The Influence of Youth Gangs - Essay Example

The Influence of Youth Gangs Recent decades have seen a significant rise in youth murder, shootings, violence, and drug activity. Drive-by shootings, once an aberration that was perceived as a rarity, has forged its way into the public consciousness and headlines our daily papers on a regular basis. The severity of the violence has escalated and worked its way down through the younger age groups, as court decisions to bypass the traditional juvenile justice system have become more commonplace. Children as young as twelve have routinely made a pre-mediated choice to engage in the act of murder, the most deviant act of crime that a person can commit under our current system of law. Often, the blame is placed on social and economic disadvantages, lack of parental involvement, or a failure of institutionalized support such as the foster care system. Intervening in a child's pre-teen years could help change the child's first inappropriate steps down the road to becoming a gang member. Yet, many of the child's decisions to engage in extreme anti-social behavior have their foundation outside the child's upbringing, socio-economic status, or physical environment. The social environment of today's youth has left them vulnerable to the influence of gangs, and has helped shaped a class of youth incapable of determining right or wrong and incompetent to realistically weigh the outcome of their actions. Finding markers that could help sociologists, family courts, schools, and law enforcement predict a child's propensity to engage in gang activity could help lead to early intervention or create effective anti-gang programs. To begin a discussion on gangs and gang membership it is helpful to clear up some of the more common misconceptions and myths that surround gangs. While gangs are often perceived as a modern problem brought on by the stress of growing up in today's world, they have been around since the beginning of mankind. The origin of gangs in America began as the new immigrants, faced with a harsh life in a new country, would die or abandon their children. The 18th century orphanages, predecessor to the foster care system, were set up to care for the expanding population of homeless children (Lewis). However, the children soon discovered that they could look after one another as a means of existence. According to Lewis, "Gangs were generally comprised of members of the same race and ethnic background, who banded together for protection, recreation and financial gain". This would inevitably lead to problems of delinquency and theft as the gangs became more organized and cohesive. In essence, youth gangs in America were initially formed for the purpose of survival. Modern gangs can today be found in almost any medium sized American city, and have focused their criminal activity on the drug trade and violence. Gang membership has exploded in recent decades and Savelli reports that national membership topped one million youths in 2001. In addition, gangs are spanning the country to cities such as Minneapolis where members are as young as 13 years old (Chanen and Collins A1). Their escalating numbers have also been accompanied by an escalation in the types and severity of their crimes. Firearms have become much more commonplace within the youth gang setting and a study by Ruddell and Decker revealed the following: Regardless of the location of these respective studies, juvenile respondents generally told the researchers that they had some experience with firearms and that they were relatively easy to obtain. In addition, when juveniles were asked about their firearm of choice, they typically indicated a semiautomatic pistol of some description (50). This has led to more sophisticated organizations as rival gangs fight for drug territory and use violence as a means to settle their disputes. As an example, the US Department of Justice states that, "The Black Gangster Disciples Nation (BGDN) exemplifies such an evolution from a relatively disorganized criminal street gang to a formal criminal organization" (Bilchik). African-American teen violence has soared as Marks contends that, "An analysis of federal crime data by Northeastern University's James Alan Fox found a 52 percent jump in the number of murders committed by male African-American teens between 2002 and 2006" and cited the primary cause as "cuts in federal spending on youth programs and gang prevention". While few programs have made any effort to stop American youth from joining gangs, the fascination with violence and the legitimacy of an organizational hierarchy has attracted youths to gangs in record numbers. Efforts to curb gang violence and reduce the number of children associated with gang violence have often been centered on a discussion of the social context that gang activity takes place in. Impoverished neighborhoods, easy access to drugs, a proliferation of firearms, and a culture of violence have all been seen as root causes of why youth join gangs. James D. Vigil has pointed out that the number of guns increased by 250 percent from 1968 to 1990, and as many as 50 million of these were a small handgun with no reasonable purpose outside criminal activity (226). This culture of violence has been legitimized in the minds of America's youth as efforts to curtail gun ownership have consistently been suppressed by legitimate organizations such as the National Rifle Association (Vigil 50). Today's youth are not dramatically different from the youth of the 18th century in regards to their need to belong to a group to develop a sense of membership, or for the purpose of survival. Many of these children are socially isolated with few family ties, no positive role models, and a lack of positive reinforcement for motivating them to gain an education or seek meaningful employment. Socio-economic class plays a part in the young person's decision to join a gang, but does not have the impact that is commonly ascribed to it. Gangs have traditionally flourished in impoverished neighborhoods where there was a low regard for law enforcement, inadequate parental supervision, and no structured oversight for the child to develop and socialize in. Often, there would be a family heritage of illegal activity or the absence of an adult role model. The recent decades have seen a significant rise in single parent families, or two income families, that have left the child to gain their social norms from the street rather than parental guidance. In addition, economics plays a part by the lack of a solid social structure in poorer neighborhoods. People may rent rather than own their property and have less of a sense of community involvement. Dupere et al. puts forth the idea that, "concentrated economic disadvantage impairs residents' collective efficacy by giving rise to a generalized sense of exclusion and powerlessness" (1036). With no family or community formalized social structure, the child is vulnerable to peer pressure and other groups that give the child a sense of group membership. Pitts argues that, "when societies fail to provide culturally legitimated rites of passage into the adult world, adolescents who are denied the usual institutional props create their own" (27). Economics is not the factor, but is a marker for poor social structures that provide an environment for gangs to grow in. The dynamics of poverty and an economic disadvantage is often associated with other challenges that drive youth to join gangs. A study by Pinizzotto, Davis, and Miller found that many gang members had no male role model and had never lived with their biological father (2). In addition, their living arrangements were often transient as Pinizzotto, Davis, and Miller describe as living "temporarily with various people, such as grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and friends or acquaintances of their families" (2). In this state of flux, the child has no solid grounding where they can begin to develop a reasonable sense of right or wrong. Children do not enter the world wanting to grow up and join a gang. There is no preponderance of psychotic mental illness that produces an abundance of 12 year olds that are ready and willing to join a gang and respond to life's problems with violence. It is simply that these children have been offered no other social or cultural structure outside of the gang. The gang gives them order, a sense of belonging, and peer status that the society and their family have failed to provide. In conclusion, youth gang participation is not a new phenomenon, but it has become a larger problem due to its scope and severity of its deviance. While it is often closely associated with poverty, economics is simply a marker that manifests other social factors. Single parent homes, lack of community, transient living arrangements, and a culture of violence all contribute to the growing gang problem. Solving the gang problem through harsh law enforcement measures is like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped. Reducing gang membership needs to start in early childhood by providing the children with a sense of community and belonging. In addition, children need role models that they can interact with and copy. In the absence of these social forces, children will form gangs or seek membership in an existing gang. There is no doubt that gangs are a growing problem. Incarcerating our children and turning them into adult criminals will not solve the problem. The problem will only be solved by creating better parents, and building communities that place an increased importance on the lives of their children. Works Cited Bilchik, Shay (ed.), "History of Youth Gangs." Youth Gangs: Am Overview. Aug. 1998. US Department of Justice. 16 Dec. 2008 . Chanen, David, and Terry Collins. "As Gangs get Squeezed, Younger Kids Step up to Join." Minneapolis Star Tribune 26 Sep. 2007: A1. ProQuest. 17 Dec. 2008. Dupere, Vronique et al. "Affiliation to Youth Gangs During Adolescence: The Interaction Between Childhood Psychopathic Tendencies and Neighborhood Disadvantage." Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 35.6 (2007): 1035-45. ProQuest. 17 Dec. 2008. Lewis, Jared. "The History of Gangs." Know Gangs. eLibrary. 17 Dec. 2008 . Marks, Alexandra. "Key Factor in Murder Trends: Youth, Gang Violence." Christian Science Monitor 4 Jan. 2008 [Boston, MA]: 1. ProQuest. 17 Dec. 2008. Pinizzotto, Anthony J., Edward F. Davis, and Charles E. Miller. "Street Gang Mentality: A Mosaic of Remorseless Violence and Relentless Loyalty." FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (2007): 1-7. Wilson Web. 17 Dec. 2008. Pitts, John. "Describing and Defining Youth Gangs." Community Safety Journal 7.1 (2008): 26-32. ProQuest. 17 Dec. 2008. Ruddell, Rick, and Scott H. Decker. "Kids and Assault Weapons: Social Problem or Social Construction" Criminal Justice Review 30.1 (2005): 45-63. Wilson Web. 17 Dec. 2008. Savelli, Lou. "National Gang History." Gang Reduction Through Intervention, Prevention, and Education (GRIPE). 2001. eLibrary. eLibrary. 17 Dec. 2008 . Vigil, James D. "Urban Violence and Street Gangs." Annual Review of Anthropology 32 (2003): 225-42. Wilson Web. 17 Dec. 2008. Read More