an example of doing the wrong thing lead them in the same path. I agree that it’s sad to know that their are people living in rough/poor neighborhood, but the truth of the matter is that most of the people that reside in those communities are in a gang, and lose their future to violence and and being brainwashed by the gangs. I think teenagers get involved with gangs due to peer pressure and having a friend or involved as well. Having a paternal figure for a man is important because they look up to them and they’re a model to follow. If the only paternal figures and “man” figure kids have are criminals then they will follow in that footstep because if their family did it then it's good, and perfectly fine, until they learn for themselves that it's not.

prove themselves by breaking into a house or to steal a car. Other times the

One of the reasons young people join street gangs is because of neighborhood disadvantages. A theory that can contribute to why young people might join street gangs is Social Disorganization Theory. Social Disorganization theory assumes that “delinquency emerges in neighborhoods where neighborhood relation and social institutions have broken down and can no longer maintain effective social controls (Bell, 2007).” Social Disorganization contributes to residential instability and poverty, which affects interpersonal relationships within the community and opens opportunities for crimes to be committed. The break down of neighborhood relation and social institutions

About one-third of every community experiences some sort of gang violence (Tucker). Although it may not directly affect one specific community, it is making a great impact on the new generation. Gang violence among teens has become more prevalent in today’s society. For example, during the summer of 2017 in Lancaster, South Carolina, five teenagers were murdered by other teens in gang affiliated behaviors. Thus, resulting in imprisonment. The question is how we punish these teens. Should they receive the death penalty for committing an act of murder? Or should they spend the rest of their lives in prison with a chance of being released back into society. What is the value of their lives? Understand they are in the prime of their lives.