Gangs Essay

1455 Words3 Pages

Gangs are very unsafe to every person in society. “Gangs are groups of people (mostly young males) who band together for security and a sense of belonging. The U.S. Department of Justice officially defines a youth gang as a group of young people involved in criminal activity”. There are about one million gang members in more than 20,000 criminally active gangs in the United States. Also, that group of about one million people is accountable for up to eighty percent of our nation’s crimes. Since 2005, gangs have nationally added about 200,000 members. This is why more action from the community needs to be taken to help with the growing gang-related crimes here in America. To start off, origins of gangs are unclear, but some researchers say that gangs came to America in the early 1800s. These first gangs were in New York and Philadelphia and members of these adult gangs were from the Irish, German, and Italian ethnic groups. Youth gangs did not start to form until after World War II (Opposing Viewpoints Gangs 109-110). Additionally, what kinds of people are in gangs? Well first off, there are Latinos, which make up forty-nine percent of gang members'; African Americans, thirty-four percent; White, ten percent; Asian, six percent; and the other one percent is just the other category (“Facts About Gangs” 109). Also in 1996, according to the National Youth Gang Survey, the members of gangs were fifty percent under eighteen years old and fifty percent were eighteen or older. In that survey during 2006, the number of juveniles dropped to only being thirty-six and a half percent of member, on the other hand, the percentage of adult gang members consisted of sixty-three and a half percent of the gang population . Gang members wear simila... ... middle of paper ... ...th twenty-eight passengers were murdered by gun men that had stopped the bus. These people were killed by members of a street gang (that is also in America that has around nearly 10,000 members and is present in thirty-three states and counting (Campo-Flores 1)) called Mara Salvatrua or better known as MS-13. This attack had chosen their victims at random and it had nothing to do with who was on the bus. This attack was said to show protest (and a warning) against their government’s crackdown on different gang activities (Arana 1). Also, back to America, gangs can be found anywhere, not just in the inner city, so everyone needs to be aware of what is around them and what could possibly happen to them or the people around them. That is another reason why it is so important for us to teach students about gangs and the possibilities that could come from joining a gang.

More about Gangs Essay

Open Document