Gangs bring violence and criminal activity throughout our nation, which make it a major issue of concern. There were an estimated 29,900 active gangs in 2011 across 3300 jurisdictions (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2013). Commonly, gangs are defined as a group of three or more persons who participate in criminal activity and distinguish themselves with a well-established distinguished name, sign, and/or color. Some examples of the criminal activity include but are not limited to: dealing drugs, graffiti, assault, and robberies. In the present paper, the role community structural interventions play in assisting low-income families with adolescent gang involvement is investigated. It is hypothesized that adolescent of low income families are likely to join a gang in order to gain a sense of belonging due to the decline of parental monitoring, lack of family communication and involvement and possible family violence. I chose to review crime prevention with adolescent gang involvement because most of the crimes that I am hearing about or seeing in the surrounding communities and around the United States are being committed by the juveniles. I have worked in Corrections as a Behavior Modification Officer and most of the juveniles that I spoke with committed crimes to prove that they are “hard”, become a member of a gang, or for financial gain. The majority stated that they did not have a strong parent in the household who cared enough to redirect them back to the right path when they were heading the wrong way or hanging with the wrong people. I have always believed that until the main root of the problem is dissected and replanted, our issues with adolescents committing crimes and their gang involvement will continue.
In this research article by McNeil, Herschberger, and Nedela (2013), there are four specific questions I will be
Researchers have long sought to understand the salience of gang involvement (Varano, Huebner and Bynum, 2011). Studies show that those involved in gang activity “begin their delinquent/criminal careers earlier, experience higher levels of violent victimizations, have accelerated levels of participation in the most serious forms of delinquency, experience great number of incarceration periods, and are generally more problematic when incarcerated” (Varano, Huebner and Bynum, 2011). Gang involvement typically leads to delinquent behavior in youth and it leads them down the wrong path of life. There is typically a higher rate of youth involved in gangs who come from broken homes, do not have jobs, are on drugs or come from families that do drugs, and school drop
Spergel and Curry (1993) discuss suppression and the activities under as, “arrest, special prosecution, incarceration, intensive supervision, gang intelligence, and networking” (p. 374). The implications of Thornberry et al.’s (1993) models illustrate increased criminal behavior during gang membership, thus suppression techniques could potentially reduce crime. These suppression efforts are an approach used against gangs in general, rather than preventing membership, which is the primary goal of community organization programs. Curry et al. (2014) explain the suppression efforts in detail as including, “prosecution, specialized enforcement efforts, specialized probation, targeting of gang members by the California Youth Authority, summer projects, and the use of gang injunctions” (p. 179). While these suppression efforts are extreme, they attempt to answer the issue of gangs and their criminal behavior. This in turn may lower crime and decrease gang expansion. Ultimately, programs that focus on gang membership prevention have the potential to inhibit increased delinquent behavior caused by gangs, while suppression strategies attempt to interrupt criminal behavior in gangs as a
In 2003 as a response to communities with a large amount and growing number of youth gangs the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice, initiated the Gang Reduction Program (GRP) (U.S. Department of Justice 2008). The formation of gangs is seen as a response to system failures and community dysfunction. As a result, one of OJJPD’s anti-gang initiatives is to make communities safer and have a pro-social environment (U.S. Department of Justice 2008). Furthermore, OJJDP plans to provide economic and social opportunities that gangs often promise to new recruits which are often obtained in an illegal and dangerous fashion (U.S. Department of Justice 2008). OJJDP believes that the GRP is capable of addressing the underlying issues for the increasing popularity and intensity of gang activity in specific suburban and rural neighborhoods (U.S. Department of Justice 2008). The program takes an integrative approach to dealing with the issue of increasing membership and participation with gangs. The following will discuss the program’s goal, theoretical basis, methods of operation, and overall effectiveness. After reviewing these major aspects of the GRP I will personally assess the value of this program and conclude whether or not the evidence supporting the program’s efficiency is strong enough for me to recommend it for implementation.
Gangs can be classified as a group of adolescents who are perceived to be a threat to society, are mostly recognized by their name and territorial power, and have been involved in numerous acts that violate criminal law procedures in North America. (Esbensen, Winfree, He and Taylor, 2001). The first theme that was present in the pieces of literature collected was the lack of opportunities. As previously stated before, becoming involved in a gang starts at a young age. An article titled “Youth Gangs and Definitional Issues: ‘When is a Gang a Gang, and Why Does It Matter?’” explicates what exactly constitutes a gang, starting with young adolescents. Using a survey conducted in the United States, Finn-Aage Esbensen, L. Thomas Winfree, Jr., Ni He, and Terrance J. Taylor (2001) surveyed over 5,000 students. The questions asked were based on how and why they chose to be in a gang (whether they were a part of it currently or before the survey was conducted). The authors concluded their research in deciding unanimously that there was a connection between a social learning theory, and the commencement of gangs. Correspondingly, Herbert C. Covey (2003) created an academic book entitled, Street Gangs Throughout the World, which gave an in-depth look at the different types of gangs across the world. Throughout several chapters, Covey looks at the root causes of how any why gangs are formed. The author noticed that there was a significant trend among young, deprived adolescents and gang membership. (Covey, 2003). Covey (2003) indicated that the more underprivileged a youth was, the more likely the chances would be of them joining a gang, which is a major concern.
Issue: “The number of youths joining gangs in the inner city has doubled, while the number of gang leaders serving time in prison and being released after good conduct has increased. The crime rate for gang violence has risen 20% from last year” (American Intercontinental University, 2015).
This paper will cover issues that young minorities encounter in the movies; Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008), Gran Torino (2008), A Better Life (2011). Movies will be summarize, and compare and contrast youths experienced. Criminological theories shall be utilized to further elaborate issues. Finally steps and theories will be utilized towards solving issues, also possible methods to correct the issues will be addressed in the end.
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...
Parents must be cooperative with their child as well into a specific resource center that dealt with indecisive mothers of raising their child(s) to help them suppress their child from joining gangs at an early age. Many parents are not aware of resource centers in their local area where they could seek an assistance and advice from someone expert (Social Worker or Psychologist) especially if their neighborhood is prone demographics of drugs, crimes, and some illegal substance. There are many kids that joined gangs because they are in a neighborhood prone to drugs and crimes where they could be influenced by it instantly by a flick of a finger. An article “What Schools Do to Help Prevent Gang – Joining” by Gary D. Gottfredson shows a statistics of students in certain cities percentage in joining gangs and not doing well at school. “Baltimore City 41%, Philadelphia 61%, and Albuquerque 49%.” Despite their value in reducing the general risk for problem behavior, school-based programs aid strategies are unlikely to reach youths who might be at greatest risk of joining gangs: those who have dropped out of school. Kids that are a drop out of schools are not getting much attention because some programs only focus or covered only those who are not yet involved in such case. It is mortifying to see that government has no action upon the situation. Gangs have a huge negative
The word gang has taken on many meanings throughout the years. Originally, the word was just used to express a group of people. You probably have heard someone talk about the local gang of boys or something of that sort. In older times, the word gang didn’t have such the negative tone that comes along with it today. As time has gone on, the word gang has grown to be a word that many worry about when they hear it. It seems a “gang” has evolved from just being a group of people to a group of people that associate in criminal or other antisocial purpose.
The streets of Philadelphia are rapidly becoming a home to violent acts and random homicides. Innocent lives are taken every day due to the strong presence of gangs, and the streets are run by unruly groups of fearless young adults. Gang violence in Philadelphia is a major issue, and the citizens will never be safe until gang prevention occurs. Gang prevention is not a simple task, but with the right resources available, it is possible. Gang violence is a problem that will contribute to the collapse of Philadelphia, and it has yet to be solved throughout many generations. With gang violence on the rise, the best solution to gang violence is to educate the youth and parents about gangs and use family support to prevent the creation of gang members from the problem’s core.
Gang violence is a growing problem in this world. No parent would like to imagine their kids dealing with weapons or being threatened by them. These violence’s affects each child individually and their families as well. These gangs recruit multiple different individuals for many reasons such as bribery, family traditions, or even threatening. Although, many kids feel like they have to be a part of it but there are many resources out in this world to prevent them from believing so. Gang violence has been a problem in society for several of years and is a growing problem each and every day.
Juvenile Delinquent Gangs As a kid I could remember walking to school every day. While on the way to school, there was always a group of kids sanding outside of the school walking away. These kids dressed differently and they all wore the same type of clothes. It wasn’t until years later that I was told to stay away from them because they were gangsters.
Many young people join street gangs due to weak family relationships and poor social control. Social Control Theory presumes that people will naturally commit crime if there were left to their own devices (i.e. no laws in society) and people do not commit crimes because of certain controlling forces, such as social bonds that hold individuals back partaking on their anti social behavior (Bell, 2011). Examples of controlling forces are family, school, peers, and the law. Young people who are t...
Introduction Crime rates are on the rise in the world today, particularly in the urban centers but even more in other places. The issue of youth mobs is increasingly emerging to be of serious concern in many nations, specifically for law enforcers. Many of these crimes such as theft, robbery, rape and terrorism are just but a few of the crimes conducted by youths. Many of the youths are led into crime by unemployment, poverty and the need for a sense of belonging. It is the duty of every state to ensure that enough opportunities are created for youth for them to earn a living through employment.
During the first week of my junior professional experience, I remember my cooperating teacher reading to me an e-mail that she received from the school's administration. It was informing all of the teachers of new ways to identify gang member; the colors they may wear, they way they write certain letters of the alphabet. A few days later I recall seeing one of the students in my class making different hand gestures, which I later learned were gang signs. Then, a couple of weeks into my full participation in the classroom, another one of my students was suspended for breaking another student's jaw. Yet another of my students was suspended rather recently for threatening to bring a gun to school. All of these incidents, along with an assembly that was held one day about gang violence, have made me much more aware of the violence and gang participation that takes place in urban schools.