Why Children Join Gangs Essay

Improved Essays
Who are the easiest targets to join a gang? The youth. With children and teens in gangs, it affects them the most, their families, and their communities. The youth join gangs because it makes them look cool, they have an older sibling is in a gang, one or both parents are in a gang, they are pressured, unity, and brotherhood. One major reason why children and teens join gangs is the neighborhood they live in and their surroundings (Chaskin 7). The majority of children and teens in gangs are typically from an urban upbringing (Friedman). This problem is mainly everywhere but it’s a major problem in the bigger cities Charlotte, Winston-Salam, Greensboro, etc. There are roughly 70 known gangs and 450 known members in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School district (Frazier). In Forsyth County, there are 37 known gangs and 603 known members (Hinton). Gangs included are the …show more content…
This solution would be the most effective. These types of programs either work or they don’t. A major thing that children and teens will get out of this is that their “brother” will turn on them so they can get a light sentence. Then they will realize that being in a gang is not worth it. There was a television show called “Beyond Scared Straight” with the same concept. That show saved a lot of children and teens. A Chester County officer was shown on the show and says this about the show “this is one of those initiatives that we know has worked and can help the young people and the community” (Dys). This program is good, point blank. Teens go into this thinking they are all big and bad and realize when they get in jail, they are broken down. Now, other police stations want in on the action. One police officer has said “we take the youth, break them down, and build them back up (Dunn). The youth needs to get broken down, to get back up a better version of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Trying to address the question of why youth join gangs requires the examination of multiple factors, and preferably, multiple theories. Social disorganization theory explains that the place where an individual grows up matters – disordered neighborhoods lead youth to join gangs. Due to its overemphasis on disorganization within neighbourhoods, however, social disorganization theory is not able to assess every factor that causes youth to join gangs. In this paper, I argue that youth join gangs because of neighborhood influence, poverty, and peer influence. Social disorganization theory is able to explain neighborhoods that lack resources and poverty as reasons for youth gang involvement, but it is unable to account for why gang-affiliated peers cause youth to join gangs.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    School Gang Swot Analysis

    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Strengths for Change Gang involvement is on the rise in most if not in every community, affecting socioeconomic status, ethnic composition, and population (GREAT). 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. One reason for the lack of programs has to do with the time and resource constraints that school administrators face. With limitations on resources school superintendents need to consider the “cost and benefits” of each possible intervention plan (GREAT). As a consequence to low intervention program, risk factors such as social disorganization, and poverty, low educational commitment…

    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gangs In Spokane Essay

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gangs in Spokane – How bad is it and what can we do about it? In the summer of 1994, I found myself entangled in a lifestyle nobody had seen coming, not even me. I had gone from honor roll student to thug gangster in just a matter of a few months. Life had changed dramatically, from not ever having been in any real trouble, to having multiple run-ins with the law, and an entire police force in the city of Spokane with my picture and vehicle info on their clipboards.…

    • 898 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many parents are too busy with work or trying to build a future for their teen and leave the teen alone after school forgetting that they still need guidance to help make good decisions. Many teens feel lost when parents are working all the time some join gangs for recognition that they do not get at school or at home in the family. Being part of a gang allows the teen to receive some kind of recognition that they do not receive outside the gang or affiliation that is much needed by most human beings the sense of belonging or being needed whatever the case maybe. The teen may be growing up in a neighborhood that has some gangs in it they feel they need protection from other gangs in the area. Most youths do not realize the hazards associated with gangs.…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Even when children come from a stable family, they still may affiliate with gangs. In high school, countless students in Saint Louis are exposed to gangs. Whether they are exposed to them in high school or in the streets of the city, gang members fill the city and the youth is not…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The most recent estimate of more than 30,000 gangs represents a 15 percent increase from 2006 and is the highest annual estimate since 1996. Gang violence in America has been a major problem in this country which affects several communities and several major cities all throughout America. If gang violence awareness can be more available to areas where it is most popular and holding seminars and informational classes about what the gang life can cause, then there will be a decrease in gang related activity. In America, there has been a rapid increase in gang violence and gang related activity which affects the countries major cities. While larger cities and suburban counties expectedly report higher numbers of gangs, there is also considerable variation within each area type.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why Youth Join Gangs

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Why do youth join gangs? An examination of the social factors that motivate youth individuals for gang membership within Western culture Why do youth join gangs? It appears obvious that family, neighborhood and peer groups have an immense impact on the decision for a youth individual to join a gang. Family disorganization, living with a gang member, low parental monitoring and pro-violent behavior can lead to the desire for gang membership and social acceptance among youth. Neighborhood influences, such as gang presence, availability of drugs, and economic barriers, foster the desensitization of gangs to youth individuals.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Essay On Inner City Gangs

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages

    This is especially true of Hampton, Virginia a place where teenage gang crime has manifested itself into society over the last decade. Some inner city teens in this specific area actually take pride in joining a gang, as it can be seen as honorable by their peers. The solution to this problem is simple, give the teens an incentive to motivate them to stay away from…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Youth Involvement In Gangs

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The factors associated with gang membership included were a lack of commitment to school, academic failure, and dropping out of school (Alleyne & Wood, 2010). Many studies have also linked to the perception of an unsafe school environment to adolescents feeling inclined to join gangs (Lenzi et al., 2015). These children feel the need to fulfill their desire for safety and protection, and for them joining a gang appears to be the best way to do…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Having gangs that indorse antisocial behavior will have an negative type of impact within a community and threaten peoples safety and their quality of life within that community. Most communities that have gangs will come up with community programs to put into place. The OJJDP (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention) came out with five…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gang Initiation Essay

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Because of growing up in Long Beach California, I have witnessed the gang initiation process and I’ am very familiar with gang like characteristics. Although I did not refer to a research study project, im willing to give you the knowledgeable content of gang characteristics I have personally seen while growing up as a juvenile. The typical signs and characteristics of an up and coming juvenile gang member can differentiate. Most gang members are recognized by certain types of clothing they wear and certain colors. For example, a common crypt would wear blue as their primary color with clothing article such as bandanas or certain snap back hats with their gang logo or if not; simply the color they represent.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Youth Gangs

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Between the early 1970’s and present day, youth gangs have been sited in all fifty states. As crime related to gangs continue to be a problem within communities, people are beginning to hold a strong belief that youth gangs are a serious problem because areas with more gang activity are reporting higher rates of violent crimes committed by these gangs. It is important to understand why juveniles are becoming…

    • 1232 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It has been noted that “Youth gangs in the U.S. have existed since at least the 1870s,” (Mosher, lecture gangs). Since the establishment, gangs have grown across the globe. In the fourteenth and fifteenth century, gangs “robbed, extorted and raped,” (http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Wh-Z-and-other-topics/Youth-Gangs.html). Gangs have evolved into street gangs from the violent past. Although some gangs do participate in violence, violence is not their sole purpose.…

    • 2274 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Prevention of Gang Violence In Chicago In the last 20 years Chicago has been ridden with gangs, crimes, homicide, fatal shootings, and devastation due to the loss of innocent lives. Our streets are no longer safe to walk in, children can not experience the comfort of playing in their own back yards, or walking to school. Police enforcement are turning their back to certain areas of the city because ¨they are far too dangerous.¨ The Wall Street Journal, an international newspaper based in New York City quotes “so far this year someone was shot in Chicago every 150 minutes during the first five months of 2016.…

    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Teens join gangs for a variety reasons from families, schools, friends, to what city they live in. Gangs are everywhere, even some of the nicest cities. Peer pressure, family, protection, and boredom are the main reasons I noticed that teens join gangs. In reflecting upon my own adolescence and witnessing teens joining gangs, I believe that all these reasons are closely associated. It seems as though gangs have no boundaries it affects the poor and the rich, small towns, suburbia, and some of the wealthiest cities.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays