Gang violence is on the rise across the world, and is especially popular in North America. North America is a breeding ground for gang activity. Gang association has increased by forty percent from just 2009 to 2011.(Frieden "FBI Report : Gang membership spikes") "FBI Report : Gang membership spikes") Small towns do indeed have gang societies, but they are far less common than gangs in urban areas and well known cities.(Weisheit "Youth Gangs in Rural America" 4) The percentage of gang members in North American cities, is mind boggling.(Center "Measuring the Extent of Gang Problems") The percentage of teens affiliated with gangs can be deemed as insanity.(Center "Demographics") I believe everyone should ask themselves this question before
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No matter what the location, the time or the people, consist of, it is built in our DNA to want a unit of people that we have personal relations to. I believe we should all think not what they’re doing wrong, but why are they doing it? And who is preying on those weaknesses for their own benefit? Why? Is there something that all teens need, that any given gang can provide a substitute or replacement for? (22 "The Role of the Family in Facilitating Gang Membership, Criminality, and Exit") There are a few core causes for teenaged gang affiliation. Job scarcity for adolescents and their parents/guardians which causes financial instability and leaves excess time to meet the wrong kind of people and for parents to pick up terrible habits (ex. drinking, drugs). They were born poverty from the start of life. They have a violent home setting such as physically, sexually and/or mentally abusive parents or family members or domestic abuse between two parents or guardians . Negative influences from peers, such as peer pressure to join gangs or participate in gang activity, with the motive of it looking “cool” or making the adolescent feel as if they’re in power and have control over some aspect of their life. Lack of parental guidance, meaning, absent parents, drug addicted parents, over worked parents etc. etc. Lack of school involvement, meaning, failures in school, which lowers …show more content…
Examples of this are the cartels which generally make a lot more money than small town gangs. Gang members are really very much like an extended family. The majority of the time all gang members live near each other and sometimes they room with each other or live in the same apartment building. In most gangs, all of it’s members basically do the same thing and they do it together. Often times there are assignments for a certain person or persons, kind of like a “task of the day” kind of set up or chores. Many gang members are between the ages of eight and twenty-two. In a way, this is a strategic age group for gangs to prefer because they can be shaped and molded into a “perfect gangster” from a very young age and carry on the legacy and traditions to shape and mold a new generation as the other members age and move up on the social ladder of the gang. The newcomers being at the bottom and the old timers at the top, holding the most influence and power over their
No matter what the location, the time or the people, consist of, it is built in our DNA to want a unit of people that we have personal relations to. I believe we should all think not what they’re doing wrong, but why are they doing it? And who is preying on those weaknesses for their own benefit? Why? Is there something that all teens need, that any given gang can provide a substitute or replacement for? (22 "The Role of the Family in Facilitating Gang Membership, Criminality, and Exit") There are a few core causes for teenaged gang affiliation. Job scarcity for adolescents and their parents/guardians which causes financial instability and leaves excess time to meet the wrong kind of people and for parents to pick up terrible habits (ex. drinking, drugs). They were born poverty from the start of life. They have a violent home setting such as physically, sexually and/or mentally abusive parents or family members or domestic abuse between two parents or guardians . Negative influences from peers, such as peer pressure to join gangs or participate in gang activity, with the motive of it looking “cool” or making the adolescent feel as if they’re in power and have control over some aspect of their life. Lack of parental guidance, meaning, absent parents, drug addicted parents, over worked parents etc. etc. Lack of school involvement, meaning, failures in school, which lowers …show more content…
Examples of this are the cartels which generally make a lot more money than small town gangs. Gang members are really very much like an extended family. The majority of the time all gang members live near each other and sometimes they room with each other or live in the same apartment building. In most gangs, all of it’s members basically do the same thing and they do it together. Often times there are assignments for a certain person or persons, kind of like a “task of the day” kind of set up or chores. Many gang members are between the ages of eight and twenty-two. In a way, this is a strategic age group for gangs to prefer because they can be shaped and molded into a “perfect gangster” from a very young age and carry on the legacy and traditions to shape and mold a new generation as the other members age and move up on the social ladder of the gang. The newcomers being at the bottom and the old timers at the top, holding the most influence and power over their