Measures of prevention or intervention that can be taken include creating early prevention programs, collaboration between the school, police, and parents, and policy measures. Programs that focus on increasing positive interactions with peers and encourage self esteem can help deter a child from a lifestyle susceptible to gang recruiting later in life (Simon, Ritter, and Mahendra, 2013). Such programs are vital in the school environment, where a youth spends most of his/her day. Schools must take note of the common signs of a youth with a high risk of becoming a gang member, for instance, poor grades and performance, and social rejection in the form of being bullied or being the bully. Moreover, schools should offer programs that raise awareness …show more content…
Despite social media making it easier for gang members to connect, the police can also benefit from online posts about threats or attacks by trying to incriminate members or pinpoint the next attack (Austen, 2013). In New York, another large city infamous for high rates of crime, the police found that youth gang members were more likely to repost news about gang violence and used the information to arrive to scenes before crimes happened. Moreover, they can help reduce the number of guns on the streets that could fall into the hands of youth gangs by enforcing gun interdiction (Smith & Decker, …show more content…
For instance, young pregnant girls not only are at a risk to join a gang but so can their children if they do not receive sufficient care before, during, and after the pregnancy (Simon, et al, 2013). Women are also often the victims of domestic abuse and if their child grow up in an abusive household, then they will have a higher risk of aggression, acting out, and hurting others. For that reason, programs that target young men with a high risk of gang membership should promote communication, conflict resolution, and healthy ways of releasing anger. As an illustration, such a program could involve martial arts, which teaches discipline, learning combat only as self defense, and respect for one’s own body and of others’. Another good example of intervention programs at an early age are the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Programs such as these promote appropriate peer relationships, the building of self confidence and self reliance, and a sense of belonging and responsibility in the
Thesis: Children go astray and get involved in crimes and gang behaviors due to parents lacks of knowledge of how to topple and prevent such circumstance to happen – however, with a help from a local government and other crime and gang prevention programs can establish an effective early childhood awareness program(s) that would be capable to lend a hand and give information to helpless mothers whom are indecisive of how to suppress and prevent their kids to be vulnerable to delinquency.
As a result, I have found intervention that would help adolescents avoid going gangs. The issues in the family system were attachment issues, violence, and parental role confusion. These issues impacted Reymundo life because it caused him to seek family in gang members. The community issues were oppression, discrimination, marginalization, and gang violence that caused the community to be an unsafe place for Hispanics. To avoid adolescent from joining gangs the interventions that would help reduce that is social intervention and skills
...amily members have area rugs; don’t clearly delineate changes in the grading of floors, and lack bathing/toileting facilities that accommodate for easy access. Often modifications have to be made by family to the organization of living space and their health behaviors.
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.
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...
There are few known active members of street gangs attending district schools. The gang activity that is seen is that of ‘want-to-be’ gang members who are influenced by family members who are involved in street gang activity. Other ‘want-to-be’ members are often swayed by popular culture. Primarily, school administrators and district officials encounter smaller groups of students, anywhere from 3 to 10 students,from elementary to senior high, who band together and give the group a name. The group serves as a support system for members. These groups tend to be fluid and can disband as quickly as they formed. Most of these groups are benign and caused few difficulties. On occasion there have been groups that have caused greater disruption including violence, intimidation, and drug use. This has led to suspension and student transfer. When a student is identified as a street gang member or has shown signs of street gang influence the first intervention the district takes is to inform the parents of the individual, awareness is
The presence of gang violence has been a long lasting problem in Philadelphia. Since the American Revolution, gangs have been overpopulating the streets of Philadelphia (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). Most gangs in history have been of lower class members of society, and they often are immigrants into the U.S (Teen Gangs, 1996). Gangs provided lower class teens to have an opportunity to bond with other lower class teens. However over time, the original motive of being in a gang has changed. In the past, gangs used to provide an escape for teens to express themselves, let out aggression, and to socialize with their peers. It was also an opportunity for teens to control their territory and fit in (Johnson, Muhlhausen, 2005). In the past, authorities would only focus on symptoms of gang violence and not the root. They would focus on arresting crime members instead of preventing gang violence. Gangs are beginning to expand from inner-city blo...
Give the kids and teens after-school programs such as sports and mentoring programs. The government should not waste money funding useless laws, instead it should build more boys and girls clubs in the neighborhoods where gangs are likely appearing to organize. Most people who join a gang are just looking for a sense of belonging. These programs will show them they are smart and talented. It is that sense of belonging when they’re in an after-school group.
Thornberry et al. further support this by revealing that youth boys who are antisocial to begin with are more likely to be recruited into a gang (1993 and 1994). This makes se...
Youth gangs are defined as any group of people who engage in socially disruptive or criminal behaviour, usually within a defined territory, and operate by creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in a community. Federally in Canada “…Bill C-95… says a gang must include five or more people involved in criminal activity.” Over the last ten or so years, youth gangs have become more violent and dangerous than ever before. They have more access to sophisticated knives and guns and use these weapons to gain power and fear. The problem of youth gangs is especially apparent in low-income neighbourhoods in Canadian cities. Low income neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area are a...
We all live in an age of social media, where companies such as Facebook, Twittter, Instagram and LinkedIn map our friendships and use that knowledge to suggest our preferences, behavior, and social friendships. In response to its every growing and steady homicide rate, in 2011 to present the Chicago Police Department (CPD) began to utilize social media to do some of its detective work for them. CPD utilized the tools and media apps on its known and previously unknown gangs and their members within and surrounding the city of Chicago. Utilizing the social media apps and networks, CPD developed a network analysis, mapping the relationships among Chicago’s 14,000 most active and violent gang members. CPD ranked how likely certain gang members were to be involved in a homicide, either as victims or offenders.
The reason for this program is to use innovative approaches in developing programs, which will teach youth alternatives to violence, substance abuse, anger issues, low self-esteem, and the consequences as a result of making bad choices. During, the program non-violence, team building, leadership development and communication skills is promoted. A neutral and positive setting is provided for young people, so they are able to come together from different gangs throughout the city to work on their issues and programs together. When a youth is referred to the program they have an Intake-Assessment with the family. “Together, a Program Contract/Service Plan will be developed based on the individual needs of the youth/family. If the youth is on probation/parole all requirements of the courts will be incorporated into their contract. Services offered are case management, mediation, innovative focus groups, presentations, collaboration with other youth service organizations, and attendance at court hearings” (Stop ABQ Gangs,
Stopping gang violence requires more than just the law enforcement in solving gang problems. Gang involvement among youths remains to be a prevalent problem to parents and society. It is often associated with violence and other criminal activities within the community. Though reasons remain to be varied, youth participation continues to increase through out the years. In seeking then to understand the motivation for youths joining gangs, it is essential to look at good family function, which promotes healthy development, as well as looking at how poor family function, is related to poor outcomes for youths. The questions to also keep in mind when it comes to family function is which aspects of parenting are risk factors to youths joining gangs as well as how can we help future families in decreasing those risks? Preventing youths from joining gangs in the first place is crucial in realizing on how to reduce youth gang activity. Which leads us to the question “can we stop gang violence?” My answer to this question is yes; we can stop gang violence with effective parenting. Although, school-based programs as well as community-based prevention programs may reduce gang violence, effective parenting stops gang involvement early on from childhood to adolescence.
Young people may get pure pressured by their friends into joining a gang. Furthermore, numerous young people join street gangs because they feel they are rejected by society and do no have the same values. Having faced either physical and/or sexual maltreatment, young people who are maltreated tend to have impaired physical and emotional social functions. References Bell, K. E. (2009; 2007).
Many stereotypes of gangs have been fabricated. The problem is that a majority of gang members do not fit these stereotypes, which, in turn, makes it hard for the to be caught (Klein). Traditionally they organize their group around a specific neighborhood, school or housing projec...