Psychology of the Formation and Entry of Young People into Gangs - Assignment Example

? Development and influence of gangs Introduction Gangs are becoming the order of the day in the current urban landscape. This basically is a group of peers that cannot be controlled of their deeds. The start and organization of gangs can be drowned back to the 17th century after the end of the American Revolution. However, another era of gangs developed in the 19th century in 1991. This era of gangs is more fatal than those in the past. The main region that witnessed the introduction of gangs is the east coast of America. This then spilled to other regions such as the New York City. Today, gangs are more revolutionized and more organized than the ones of the 19th century. Drug trafficking is the main activity of the current gangs. It is astounding to have witnessed people being caught at several transport terminals such as the airport or bus stages in their bid to transport drugs. What is more disturbing is the manner in which the gang issue is spreading and forming a network of members. The main group that is aimed here is majorly the youths. A lot of youths continue to flock into organized gangs. Peer pressure is the main reason behind all this. Youths of the same age group, are influenced by each other and end up joining these forms of gangs. Historical issues and legal issues Immigration issue has been tied with formation of gangs where the gang members pretend to be refugees, yet they have an agenda of organizing robbery activities. This, therefore, called for a legal law to be passed that looked into it that real refugees were allowed inside the country only. In the past, refugee camp management had not been keen on checking the legality of individual status whether they really deserve to be at the camp. This ignorance and negligence gave some loop holes for the criminals to hide themselves at the refugee camps while executing their plans. According to Howell (2010, p. 7), “Students who feel vulnerable at school may seek protection in the gang”. Here, the student feels that all of his friends have left him and will definitely join the gang so that he may feel safe from the protection of his friends. “Now we'll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer's Gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood” (Twain cited in Christensen & Levinson, 2011, p. 518). In this quote, M. Twain points out that before joining a gang, one had to take an oath which symbolized a sign of unity and common understanding. Oaths are often taken to built trust and ensure that there is no betrayal among the members. This is a sign of commitment and readiness to work for the group under all circumstance without retreating. Psychology concepts addressed Psychology is all about the general behavior of a human being. It involves the study of how one carries out the normal daily duties and how that particular person reacts to problems or matters affecting him or her directly. It also goes a step further to study how a person can relate with other people. Psychology, however, has several concepts that seek to explain how a human being carries out the daily life activities. Some of these concepts include the following; Conformity Conformity is a social influence that involves the ability of someone trying to copy or emulate someone else’s behavior or characteristics. One can be influenced by the behavior, actions or opinions of other people (Christensen & Levinson, 2011). They are majorly people with the same age bracket or the role models. In this case, most of the youths are carried by conformity and assumes other people behavior to be gangs just like them. A lot of factors push one into joining a gang group and one major factor is looking for money. Emotional change and developmental psychology. This concept of psychology mainly touches with the social life of people. At the youthful age, most people undergo emotional change within themselves. This is because they are developing the whole body system. Emotions are brought about by hormones and some of the hormones can make someone so aggressive to the extent that they will resort into doing anything in order to achieve what they need. If someone lacks enough money, then resorting into being a gang member will be the immediate step to be taken. Through this, they will be able to attain what they require (Howell, 2010). Decision making This concept involves making personal directions on how their lives should be. This is normally a hard task to go about it. Most people especially at the youthful age fails a lot in making personal decisions. Instead of making their own decisions by themselves, their friends do this part for them. They then end up following decisions that are not fit for them like joining gang groups. The issue of peer pressure also is of significant determinant when individuals are making decisions. Often, youths want identity and recognition for that they would base their decisions on the friend’s status and demand. Therefore, it influence significantly on individual decisions Problems faced by concerned bodies Development and influence of gangs is a vice and several organizations have been on the forefront in fighting against them. They include the Non Governmental Organizations and also the Government. These groups are however faced with several challenges in their bid of stopping this vice. According to Mendoza et al. (2004), the problems include the following: 1. Lack of enough resources in handling the ever rising situations; the police for example, lack enough equipment to be used. For example, the police does not have enough vehicles to conduct their normal routine check up around the urban Centre’s. The vehicles that they may be having are old and not that effective. Communication devices are also resources that should be available to the police but most of them do not have enough devices that will help them communicate whenever there is an emergency. 2. Individuals fighting this vice always lack support from other organizations. They are left alone and not given the support needed. The public also does not help these individuals by providing information on availability of gangs. 3. Operational tactics and methodology; methods that have been used in stopping the menace has been poor. The gangs have been more experienced than the agencies enforcing law. Recommendations The police needs to be provided with enough training and also provided with enough resources that will be of help to them in combating the gangs. The government should provide resources such as enough and effective vehicles and communicating facilities. The community also should be provided with enough information on the operations of the police and the voluntary individuals. They should encourage the community members to help the police in providing information on whereabouts of the gangs rather than hiding gangs from them (Howell, 2010). Suggestions on how it should be done According to Christensen & Levinson (2011), the following are the suggestions of what is to be done: The police, with the help from the government must work harder in combating gangs and ensuring that there exists security. The number of police officers should be increased and each of them allocated a specific time of work. Technology should be embraced since it is the most accurate and effective method of dealing with gangs. The police department must incorporate technological ideologies in the sector and further more train the officers on how to handle the equipments. The agencies formulating laws must put into considerations the issue of immigrants flocking into the country. They should form new laws governing the immigration department and the whole security issue. In order to ensure that there is equity, the government must put into considerations employing more women. Women, produce the same services just as men do and should therefore not be neglected. Conclusion Development of gangs has been a menace that is growing over the time. Most of the gangs conduct their operations in ruthless and inhuman manner. They pose great danger to the lives of ordinary citizens when they engage in a violent robbery. This issue has not been given the attention that it requires to have been given. More has to be done therefore by the concerned authorities since more and more youths continue to join these groups. The reason behind them joining these groups have been either to get money or because their friends are in the group. It is not worth for the parents to assume that their children are fairing on well with their normal life and they should therefore conduct routine check up on the changes in the behavior of their children. References: Christensen, K. & Levinson, D. (Eds). (2011). Encyclopedia of community: from the village to the virtual world. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Howell, J. C. (December, 2010). Gang Prevention: An Overview of Research and Programs. National Gang Center publishers. Mendoza, C., Brochu, S., Garrido, J., Anselmo, D., Nguyen, M., Inthisone, A., … Whitworth, B. (2004). Law Enforcement Services to a Growing International Community. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department International Unit Press. Read More