Gang Violence Among Teens

Teens and Gang Violence
The term gang refers to “a group of people with a discernible structure, a recognized territory, and distinctive beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors” (Pearce and Pettis, 2011). Gang violence is a wide spread phenomena. Gang violence can be found in all fifty states and in most major cities. With gang violence being so common, it is no surprise that this type of violence is not only affecting are youth, but they are also becoming a main cause of this violence (Graulich, 2010). Youth gang violence has grasped the attention of the communities. Members of the community are joining forces to put a stop to this type of violence (O’Brien, Daffern, Chu, and Thomas, 2013). It is important to learn and understand the history

of gang violence, so that actions can be taken to put a stop to this violence.
Background
Teen gang violence is nothing new.

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

outs.
The risk factor.

Teens get involved in gangs for numerous reasons. One of the main reasons teens get involved in gangs is due to popularity and enhancing their self-esteem (Howell, 2010). One study claims that there are fie main domains that risk factors fall into: individual, family, school, peers, and community (Howell, 2010). The reasons teens join gangs are either for risk factors or entertainment, these reasons include: protection, respect, money, and especially peer pressure (Howell, 2010).. However, the majority of the time teens join gangs to feel protected or because they were peer pressured into doing so.
Some teens join gangs because they are antisocial and it gives them a feeling of belonging to something or being a part of something. Another factor that influences youth to join gangs is victimization. It has been proven that more gang members were abused at some point in their life (Howell, 2010). Children who come from broken homes are also more likely to join gangs. These children typically receive less attention from their families and so they look for that attention in other

places.
The Facts. According to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, eight percent of the population surveyed had belonged to a gang during their teen years (Howell, 2010). In 2010, a study showed that one in every three law enforcement agencies had gang problems in their jurisdictions (Ritter, Simon and Mahendra, 2014). Another study showed that in the same year, over forty percent of high school students and over thirty percent of middle school students considered themselves to be part of a gang (Ritter, Simon, and Mahendra, 2014). The demographic characteristics of gang members vary by geographic location (Howell, 2010). However, in a 2008 census, fifty percent of all gang members were Hispanic or Latino, thirty-two percent were African American, and eleven percent were Caucasian (Howell, 2010). In a recent study, it was shown that 8.8 percent of males and 7.8 percent of females were members of gangs (Howell, 2010). Teen gang involvement is responsible for nearly twenty percent of all youth crime and twenty eight percent of knife and gun murders (Pearce and Pitts, 2010).
Solutions to stopping teens from joining gangs. It has been proven that “after-the-fact” responses to gang violence are not as effective as teaching youth from an early age the dangers of gang violence (Ritter, Simon, and Mahendra, 2014). Prevention programs are a great way to teach teens about the danger behind gangs and to help them stay away from gang violence. When it comes to preventing gang violence everyone plays a role. It will take efforts from the community, law enforcement, schools, and especially families to lower the rates of youthful gang violence. Other ways to prevent teen gang violence are work-study programs, after school programs, sports, religion initiatives and more (Pearce and Pitts, 2010). “To prevent youth from joining gangs, communities must strengthen families and schools, improve community supervision, train teachers and parent to manage disruptive youth, and teach students interpersonal skills” (Howell, 2010).
Theories. There are three different categories for theories of delinquencies. These categories include: rational choice, biological, and sociological theories. The rational choice theory argues that juveniles are rational, intelligent people who exercise free will, thus engaging in crime. According to this theory, behavior is a result of a conscious decision and thus offenders may be held responsible for their choices. This relates to teen gang violence because gang violence is a crime. Most of the time these children know that this type of violence is wrong however, they exercise their free will and do it anyways. However, this also means that when and if they get caught, they will be held accountable for their actions.
Biological theories blame delinquency on factors over which an individual has little to no control over. This theory includes factors such as body type or physique, brain development, nutrition, and more. This can relate to gangs become youth can be bullied because of their physical appearances or being antisocial. It has been proven that teens who get picked on or stand out from the crowd tend to linger to gangs for a sense of protection and acceptance.
Sociological theories include the social disorganization theory, the strain theory, the general strain theory, social control theory, the learning theory, the labeling theory, and more. Each of these theories can be associated in one way or another to teen gang violence. These theories relate to teen gang violence because in a way they provide an explanation as to why teens might join gangs in the first place. These social characteristics include factors such as poverty, population, heterogeneity, and more.
Student’s viewpoints. Teen violence is very harmful to our communities and our nation. I think that it is very important to teach our youth the importance of staying in school, getting jobs, remaining drug free, and not joining gangs. One article put it best stating; “By working together to focus on the prevention of gang membership, rather than solely caring for the victims of gang violence and arresting gang-involved youth, we can change the course of the future for our youth” (Ritter, Simon, and Mahendra, 2014). In order to protect our country, we must first protect our youth. Youth gang violence has got to be put to a stop, and it starts with us.

Conclusion
The impact of youth gang violence has a significant effect on the community. Learning about the history of gang violence and prevention methods is extremely important for the health and growth of the community. Not only does preventing youth gang violence help the community to grow, it also improves the chances to save a youth’s life (Ritter, Simon, and Mahendra, 2014). Being fully engaged in the youth of our community and their activities shows them that they have the support from their community and their peers (Pittman, Irby, Tolman, Yohalem and Ferber, 2011). Teaching adolescents about gang violence is the best way to prevent this type of violence and danger.

References
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(Doctoral dissertation, THE WILLIAM PATERSON UNIVERSITY OF NEW
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violence, and criminal activities: A review of motivational, risk, and protective
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