Gangs and Violence in California
This paper was done in response to an article that I came across in which a child was convicted as an adult for homicide. The homicide was supposedly gang-related; the young child that was only 14 years of age was painted as an entrenched gang member. This article made me think what contributed to this situation and how it can be eradicated from today’s society so this will never happen to any of our youth.
The solutions provided in this document are a response to the growing need for schools, school districts, county offices of education, and state legislatures to address youth gangs.
Children are our greatest asset in the world today: They give parents the greatest feeling in the world. Parents go through their children’s fears, disappointments and tears and still feel the great energy that radiates around them. Parents feel and shape every aspect of their children; however, the most influential program shaping children today is their educational system. Parents think that sending their children to get an education does nothing more than give their child a chance to succeed in life, what a powerful influence education is. When we think of power influences we want them to be the best, this tends not be the case. In fact schools are on a steady decline in the field of nurturing our children but rather they fill our children’s gaps in their lives with very harmful, manipulative themes. A prominent harmful, manipulative theme that is becoming increasingly a younger trend is gangs.
Gangs, and more specifically, gang violence is a growing phenomena among children among middle school and even elementary kids. Gangs are becoming more attractive to our young ones. As a result, more childr...
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...icano Fellows Program. Stanford, 1994.
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Hill, Sylvia. Interview with Assistant Principal, SCS of Charles Drew Middle School in Los Angeles, CA. Telephone Interview. 16 Feb. 2004.
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All this sounds like an abstract from some of today's action movies, but sadly enough, all these events are true and have plagued our nation for the past eighteen months. Not only have juvenile crime rates gone up in the past few years, but a heightened awareness of these crimes exists because of how violent natured these crimes have become. "Homicides committed by juveniles with firearms have tripled in number since 1983" (Jenson and Howard 324).
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...
Tobin, Kimberly. Gangs: An Individual and Group Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
Sleep apnea is becoming increasingly more concerning for the association this sleep disorder poses to the psychological effects on people. Sleep deprivation is only one example of the effects caused by this medical condition which could be related to increased anxiety and depression. Millions of Americans suffer from sleep apnea without even realizing the sleep disorder is creating a problem. There has been significant progress in identifying sleep apnea, especially obstructive sleep apnea, and creating successful methods to help individuals more easily live with it. The thought of losing breath while sleeping without knowing this is occurring can intimidate an individual and his or her family. Studies reveal the link between sleep apnea and the psychological effects it causes which can include anxiety, depression, relationship problems, lack of dreams, and other issues. Other factors to consider related to the research of sleep apnea include culture, gender, age, obesity, and habits including smoking and drinking.
Sleep apnea is a very serious disorder because you can easily die from it because you totally stop breathing. The pause in breathing usually last only a few seconds but can happen 30 or more times in an hour. When breathing will resume in usually results in a snore or a choking sound. People with sleep apnea are usually tired more than most throughout the day because when they start to snore or have pauses in their breathing they move out of a deep sleep and into a light sleep. Sleep apnea is very hard for doctors to diagnose because it only happens when you are asleep. The only way to become aware of your sleep apnea is usually by a family member or a spouse who notices you snoring or have pauses when you are asleep. One of the most common types of sleep apnea is called obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is when your airway is blocked during sleep resulting in pauses of breath. This is most common in people who are overweight but doesn 't have to be. If sleep apnea goes untreated the consequences can be very dangerous. It could increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and diabetes. The four known ways to cure sleep apnea is lifestyle changes, mouthpieces, breathing devices, and
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which breathing stops and starts repeatedly. Experts have estimated that 18 million Americans are affected by sleep apnea. There are three main types of sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common form that occurs when throat muscles relax. Central sleep apnea occurs when your brain does not send proper signals to the muscles controlling breathing and Complex sleep apnea syndrome, a combination of both obstructive and central sleep. Symptoms of sleep apnea include loud snoring, breathing cessation, abrupt awakenings accompanied by shortness of breath, dry mouth, morning headaches, insomnia, daytime sleepiness,
... crime and should adopt policies that compliment better socialization of youths. The seriousness of youth crime trends must be addressed with punishments that pay retribution to society. It is equally important that youths are not excluded from society by a legal system that does not recognize their special needs. Rehabilitation measures must address the socialization problems that children are facing with their families, schools, and media pressures. Children will be given alternatives to their delinquent behaviours that may not have been obvious or initially appealing. These changes will result in the prevention and decline of youth gang related crime. Youth gangs are not inevitable. Some social reorganization backed by government policies will eliminate the youth perception that youth gangs are socially acceptable. The Youth Criminal Justice Act (2002) adopts socially focused policies that will better address the social disorientation of youth that lead them into youth gangs. Its implementation is a positive step towards effectively dealing with the changed social forces affecting Canadian youths. Better socialization of youths is paramount to eliminating youth gangs in Canada.
This book review covers Policing Gangs in America by Charles Katz and Vincent Webb. Charles Katz has a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice, while Vincent Webb has a Ph.D. in Sociology, making both qualified to conduct and discuss research on gangs. Research for Policing Gangs in America was gathered in four cities across the American Southwest; Inglewood, California, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona. This review will summarize and discuss the main points of each chapter, then cover the relationship between the literature and class discussions in Introduction to Policing and finally it will note the strengths and weaknesses of book.
Spergel, I., Chance, R., Ehrensaft, K., Regulus, T., Cane, K., Laseter, R., . . . Alexander, A. (1994, October). Gang Suppression and Intervention: Community Models Research Summary. Retrieved March 23, 2014, from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/gangcorr.pdf
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder which causes frequent pauses in the breathing process during the sleep.
Statistics show that school-based programs as well as community-based prevention programs minimize gang involvement. School-based programs address substance abuse and violence, which reduces the risk factors for gang involvement. For example, in the article “What Can Schools Do to Prevent Gang Involvement,” by Gary D. Gottfredson, he states, “universal programs in kindergarten through secondary school, which [is a] rewarding educational environment im...
Hallswort, S. And Young, T. (2004) Getting Real About Gang. Criminal Justice Matters [online]. 55. (1), pp 12-13 [Accessed 10 December 2013]
Otero, Juan. “Curbing street gang violence,” National League of Cities. 21 Dec 1998. General Reference Center Gold. Jan 2007
There is quite of few people I know now that it effects. Sleep Apnea is a very serious sleep disorder that effects 1 in 20 people. It can affect anyone from children to adults. It occurs when a person’s breathing is interrupted while sleeping. People with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing 100’s of times while sleeping. This causes the brain and the body not get enough oxygen. There are two types of sleep apnea, obstructed sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Obstructed sleep apnea is the most common of the two, where there is a blockage in the airway. Central sleep apnea is not caused by a blocked airway, but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breath due to the instability in the respiratory control center. Who is at risk? Males that are 40 and over weight, that have a large neck, tonsils, tongue and a small jawbone and have a family history of sleep apnea are affected. If sleep apnea is left untreated can cause major health problems such as high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, heart problems, depression and headaches. If sleep apnea is mild, it can be treated with weight loss and change of sleep positions. The CPAP, continuous positive airway pressure is a treatment in which a mask is worn over the nose or mouth while you sleep. It has a mask that is hooked up to a machine that sends a continuous flow of air to the nose. It is the most common treatment for sleep apnea. Dental devices can be made and surgical procedures can be done depending on the case. I have seen how sleep apnea effects my father-in-law and the struggles he has had with it. I have seen his condition improve with weight loss, but it got worse after gaining all his weight back. It is something that I would never want to deal