Preview

Why People Join Gangs Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
776 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why People Join Gangs Essay Example
“Gangs”

A gang is a group of people that form a organization and assemble trust within each other. In the early usage gang use to refer to workmen but now gang refers to a group of criminals. There are many reasons why people join gangs. One of the most common reasons why people join gangs is a sense of acceptance. It gives the person a sense of family or identity. Teenagers are in the process of developing their own life. These gangs can offer the teen a sense of purpose, belonging and way of life.

The leader of the group is looked upon as a leader or a parental figure. The other members are seen as family members. This doesn't mean that only people with families torn apart join gangs, but occasionally if a individual sees his or her parents fighting or doesnt show them enough love may want to start looking for another family elsewhere. Their emotional state now makes them easy targets for gang members.

Some other reasons why people join gangs are to make money, curiosity, and peer pressure. An individual who may want to join a gang may have financial problems. A person not working can be desperate for money and would want to join a gang to perform illegal activities such as selling drugs. Younger kids may deliver packages containing drugs or illegal merchandise and also all the older kids who know the risk might be tempted to do it because all the money involved. Making easy money is one of the most dangerous aspects of gangs. In some cases, a person would join a gang out of curiosity. A person would just want to be in a gang to find out how it feels and how their life would be different.

A teenager can become pressured by other gang members or friends to join a gang. An adolescent would join the gang because they would like to be accepted by their peers. Teenagers would join a gang through a form of peer pressure, another would join the gang to prove to their peers that they are not afraid. Some kids join these groups because it gives them

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    One reason for teenagers joining gangs is to feel accepted. To understand why a teen joins a gang, you have to live in their areas and understand their environment. In gang neighborhoods, the majority of the teens may be in a gang. This is almost equivalent to a cool club, because those who are not in the gang are viewed as outsiders and members of the gang may choose to avoid them for not being part of their club. So, in an effort to be accepted and to be liked, many teenagers will join the gang. Most young people want to be accepted and want to be considered cool by their…

    • 1418 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    First of all, gang violence is everywhere although we do not see it at times, it is there and we should be aware of this social issue that happen in someone life. Some folks may think that these people that are in gangs were born into it or they just like to break the laws. Some of us may never know the answer why they are in gangs but we can seek our answers in books. For example in the book “ Always Running” , by Luis rodriguez in pages 50-68 it summarizes that Luis rodriguez joins a gang with his friend name the Animal Tribe in which he says he wants respect and to show he can take care of himself. As a result this ruins Luis’s relationship with his mom which makes him leave the…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Presently, youths and adolescent teens have become progressively enticed to join gangs. An individual joining a gang or a non-criminal group consists of different pushes and pulls that work in tandem to represent an attraction or dominating force. In this case, for example, “gang membership can increase status among peers, especially girls (for boys)” while also allowing the opportunity to be with them (Why Do Youth Join Gangs?). Gangs also provide a sense of excitement through illicit drug selling and the ability to earn money. By committing these illicit acts, youths perceive themselves making a rational choice in their decision to join a gang. It is assumed candidates for gangs are already delinquent or have a high probability for delinquency…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bloods Vs Crips

    • 1557 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A gang is said to be a group of three or more people who engage in criminal activities and identify themselves with a common name or sign(National Criminal Justice Reference Service). Many people join gangs for a number of reasons anything from protection or just a sense of brother or sister hood. People join for identity of recognition which means without the gang that person might feel worthless and impossible, for protection, fellowship and brotherhood that they many not receive at home, intimidation and the feeling of being better and bigger than another person, and for the criminal activity or drug use but in the 60s that wasn’t the case for the Bloods and the Crips. Bloods and Crips were originally started to protect their neighborhoods…

    • 1557 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Supporting my claim, Stanton E. Samenow states, “Gangs offer a hierarchy of leadership and a path to gain approval and achieve success.” This statement discusses how gangs offer a way to gain leadership. Dr. Samenow also states, “ In almost every instance of my interviewing a gang member, that person had siblings or neighbors living nearby who faced similar or even worse adversities and were confronted by the same temptations…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Timeline of Gangs in America

    • 2307 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Gangs started out as a way for people who were socially distinct to come together as a unit; most consisted of people who were of the same ethnic background, unfortunately crime was a way for these groups of people to even the odds. One of the first gangs recorded was in 1820 in New York and through time gangs have become most predominant in four areas; New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Mexico.…

    • 2307 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In the United States a gang is a group of recurrently associating individuals or close friends with identifiable leadership and internal organization, identifying with or claiming control over territory in a community, and engaging either individually or collectively in violent or other forms of illegal behavior. A member of a gang is known as a gangster. Gang members are typically "jumped in" or have to prove their loyalty by committing acts such as theft or violence. Over the past two decades, there has been a growing concern over youth gang activity in the United States. Gangs were once regarded as an essentially American problem, they are now considered in media accounts,…

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Gang membership could be attracted because it gives the youth a sense of prestige or status among friends. According to Rochester study, Thornberry (1998) states the most important community risk factor is the level of social integration (attachment) is low. Those youth who grow in social disorganized neighborhoods who do poorly in school and associate himself with delinquent peers are more prone to become gang members.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How To Join A Gang Essay

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gang is: A group of people, youngsters or adolescent who associate closely, often exclusively, for social reasons, esp. such as a group engaging in delinquent behavior. It is said that there are about 750,000 different gangs in the United States, ranging from cultural meaning people from the same culture like the “The Latin Kings” consisting of Hispanic members to the “ Zoe pound” which include only Haitians or the well know the “mafia” which consist of the Italians. Other gangs are just diverse like the Crips and the Bloods, these gangs are like the country we live in the melting pot.…

    • 805 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Female Gang Research Paper

    • 2643 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Females in gangs often look to be with members of great influence for protection and status. Females in gangs often come from the same troubled backgrounds as the male members. Many members of female gangs come from homes where they were abused by their fathers and see male gang members as father figures. They often also come from poor communities that offered little hope for advancement in society. Due to this lack of possibilities the psychological basis for gang membership is formed.…

    • 2643 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inner City Gangs Essay

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are many different reasons as to why a young person may join a gang that lives in the inner city, however for this paper, only a few will be discussed. One reason that a young person may join a gang is peer pressure from other teenagers and the need to fit in. A young person growing up in a family that has gang members in it is another reason for a young person to join a gang. “One way to know about gangs is to know gang members, to live with gang members, to see gang members on neighborhood streets” (Cadwallader 2002). If a young person is exposed to gangs then the chances are good that they will join that gang so that they fit in or to make their family members…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A proper understanding and perception of gangs requires an understanding of when a group turns into a gang. Additionally an understanding of the significance of the gangs’ characteristics is required. Understanding gangs is a crucial step in being able to reduce the violence and inequalities all around the world. This is because gangs are a global phenomenon and they are the voice of the millions of individuals that are marginalized.…

    • 1012 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Social Benefits Of Gangs

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages

    These crimes often lead to prison time. For the outsider, the high likelihood of being incarcerated seems like enough of a negative element of gang life to deter people from joining, but the reality is contrary to that assumption. A possible explanation is that crime and incarceration may be seen as a normal part of life. Just as a child who's farther goes to work every day would see going to work as being normal, so too would a child see crime and prison as normal whom grew up in a society where people went to prison everyday. Society outside of gang life may be perceived as predatory by gang members and the gang itself might be perceived as having the moral high ground. Incarceration doesn't appear to be a strong deterrent in the decision to join a gang. The perception of some must be that with or without gangs, incarceration is an inevitable possibility, and may even be seen as a badge of honor. Under this logic, gangs could provide a conduit for social justice from the perspective of the disadvantaged. Through organized crime efforts, the individual gang member gets to lash out at what they may believe to be an inequitable society — giving them a powerful platform as to inflict more damage…

    • 1184 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poverty that comes from inability to obtain a job or being forced to work at a low paying job because of racial discrimination can lead a young person to join a gang. In her…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Gang Violence

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A former gang member known as G-Ball was very young when he joined a his gang.…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays