Gangs in America Essay Example
Gangs in America 06-06-09
Gangs in America It is estimated that there are roughly 24,000 gangs in America today. There are 750,000 stated gang members. Gangs are taking over our youth and our county. In 1996 50% of all gang members were juveniles. Twelve years later that percentage has not changed. Gang violence is on the rise and it has to stop. We have to take back our streets and our children. The history of gangs goes back to biblical times. Gangs have always caused social issue and unlawfulness. The history of gangs in America leads back to the colonization of this country. Immigrants came over here from Europe with little or no money. The money that they didhave ran out quickly. Poverty caused and fueled illnessand death in early America and as a result many children were orphaned. In the 1700’s orphanages were set up to deal with the many children who were put out on the street. The original goal of these orphanages was not to find a family for these children but to tuck them away out of society’ssight. Run by the church, orphanages were not given money to operate properly and were run down and dismal. In an attempt to resocialize the male children back into society at the age of 10 boys were paired up with local tradesmen who put them to work and provided them with food and shelter. The idea was for the boys to learn a trade and when they reached adulthood they would open their own businesses. While this may have happened some of the time, the majority of the time the children were abandoned once again and forced to live on the streets. These children banded together and were forced to steal in order to survive. Even this unlawfulness was going on society viewed these children more as a nuisancethan as a real social problem. (Lewis, 2008) By the end of the 1700’s the trade program was all but abandoned. Slave labor was abundant so there was no need to put the children to work. Many of the youths ended up on the streets. They banded
Gangs in America It is estimated that there are roughly 24,000 gangs in America today. There are 750,000 stated gang members. Gangs are taking over our youth and our county. In 1996 50% of all gang members were juveniles. Twelve years later that percentage has not changed. Gang violence is on the rise and it has to stop. We have to take back our streets and our children. The history of gangs goes back to biblical times. Gangs have always caused social issue and unlawfulness. The history of gangs in America leads back to the colonization of this country. Immigrants came over here from Europe with little or no money. The money that they didhave ran out quickly. Poverty caused and fueled illnessand death in early America and as a result many children were orphaned. In the 1700’s orphanages were set up to deal with the many children who were put out on the street. The original goal of these orphanages was not to find a family for these children but to tuck them away out of society’ssight. Run by the church, orphanages were not given money to operate properly and were run down and dismal. In an attempt to resocialize the male children back into society at the age of 10 boys were paired up with local tradesmen who put them to work and provided them with food and shelter. The idea was for the boys to learn a trade and when they reached adulthood they would open their own businesses. While this may have happened some of the time, the majority of the time the children were abandoned once again and forced to live on the streets. These children banded together and were forced to steal in order to survive. Even this unlawfulness was going on society viewed these children more as a nuisancethan as a real social problem. (Lewis, 2008) By the end of the 1700’s the trade program was all but abandoned. Slave labor was abundant so there was no need to put the children to work. Many of the youths ended up on the streets. They banded