Gangs the Presence of Gangs Has Always

Gangs

The presence of gangs has always been of concern to society, largely owing to their criminal behavior. The solution to the problem, however, lies not so much in police and legal action, but in addressing, the social causes of gang development. In other words, society has to change social conditions such as poverty, family abuse and neglect, the educational system, the Criminal Justice system, employment opportunities and the nature of social programs in order to prevent the development of criminally oriented gangs. Indeed, society would probably benefit a great deal if it could stop punishing such behavior and, instead, focus on the creation of a social environment that could prevent the development of criminally oriented gangs.

The primary cause of gang development, it has been well established, is poverty. This is because poverty causes economic and social pressures that lead to youth developing a poor image of self and society. In addition, homes that suffer from poverty are often prone to family neglect and abuse, which aggravates the problem. Unfortunately, poverty and dysfunctional families tend to congregate in the same neighborhoods, which leads to already embittered youngsters feeding off each other's anger and bitterness. This anger and bitterness is collectively so strong that it resists any and all efforts of the educational system, community and social programs to promote socially productive and upright behaviors. In fact, educational and other social efforts are probably seen as just talk, which has no understanding of ground realities such as hunger, the lack of family support and true friends, and the need to defend oneself from violence. Thus, such social environments prove to be fertile breeding grounds for the development of gangs and criminally oriented behavior.

Ignoring these facts, the current reaction of society to criminal gang behavior tends to be retributive and punitive through police action and the Criminal courts, even the juvenile ones. Such social reactions only serve to reinforce the perception that society is the enemy. This perception also gets further reinforced due to legitimate employment opportunities being few and far between for people who carry the stigma of hailing from certain neighborhoods, which are known for their high crime rate. And, of course, it doesn't help that most people from such neighborhoods are usually not polished or well educated enough to qualify for the better jobs. Thus, it is evident that a number of interrelated factors work together to result in the development of criminally oriented gangs. Therefore, each of these factors must be addressed in order to prevent the very formation of criminal gangs.