Why young people join gangs

Others are motivated by peer pressure, a need to protect themselves and their family, because a family member also is in a gang, or to make money. One of the worst effects of gang membership is the exposure to violence. Gang members may be pressured to commit a crime to become part of the gang. Consequences of gang membership may include exposure to drugs and alcohol, age-inappropriate sexual behavior, difficulty finding a job because of lack of education and work skills, removal from ones family, imprisonment and even death.

There are many signs that parents and guardians can use to tell if a child may be involved in gang activity. These include:. If you have concerns that your child is involved in a gang, it is important to discuss it with them.

Confronting a child who is suspected of gang activity is not easy. Parents and children may fear gang retaliation. They may worry about giving up protection or money that they receive because of their child's gang involvement. New gang members want to prove themselves and are eager to assist in gang-related crime such as thefts, drugs sales and assaults.

Gang members can be respectful to staff and do not necessarily disrupt classroom activities. Doing well in school does not disqualify a person from being a gang member.

Many gang members do not drop out of school and often maintain good grades. In such cases, gang affiliation may be overlooked until a major incident occurs.

There have been convictions of high school and college students, who had excellent grades, and who have worked and volunteered in the community, for gang-related crimes and murders. Some gang members lead double lives. A few gang members have been employed at Fortune companies, as well as local and state agencies.

Parents and teachers should not jump to hasty conclusions about their children and gangs. The warning signs of gang involvement can be similar to normal behavior during adolescence. The key is to question the behavior if it appears to go beyond the norm. If not informed, parents an form incorrect conclusions or fall prey to denial. Gang involvement can begin as early as elementary school.

Children as young as seven or eight years old have been recruited to work for gangs and have become gang members. Parents and educators should watch for signs that their children or students may be involved with gangs. To be accepted by the gang, the new member must adopt a defiant attitude toward authority figures. This defiance may be expressed by disruptive or violent behavior at school or at home. It may also lead to frequent contacts by the police or a probation officer. Are you sure you want to delete this item?

Behavior Changes At school, the young person who joins a gang often exhibits signs of his or her new status. Change of friends. Keeping late hours. They want to look and act cool to draw them into a whole group of illegal activities. It has always been a problem with gangs influencing kids to do the crime. With no economic power, these teenagers often turn to violence as an alternate from of power.

With all the violence out on the streets, gangbangers do not Many middle-class gang members usually back down because they are afraid of confronation from a real hard-core gangbanger.

Middle-class gang members do not have the same mentality as hard-core gangbangers. Suburban gangsters have something to live for while inner city gangsters feel that they do not. Violence is the worst aspect of gang life because it keeps getting worse as gangs keep growing larger. Violent acts are the biggest reason society has a negative outlook on gang life. Even though shoplifting is a crime that puts people in jail, it seems like an easy way for attention for young kids.

It is not just the streets, but also in the household there can be violence or abuse. The violence or abuse in the household can cause a teenager to see unsafe and think that joining a gang will make them tougher. Youth need to make sure they feel safe and if their hood if full of violence then they are more likely to join a.

These influences are not always good, in fact results show that when youth joins a gang and become a member they end up committing more delinquent behavior then they did before their involvement. In similar results claims the same to be true for affiliation with delinquent peers.

As a society we must be aware of the needs of our youth or more and more youths will choose the friends wrong friends to hang around as well as the wrong group to associate.

Gangs often target youth when recruiting new members, with the average age of initiation being 13 years old Omizo, Omizo, and Honda. A personal interview with police gang specialist, Rob Geis, revealed that the rapid growth of gangs is resulting in recruitment at shockingly young ages.

The youth are easily enticed by gangs for a number of reasons. Availability of guns and drugs, a lack of education and good parenting, and economic and financial status all contribute to the problem of youth gang involvement Rob Geis, Personal Interview. Youth begin to realize if they have a low socioeconomic status, and feel pressured to find a way to better their economic situations. So they will do rebellious acts to get this attention.

And the child is more likely to get away with their rebellious acts due to the lack of supervision since only one parent is around.

And in a single parent family since income is cut in half, the family may have to move to a lower income neighborhood where the risk of crimes and drugs is more prevalent.

And the children may find the attention they seek in gangs.