Gangs bring violence and criminal activity throughout our nation, which make it a major issue of concern. There were an estimated 29,900 active gangs in 2011 across 3300 jurisdictions (Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2013). Commonly, gangs are defined as a group of three or more persons who participate in criminal activity and distinguish themselves with a well-established distinguished name, sign, and/or color. Some examples of the criminal activity include but are not limited to: dealing drugs, graffiti, assault, and robberies. In the present paper, the role community structural interventions play in assisting low-income families with adolescent gang involvement is investigated. It is hypothesized that adolescent of low income families are likely to join a gang in order to gain a sense of belonging due to the decline of parental monitoring, lack of family communication and involvement and possible family violence. I chose to review crime prevention with adolescent gang involvement because most of the crimes that I am hearing about or seeing in the surrounding communities and around the United States are being committed by the juveniles. I have worked in Corrections as a Behavior Modification Officer and most of the juveniles that I spoke with committed crimes to prove that they are “hard”, become a member of a gang, or for financial gain. The majority stated that they did not have a strong parent in the household who cared enough to redirect them back to the right path when they were heading the wrong way or hanging with the wrong people. I have always believed that until the main root of the problem is dissected and replanted, our issues with adolescents committing crimes and their gang involvement will continue.
In this research article by McNeil, Herschberger, and Nedela (2013), there are four specific questions I will be
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.
Recently, there has been a rise in criminal activity amongst the youth in Columbus Georgia. The percentage of juvenile criminals increased by almost 9.5% in the year 2012-2013(Chattahoochee Valley Struggles with Black on Black Crime). Many of the crimes committed involved adolescents as young as fifteen, and have become increasingly more violent. In 2012 a sixteen year old woman was shot and killed by her eighteen year old boyfriend, a few months later a nineteen year old boy was shot while walking to his home. (Chattahoochee Valley Struggles with Black on Black Crime). Due to the overwhelmin...
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.
This paper will cover issues that young minorities encounter in the movies; Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008), Gran Torino (2008), A Better Life (2011). Movies will be summarize, and compare and contrast youths experienced. Criminological theories shall be utilized to further elaborate issues. Finally steps and theories will be utilized towards solving issues, also possible methods to correct the issues will be addressed in the end.
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...
Juvenile Delinquent Gangs As a kid I could remember walking to school every day. While on the way to school, there was always a group of kids sanding outside of the school walking away. These kids dressed differently and they all wore the same type of clothes. It wasn’t until years later that I was told to stay away from them because they were gangsters.
... 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.
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
Gangs have become a harsh reality in today's society. But despite what one might think, gangs illustrate many communication theories. This is done through the power gangs possesses, "gang warfare", and the trust between gang members.
McNeil, S. N., Herschberger, J. K., & Nedela, M. N. (2013). Low-Income Families With Potential Adolescent Gang Involvement: A Structural Community Family Therapy Integration Model. American Journal Of Family Therapy, 41(2), 110-120. doi:10.1080/01926187.2011.649110
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.
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...
During the first week of my junior professional experience, I remember my cooperating teacher reading to me an e-mail that she received from the school's administration. It was informing all of the teachers of new ways to identify gang member; the colors they may wear, they way they write certain letters of the alphabet. A few days later I recall seeing one of the students in my class making different hand gestures, which I later learned were gang signs. Then, a couple of weeks into my full participation in the classroom, another one of my students was suspended for breaking another student's jaw. Yet another of my students was suspended rather recently for threatening to bring a gun to school. All of these incidents, along with an assembly that was held one day about gang violence, have made me much more aware of the violence and gang participation that takes place in urban schools.
Gangs are a hindrance to youth reaching their future goals in life. Gangs draw in youth that are usually looking for something in life such as family, love or acceptance. Parents and youth alike should be well educated on the drawbacks of gangs. Educated youth will come to the realization that joining a gang will lead to corruption and a life of unmet goals. With the concerted effort of the community alongside with law enforcement gang influence will be eradicated from local neighborhoods leading to young people being less likely to join gangs. This work against gangs will result in the maturation of uncorrupt youth that will have the opportunity and be able to reach their future goals.