Gangs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gangs - Essay Example Different Approaches and Responses to Gangs Due to the negative effects of the gangs to the community, it is a challenging feat to deal with them, thus, there are different approaches that are being applied to prevent and to resolve problems related to gangs. The approaches and responses of the community to the gangs are based on the different factors related to the personal, the family, the social and the legal aspects of the society. The individual and family approach is the primary way to resolve gang behavior since the individual person can be isolated. For that matter, programs targeting the education of the family members and the individual gang member are included in the main actions undertaken to resolve gang problems. But there challenge in resolving gang related problem is the fact that teenagers and adolescents are very susceptible to gang membership and other delinquent activities due to peer pressure and the presence of different gangs in the community and in school. Bas ed on the survey of national schools, 7.6% of male and 3.8% of female in the secondary school students are gang members with activities such as fighting, stealing or selling drugs. Not only can these activities endanger them, gang membership can also affect the school performance and safety of the teenagers (Egley, Mason and Miller, 2006, p.362; (Gatti et al., 2005). Other reasons for gang membership and delinquency that are needed to be taken into consideration are the effects of â€Å"poverty, unemployment, and decline of the family in American cities† (Egley, Mason and Miller, 2006, p.313). The family-based policies and programs are effective to prevent the delinquent behaviors through parent support and guidance as well as personality development. Another approach to the gangs and their activities is through community-based programs and social interventions. The programs applied in such level are considered immediate and short-term responses to violence and crisis of the members and the victims of the gangs. The neighborhood, schools and localities are included in the programs implemented in the community-based levels. Commonly, local government units and NGOs in the localities are the groups working to find solutions to the problems. Their goals are specific to the needs of the community which includes crisis intervention, treatment and emergency medical care for the children and their families, and the law enforcement activities (p.313). An example of the community-based organization is the Boston Gun Project. It started as an organization to counteract gang activities in Boston by â€Å"assembling interagency work group, applying quantitative and qualitative research methods for the study and assessment of the problem related to gangs, developing, implementing and evaluating interventions† (p.338). The community based programs and policies are effective for immediate results and for solutions that are specific to the needs of the particula r community. The legal aspect is one of the most important approaches to the problems of gangs. Due to the rise of the gang problems in the 1980s, there had been a wake up call in the legislative needs in terms of gang problems. The California Street Terrorism Enforcement and