Introduction Crime rates are on the rise in the world today particularly in the urban centers but even more in other places. The issue of youth mobs is increasingly emerging to be of serious anxiety in many nations specifically for law enforcers. Many of these crimes such as theft, robbery, rape and terrorism are just but a few of the crimes conducted by youths. Many of the youths are led into crime by; unemployment, poverty and the need for a sense of belonging. It is the duty of every state to ensure that enough opportunities are created for youth for them to earn a living through employment. Proper education is a basic factor in equipping the youths with a better life away from gangs and other unlawful operations. Literature Review The meaning Due to this, they may be forced to run away from a depressing home life, at times they may be searching for a that one individual who can be like a father (Hess & Wrobleski, 2006). Gangs frequently create promises to provide absolute support as well be the family unit they lacked. These always promises draw a lot of desperate youth to the gang and for the young people with relatives they see no need of being in a gang. Additionally, the need for the young people to have a sense of protection mainly drives them to join gangs. Many societies with high reported cases of mob activities frequently see youths link with a bunch of criminals just for endurance. For many, it is better to connect with the mob that to stay vulnerable and defenseless in their localities (Klein & Maxson, 2006). For many being connected to mob guarantees sustenance in case of assault and retaliation for wrongdoings. While the young people with a good family unit often feel protected hence they desire not to link with With excitements, many teens get hurry out to disobey authority or involvement in crimes. The young may be engrossed to the mob’s way of living as it stays out of the law and takes place in illegal behaviors. Others prefer to be in the mob because of the many problems they encounter at homes. With the promise of a greater life by the gangs then the excited teens get attracted to the illegal activities of the mob (Bryman, 2008). Some of the teens are addicts of substances and they tend to believe that being in a gang will give them the freedom to continue using it. At home, the challenge can be bad since parents may not even have an idea of an addiction or ways of coping. Therefore, most teens are forced to join a mob because they can have the desired freedom and access to the drugs. Some of the teens are pressured into joining a mob if their association will add to the mob’s criminal actions. Some of them get connected in order to threaten other people in the society who are not engaged in gang operations (Klein & Maxson, 2006). Once they find a specific group that is will to be a part of their unlawful deeds then they connect and work with
Gangs have been in existence since the beginning of the Roman Empire. There were speeches made by Roman orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, which references groups of men who constantly fought and disrupted Roman politics (Curry, 2013). The history of street gangs in the United States begins with their emergence on the East Coast around 1783, as the American Revolution ended. Though many believe the best available evidence suggests that the more serious street gangs likely did not emerge until the early part of the nineteenth century (Sante, 1991). Although our country has had their share of feared gangs like in the 1980’s with the turf war between the Bloods and Crips, back in the 17th and 18th century the Mohocks of Georgian, England were one of the most feared gangs. What draws juveniles to the gang lifestyle? Many people will say that most gang members are children from impoverished communities, single family homes where there was no father present, or maybe there is a more psychological/sociological answer? By appearance and presence most gangs cause fear, crime, and disillusionment in the communities they occupy. Throughout history joining a gang has been perceived as a life without any reward, yet by joining this lifestyle many juveniles are able to gain the needed stability and security in their lives.
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...
For one, if a youth does not have a strong familial tie it allows for the youth’s friends to ‘fill the gap’. For an association to have an effect on a potential criminal, it must be more important than ties with families (Maurutto 2016). Thus, the parents are less capable of influencing their child’s attitudes towards the law. Essentially, the parent is allowing their child to be influenced by outside influences such as gang associated peers. If these peers are also not sufficiently monitored by their parents it is more likely that the peer group will highly influence its member’s attitudes towards the law. If they are allowed to form negative attitudes toward the law, due to their parent’s inaction in performing necessary punishment functions, they will become more likely to form a gang. It is the compounding of these individual familial circumstances that lead youth to join gangs. This is how Differential Association, in the case of youth gangs, explains the effect of insufficient parental
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...
Few social issues get as much media attention as youth crime. Statistics Canada reported a 3% increase in crimes committed by 12- to 17-yearolds between 2005 and 2006. In the last 15 years, the rate of violent crimes among young people has increased by 30% (Youth crime, 2008). From gangland-style killings in Vancouver to the senseless beating of an elderly woman in Hali-fax, Canadian cities are struggling with a wave of youth crime that was unimaginable a couple of decades ago. According to Statistics Canada, most Canadians believe that youth crime is on the rise and 77% believe that the sentencing of young offenders is too lenient (Youth crime, 2005). Many experts attribute the spike in youth crime to the increased number of street gangs - often the perpetrators of youth crime (Catalano and Hawkins, 1996). Research indicates that youth seek comfort from those who welcome them and reinforce their sense of belonging. Unfortunate-ly, some youth have no choice but to turn to street gangs in order to satisfy their need for approv-al, belonging and self-worth (Clark, 1992). Street gangs are not just issues in big cities. Over the last few decades, there has been an increase in the presence of street gangs in non-metropolitan and rural communities. For example, in 1960, there were 54 cities in the United States with a gang population. In 1995, there were street gangs in approximately 800 cities and towns across the United States (Swetnam and Pope, 2001). There is no consensus among experts on how to reduce youth crime. Criminal involvement usually starts before the age of 15, with first-time of-fences declining markedly once young people reach 20 years of age. Young people who become involved in criminal activities before the age of 14...
Young teens are a popular commodity within the streets where gangs are dominant. Often times these gangs recruit young teens to establish a numbers game to try to out numbers rival gangs in case of a mass gang war. Other reasons the youth are targeted is to do the gangs dirty work whether it requires a young member to execute a hit, rob a rival member, or ste...
Drugs According to the social disorganization perspective, gang members do drugs because they are forced into a substance. Drug offences are a common substance that is used and abused in gangs. Most people and kids that do drugs are because of peer pressure. Other reasons why gang members do drugs are because the environment that they are in forces the people to do drugs to fit in. They also do drugs because the environment they live in stresses them out so much that they lure them into drug use and abuse.
Youth gangs in North American society are nothing new. When we turn on the news we often hear stories of misguided youth contributing to yet another gang related crime. Even though it is known that youth crimes are overrepresented in the media today, the subject of youth gang activity is quite a predicament to our society. Over the last few years, there has been a moral panic created by constant exposure to the media which portrays a great amount of youth crimes and violence. In Canada there are large urban cities with high proportions of young people, many of which live in poverty, that now have the issue of dealing with youth gangs and youth crimes. Toronto, British Columbia, and Ottawa are examples of Canadian cities that have youth gang problems. The implementation of the new Youth Criminal Justice Act (2002) has changed the way youth crimes are dealt with legally in Canada. It is one step in the right direction for dealing with the issue of youth offending. Although the new act is not perfect, it will provide a better sense of justice to society because it calls for greater punishment for youths who re-offend. Youth Gangs in Canada are a potentially serious problem that needs to be addressed and tactically prevented. If preventative measures are not taken, these large populated urban areas in Canada will have problems similar to those of some major American cities. This essay will analyze the youth gang problem in Canada. It will cover topics such as types of youth gangs, the seriousness of the problem, and the cause for the creation of youth gangs from a Social Disorganization theory perspective. It will also examine the effect of the Youth Criminal Justice Act on gang crime.
Gangs are made up of a big “family”, which includes men, woman, and children. Children as young as seven or nine years old have been recruited in the gang. Gang member join gangs for many reasons such as protection. They live in the gang area and are in danger to violence by rival gangs so they feel they need to be protected. Another reason they join gangs is for the brotherhood. When they have lack of communication or a bad home environment they look towards the gang because it shows them love and protection like if they were family. They also join for the profit, recognition, and for the dangerous activities. Before gang members join a gang they either commit a crime or going through a procedure such as getting jumped by a group of other gang members. This procedure well test their courage and fighting abilities.
David Kennedy (2014) explores this in the chapter he authored for the book “The Causes and Consequences of Group Violence”. He mentions that membership in gangs in rarely purposeful. Young men (mostly older teens to mid 20’s), usually drift toward gang involvement due to other family member involvement, protective from rival gangs in the area or due to their surroundings – young men grow up seeing others join gangs, so they also join (pg. 56). The first and last reason are examples of a descriptive norm, people do what others around them
The society is a complex web of interactions between the different factions. At the very basic level is the family unit and in this case the nuclear family unit. The social connection between family members is the basic connection that the rest of the society uses to stay together. This is a cohesion that can be considered to have adhesive elements of the various people in the society. Ideally, there is an insatiable need in human being to be part of something bigger than themselves. As such the connection at the family level and to loved ones provides the attachment that people require to feel safe and secure. It is thus common for people to tend to look for that element of connection if the family unit does not provide for the same (Publicsafety.gc.ca, 2016). Adolescents are largely at a stage where they are trying to establish their values relative to what their environment dictates. As such, they tend to be easily carried away by whatever their environment presents. Some of them end up getting initiated into gangs. This is a common element especially for those who come from the poor communities in the society. This common trend has also been established to be
Growing up in the modern world is a difficult process with many temptations. Kids learn that they need to fit in and be accepted. Sadly, since not all youth get those needs met at home, they look to gang activity to fulfill desire for acceptance. Since these children learn behavior from an early age, the police and community realized the importance of teaching them about the dangers of joining gangs. There are many theories that could explain this behavior among juveniles, and the creators of the program use these theories to support G.R.E.A.T..
Many young people join street gangs due to weak family relationships and poor social control. Social Control Theory presumes that people will naturally commit crime if there were left to their own devices (i.e. no laws in society) and people do not commit crimes because of certain controlling forces, such as social bonds that hold individuals back partaking on their anti social behavior (Bell, 2011). Examples of controlling forces are family, school, peers, and the law. Young people who are t...
In fact, as gang members go to prison structural and economic conditions within a community can allow for new gang members to replace them year after year (Fleisher, Decker, 2001). This continued recruitment pool that the community has created is yet another reason gangs feel safe within a community. For example, a younger sibling’s older brother may be part of a local gang within their community, as was his father and grandfather. When this sibling becomes of age they may believe that this is what is expected of him; a community norm and continued recruitment for that gang within the community. Other important characteristics that make a gang feel safe within a community is the gangs need to belong and exist; safe haven (Miller, Hess, Orthmann, 2014).
There are many reasons why people join gangs. While most teens join gangs due to peer pressure some are in gangs for being accepted. Being accepted by people who understand you is worth way more than anything to some people. Growing up I didn’t make a lot of friends so when I did get a friend I would go out of my way to keep them happy and accept me. That feeling of being wanted by other people is sometimes a wonderful feeling.