Youth Gang Membership And It 's Implication Adolescent Development Essay

Abstract: This paper will discuss the correlation of youth gangs and how the cognitive and social learning theory comes in to play, and why female and male juveniles end up in the system. It will touch bases on how youth surroundings have a lot to do with the decisions they choose to make and the life style they end up living. Gangs usually recruit youth off the street, if a child sees that being a part of a gang is an everyday thing and is normal then they will be influenced more to do that. The cognitive theory ultimately states that a child learns from observing and from there environment. This essay will touch on the different statistics and the reasoning for youth gangs and gangs in general, it will also show statics of youth who are apart of gangs and are incarcerated. It will also show how it correlates with the cognitive theory and social learning theory.

Using the stereotypes of the American Culture, this study by Alleyne and Wood is based on Gang Involvement in a British setting. The study examines individual, social and environmental factors that can have an impact on gang-involved youths or non-gang involved youths. In order to find which factors play a role on involved/non-involved gang youth, the authors test for measure of individual delinquency, neighborhood gangs, parental management, commitment to school, and deviant peers. To help differentiate amongst the factors, the authors use a structural equation modeling, which provided the results in a statistical measure. Based off of the results, gang-involved youths were older than non-gang involved youths and that individual delinquency and neighborhood gangs predicted higher chances of gang involvement. The other factors of parental management, commitment to school and deviant peer pressure provided an indirect relationship to gang involvement.

Esbensen and Peterson draws on their research on how youth gangs were formed and operated and the stereotypes the youth gangs faced in the United States. Esbensen and Peterson outlined that sex and race/ethnicity were related to youth gangs and paid particular attention to the results provided by the National Youth Gang Survey. According to the National Youth Gang Survey, 90% of the gang members are Hispanic or African American. Based on a study on 11 cities in the United States, it was found that gang youths looked extremely similar to the youth residents in that specific community. Esbensen and Peterson outlined the community risk factors of youth gangs which includes individuals, family, peer, school and sex and race/ethnicity risk.

Criminological and Gang MembershipApril SmolkowiczGeorgia Gwinnett CollegeCriminological and Gang MembershipSocial scientists have researched and documented empirical findings of the many one-of-a-kind influential factors of formative years gang and non-gang involvement across the United States. While it is now not feasible to predict whether or not a younger man or woman will be a section of a gang, possession of certain danger elements can extend the probability.Social Leaning Theory Article One The motive of this paper is to analyze adolescence gang and non-gang attitudes and behaviors with the social learning idea factors and its possibility of predicting youths self-reporting of gang membership, explicitly with the ethnicity of “Hispanics’ and Anglos, of eight-grade college students in two southwestern cities”. The lookup article is empirical that meets the requirements of the capstone mission with the gaining of understanding on the difficulty of adolescence gang and non-gang membership attitudes and behaviors. The hypothetical context is primarily based absolutely on comparing key variables of the social learning theory, advantageous reinforcers, terrible punishers, and indications of differential definitions.The lookup method of cross-sectional quantitative records is used, that is then recoded systematically and equipped to be entered into a pc database. This evaluation will serve as an additional evaluation with the previous longitudinal information that is used

Juvenile street gangs are expanding, and evolving into crime that has not been linked to gangs in the past, according to the FBI. While they expand into white-collar type crimes like counterfeiting, identity theft and mortgage fraud, they also continue to be involved in illegal activities that they are more well known for, such as drug sales, recruiting new members, violent turf wars, and prostitution, the FBI reports. The number of active street gangs (including gangs in prisons) is around 33,000, and membership in those 33,000 is estimated to be about 1.4 million, the FBI reports. This paper delves into the scholarly literature available about gangs, and for the most part this paper focuses on juvenile gangs albeit some of the data may also include gangs that include older individuals. This paper focuses on gang members' relationships with adults, their interactions with counselors in schools, risk factors associated with gang membership, weapon-related issues and other matters connected to juvenile gangs.

Gangs continue to be an issue throughout the United States especially street gangs. These gangs are meticulous and organized on how they do things, but also how they target youth. There are many suggestions and studies that show the differences in youth who are involved in gangs versus those who are not. It is stated that youth who come from broken or dysfunctional families, youth tend to fall into gangs. In addition, some of the youth gang affiliated families are more likely to also engage in deviant behavior( Maxson, 1998). It is evident that it some youth stay in the cycle of deviant behavior because it is a learned behavior. Comparisons made between gang youth and non gang youth show that non gang youth have a strong support system and the usual nuclear family. In addition, they have people guiding them, whereas youth involved in gangs unfortunately are disciplined or guided through the criminal justice system(Maxson, 1998). These findings are interesting because it introduces readers on many of the reason youth fall into gangs.

Gang involvement is on the rise in most communities affecting socioeconomic status, racial relationships, and inhabitants (Esbensen et. al., 2012, p. 128). Despite a continuous increase with youth gang affiliations in underserved communities, there is still a scarcity of promising or effectual gang prevention and intervention programs offered by schools. Facing time and resource constraints school administrators need to consider the “cost and benefits” of each possible intervention plan (Esbensen et. al., 2012, p. 142). Consequential to low intervention programs, risk factors such as communal disorganization, poverty, low educational success, acquaintance

There are many overlapping themes and ideas present within the research report and the textbook. One main idea that was present in both documents, was the cultural aspect of gang integration. In both the textbook and in the research report, culture is intrinsically linked to gang involvement, as often times the culture that an individual practices will impact their standing within a gang. Furthermore, culture binds people together, which also happens when an individual joins a gang of like-minded and culturally similar others. Another area that was discussed in both documents, was how gang activity is related to school. In the textbook, school and other educational and institutional systems either excluded youth, or were simply not attended

Youth gangs in North American society are nothing new. When we turn on the news we often hear stories of misguided youth contributing to yet another gang related crime. Even though it is known that youth crimes are overrepresented in the media today, the subject of youth gang activity is quite a predicament to our society. Over the last few years, there has been a moral panic created by constant exposure to the media which portrays a great amount of youth crimes and violence. In Canada there are large urban cities with high proportions of young people, many of which live in poverty, that now have the issue of dealing with youth gangs and youth crimes. Toronto, British Columbia, and Ottawa are examples of Canadian cities that have

Gangs have existed in America since the early eighteenth century, they first rose a outsider institutions that provided membership and sense of self to individuals who were not seen as part of the community. Traditionally, gang membership correlates to familial membership; parental and family membership in a gang elevates the possibility of youth also joining a gang. Though these outsider institutions have developed overtime, they pose some of the most violent threats to public safety, but also to those they say they will protect. It is this violence and lifestyle dominated by power associated with gang memberships that create an appeal to black youth and change the course of their lives. Gangs are a creation of an ongoing cycle, in which society has failed to improve conditions for teens who are looking for new ways to belong in the community.

Gangs are becoming prevalent in today’s society and within our schools. More and more young people are turning to gangs in an attempt to escape their everyday lives and the future, which they perceive as dismal and bleak. They are initially attracted to the prestige and cash flow, which is glamorized by the street gang. Many gangs are actively involved in criminal misconduct, such as drug and gun trafficking, burglaries and homicides. However, street gangs are not just a criminal justice issue, but a social problem, which is triggered by poverty, peer pressure, boredom, despair and lacking a sense of belonging.

Street gangs in this country can probably be traced back to the first wave of Europeans who migrated to the colonies for a better life for themselves and their families. Many of the first gangs were formed as a means of self protection, with the thinking that there is simply strength in numbers. The missions of gangs in today’s society have grown and emerged to include many violent criminal avenues, including drug trafficking, prostitution, money laundering, and extortion but the original thinking that there is strength in numbers remains true. Criminology experts believe that the number of teens involved in gangs or gang activity may be as high as 1 in every 5 people in most urban areas. Those number jump to 1 in every 3 people in

The Department of Justice defines a gang as "an association of three or more individuals, who identify themselves by adopting a group identity, who creates an atmostphere of fear, or imitadation" (What is a gang? Definition, 2011). The FBI states that "there are now 1.4 million gang members involved in the 33,000 different gangs that are active in the United States" (Snyder, 2012). Gangs are a reality and a part of the everyday life of thousands of teens. There are different types of gangs, whether it's a street gang, prison gang, youth gang, criminal gang, or a drug oriented gang (Carlie, 2002). To some, even a fraternity can be labeled as a type of gang.

This paper will examine the factors that contribute youth to involve in criminal gangs. It aims to look at social disorganization theory as well as rational choice theory to understand youth and their involvement in gangs. Three main factors that this paper will be focusing on and studying thoroughly are the effects of parental supervision, the community the youth is raised in and peer influence. Despite many programs that are instilled to ensure that youth are helped with delinquency, there are still many influences such as parental supervision, community and peer influence that can sway youth and their decision to join a gang. Based on this discussion, this paper will argue that the ways that children are educated and raised at a young age

This paper discusses and analyzes three different films, Crips and Bloods, A Better Life, and Gran Torino. The films each explore the social settings of three distinct minority groups; the paper notes and describes several similarities among the groups. These include widespread poverty, discrimination from the dominant social order, and the lack of availability of normal social opportunities. The General Theory of Crime is examined and used to explain why these minority adolescents act out the way they do. This analysis is an attempt to find the reasons for why individuals choose to get involved in criminal activity instead of “living above the influence.” Finally, the paper explores potential methods to provide the support necessary for keeping juveniles away from this criminal involvement.