Gangs
Gangs are a violent reality that people have to deal with in today's cities and one I am quite happy I have no connection with. There is no specific formula used to calculate who or why people or children join gangs. Upon initial insight, gangs can be viewed as a direct result of an individuals personal wants and peer pressure. However, by looking at the way different individuals are influenced in society, there is evidence to support the cause of individuals joining gangs linked to several institutions. These include the forces of the media, the government, theatre, drugs and our economic system.
Gangs seem to be influenced mainly by peer pressure and greed. Many teens in gangs
will pressure peers into becoming part of a gang by only demonstrating positive points, not the negative. Money is also a crucial factor. A child can be shown at an early age that he/she could make $200 to $400 for small part time gang jobs. Although these are important factors they are not strong enough to turn most children against their morals.
One of the ways that kids morals are bent so that gang violence becomes more
acceptable is the influence of television and movies. The average child spends more time viewing television than receiving education. Very few hours of television watched by children are educational, so other ideas are being absorbed during this period of time. Many shows on television today are extremely violent and are often shown this from a gang's perspective. A normal adult can see that this is showing how foully that gangs are living. While much attention has been given to the association of street gangs with drugs, there has been little public discussion of the economics of this association. In the past, those street gangs that depended upon crime as a source of income were limited to the traditional methods of extortion, robbery and burglary as a means of providing that income. (1)
Once this mentality is...
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