The metropolitan community of Chattanooga, Tn is presently experiencing increasing gang activity. However, until recently the issue hasn’t been acknowledged as a community threat, but street gangs such as the Bloods and Crips have been a menace to Hamilton County, particularly the inner-city neighborhoods of Alton Park, Avondale, East Chattanooga, and Westside for years. Reports from Hamilton County Schools suggest that gang activity is spreading outside of these neighborhoods. The Chattanooga Police Departments failure to address the growing issue has allowed gangs to enter schools where now over seven-hundred students self-identify themselves as active gang members. Students acknowledge gangs are a “culture,” with the indication of fear and strong concerns about personal vulnerability. As a result of community officials neglecting the problem, residents have lost faith in the local law enforcement, in part to no improvements to these neighborhoods in the past decade. To date, there is no system wide initiative combating youth gang involvement in Chattanooga. Therefore, its essential careful consideration and planning are used when implementing the G.R.E.A.T. program into the Hamilton County Schools and community.
Research conveys the majority of youth gang activity in Chattanooga is reported by secondary education employees, over 74% reporting known gang members. Conveying the Gang Resistance Education and Training or (G.R.E.A.T) program would benefit HCS the most by concentrating on elementary and middle education. Particularly the middle schools that feed the most "at risk" high schools. By addressing adolescents ages nine to fourteen, helping them develop life skills that will assist them in recognizing and avoiding gang in...
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...s between those who are “at risk” with teachers, pastors, and officers of the law. The construction of the bond is essential. The neighborhoods youth understanding their teachers, principles, and law enforcement officials have their best interests at heart, allows for these individuals to recognize they can accomplish any goal they set. Once a foundation, is built amongst the schools, city officials can address other areas of concern in these neighborhoods. For example, establishing a “community development plan” with local residents to earn an income while demolishing abandoned buildings within these communities. Providing developmental land for these neighborhood. Each step is necessary, however without a solid foundation with emphasis on youth and education, areas such as these will continue to witness large amounts of crime and the depletion of their community.
Connecting people to the success of the district is one matter, but asking them to support it financially is another. The district is growing in size and is in need of new facilities and internal academic structures to support the growth. As the district continues to grow she is challenged with ensuring that the schools continue to interact with each other and do not return to the independent silos they were when she arrived. Ms. Hall realizes that she is the internal and external face of the district. She takes that very seriously and therefore, tires to view challenges as opportunities and successes as building blocks and
In doing so it showed how powerless and mentally damage these children were. It is not by far an excuse for their actions. But is does show how these children were seeking for the love and acceptance of someone, anyone. This led them down path of destruction. This program is a huge success and has 74 percent rate of recidivism (Hubner, 2005, xxi). This is due to the fact that they are treated like human being and children. Their lives at the school revolves around the concept of resocialization, from lodging, to their therapy sessions, to their schools, to their vocational programs, to recreation program which is football (Hubner, 2005, xxi). This allows the youths to learn and grow from their actions in an area where they are being
The first one involves building an improved youth control complex. After all, if it were not for the resources he encountered as a youth, Rios would not obtain a spectacular education. His experience in Oakland taught him that “if we provide the right resources to catapult themselves out of marginalization, young people will deliver” (p. 162). If the youth control complex gets a redesign, it needs to give people an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. The second approach deals with managing dignity and freedom “for all young people” (p. 163). To do this, lawmakers must find a way to work with populations affected by social control, even if it means allowing social movements to influence policies. The final approach involves using the “One Youngster at a Time” approach (p. 164). According to Rios, “the key is to provide all marginalized youths with good props, good lighting, and a supportive audience. In this way, acts of resistance, resilience, and reform, which go hand in hand, can become the basis for helping young people transform their lives” (p. 166). If Oakland citizens can discover ways to “respect and embrace the work that young people do for dignity and freedom” (p. 164), not only would they change how the criminal justice system functions, but also how lives are
Detroit is a story of a once flourishing city that has been on a long downslide for decades. There are miles of unoccupied homes and buildings, and crimes and unemployment are at an all-time high. Many aspects of the city are breaking down, including the school system. The Detroit Public School System has lost over eighty thousand students due to high enrollment in charter schools, the large economic decline, and the departure of residents. For many years no one has taken responsibility for the public school system. However, for Detroit to rise again, it is necessary for someone to take responsibility, make a plan, and make sure that children are safe, well cared for, and are receiving a high quality education when going to school each day. In 2016, schools are low-performing with poor test scores, are falling apart, and teachers and parents have decided to take a stand.
There are few known active members of street gangs attending district schools. The gang activity that is seen is that of ‘want-to-be’ gang members who are influenced by family members who are involved in street gang activity. Other ‘want-to-be’ members are often swayed by popular culture. Primarily, school administrators and district officials encounter smaller groups of students, anywhere from 3 to 10 students,from elementary to senior high, who band together and give the group a name. The group serves as a support system for members. These groups tend to be fluid and can disband as quickly as they formed. Most of these groups are benign and caused few difficulties. On occasion there have been groups that have caused greater disruption including violence, intimidation, and drug use. This has led to suspension and student transfer. When a student is identified as a street gang member or has shown signs of street gang influence the first intervention the district takes is to inform the parents of the individual, awareness is
Gang involvement has been quite higher than past years. The 2008 National Youth Gang Survey estimates that about 32.4 percent of all cities, suburban areas, towns, and rural counties had a gang problem (Egley et al., 2010). This represented a 15 percent increase from the year 2002. The total number of gangs has also increased by 28 percent and total gang members have increased by 6 percent (Egley et al., 2010). This shows how relevant gang related activity is in today’s society. More locations are beginning to experience gang activity for the first time. Gang crime has also been on the rise in the past...
Street Gangs are becoming popular in many cities across the country. According to the Department of Justice's 2005 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are at least 21,500 gangs and more than 731,000 active gang members (Grabianowski). Gangs bring fear and violence to neighborhoods, drugs, destroy property, involve youth in crimes and drive out businesses. When you have gangs in a community, it affects everyone in the community. An alarming amount of young adults are joining gangs and becoming involved in illegal activity. Most gangs have a rule that when you join the gang you are a member of the gang for life. Gangs can be removed from our communities with more community involvement and education.
Although youth gang violence only accounts for a “small portion of all gang violence, (5-15%)”, it is important that we intervene and stop the growth of youth gangs as early as possible in hopes of decreasing those numbers, and overall gang violence (Gangs in the U.S. PowerPoint). There are many prevention programs in place currently that try and reduce the number of youth joining gangs, each program aims to focus on problems that would lead youth to join gangs, the Aggression Replacement Training program (ART), focuses on the youth who show extreme aggression early signs of a troubled youth. ART has been implemented in schools, communities, mental health facilities, and countries all around the world; this program has been around for a many years and has been effective in many ways. This program, like many others, purpose is to stop youth violence and gang involvement, but can be very effective if implemented in the
Youth gangs are defined as any group of people who engage in socially disruptive or criminal behaviour, usually within a defined territory, and operate by creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in a community. Federally in Canada “…Bill C-95… says a gang must include five or more people involved in criminal activity.” Over the last ten or so years, youth gangs have become more violent and dangerous than ever before. They have more access to sophisticated knives and guns and use these weapons to gain power and fear. The problem of youth gangs is especially apparent in low-income neighbourhoods in Canadian cities. Low income neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area are a...
For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused elsewhere, particularly in the inner city schools.
This book review covers Policing Gangs in America by Charles Katz and Vincent Webb. Charles Katz has a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, while Vincent Webb has a Ph.D. in Sociology, making both qualified to conduct and discuss research on gangs. Research for Policing Gangs in America was gathered in four cities across the American Southwest; Inglewood, California, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. This review will summarize and discuss the main points of each chapter, then cover the relationship between the literature and class discussions in Introduction to Policing and finally it will note the strengths and weaknesses of book.
"Building Partnerships to Revitalize America's Neighborhoods." HBCU Central (Winter 2002): 1-6. Winter 2002. Web. 2 May 2012.
Gangs are a big part of today’s society. They contribute to a large part of delinquent behavior present in our youth today. Chapter 8- Peer and Delinquency: Juvenile Gang and Groups provides an overview of gangs in general. Providing details as to why they formed their different activities, language and codes. First we must highlight that adolescents are the main focus in gangs. As children grow and go through adolescence they seek peer acceptance. They form cliques. Their group of friends play an important role is social development. The choice to join a gang can be contributed to acceptance and a sense of protection (Siegel).
Statistics show that school-based programs as well as community-based prevention programs minimize gang involvement. School-based programs address substance abuse and violence, which reduces the risk factors for gang involvement. For example, in the article “What Can Schools Do to Prevent Gang Involvement,” by Gary D. Gottfredson, he states, “universal programs in kindergarten through secondary school, which [is a] rewarding educational environment im...