Gang Violence, Educational Initiatives, Local Initiatives - Essay Example

Paper of the Gang Introduction Gang violence, a major problem for many years, shows no signs of subsidizing any time soon. The major challenges faced by those try to curb the periodic rise of gangs in the community are the cultural and societal factors that contribute to the survival and growth of gangs in the community. The most serious factor in fighting gang violence is juveniles. Increase in patrols in the community and arrests in the area only solve the short term problems. There is a call for to come up with other ways that provide long-term solutions. In order to stop crime in the community there are a numeral of things that need to be addressed. Several initiatives that will assist in rectifying the problems (ex. Educational initiatives, local initiatives, etc) Meetings and gatherings with the police department and the community members to talk about and enlighten the community members on the effects of crime. The members of the community get to have information on how to identify the criminals and how to report to the relevant authorities. The members need to know that it is their right to stay safe and secure all the time. Gang Resistance Education and Training program, one of the best known educational-based prevention programs. Developed by bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives in conjunction with the local police. This program consists series of lessons for the community and students that include skill development to help resist gangs and gang membership, avoid involvement in crime and learn the dangers associated with crime and gangs. The program is effective in developing positive attitudes towards the police and negative attitudes toward involvement in gangs and crime. How can the negative effects of violence on children be lessened Children have always learned how to act in the real world from the stories they hear, mass media contributes significantly to their behaviors. If the stories children see involve violence as a solution to problems, they are most likely to exercise violence to solve problems and challenges they face in the real world. The parents of the children can take charge to change how the children behave through either the following ways. Reduce exposure to media violence. If children watch movies, television less and less randomly, the chances of them seeing violence will be very minimal. Setting limits on how much the children watch and setting guidelines on what they watch can help accomplish reduction to exposure to media violence. Parents may consider adding positive programs while limiting negative ones. Another way to control is by establishing guidelines to media other than television, including video games, magazines, movies, comic books and videos. Change the impact of violent images seen. The most appropriate way to help children cope with violent television programs and movies is to watch with them and engage them to talk about what they see. Finding out what they understand and what they do not understand. Media curricula provide diverse tools to help parent, guardians and children analyse the techniques used to stage violent scenes and decode various depictions of violence in different genres, news, drama, cartoon, sports and music. Through guided practice, vital viewing can become an everyday habit for both adults and children. Explore and locate alternatives to media that solve conflicts with violence. Looking for TV shows videos, and books that provide role models to counteract the attitudes and actions of the present world violent superheroes. Talking with the children on the many different ways to solve problems whenever they arise. Encouraging the young to hold media stars up their standards of real heroism. Getting involved in the national debate over media violence. The children’s television Act necessitate local monitoring to be effective. Sweeping telecommunications reform legislation public broadcasting cutbacks are currently being debated in Washington. Parents should ask their children their views, and encourage them to act. Young children can learn to communicate their worry to elected officials and local media owners. Positive feedback can help keep violent free television programs. Do you think that there should be a restraint on the violent video games children are allowed to play? Children should not be allowed to play violent video games due to the following reasons; Most of the effects of video games are blamed on the violence they contain. Children who play more video games are likely to have increased aggressive feelings, thoughts and behaviors according to a scientific study (Anderson & Brad, 2001, pp. 353-359). The effect of video violence in kids is worsened by the games’ interactive nature. In many games the children are awarded for being violent, the act of violence is done several times. The child being in control of the violence and experiences the violence in their own eyes. This involved participation, repetition and reward are useful tools for learning behavior. According to (Gentile & Walsh, 2004, pp. 5-22) it seems to indicate that video games are related to aggressive behavior. Too much video game playing makes a child socially isolated. The child spends less time in other activities such as reading, sports, doing homework and interacting with the family and friends. Research says that game players usually do not change their offline social lives with online game playing, but rather it expands them. Video games may also have severe effects on children’s health. The health problems include video-induced seizures, obesity, and muscular, postural, and skeletal disorders, such as nerve compression, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome. Academic grades may be negatively related to over-all time spent playing video games. Research show that the more time the kid passes playing video games, the poorer their performance in school (Greitemeyer & Osswald, 2009, pp. 896-900.) Type of support will you ask from the community as a whole Community-basedorganizations are a ready source of active citizens who can be recruited to the police department to become involved in crime prevention. Recruits interested in helping reduce crime in the communities takes part in police-run training programs. Here investigative processes, proper radio procedures, and first aid are taught, and the importance of community and personal safety measures is emphasized. The community looks after each other through neighborhood watch, citizen patrol, and related programs. Community enjoys more neighborliness, social cohesion, social capital and collective efficacy and also experience less fear of crime (Xu & Flaming, 2005, pp. 147-187) What role will the department itself take? Crime prevention is the primary function of the department and aims at reducing and preventing crimes in the city. Crimes prevention encourages individuals, schools and community members to take part in programs to reduce and prevent crime. The police department organizes crime prevention seminars and information for the community members. Variety of topics are available; drug identification, personal safety and workplace safety and home and business security surveys. How will you measure the usefulness of your plan? Reduction in the rate of the dangerously gang problem in the community. Minimal or no cases of incidents of violence and drive-by shooting. Also, the decline in the drug traffic will be enough evidence that the program was successful. Another way to measure the effectivity of theprogram is how the community responds to the education and lessons administered unto them. Positive minded members will try to keep up with whatever they learned and helped reduce the gang problems. Conclusions Effective crime prevention in the community involves the community members. They should lead and accept to change how they treat the suspects. The police department should not take bribes from the criminals since this will not help in crime prevention. Community members should take the educative initiative positively. Teachers in schools should monitor what the students do in school to help them not get involved in bad companies that lead to crime. References Anderson, C. A., & Brad, J. B. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological science. 353-360 Gentile, D. A., & Walsh, D. A. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of adolescence. 4-25 Greitemeyer, T., & Osswald, S. (2009). Prosocial video games reduce aggressive cognitions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 895-902 Xu, Y. F., & Flaming, K. H. (2005). Discovering the impact of community policing: The broken windows thesis, collective efficacy, and citizens’ judgment. Journal of research in crime and delinquency. 146-190 Afary, K. (2009). Performance and activism: Grassroots discourse after the Los Angeles rebellion of 1992. Lexington Books. Krug, E. G., Mercy, J. A., Dahlberg, L. L., &Zwi, A. B. (2002). The world report on violence and health. 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