Essay On Inner City Gangs

Superior Essays
The inner city youth of America is recently being faced with immense adversity, experts estimate that every day thousands of teens in inner city areas are being recruited to join neighborhood or city wide gangs. I am calling on the members of the Rich People of America to help resolve some of the main issues that involve teenage gang related activity. According to helpingyouthgang.com around eighty-five percent of male juveniles in detention facilities are there for gang related activities. The magnitude of inner city teens facing frequent harassment and pressure to join gangs is more prominent in society today than ever before. Tragically, most will wind up succumbing due to fear for their lives or families. 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 delinquency by having better options such as a safe place to study and keep up with sports. Stop and Pop youth services provides a stable environment for teens to get coaching so they can possibly join a school sports team and tutoring to simply keep up with their academics. Stop and Pop Youth Services is located in Hampton, Virginia with its’ main focus being Hampton Road, an area infamous for teenage gang crime. The area is so violent that the Hampton County Guardian newspaper labeled the county as the “most violent and gang infested area in the state” (Michael Dewitt Jr). The youth in this county are at extreme risk of being coerced into joining gangs, while some view themselves as cemented in Hampton forever, resulting in their membership. There are fifteen gangs in Hampton alone, meaning the magnitude of pressure from the “recruiters” is abundant. For some, the sense of belonging to a community that everyone else seems to be a part of is a far larger influence than can be imagined. There are organizations created to try and decrease gang activity but generally the youth is overlooked with the focus being on deterring adult gang related crime. The fact that programs to reduce teenage gang membership are so seriously underfunded is a contributing factor to the large gang involvement with youths. Presently, programs like Stop and pop only have one location but have immense dreams of building a substantial sports arena. …show more content…
As of right now, the facility operates out of a converted single-story home with an NBA sized basketball court outside which means the organization is incapable of holding as many teens as it would like. The facility doesn’t have any transportation methods to pick up the teenagers from school, meaning that they must make their own way to the facility and the streets are unreliable. Stop and Pop has even had to rent out the facility for parties and gatherings to try and make ends meet. The goal of Stop and Pop is currently only being met halfway and an increase in funding would have a significant positive impact to the youth of Hampton as more teens would have a safe place to go with the sports arena, while more tutoring locations could be set up with a larger space. The youth of Hampton are suffering greatly and funding Stop and Pop could ultimately save lives. According to research from Hampton University by Zina MgGee P.H.D, the beginnings of youth gang memberships are most likely to occur when teens are inadequately involved in school or outside activities. This can covet that they feel they have no power to positively change their immediate circumstances. Leaving the youth to feel debilitated over their environment is a devastating reality that many are faced with today, especially in Hampton. Additionally McGee advises, the only way to completely resolve youth gang memberships is for communities to create specific programs that will create a stable environment and prove that there is an alternative to a life of crime. To address these problems it is essential that Stop and pop receive funding, this would go straight towards the creation of a three story sports arena the founders dreamed of. Since

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