Gangs And Gang Activity In America

Gangs and gang activity are extremely detrimental to our social order. “Gangs are groups of people—mostly young males—who band together for protection and a sense of belonging. Gangs are often associated with violence and crime. In fact, the United States Department of Justice officially defines a youth gang as a group of young people involved in criminal activity.” (Gangs, 2003). According to www.fbi.gov, some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with about 1.4 million members are criminally active in the U.S. today (FBI, 2010). This should be the motive for greater action from our society to halt the rise of gang related offenses in America
What types of persons participate in gangs? “Gang members are typically young people of color in low-income neighborhoods. Law enforcement agencies reported in 1999 that over 800,000 youths were involved in gangs in the United States. Approximately 50 percent of these gang members were from the underclass, and another 35 percent came from a working class background. Forty-seven percent of the youth gang members were Hispanic and 31 percent were African American. The average age of a gang member is seventeen or eighteen years” (Gangs, 2003). Gang associates dress similar; they usually wear a t-shirt, sometimes of a specific color, tennis shoes, and either blue jeans or khaki pants or shorts, which are usually baggy. A gang member typically has a decorative bandana dangling out of one of their pockets, also of a specific color. An additional element that most gang members possess is at least one tattoo that displays their dedication to the gang. Most gangs induct their new members by tattooing them with a marking that distinguishes them from other gangs.
“Based on e...

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...an likely, it will never be conceivable that gangs and gang violence will be hindered entirely. With assistance from the populations in each municipality and township it can be thinkable to halt and reduce the unnecessary quantity of gang followers and gang-related crimes. We must consider that countless means to reduce the magnitude of gangs in America do, in fact exist. Assorted substitutes to being a member of a gang are the availability for programs in the school and community, educational curriculums for parents and children, and capturing the most faithful gang members and directors of gangs. It is essential for the protection of us as American residents to commence in the progression of managing and restricting gangs at the present. Without stopping gang involvement, America will develop further into a brutal and treacherous nation for the blameless masses.