Definition and Facts of Gangs - Essay Example

?Running Head: GANGS Gangs Module: Lecturer: Introduction United s is one of the heavily plagued nations as far as gang culture is concerned. To add insult to an injury statistics show that manifestation of gangs has increased over the past decade more so in the late 2000s. This increased prevalence of gang activities is more in the urban areas than in rural counties where some level of decline has been recorded over the same period. Gangs terrorize neighborhoods by invading people’s homes, robbing and stealing from businesses and manipulating drug trade among other negative activities. They are therefore a center of violence and poor morals in a society. Many innocent lives have perished in their hands after being assaulted with firearms and crude weapons. They commit these atrocities in order to gain control of the areas they dominate and to instill fear or intimidate authorities and the general public. Gangs are now everywhere; streets, in almost all neighborhoods, schools, internet and other spheres of everyday life. In United States it has been found that of all crimes committed, gangs are responsible for 80 percent of them. This paper aims at discussing gangs, why they form and who is attracted to them and why. Gang statistics United States has a high prevalence of gang violence together with a number of its neighbors like Mexico and Brazil. Gang members totaled slightly above one million by the end of 2010 who are affiliated to more than 25,000 groups (Larence, 2010). Unfortunately, only 15 percent of the gang population is behind bars considering the waves of crime they commit year after year in the US. Another fact is that juveniles form 40 percent while the rest are adults while more than 90 percent of all members are males with females taking an average of 8 percent. It is important to note that about 60 percent of gangs disallow female membership. Gang activities seem to be more prevalent in cities with at least 250,000 residents although gang related crimes are also high at 86 percent in those cities averaging 100,000 inhabitants (Larence, 2010). Gang formation In considering why gangs form it is important to appreciate that gangs are groups of two or more people with the intension of supporting each other in the commission of delinquent or criminal activities (Larence, 2010). These group behaviors can be lowly organized while others can be quite sophisticated as to be termed as organized criminal gangs with organized crime networks as the case is with big cities in the US. There are many reasons why gangs are formed with some being more significant than others. The following are the major reasons why they are formed together with what they offer to their members. Social discrimination and rejection In the United States there is considerable ethnic and racial discrimination due to the presence of Hispanic, White, Indian and Black populations (Larence, 2010). There has been tension among these groups and gangs are formed to cater for the interests of each. Some of the interests range from the need for dominance and control of one race or ethnic group over another to offering security in neighbors. In the process gangs find themselves indulging in criminal activities of robbing and killing people from other races or ethnic origins. Members of these gangs then feel accepted for who they are and the sense of belonging tends to raise their self esteem. Acceptance is therefore what the group will offer which in turn increases the racial and ethnic gaps among people. Absence of family connection and other values The family unit has failed in many affluent nations with increasing divorce cases, disunity among family members, lack parental love and adult role models and disciplinarians. All people require to be loved and be respected. The current family units have failed to offer unconditional love to the youths resulting into many of them turning to gangs which acts as surrogate families. There have been many social constraints as well as economic ones that are making it increasingly difficult for many families to raise their children successfully. However, the wellbeing of a society relies on how healthy its family units are. The feeling of powerlessness The current society offers numerous challenges to youths with drugs all over, abuse at home and in school and poor grades among others. As a result of these young people feel powerless and they try to regain power or compensate the lost control through gang membership. Females for example join these gangs in order to gain respect from people in the neighborhood (Bursik Jr. and Grasmick, 1993). Abuse, fear and security issues Many young people who join gangs have in the past experienced some form of abuse, physical or otherwise from people close to them. There is also a general lack of security since the society has failed to protect them. Such youths come together to offer consolation and support to one another in times of need. Gangs in this case offer them the security they need to continue with life. Economic deprivation There is high tendency for young people from poor neighborhoods to gang up in order to get some means of income. They do so through robbery and other forms of crime to earn livelihood. Those that are addicted to drugs also require money to sustain their habit and these people are from both poor and rich backgrounds (Egley, Mason & Miller, 2006). Gangs also form to facilitate purchase or acquisition and distribution of commodities that legal channels cannot provide like drugs and firearms. This trade is highly lucrative and in the process they earn the money they need. School failure and low self esteem Poor performance in school often leads to students developing low self esteem and eventual withdrawal from studies. In order to regain the lost self esteem gangs are formed. Schools have failed in educating students on the dangers of gangs and related behaviors. Problem behavior syndrome is the other cause of gang formation where affected students tend to form support groups that transform into gangs. Wasted free time Today’s lifestyle is involving a great deal of wastage of time in the internet and other technologically related leisure activities. This idleness has resulted to formation of groups in neighborhoods that later turn into gangs. Youths are reluctant to engage in legitimate activities that do not offer direct reward e.g. social work (Juvenile Justice Commission, 2010). Instead, they choose to adopt activities that bring money quickly like selling drugs. Migration of gang members This is one of the biggest causes of spread of gang culture. Gang members moving from one state to the other recruit members on the way. This has led to gang networks that are hard for authorities to crack or break. Media and gang culture The mass media has played a significant role in portraying gang lifestyle as stylish and the fashion of the day. Gang tendencies have been portrayed as the current trends and those not practicing them feel left out. Stereotypy There is a tendency of young people emulating their seniors’ gang behaviors. Sons take on their parents’ or siblings’ gang behaviors or from peers. This is mostly the case where gang activities are rarely followed up or go unpunished. In case gang activities offered food and other basic needs to the family, the children grow knowing a gang to be an easy channel of money. Because they can Those who form gangs do so after appreciating that the authorities will do little if anything to curtail their activities. Authorities monitoring techniques are so far ineffective as more gangs are being formed while the existing ones flourish with crime rates skyrocketing daily (Institute for Intergovernmental Research, 2011). Who joins gangs and why Gangs are joined by anyone who is willing and that the gang is also willing to accept them. As earlier stated both males and females are members and so are people from both poor and rich backgrounds. However, some groups have higher affinity than others. For example males are more than females, poor academic performers are more, those with poor job prospects, those involved in drugs and excessive alcohol. Others who join are those undergoing social neglect, poverty, single parenthood, abusive family relationships and those whose friends and/or relatives are gang members. The general range in age is 12 – 24 years where these young people fall under one or several of the aforementioned characteristics. It is important to note that all income levels together with racial or ethnic affiliations are represented in gangs. Majority of those who join gangs (actually 41.1 percent) become acquainted with these tendencies in their neighborhoods followed by 22.3 percent from friends in school (Larence, 2010). 17.9 percent of the new entrants adopt gang culture from friends at parties while 18.6 percent get it from controlled settings like juvenile detention facilities. There are many reasons that make people join gangs especially the youth and they are pretty much related to the reasons why gangs are formed. The first one is strained relations with others e.g. family members and friends whereby people crave for attention, respect and love from others. This causes gang members to be closely attached to one another. The sense of security also drives them to joining especially where a neighborhood is dangerous and is full of crime against the general public. Third is peer pressure where friends drive their colleagues into gang activities by having them recruited willingly or otherwise (Klein, 2006). This happens mostly in school settings or neighborhoods with minimal or inefficient gang monitoring structures. The fourth is the need for money to survive or support a family. This results in these people taking up the gang culture in order to gain this kind of money since within a gang one is able to easily peddle drugs and engage in other lucrative illegal activities. Conclusion Gangs are a serious threat to the security and well-being of a society and even a nation. However, as statistics show their presence is becoming more pronounced especially from the late 2000s. This means that forming gangs is becoming easy and reasons of joining are increasing. Noting that more than a million people are gang members in the US should be an eye opener to the authorities that their numbers are not in any way reducing but increasing. The reasons for gang formation have been found to include social discrimination and rejection, absence of family connection and other values, the feeling of powerlessness, abuse, fear and security issues and economic deprivation among others. Youths should be well monitored since they are the most likely lot to form or join gangs. The authorities should look into the statistics and reality on the ground regarding the negative impacts of gangs in order to take clear and decisive actions to eradicate them. References Bursik Jr, R. J. and Grasmick, H. G. (1993). Neighborhoods and crime: The dimensions of effective community control. Lexington Books. Egley, A., Mason, C. & Miller, J. (2006). The modern gang reader, 3rd ed., Roxbury, Los Angeles, CA. Institute for Intergovernmental Research. (2011). Gang centers merge. Retrieved February 17, 2010, from Iir: http://www.iir.com/Gangs/nygc/default.aspx Juvenile Justice Commission (2010). Gang Awareness Guide: Recognize the Signs. New Jersey Attorney General. Retrieved February 17, 2010, from http://www.state.nj.us/oag/gang signs-bro.pdf Klein, M. (2006). Street gangs. In A. Egley, The Modern Gang Reader (pp. 105-114). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Larence, E. R. (2010). Combating gangs: Better coordination and performance measurement would help clarify roles of Federal Agencies and strengthen assessment of efforts. DIANE Publishing. Read More