Violent Gang Member O Violent Acceptant Person example essay topic

Gangs are a violent reality that people have to deal with in today " cities. What has made these groups come about? Why do kids fee that being in a gang is both an acceptable and prestigious way t live? The long-range answer to these questions can only b speculated upon, but in the short term the answers are much easi eto find.

On the surface, gangs are a direct result of human beings personal wants and peer pressure. To determine how to effective lend gang violence we must find the way that these morals are give to the individual. Unfortunately, these can only be hypothesized However, by looking at the way humans are influenced in society believe there is good evidence to point the blame at severainstitutions. These include the forces of the media, theater, drugs, th government, and our economic system By looking at the forces of the media, theater, drugs, and th capitalist economic system we can apply Akers? social learnin theory and the Marxist theory as the cause of Gangs. Akers? social earning theory addresses the forces of the media, theater, and drugs Akers? social learning theory states that criminal and delinquenbehavior are acquired, repeated, and changed by the same process conforming behavior. It also addresses four major concepts o differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement, an imitation.

It goes on to say that this process will more likely produc behavior that violates social and legal norms than conforminbehavior when persons differentially associate with those wh expose them to deviant patterns, when the deviant pattern i differently reinforced over conforming models. Marxist's theory ha capitalism the as the cause of crime. Marxist theory states tha ownership of the means of production by the capitalist ruling clas produces a society that is inherently criminogenic. The theor believes that the crimes committed are either, ? crimes o accommodation or crimes of resistance to the capitalist system On the surface, peer pressure and greed cause gangs. Many teens gangs will pressure peers into becoming part of a gang by making all sound glamorous. Money is also a crucial factor.

A kid (a 6-1 year old, who is not yet a member) is shown that's / he could mak$200 to $400 for small part time gang jobs. Although these ar important factors they are not strong enough to make kids do thing that are stronglagainst their morals One of the ways that kids morals are bent so that gang violencbecomes more acceptable is the influence of television and movies This is an example of the social learning theory. The average chil spends more time at a TV than she / he spends in a classroom. Sinc nobody can completely turn off their minds, kids must be learnin something while watching the TV. Very few hours of televisiowatched by children are educational, so other ideas are bein absorbed during this period of time. Many shows on television toda are extremely violent and are often shown this from a gang " perspective.

A normal adult can see that this is showing how foullthat gangs are living. However, to a child this portrays a violent gan existence as acceptable. ' The Ends Justifies the Means' mentality also taught through many shows where the "goody guy' captures th " bad guy' through violence and is then being commended. A youn child sees this a perfectly acceptable because he knows that the "baguy' was wrong but has no idea of what acceptable apprehensiotechniques are Gore in television also takes a big part in influencing young minds Children see gory scenes and are fascinated by these things that the have not seen before.

Older viewers see gore and are not concernewith the blood but rather with the pain the victim must feel younger mind doesn't make this connection. Thus a gore fascinations formed, and has been seen in several of my peers. Unfortunatelkids raised with this sort of television end up growing up wit stronger propensity to becoming a violent gang member o' violent-acceptant' person " Gangs bring the delinquent norms of society into intimate contac with the individual. ' 1, (Marshall B Clin ard, 1963).

So, as you case if TV leads a child to believe that violence is the norm this wil manifest itself in the actions of the child quite, often in a gan situation. This is especially the case when parents don't spend a lot time with their kids at the TV explaining what is right and what i wrong. Quite often newer books and some types of music wil enforce this type of thought and ideas Once this mentality is installed in youngsters they becomincreasingly prone to being easily pushed into a gang situation by an problem at home or elsewhere. For instance, in poor families wit many children or upper-middle class families where parents ar always working, the children will often feel deprived of love. Parent can often feel that putting food on the table is enough love. Childreof these families may often go to the gang firstly out of boredom into belong somewhere.

As time goes on, a form of love or kinshidevelops between the gang members and the child. It is then that th bond between the kid and the gang is completed because the gan has effectively taken the place of the family The new anti social structure of cities also effects the ease in whic boy / girl can join a gang. ' The formation of gangs in cities, and mos recently in suburbs, is facilitated by the same lack of communitamong parents. The parents do not know what their children ar doing for two reasons: First, much of the parents' lives are outsidthe local community, while the children's lives are lived almost totallwithin it.

Second, in a fully developed community, the network o relations gives every parent, in a sense, a community of sentries whc an keep him informed of his child's activities. In moder living-places (city or suburban), where such a network is attenuated he no longer has such sentries. ' 2, (Merton Nisbet, 1971) In male gangs problems occur as each of the members tries to be th manliest. This often leads to all members participating i"one-up-manship'.

Quite often this will then lead to each membetrying to commit a bigger and more violent crime or simply mor crimes than the others will. With all members participating in this sor of activity it makes for a never-ending unorganized violence spree (sort of Clockwork Orange mentality). In gangs with more intelligenmembers these feelings end up making each member want to be th star when the groups commit a crime. This makes the gang muc more organized and improves the morale of members which in tur makes them more dangerous and very hard for the police to dea with and catch (There is nothing harder to find and deal with tha organized teens that are dedicated to the group).

This sort of gang i usually common of middle or upper class people although it ca happen in gangs in the projects and other low rent districts tooTh is "one-up-manship' is often the reason between rival gang fighting. All gangs feel powerful and they want to be feared. To this they try to establish themselves as the only gang in a certaineighborhood. After a few gang fights hatred forms and gan murders and drive-bye's begin to take place. When two gangs are a war it makes life very dangerous for citizens in the area. Less tha 40% of drive-bye's kill their intended victim yet over 60% do kil someone.

This gang application is one of the many reasons th asexual stereotypes and pressure to conform to the same must bstoppedLastly one of the great factors in joining a gang is for protection Although from an objective point of view, we can see joining a gan brings more danger than it saves you from, this is not always the wait is seen by kids. In slums such as the Bronx or the very worst case Compton, children will no doubt be beaten and robbed if they do no join a gang. Of course they can probably get the same treatmenfrom rivals when in a gang. The gang also provides some money fo these children who quite often need to feed their families. The reasokids think that the gang will keep them safe is from propaganda fro the gangs.

Gang members will say that no one will get hurt and mak public show of revenge if a member is hurt or killed People in low rent areas are most often being repressed due t poverty and most importantly, race. This often results in an attitudthat motivates the person to base his / her life on doing what th system that oppresses them doesn't want. Although thi accomplishes little it is a big factor in gang enrollment. They the commit crimes of resistance, which displays the Marxist theory ocrimeSo, as you have seen gangs are a product of the environment have created for ourselves. Some of these factors includ oppression, the media, greed, violence and other gangs.

There seem to be no way to end the problem of gangs without totallrestructuring the modern economy and value system. Since th chance of this happening is minimal, we must learn to cope wit gangs and try to keep their following to a minimum. Unfortunatelthere is no real organized force to help fight gangs. Of course th police are supposed to do this but this situation quite often deals wit racial issues also and the police forces regularly display thei increasing inability to deal fairly with these issues.

What we need ar more people to form organizations like the "Guardian Angels gang-like group that makes life very tough for street gangs that ar breaking laws.