Gangs

9 Pages 2157 Words

GANGS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON FAMILIES

Introduction

The aim or objective of this paper is to thoroughly report on why individuals join gangs and how gang membership can put people’s friends, family and even themselves in jeopardy of being seriously injured or killed. The researcher is aiming towards a few topics on this paper such as gang membership, graffiti, violence and vandalism, and spreading gangs. Most people do not realize or do not know how dangerous gangs can be and this can lead to serious consequences.
















Literature Review

Gangs affect the enviroment or city in which people live. They affect the enviroment of families and cause harm to victims and witnesses in areas of gang territory. Incentives or becoming a gang member, graffiti in the neighborhood, gang violence, the spread of gangs, and gang prevention will be explored thoroughly. The research found on gangs mainly focused on adolescent and young adult males.

The most popular reason for joining a gang is coming from a dysfunctional family and wanting a sense of having a family (Lahey). These types of people do not think very highly of themselves. They feel good belonging to a gang because they believe that their family, friends or community has not paid any attention to them. People of certain races or cultures may believe that they are powerless or have no opportunities. Gus Gedatus states that “they may not feel that they are apart of society” (Gedatus 8). These types of people look at participating in a gang as being cool. Another popular reason for joining a gang is to follow family tradition. Some people’s parents or maybe even grandparents have belonged to a certain gang and will be upset or feel that the person is betraying the family. Youth form gangs because people fear it. This fear may give the members a sense of power. These types of gangs tend to move into neighborhoods that are unfamiliar with gang activity in ...