Why Do Youth Join Gangs?

With an average of one murder per hour, El Salvador, a relatively small country of about six million people, is on its way of becoming the country with highest homicide rate in the world. The violence that has become a Salvadoran social norm derives from many different factors, with the main factor being the high rate of gangs. With over 60,000 gang members actively involved in gangs, the nation has been taken under a sort of violence and mass death only caused by wars (Vice News, ‘Gangs of El Salvador’). Yet, I argue that this war does not continue on because of the high position gangs hold in Salvadoran society today, but is found in its impoverished youth. It is in the impoverished youth that violence is found, not because they partake in

Understanding is important “not because terrorists deserve sympathy—they do not—but because understanding their state of mind is necessary to limiting the risk” (Stern, 215). Therefore, in understanding why youth join gangs, a possible solution may rise. One reason as to why youth join gangs is identity. Once one finds a place of belonging it reinforces the mental and emotional security that is essential to human security (Bhangoo Randhawa, PACS 10). This belonging is quite strong and gang members develop into family. Soon after joining, a child has found their father, their brother, their grandfather; a family that not many Salvadoran youth have seeing as many families are broken. Thus a threat on a gang is not only a direct personal threat but a threat on one’s family. MS-13 and Barrio 18 stand for different beliefs in which they both feel their personal gang is in right. In addition, “the degree to which exclusive individual or group identities are reflected or represented in the definition of the collective national identity makes the issue of of identity a public concern” (Deng, 80). As a result, if someone is does not agree with the gang completely, they are automatically against the gang and henceforth violence continues affecting not only the gangs themselves, but every other outsider as