Essay about Youth Gangs - 2091 Words

Within the past two decades, a growing concern has been focused on what can be considered a social epidemic among the youth of our nation. This social distress stems directly from the rising number of youth gangs throughout the country. Gang mentality and social deviance of this form has been noticed and documented in this country for decades. â€Å" Prior to the 1970’s, gang violence was still popularly associated with white ethnic enclaves in the cities of the Midwest and East, and gang incidents were typically brawls involving fists, sticks and knives. Today, gangs are made up largely of ethnic groups, especially African American and Latino Americans, and handguns and other military hardware are the typical vehicles for the acts of†¦show more content†¦For instance, the Columbine incident that happened a few years back on April 20, 1999 was initiated by what normal standards would be considered a very small gang, made up of local rejected youths know as the Trench Coat Mafia. And as it went, this small gang of adolescents created such an uproar by orchestrating the Columbine massacre that they got more attention by media then all the other gang happenings, no matter how large of that time period, and provided an incentive for then unaware communities to become conscious of what is happening inside them and to not write off the undertakings of possible youth deviants. Youth gangs have been getting a tremendous amount of press and media attention as the problem grows worse and worse, and because of this attention and exposure the rate of adolescents joining these gangs is constantly increasing. As of right now, gang life is in a lime light all to its own. There has been documentaries, movies, books and so on that have demoralized it as well as glamorized it, and to trouble youths who think that they have no place else to turn, gang life seems as though it can be a very acceptable and possibly through their point of view, a positive change in their some what hitched lives. Social experts chalk up the sudden increase of youth gang activity to two distinct reasons; â€Å" (1) the diffusion of gang culture through popular media, and (2) economicShow MoreRelatedCauses Of Youth Gangs821 Words   |  4 PagesA gang is a group of people who associate closely, often exclusively, for social reasons. The issue of youth gangs has received considerable m edia, political and police attention in Australia in recent years. Young people like to belong to a peer group. Those who feel left out of social groups may end up joining a gang or just associating with an antisocial group of peers. 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