Essay On Street Gangs

In almost every urban community in the United States of America, gangs are present in the area. Street gangs have been around for many years, most notably as early as the 1820s. Street gangs have become more popular over time, with gang activity peaking in the 1980s until the late 1990s. Gangs typically recruit children as young as age 15 and 37% of gang members are under the age of 18. In more recent times the prevalence of gang has poisoned the minds of the youth in urban communities around the United States. Gangs have been a problem in urban communities for a very long time. The first gang to gain popularity in the United States was the 40 Thieves in New York City which was established around the year 1820. Since then over one hundred thousand gangs have come to existence in the USA. In recent times the most popular gangs in America are the Bloods, Crips, and the Latin Kings. These gangs all originated in the Los Angeles area. Many gangs recruit children because they have very impressionable minds and they are easy to convince into joining a gang for its “positive benefits”. Some people join gangs to appear to be “cool” while many others join gangs to obtain a sense of family in their lives. Gangs typically promise the unconditional support that a family would provide in exchange for joining the gang. These misguided children are very attracted to these ideals and unknowingly join a criminal network that will ultimately get them killed or a life sentence in prison. The problem of gang violence stems from a lack of parental support in family systems. …show more content…
Many children that join gangs in America do so in order to obtain the sense of belongingness that they are not being provided at home. When parents are unable or choose to not provide their child emotional support, the child is likely to turn to other sources for this support. Children who do not understand what gangs truly are may only see the gang as a tightly knit group of individuals who unconditionally support each other, just like a family would. However, the child will not realize that the gang will not provide much, if any, support for him or her. Gangs will not help the child in any real positive way in life. Some children who join gangs may have the emotional support from their families in life, but they may be lacking other things. One common thing that many children lack in life is financial support from their families. A lack of financial support is one of the most common reasons that causes a child to become a part of a gang. As children grow older they realize that they have significantly less money than the other children around them. This causes the child to feel inferior to those around them. The child then looks to the parents to help the child become equal to the other children, but unfortunately the parents cannot afford to provide those things to the child. This causes the child to attempt to find other means to obtain funds so they can feel equal, no matter how immoral or illegal the actions are. Eventually they will become a part of a gang since the activities that they do tend to have a high profit margin. However the child tends to not realize that their actions usually are followed by serious consequences. Some consequences can be temporary such as a short term prison sentence, but some can be very severe and permanent, such as a life long prison sentence, or even worse, death. In the past there have been attempts made to solve this …show more content…
One of the more popular programs is known as the Scared Straight program. This is a program designed for children ages 14-19 who have been arrested for minor crimes such as public intoxication and petty theft. In addition to those crimes, many of the children are also affiliated with gangs. The children are accepted into the program in lieu of jail time or probation sentences. The program shows the children experiencing what real jail situations are like. Their experiences are meant to show them that they aren’t built to handle life in