Why Adolescents Join The Gang

A former gang member known as G-Ball was very young when he joined a his gang.

Gangs have been a growing issue across the United States for many decades now. Youth gang violence may have started around the ‘50s, but did not become a serious issue until the ‘80s and from there went through a downward spiral in some cities like downtown Los Angeles, which was where the notorious Bloods and Crips gangs both started. First, let’s simply define a gang as a group of people, mostly men ranging for ages 14-30, who claim territory and use it to make money for themselves and their neighborhood through illegal activities such as trafficking drugs and weapons. There are many reasons and components that are factored in when conducting research to hypothesize “why do people join gangs?” That is why it is necessary to compare and contrast all the social, biological, psychological, developmental, and substance abuse aspects and relate it to joining a gang. It is also important to touch base on the differences between males and females that join gangs, such as power differentials, social learning differences and social stratification differences.

Gangs originated naturally during the adolescent years of a child. They started from small play groups that eventually found themselves in conflict with other small groups of youth. Due to the conflict between the two small groups of youth it became a part of a child’s mind set to come together as a gang and protect their rights and satisfy the needs that their environment and families couldn’t provide. There are about 24,500 gangs in the U.S and out of those gangs 40% of them are juveniles (Hess, Orthmann, Wright, 2013). There are numerous reason why a child would join a gang, and the

What influences youth to join and leave gangs in America? This essay strives to seek and inquire an answer or explanation to this question. I will try to approach the answer to this question by analyzing the biggest factors of it such as the influence of social institutions, psychological behaviour, media and many more to determine the push and pull factors of a gang. Understanding that the dynamics of gang membership can be separated into formation & joining which will allow theories & methods of gang-related research to be refined.

Furthermore, the book, Youth Gangs in American Society by Randall Shelden, Sharon Tracy, and William Brown (2013) discusses several theories about why people join gangs. One theory that I think especially fits the explanation as to why people join gangs, with regards to this book, is the control/social bond theory. Shelden et al define control/social bong theory as “when a youth’s, bonds or ties, to society are weak or broken, especially with family, school and other institutions, when this occurs, a youth is apt to seek bonds with other groups, including gangs, in order to get his or her needs met”(p 193). I think so many groups in society let this boy down in My Bloody Life, including his family, the school system and even the police. Consequently with his ties to society so weak, he reached out to a gang that gave him a sense of comfort and belonging.

There are an abundance of reasons why some youth may choose to join a gang. The lacking of sense of guidance positively and

Teenagers and young adults join youth gangs for many reasons. Reasons a teenager would join a gang include family

Some of the reasons are abusive homes, low-income, and peer pressure. In Chicago, Illinois, Vice Lords, a gang that consist of African-Americans, use violence when they run into rival gangs. The recruitment of Vice Lord members start off young, in low income neighborhoods of Detroit and Chicago. Family problems play a key role in adolescents joining gangs. The American Journal of Community Psychology, stated, parents who provided maternal support and restrictive control to their children creates the adolescent to roam the streets. (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02512027 ) This gives teens the oppurtunity to be influced by violence, drugs, and gangs. Drugs, such as marijuana, are fairly easy to get and drive a huge profit. However, marijuana has medical benefits. Nancy Comeau, Addictive Behaviors, explains how the relations of anxiety, stress, and sensations are the motives for the use of marijuana in adolescents. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460301002386 ) Anxiety and stress are part of most teenage lives whether if its with cooping with school or family issues. Thus, explains a reason why adolescents join gangs. Adolescent teens are being charged as adults due to criminal activities. The teen mind is still developing and will become worse due to the actions of prison. Teen prisoners face depression and violence within the cell walls. This leads to suicides and long term mental breakdowns. (http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2004.056325 ) Familes are tramautized seeing their young children being sent away for many years and can also create depression for the familes, as

Why do adolescences join gangs in the ages of 13 and 15 years old? In the chapter Street Gangs, the author goes over six different risk factors for joining gangs. These examples are individuals who have experienced stress, injury, or parental divorce. Leading into other motives like impulsive behaviors or being influenced by negative peers. These adolescences end up experiencing the support and protection from gangs when they never received it from their parents or social organizations. This point reminds me of a course I took with Professor Zozula reading a theory from Websdale explaining the definition of a Jugger nut. Websdale says they are young males growing up with no authority or supervision who are easily influenced by negative relationship

What causes a kid to join a gang?There are many ways that can cause kids to join gangs, and there are also ways to stop them. In the story The Outsiders Pony boy was born into the gang life, and yet he is still making sure he does not go “full gangster.” Kids all around the world have problems that may be causing them to be join gangs, or just hurt people. In the novel The Outsiders the socs and greasers have problems that relate to socioeconomic status, physical characteristics, and how they solve problems. The greasers are in a gang that is not very violent, but that does not mean that gangs are okay to join.

Gang manipulation There are many ways that gangs can manipulate people to join them. Teens can be manipulated into gangs by different ways. Some of the ways are the family will initiate into a certain gang. The person could go to the gang for their own survival, out of desperation or loneliness, A person could be brought in by a friend. Since there are many ways a teen can be drawn into a gang it is good to be aware of why.

This is because in these areas you normally find gangs that are already formed and from this comes the risk of young juveniles being introduced and even initiated into these gangs. A juvenile’s environment plays a big roll in gang initiations. There are some instances in which the broken windows theory comes into effect in bad or run down neighborhoods which causes some juveniles or juvenile gangs to break into vehicles and homes and stealing. Some gangs may use activities like this as acts of initiation, but some could be more violent. Although this is a big factor, family, school, gender, and race are also big factors that contribute to these juvenile actions.

Juveniles often join gangs to be accepted into a society of their peers. These juveniles are looking for acceptance and a sense of belonging. They join these gangs for special status amongst their friends, protection from other gangs, financial help, peer pressure, excitement and for some juveniles, they are born into a gang society and it is a family tradition. Gangs can also act like a family. They will praise, chastise and show them a form of love and respect that they are looking for but cannot get at home.

Why Teenagers Are Attracted To Gangs For some young teenagers, joining a gang can provide comfort, protection and a sense of belonging. Among teenagers, being in a gang can enhance their popularity status with peers, who particularly are girls. A gang is a group of three or more individuals who make a name for themselves by creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Gangs tend to identify themselves by a collective name, a slogan, identifying sign, tattoos or other physical markings.

Gang Culture has increasingly become a subculture for many teenage youths. Mainly minority teens, these social outcast are often have no real economic stability and no parental supervision or guidance. As a result, teenagers often rebel and seek comfort in gangs. These gangs provide what is lacking in their lives, a sense of belonging. Minorities are often stereotyped and criticized, especially minorities born into poverty. They are condemned simply because they are not of the same race or of the same class as the majority (often middle class whites). Before these minorities can even prove themselves equal, society already pushes them towards the subculture that has risen out of oppression and rebellion. Gang culture reinforces, and in