Teenagers Join Gangs

Why do Teenagers Join Gangs? Gangs are a group of people who deliberately engage in illegal behavior. Those people are gangsters who are commonly seen as dangerous criminals and social outcasts; but they do not join gangs for no reason. “Adolescents may be interested in joining gangs because of its supportive features. For example, gangs can offer a sense of confidence, individuality, and connection to something greater than oneself” (McNeil, Herschberger, and Nedela, 2013)The senses they lack are caused by the people they encounter and the things they experienced, which have negative influence on their philosophy and values. Most of the gangsters join gangs because they have undergone difficult childhoods or traumatic experiences, such as
“While this seems obvious, perhaps even unnecessary to point out, the fact is that the school is becoming an arena of increasingly serious and constant violence” (Burke, 1991). Kids are likely to be harassed and bullied since they mostly lack concentrated monitoring from teachers in public schools. Moreover, teenagers are too vulnerable to protect themselves from school violence which includes physical and verbal abuse. Despite the fact that teenagers could get physical harmed, it is likely that verbal abuse may have as much negative effects as physical abuse does. Students may also be laugh by their peers because of academic failure or acting weirdly and specially compared to others. In Tattoos on the Heart, Father Boyle gives an example of a child being mentally harmed by school violence. “The little kid had regularly been late for school and missing class” (Boyle, 43). When Father Boyle asks him about the reason for his absence from school, the kid cries and says, “I doesn’t got that much clothes” (Boyle, 43). Even though the book does not introduce the occurrence, it can be assumed that the kid was born into a poor family and his parents cannot afford enough clothes for him to change every day for school. As a result, his classmates mock his appearance and clothes. This verbal abuse is considered part of bullying and school violence. According to the website, “It is possible that in specific
Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. New York, NY: Free, 2010. Print.
Bradshaw, Catherine P and Tracy Evian. Waasdorp. “Measuring and Changing a "Culture of Bullying." School Psychology Review 38.3 (2009): 356-61. EBSCOhost. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
Burke, Jim. “Teenagers, Clothes, and Gang Violence.” Educational Leadership 49.1 (1991): 11- 13. EBSCOhost. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
McNeil, Sharde’ N., Jennifer K. Herschberger, and Mary N. Nedela. “Low-Income Families
With Potential Adolescent Gang Involvement: A Structural Community Family Therapy Integration Model.” American Journal of Family Therapy 41.2 (2013): 110-20. EBSCOhost. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
Page, Randy M and Jon. Hammermeister. “Weapon-Carrying And Youth Violence.” Adolescence 32.127 (1997): 505. EBSCOhost. Web. 10 Oct. 2013.
Wright, Darlene R and Kevin M. Fitzpatrick. “Violence And Minority Youth: The Effects Of Risk And Asset Factors On Fighting Among African American Children And Adolescents.” Adolescence (San Diego): an international quarterly devoted to the physiological, psychological, psychiatric, sociological, and educational aspects of the second decade