Gangs

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The violent reality of gangs

Gangs are a violent reality that people have to deal with in today's society and ask, what has made these groups come about? Why do kids feel that being in a gang is an acceptable way of life? In criminology, the strain theory state that social structures within society may encourage citizens to commit crime. To the rest of society, gangs are a direct result of human beings' personal wants and peer pressure. However, by looking at the way young adults are influenced in society, I believe from personal experience and good evidence the media, government, drugs, and economic system play a big role.

Many young adults in gangs will pressure peers into becoming part of a gang by making it all sound exciting, and profitable. Money and drugs is a crucial factor in the crimes committed by gangs (DEA). A child who is not yet a member is shown that s/he could make $500 to $800 for small part time gang jobs. For a child growing up in poverty or in the ghetto without any opportunity to get out, a gang is a simple way of making a living. Selling drugs is very profitable for gang members but stress upon the authorities. Most gang members do not feel that drugs should be illegal. Selling drugs is a business that has employers; a customer; management and more just like a regular job. If gang members with records can't get a regular job, selling drugs is the best next option. If society stops blocking out those who made mistakes in their life, I believe illegal drugs could one day be off the streets.

One of the ways that kids' morals are twisted so that gang violence becomes more acceptable is the influence of television and movies. The average child spends more time at a TV than she/he spends in a classroom.

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Very few hours of television watched by children are educational, so other ideas are being absorbed during this period of time. Many shows on television today are extremely violent and are often shown this from a gang's perspective. A normal adult can see that this is showing how foully that gangs are living. However, to a child this portrays a violent gang existence as acceptable. 'The Ends Justifies the Means' mentality is also taught through many shows where the goody guy captures the bad guy through violence and is then being commended. A young child sees this perfectly acceptable because he knows that the bad guy was wrong but has no idea of what acceptable apprehension techniques are. Gore in television also takes a big part in influencing young minds. Children see gory scenes and are fascinated by the things they have not seen before. Older viewers see gore and are not concerned with the blood but rather with the pain the victim must feel. A younger mind doesn't make this connection thus; a gore fascination is formed, and has been seen in several of my peers. Unfortunately kids raised with this sort of television end up growing up with a stronger propensity to becoming a violent gang member or 'violent- acceptant' person. Gangs brought the delinquent norms of society into intimate contact with the individual. So, as you can see, if TV leads a child to believe that violence is the norm this will manifest itself in the actions of the child quite, often in a gang situation. This is especially the case when parents don't spend a lot of time with their kids at the TV explaining what is right and what is wrong. Quite often newer books and some types of music will enforce this type of thought and ideas. Once this mentality is installed in youngsters, they become increasingly prone to being easily

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pushed into a gang situation by any problem at home or elsewhere. For instance, in poor families with many children or upper-middle class families where parents are always working, the children will often feel deprived of love. Parents may feel that putting food on the table is enough love. Children of these families may often go to the gang first out of boredom and to belong to a family. As time goes on, a form of love or kinship develops between the gang members and the child. It is then that the bond between the kid and the gang is completed because the gang has effectively taken the place of the family.

The new anti social structure of cities also affects the ease in which a boy/girl can join a gang. The formation of gangs in cities, and most recently in suburbs, is facilitated by the same lack of community among parents. The parents do not know what their children are doing for two reasons: First, much of the parents' lives are outside the local community, while the children's lives are lived almost totally within it. Second, in a fully developed community, the network of relations gives every parent, in a sense, a community of sentries who can keep him informed of his child's activities. In male gangs problems occur, as each member tries to be the toughest. Quite often, this will then lead to each member trying to commit a bigger and more violent crime or simply more crimes than the others. The violent crimes are usually against a rival gang which ends in murder or someone else getting hurt in the process. With all members participating in this sort of activity it makes for a never-ending unorganized violence spree. In gangs with more intelligent members, these feelings end up making each member want to be the star

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when the groups commit a crime. This makes the gang much more organized and improves the morale of members which in turn makes them more dangerous and very hard for the police to deal with and catch (There is nothing harder to find and deal with than organized teens that are dedicated to the group). This sort of gang is usually common of middle or upper class people although it can happen in gangs in the projects and other low rent districts too.

All gangs feel powerful and they want to be feared. To do this, they try to establish themselves as