How Gangs Affect Society Essay

Gangs have been in existence since the beginning of time. These kind of groups, or gangs, usually participate in several criminal and illegal activities that negatively affect society. These activities include theft, robbery, extortion, rape, and many types of vandalism. Gangs have increasingly became a problem society has often had to deal with. People wonder where and how it all started. It is in fact evident that gangs can change a person’s life in a negative way. Many fall into these bad steps by peer pressure or even movies. Being influenced by what the media projects, accepting peer pressure, and how a person is raised in the wrong household are all examples of how one is led into a gang. These groups have had many negative effects on society for many years. The impacts that gang membership lead to affect society are what people should be aware of.
Gangs started to become popular during the industrial era around Chicago and other populated areas. When the Europeans migrated to the United States the population grew to a very high

level. These gangs were mainly made up of Irish, Jewish, and Italian people. However, drugs were not used in gangs during this period. In the 1800’s, the East Coast was the primary leader of gang violence making Chicago the center organized crime of the United States. In the 1920’s alcohol was prohibited. During this period, gangs benefited from this since anyone who had alcohol was in high demand. There was violence involved during this period. However, fights only involved fist and knives. After the late 1930’s gang memberships began to decrease due to World War II, since many men had to leave the country.
The gangs that still exists today were formed in the 1960’s during the Civil Rights. These gangs are mainly made up of African Americans, Hispanics, White, and Asians. Gangs have always been concerned about owning a territory, as well as the sell of drugs which is seen as a business opportunity. At first, most gangs were made up of teenagers. Now gangs are made up of teenagers and adults. Fear of gangs has increased as technology has improved. Guns and drugs and now easily accessed. After the Civil War people become more addicted to drugs. However, violence was more of an issue in these groups which were publicly. When fights took place, the gangs would dress up in different colors. This would make the gang members aware of who were in which gang.
These violent organizations have impacted society in many negative ways. Gangs today have destroyed our communities with many crimes. These crimes vary from graffiti to even murder. Many gangs today deal with the trafficking of weapons, robbery, gambling, drug trafficking, etc. A lot of gang members have already been involved in crimes and the use of drugs. Joining these violence groups lead to people to become more actively involved in delinquency and the risk of arrest becomes greater. For gang members, remaining involved in criminal activities leads the gang to become powerful and more controlling of its members. All of these activities lead to unsuccessful transitions in many of the members which brings disorders to their lives. Many members become school dropouts, teen parents, and remain in an unstable employment.
There are also many other ways gangs negatively affect our society.

Most gang membership are started in elementary, middle school, and high schools. Many gang members seek for young kids that do not know any better or are struggling in society in way and are seeking for validation. Youth gangs are linked with very serious delinquency problems. When gangs are brought up to kids in school, many children that become involved are surrounded by guns and easy availability of drugs. Most of these illegal activities are done in school. These activities promote violent victimization at schools. Gang activities can also be disruptive to a school’s environment. It creates a high level of violence in schools as well as fear among the students. Since many of their fights takes place publicly many members of society that are not involved in the violence being performed by these groups are injured by just being around at the wrong place and

time.
When the gang members become young adults or adults, some realize the negative effect that the gang has caused in their lives. Some try to change their ways and get out of the gang. This action has a consequence, many members of the gang would be upset by one’s member's decision of leaving the gang behind and try to make that ex-member’s life disaster. This means that even when realization of a member has came into place and they no longer wish to be part of it, they will have no choice but to stay or live with the fear of what used to once be “family.”
Overall, the impact of youth gangs on communities is felt in many ways. Gangs have always been a problem in the United States, it has been around for many decades. It tends to push children into a life of crime, which is followed by arrests, convictions, and periods of incarceration. The costs to society are enormous. People join gangs to gain respect, peer pressure, and poor parenting. Any community that senses that it is experiencing a gang problem needs to take some action into the issue. One can prevent the youth from joining gangs by involving them in curricular activities and exposing them to ex-gang members that would discuss the negative effects it has brought into their life.