Essay On Gang Culture

Gang Culture and Family Intervention: African American Youth and the Trauma of Criminalized Urban Settings

This cultural study will define the problem of criminal urban settings in the formation of trauma for American youth related with gang activities. The primary risk of African American trauma for teenagers exposes the individual to violence, murder, and incarceration due to peer pressure to join gangs. African-American youth are a high-risk population by being exposed to murder, violence, and criminal activities in major urban centers across America. These behaviors, however, can treated through therapy, family intervention, and the concept of ‘exile” in the relocation of the individual outside of the criminal gang culture. The relocation of the traumatized individual can provide an increased awareness of non-criminalized settings and cultural options related to safer lifestyles. These factors define effective treatments …show more content…
A societal solution for resolving the trauma of African American trauma through gang culture is related to how parenting can guide troubled Africa-American youth through the concept of “exile.” The concept of exile is defined by the parents relocating their children in non-urban settings, which can broaden their cultural and social horizons outside of the gang culture. The relocation of the traumatized individual can help renegotiate issues of identity related to gang culture, which is often defined within the context of the urban environment. This is a form of “treatment” for redefining the cultural parameters of the traumatized victim, which attempts to change the individual’s perception of the larger society. Richardson et al (2014) found that parents can use relatives in rural settings to help alleviate or reduce the pressure to join a gang or to rejoin a gang within the criminal justice