Gang Prevention In America Research Paper

Gang Prevention in America Gang, what is it? Even though, there is no universal definition for what a gang is in the United States, the federal government has defined a gang to be members of a collective group who identify themselves, and create an atmosphere of fear or intimidate by using a common name, and utilizing hand signs or graffiti to identify themselves as a gang (National Institute of Justice, 2015). America has always had different types of gangs that have established themselves throughout American history. Many of these gangs have even been idolized by young children, and have even been portrayed as heroes in movies. However, those gangs the movies portray are nothing compared to real life gangs that have taken over both, large …show more content…
Gang affiliation became a rite of passage for many minority children growing up. Role models encompass veteranos, or older Hispanic gang members, who have survived prison life, shooting, stabbings, and gangs’ wars between other barrios. According to Hoover (1999) these veteranos in Hispanic gangs are responsible for recruiting and training of youth in criminal activities for future generation. Both, Hispanic and African-American gangs had no other options but to follow their family and friends. However, gang intervention programs were established at tackling minority gang member affiliation. One of the programs that was established is called Gang Resistance Education and Training …show more content…
This program was established to prevent gangs as a pilot program to assist in the reduction of gang activity. This program then began to expand to in part because the “Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) joined the ATF and the Phoenix PD to expand the Program nationally” (National Institute of Justice, 2015). Because of this, the program has been expanded internationally and continues to grow, even though it has had trouble establishing followers over