Juvenile Gangs as Serious and Growing Problem in Many Years

Juvenile Gangs
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Juvenile Gangs
Juvenile gangs are common in the US. They were first experienced in Europe and Mexico. However, they first appeared in the US in the year 1783 just as the American Revolution was coming to an end (Van &Loeber, 1994). They began flourishing in the USA during the industrial era during which there were immigrations. According to a study, there are over one million juvenile gangs in USA (Science Daily, 2015). This number is three times more than the figures estimated by the law enforcement agencies in America. These figures should sound an alarm to all the citizens by beginning to reflect on the causes and consequences of juvenile gangs. The gang membership starts at the age of 5-17 years. A study also confirmed that on average 2% of the total population of US youths are gang members (Science Daily, 2015). Perhaps, before we even begin to have a look at the solutions to this problem, let us start by looking at the common causes of the problem.
Common Causes of youth involvement in gangs.
Drug abuse is closely related to the youth gang activities. Two main perspectives are used in viewing this instance. In the first place, an increased illegal use of firearms was reported by young people who use drugs. A poll released in the year 2004 showed that 35% percent of the children aged between 6-12 years have a fear that their life will be cut short by gun violence. The frequency of carrying weapons increased when they began selling drugs (Pupillo et al, 2016). Adolescence is a stage of seeking excitement. Some always ignore many risks and want to see how everything works.
Most of the youth are influenced by friends to involve themselves in gang activities. Young people interact with friends who have bad behaviors, they make them join juvenile gangs. Peers are found at school or in the community. The youths get excited by small things, and they will strive to have what they see their friends have (Pyrooz&Sweeten, 2015). Therefore they begin to look for various sources of getting income to support the needs. Studies show that some of the ways that they use include involvement in these youth gangs.
There is an ‘intimate’ relationship between poverty, unemployment and involvement of young people in criminal activities. Studies carried out in the year 2013 showed that there is a significant connection between high levels of poverty in some states in the US which makes the youth look for other means of earning income in their lives. The studies revealed that poverty and involvement of the youth had one aspect in common, they were always found in the same geographical area (Weisheit& Wells,2015). Poverty also makes the young people drop out of school and therefore becoming idle. Idleness makes them to be involved in risky behaviors (Pupillo et al, 2016).
Solutions to the problem of Juvenile gangs in the US.
Most of the researches that have been carried out show that the increase in the weapon carrying youths result from an increase in the involvement of juniors in the gangs. Therefore, to reduce the number of these juvenile gangs efforts must be directed towards making sure that the youth do not possess the weapons (Science Daily,2...