Why Do Youth Join Gangs?

Youth participation in gangs actually decreased from 1996 to 2004, but the violence within these gangs has not. Homicides committed by youth gang members still remain as a monumental problem across the United States of America. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reported in its 2004 survey of youth gangs that there were an estimated 760,000 gang members that year. Many of the kids affiliated with gangs come from lower income, single parent homes; therefore, the youths of America often turn to gangs to fill the void of not being part of a “family”. To combat this problem and save our youth from a life of malfeasance, the people of the communities of America must take a stand against the negative influences that impact these youths.

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.

Alleyne, Emma & Wood, Jane L., (2011). Gang Involvement: Social and Environment Factors. Crime and Delinquency 60 (4) 547-568.

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

Oftentimes, adolescents will spend time with gang people for approximately annually prior to making dedication to participate (Decker and Van Winkle 1996). Initiation rituals, including being beaten with a row of gang people ("walking the roadInch), to carrying out a criminal offense or doing harm to part of an opposing gang are occasionally needed to participate a gang, but they are frequently inconsistently applied (Fleisher 1998 Spergel 1995 Burns 2001). Many gangs also positively recruit new people, particularly when gang membership is low. Martin Sanchez-Jankowski (1991) offered three typologies of gang recruitment: (1) Fraternity-the gang promotes itself as, "awesome, stylish, the social factor to stay inInch (2) Obligation-the gang attracts an individual's communal feeling and (3) Coercion-the gang uses physical and mental

Data shows that in 1990, there were a total of 1.492 gang related homicides in a spam of only 408 cities; and from 1996-1998 there was approximately 1,204 homicides per year within 237 cities.What makes the youth so attracted to gang affiliations? Most theories have failed to target the reasons as to why individuals join gangs. However, there has been research that young adults whom join a gang, lack some of these five stages; physiological, personal safely, feeling love and “belonging”, low self-esteem, and self-actualization. When individuals join these gangs, “fulfill” all of these characteristics. Once associated, members receive shelter and food. In their eyes, gangs are viewed as sororities, where they know if anything happens to one of their members there will be protection from the others. With that being said, self-esteem and self-actualization naturally come about, bringing personal satisfaction. Most members are those with poor family network, low net-income, leading to devoting their time to the streets. Much of these has to do with the social network from these children and are often lured into these

“According to statistics from the National Youth Gang Center, more than 24,500 gangs, consisting of more than 770,000 members, exist in about 3,300 cities in the U.S.” (Rank 1). Although it is not illegal to be a member of a gang, it should be noted many gangs participate in illegal activity for funding and will use the money as a way to entice new membership. The “money begins flowing, and with that comes all of the things associated with material wealth that is usually beyond the reach of these adolescents without the criminal activity of being involved in a gang” (Nawojczyk 3).

Get the passwords to all your children’s Facebook, twitter, email and other social accounts. Make sure the family computer is in a common area and the screen can be seen by all. If your children have cell phones, switch over to a prepaid plan that you can control so they can not send pictures or text messages.

Adolescence is a point in a child’s life when they are transitioning to become more independent pro-social beings, in which behavioral changes occur as they enter adulthood. Exposure to Gang membership at a young age is proven to be very influential and can be a risk factor for children who have parents involved in gang activity (Augustyn, 2014). Men involved with gangs who are imprisoned and have sons’ on the outside encourage them to join the gang as well in order to stay protected while they are in prison (Shade, 2013). These youths are extremely vulnerable to influence and will usually do what their parents ask of them specifically in a situation where rival gangs may be after them due to their parents involvement with a gang. If children

In most cases, adolescents join gangs because of close relationships with family members or friends who are already in gangs. Some adolescents are born into gangs as a result of either their parents’ gang history or neighborhood affiliation (The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency and Prevention: Why Do Youth Join Gangs?, 1998). Protection is also extremely important when it comes to gangs, violence is an everyday occurrence in many gang related environments, and as a result, many adolescents seek out gang involvement for protection from opposing gangs (Taylor &

Teenagers that live in communities where violence is rampant are particularly vulnerable. Gangs and drug distribution provide exposure to violence and violent role models and positive rewards for violent activity. Many children join gangs for recognition, status, safety, security, power, and excitement. Those that are raised under conditions of social deprivation are particularly drawn to gangs. Many youth view joining a gang as a normal and respectable, although the consequences for joining are a series of delinquent and violent acts

Introduction In the united states, young females and males are joining gangs for various reasons. To prevent our youth from joining gangs, there are different precautions that need to be considered and recognized. For communities to avert youth from joining gangs they need to identify why adolescents find a gang lifestyle beneficial. There are many risks that affect the community when an adolescent decides to join a gang.

Unaccompanied children have recently become a concern in the United States. According to recent statistics the U.S Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) noted that a majority of these children being apprehended at the border are not from Mexico but from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Honduras being noted as one of the poorest nations in Latin America was branded as the murder capital of the world with a reported 90 homicides per 100,000 people. Most of the illegal children that come from Mexico are deported. What many people don’t understand is that not all these children are at the age of ten or younger. Actually many of these children are teenagers that are affiliated with violent gangs.

Although some of the factors such as poverty and social isolation may make one to join gangs, it has been reported that even the youth from rich families also join gang. For that matter, it is not suffice to conclude that gang is only associated with the poor in the society. In light of this, the youth from rich families may join gang because of the need to secure protection from rival gangs. When there are other gangs from the neighborhood, the youth may feel the need to join so as to avoid threats and torments from other gangs. According to most reports, major reasons why a youth may join a gang are varied. Some young people always feel that they do not receive proper attention and care at home. They may not be receiving the family love or comfort (Weisel and Howell,