Gangs Essay

The Effects Gang Violence on Teenagers
Gang Violence has been around since there had been people on this earth. Gang violence effects multiple areas of life, from young adults or teens to increased firearms on the streets.   One study by Kalogerakis' study looks at some of the factors to the rise of gang violence in the US, especially among juveniles in the period leading up to the 1990s.   Although criminal and gang behavior on the part of juveniles has continued past this date, it has undergone somewhat of a decline. This study takes a historical perspective on gang violence and juvenile crime in the US, going all the way back to the twentieth century.   The study   points toward factors to the rise of juvenile gang violence, rather than just pointing out problems without looking deeply into causes. One of the most obvious points that came out of the research, was that the use of firearms rose during the same period.   As an example, in Los Angeles, the proportion of gang-related homicides went from 71 % in 1979 to 95% in 1994 (Kalogerakis, 2003). Overall this study charts the rises and falls of juvenile crime, showing criminal and gang behavior by juveniles.
Gangs have a huge impact on society, whether it was the media or political.   The media normally directs there attention to drive-by shootings and drug wars between gangs, but not the   increased violence that is caused by increased youth gang violence. In the Rochester study by Kalogerakis, gang members accounted for 68% of the serious violence (Kalogerakis, 2003). He primarily looks at this Rochester study to back up some of his points with evidence, but also to compare other statistics and studies that have been done on gang violence. Rochester is a city filled with many killings directly related with gang violence. In his study, there is evidence of gang migrations from Los Angeles to rochester with heavy involvement in drug trafficking (46% of gang members, according to the 1996 National Youth Gang...