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Youth Gangs and the Affects on Our Community Gangs vary tremendously in numbers and in age range. Relatively few young people join gangs, despite their high profile in the media. Even in highly impacted areas, the degree of participation rarely exceeds 10 percent. In addition, it has been reported that less than 2 percent of all juvenile crime is gang related (Snyder 89). Low statistics like the above, may camouflage the impact that the presence of gangs has on a school. Gangs play a significant role in the widespread increase of violence in schools throughout North America.
School violence has steadily increased since a 1978 National Institute of Education study, found that school-aged children were at a higher risk of suffering from violence in school than anywhere else (Baccaglini 48). Since gangs are organized groups, and are often actively involved in drug and weapons trafficking, their mere presence in school can increase tensions there. With the level of violence increasing in todays schools, both gang members and non-gang members are arming themselves with increased frequency. Students in school with a gang presence are twice as likely to report that they fear becoming victims of violence as their peers at schools without gangs. A 1992 report, stated, that schools with gangs are significantly more likely to have drugs available on campus than those without gangs (Baccaglini 80). Nowadays, schools not only suffer from gang related violence coming in from the street, but are themselves rapidly becoming centers of gang activities, functioning particularly as sites for recruitment and socializing.
Although many gang members acknowledge the importance of the educational objectives of school, it is much more important to them as a place of gathering with fellow gang members for socializing and other more violent activities. Even those gang members who had been suspended or had dropped out of school could be found on campus with their associates, effectively using school as a gang hangout rather than as an educational institute. Gangs can also spread unexpectedly from school to school as students transfer from gang-impacted schools to gang free schools, causing an unintentional spillover of gang activity in the new school (Rodriguez 94). Gangs are formed in school atmospheres for many key reasons.
Their primary reason is that they often provide students with a sense of family and acceptance otherwise lacking in their lives. The second primary reason is among groups of recent immigrants as a way of maintaining a strong ethnic identity. Understanding how gangs meet these students needs prepares schools to better respond to them. Four factors are primary in the formation of gangs: First, youth experience a sense of alienation and powerlessness because of a lack of traditional support structures, such as family and school.
This can lead to feelings of frustration and anger, and a desire to obtain support outside of traditional institutions. Second, gang membership gives youth a sense of belonging and becomes a major source of identity for its members. In turn, gang membership affords youth a sense of power and control, and gang activities become an outlet for their anger. Third, the control of turf is essential to the well being of the gang, which often will use force to control both its territory and members. Finally, recruitment of new members and expansion of territory are essential if a gang is to remain strong and powerful.
Both willing and unwilling members are drawn into gangs to feed the need for more resources and gang members. (Curry 122) These four factors interact to produce gangs that become more powerful and ruthless as they work to maintain and expand their territory and membership. Despite the significant influence that gangs have upon violence and crime in schools, it is still considered a fallacy to state that schools are powerless to respond. The reputations of gangs can sometimes force schools to react harshly with restrictive actions or to be so intimidated that they refrain from taking any action at all. What is needed is a strategy that mobilizes schools and communities to offer alternatives to gang membership. The schools strategy must be built upon the four factors of formation in gangs and find ways to address students feelings of powerlessness and low self-esteem. A strategy that understands these principles increases the probability that gangs will be less able to attract new members and retain old members (Goldstein 114).
To better assess the strategies of community policing available to fight gangs spread, it would be helpful to get more knowledge on the nature of those gangs. The theory is that youth gangs first emerged following the Mexican migration into the American southwest following the Mexican Revolution in 1813. Mexican youth encountered difficult social and cultural adjustment in America coupled with extremely poor living condition in the southwest. Their organization of gangs and the criminal activity that followed stemmed from a need for survival and support. Schools were few and inadequate and menial jobs as we know them today were non-existent (Goldstein 117). By the early to mid 1800 's gangs started to spread to the industrialized Northeast region of the United States.
Gangs flourished in large urban cities such as New York, Boston, Philadelphia and particularly Chicago. Migration and population shifts within the United States reached peak levels during this time and the major cities were magnets for rural and immigrant families seeking employment opportunities. Gang activity, level of violence and proliferation seem to be directly related to population shifts within American society. Cultural, societal and economic changes in the United States influence gang activity. In the United States, gang growth and it's highest activity has happened during four distinct periods in history: the late 1800 's, the 1920 's, the 1960 's and the 1990 's ().
In the past youth gangs were largely influenced by the availability of exploitable sources of money. In the modern era youth gangs have been greatly affected by increased mobility, the use of deadlier weapons and the emergence of the drug culture. Confrontations between rival gangs once involved fistfights together with the use of crude weapons such as chains, bats or brass-knuckles. The gangs were less mobile so their presence was generally limited to distinct neighborhoods and cities. Today with easy access to guns and automobiles, the youth gangs are more mobile, which increases their area of influence. The confrontations between gang members today result in more serious injuries and greater chances of fatalities due to guns.
Even their involvement with the police is heightened due to their greater visibility in the community and increased overall threat of violence (Miller 76). Although indistinguishable to the outside viewer, each gang is separate and distinct within themselves. An untrained eye may see a group of youths at a local mall complete with the associated dress and mannerisms of gang members and immediately label them as a gang. In reality they may just be a loosely organized band of delinquents or merely a group of kids out on a Saturday afternoon at the mall.
An organized gang bases their existence on a particular commonality. Some bases are age, sex, cultural background, neighborhood, belief in a particular way of lifestyle, or a specific behavior. Estimates of gang membership range from a few, four or five, to a few thousand. Due to the fluidity and validity of gang members, an accurate count of members is often impossible to attain (Snyder 114).
Within the gangs are different types of members. They are the core members, fringe members, associates and recruits. The core members are the established leaders within the gang along with the initiated members. They provide the leadership, the nature of the gang and determine the level of activity. It is these members who drive the gang in search of a pre-determined goal. The core members are the most involved with delinquent or criminal activity.
The fringe members are those who generally have a relationship with the gang but are unwilling to become full-fledged members due to various reasons such as age, social or economic status, marital status or simply an unwillingness to commit to the lifestyle. They may be considered "users" of the gang but more often then not are themselves used. The recruits or "wannabees" are the newest and sometimes, most dangerous members. Not yet fully integrated into the gang, they are easily influenced due to their desire for acceptance. Recruits often perform some of the menial tasks of daily gang life along with many of the more dangerous ones due to their status as expendable (Johnson 146). The average age of the gang member is 17 or 18 years old, but this age tends to be older in urban cities where gang existence has been longer (Curry 150).
Recently it has been noted that the age of gang members is expanding both from the low end and the upper end. The most notable change is at the upper end where gang members are staying in gangs longer in order to exploit economic gain. The gangs today are more diverse in criminal activity and money-making. The crack-cocaine epidemic of the mid- 1980 gave birth to another source of revenue for the gangs. Unlike the illicit drugs sold at the time, crack-cocaine was inexpensive to make, easily transported and resulted in a large profit margin for the dealer.
This lucrative market prompted many older gang members to stay-on for "just a bit longer" in order to exploit the booming market for the new drug (Johnson 160). Overwhelmingly, males make up the majority of gang members but female membership is on the rise. In 1992, a survey was conducted to find out the extent of females in gangs. Among the law enforcement agencies that responded it was determined that females accounted for nearly 6 percent of gang membership (Miller 111).
The presence of female gangs is often affiliations of the larger and more organized male versions. Independent female gangs are present and on the rise in numbers, but the majority of females involved with gangs and gang activity are traditionally the affiliated members of male gangs. Females...
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Research essay sample on Level Of Violence Youth Gangs
