Why People Join Gangs
There are many reasons why youths or young adults join gangs. The main reasons is giving the person the sense of identity or belonging. It allows a person to achieve a level of status that makes them feel like they are needed and loved. Being in a gang also gives the feeling of protection. In case of any attack or any type of retaliation, there is that support of having each others back. Having that feeling of protection embraces that brotherhood. Many cases of people who join gangs feel like they have no one left, as in family, so having that brotherhood makes whom ever feel loved. It serves as intimidation as well, which leads to criminal activity. It is a choice to join a gang, but many people think mentally that is all that is left for them to do.
Research
- Over the past decade, annual estimates of the number of gangs have averaged around 27,000 nationally.
- Following a yearly decline from 1996 to a low in 2003, annual estimates steadily increased through 2012
- The most recent estimate of more than 30,000 gangs represents a 15 percent increase from 2006 and is the highest annual estimate since 1996.
My Personal Experiences
I started playing sports at a local park in my community when I was five years old. I grew up at that park and it was my second home, as a group of guys I grew up playing with were always there and considered friends. I never really thought about it at the time but I would soon figure out why they were always there. Throughout high school, I would always be at the park because my favorite thing to was be involved in basketball and baseball leagues they had throughout the year. I even had done my community service hours there. Same group of guys I grew up playing sports with were always there just hanging out and were also involved in the basketball leagues. It wasn't until I was around 17 or 18 years old where I finally noticed the group of guys (friends) were literally always there. One day, I was just playing some basketball with them, until this different group of guys rolled up on us and a group of my friends without saying a word just walked over to the other group and started fighting. I have never seen anything like that at the time, where nothing was said to straight up fighting like what happened. As the years went on, I was showing up to the park less and less, but it seemed like every time I showed up there was always a fight. Another day months later, I showed up balling up with the same group of friends as before and now a completely different group of guys kept taunting my friends I was balling up with and it got to the point where fighting just broke out. This time though, my friends were set up and the other gang had bricks. I am just watching in shock as one of my friends runs away with a very bloody face. I saw one of my good friends who isn't involved in gangs go and try to help but was being jumped by 4 guys. It is just bad at this point as I am scared for my friends to be getting into fights and putting their lives in danger. That is exactly what ends up happening soon afterwards. One of nicest guys I know who was involved in the gang, was killed outside of the park. It is so hard to believe, he was a couple years younger than I was at the time and I was in complete shock especially since I had just saw him on the bus a couple days before catching up and being cool with each other. The thing that makes this very difficult to go through as a friend, is seeing his family and friends in so much pain. That is why I think it affects the whole community because its lives that are at risk, and when something unfortunate like that happens it only hurts those involved.
Another story I have relating to gang affiliation is with my uncle. It was about a year or two ago the day before easter. I was home with my family when my dad receives a call at night from my uncles girlfriend saying my uncle has just gotten shot. The first thing we all think of is death. Luckily, my uncle survived the shot wound and has made a full recovery. It was a grueling healing process though that was hard for my uncle though. My uncle has no history of ever being involved in any kind of gang activity, he is actually a nice guy as well and I like to describe him like he wouldn't hurt a fly. To get to the point, my uncle was misidentified by a gang. He had a similar car to the guy they were looking for and that was all the gang went off of. What makes matters worse was my uncle of loading his two daughters into the car which had put their lives in danger. My uncle says he remembers seeing a car just staring at him but he wasn't sure what was going through their heads. The car just rolls up and shoots a handgun I believe, landing a shot on the back side of my uncle. The last thing my uncle remembers is getting up and going inside the house where he lost consciousness. My uncle was an innocent person who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, everyone is just thankful he made it out alive. It is still scary to think how that could be anyone, where lives are in danger and at risk even if you aren't involved.
Why it is Important
Gang affiliation is a social issue that affects the community in many ways. Just from experiences alone have had a traumatic effect on a wide range of range. My personal understanding of civic engagement has changed in a way where I understand how much effort goes into doing research and actually making that effort to understanding the community and where they stand. Before I knew what civic engagement was, I just thought it was a lot simpler. I thought it was easy, but that is not the case. There is a lot of work and passion behind the process. I was not surprised by how many people were affected by this problem of gang affiliation. It isn’t necessarily people being involved in gangs; it is more of how much disruption gangs have in the community. Disruption may be an understatement, because lives are affected and sometimes unfortunately are taken away too early. I had no problems going into my community and asking people about this social issue. I grew up with many friends who are involved in gang activity, and some have made the change for the better while some have not. I also have had plenty of my family who has had issues with this social issue, so talking to enough people was not a problem for me. I did receive feedback that was surprising to me. There were plenty of feedback that was helpful, but the one piece of feedback that stood out to me was taking into consideration of the reason why people are involved in gangs in the first place. These kids grow up in homes where violence and abuse were not out of the ordinary. I feel like most people think that these people who choose to be in gangs do not realize the affect they have as kids growing up. Of not feeling wanted and visually seeing that behavior growing up thinking it is normal. Overall, they are psychologically affected. That information did not occur to me and I have some kind of understanding from hearing that. I wouldn’t change anything, I really learned a lot and it taught me a lot on the effect of gang affiliation. I feel as like I had a successful presentation because I got so much out of this and I have that passion hoping it spreads to my audience. I do feel like my community will be affected because they already have. My friends and family I know are affected as I have had friends killed, my uncle was shot, and my Nina’s brother and cousin killed. Gang affiliation affects everyone not even involved in gangs. My uncle was misidentified, my friends were younger than I am and lost their lives. It is a problem and my friend who used to be in a gang knows that and is volunteering his time to help youth learn that there is so much more than gang banging and that’s the truth.
"The community feels more on edge and it shouldn't be like that"
-Justin Garcia
"Gang violence is unnecessary and harms innocent people"
-Stacey Garcia
"We have to see the perspective of those who are in gangs, it must have been influenced where their childhood was not lead with proper guidance."
-Virginia Franco
Another story I have relating to gang affiliation is with my uncle. It was about a year or two ago the day before easter. I was home with my family when my dad receives a call at night from my uncles girlfriend saying my uncle has just gotten shot. The first thing we all think of is death. Luckily, my uncle survived the shot wound and has made a full recovery. It was a grueling healing process though that was hard for my uncle though. My uncle has no history of ever being involved in any kind of gang activity, he is actually a nice guy as well and I like to describe him like he wouldn't hurt a fly. To get to the point, my uncle was misidentified by a gang. He had a similar car to the guy they were looking for and that was all the gang went off of. What makes matters worse was my uncle of loading his two daughters into the car which had put their lives in danger. My uncle says he remembers seeing a car just staring at him but he wasn't sure what was going through their heads. The car just rolls up and shoots a handgun I believe, landing a shot on the back side of my uncle. The last thing my uncle remembers is getting up and going inside the house where he lost consciousness. My uncle was an innocent person who was at the wrong place at the wrong time, everyone is just thankful he made it out alive. It is still scary to think how that could be anyone, where lives are in danger and at risk even if you aren't involved.
Why it is Important
Gang affiliation is a social issue that affects the community in many ways. Just from experiences alone have had a traumatic effect on a wide range of range. My personal understanding of civic engagement has changed in a way where I understand how much effort goes into doing research and actually making that effort to understanding the community and where they stand. Before I knew what civic engagement was, I just thought it was a lot simpler. I thought it was easy, but that is not the case. There is a lot of work and passion behind the process. I was not surprised by how many people were affected by this problem of gang affiliation. It isn’t necessarily people being involved in gangs; it is more of how much disruption gangs have in the community. Disruption may be an understatement, because lives are affected and sometimes unfortunately are taken away too early. I had no problems going into my community and asking people about this social issue. I grew up with many friends who are involved in gang activity, and some have made the change for the better while some have not. I also have had plenty of my family who has had issues with this social issue, so talking to enough people was not a problem for me. I did receive feedback that was surprising to me. There were plenty of feedback that was helpful, but the one piece of feedback that stood out to me was taking into consideration of the reason why people are involved in gangs in the first place. These kids grow up in homes where violence and abuse were not out of the ordinary. I feel like most people think that these people who choose to be in gangs do not realize the affect they have as kids growing up. Of not feeling wanted and visually seeing that behavior growing up thinking it is normal. Overall, they are psychologically affected. That information did not occur to me and I have some kind of understanding from hearing that. I wouldn’t change anything, I really learned a lot and it taught me a lot on the effect of gang affiliation. I feel as like I had a successful presentation because I got so much out of this and I have that passion hoping it spreads to my audience. I do feel like my community will be affected because they already have. My friends and family I know are affected as I have had friends killed, my uncle was shot, and my Nina’s brother and cousin killed. Gang affiliation affects everyone not even involved in gangs. My uncle was misidentified, my friends were younger than I am and lost their lives. It is a problem and my friend who used to be in a gang knows that and is volunteering his time to help youth learn that there is so much more than gang banging and that’s the truth.
"The community feels more on edge and it shouldn't be like that"
-Justin Garcia
"Gang violence is unnecessary and harms innocent people"
-Stacey Garcia
"We have to see the perspective of those who are in gangs, it must have been influenced where their childhood was not lead with proper guidance."
-Virginia Franco
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