Gangs
By: Tasha • Essay • 1,149 Words • March 17, 2010 • 2,205 Views
Gangs
When was the last time you were able to turn on the news and not hear about some sort of violent act? Crime is a growing concern amongst most cities, and street gangs are behind a lot of the trouble. Street gangs have plagued the streets for centuries and there is no stopping the urge to commit such hideous crimes. Gangs grow from recruiting young kids but what makes a kid decide to join a crime filled lifestyle.
The gang life contains many negative aspects including the most notorious reason for violence, drugs. Getting high seems appealing to many students but with the excitement of getting high comes the responsibility of buying and selling the drugs. The biggest reason for a gang to start would be drugs. Marijuana might seem like a harmless drug but it can be the most dangerous drug to start doing. When someone smokes marijuana it attracts them to use other drugs and these addictions need gang support. Addictions attract young kids to this lifestyle to keep themselves supplied with drugs.
With the drug lifestyle comes the violent aspect of it. Violence is important to gangs because it draws fear in the eyes of those who try to stand up to them. Violence is the worst aspect of gang life because it keeps getting worse as gangs keep growing larger. Violent acts are the biggest reason society has a negative outlook on gang life. But young gang members don’t start out using violent acts to get attention but by simple crimes like shoplifting. Even though shoplifting is a crime that puts people in jail, it seems like an easy way for attention for young kids. Shoplifting is also a very addicting activity because it’s a rush for the people that do it. Shoplifting can start out with something small like a keychain but then it keeps getting worse as one keeps stealing bigger things like money and electronics.
When a young kid gets involved with gang activity their personality changes in a bad way. Now that the young gang member is part of some kind of illegal crimes their personality changes because they feel unstoppable. These young kids feel invincible, almost as if nobody can stand in their way, which can be a big problem to the people who stand in their way. These kids act as though they have no fear so this leads to more crime, which further leads to jail time.
So why would young kids want to join a life of crime? The answers are numerous. Some kids are searching for attention and when a kid joins a gang they get plenty of attention. The reason why a kid could want attention is simply because there parents don’t show them enough of it. Kids are always looking for the popularity because they need friends and I don’t know anybody who could live through childhood without any friends. There are other kids who feel like they don’t fit in with society so they become rebels.
A rebel is a person who resists or defies an authority, as kids there are plenty of authorities in your life. It’s a known fact that young kids don’t like authority because it doesn’t let them live their lives like they want. So what happens when a kid gets really angry at a principle or teacher, kids can retaliate by rebelling against their rules. This can be the simple start of a life of crime because the kids will meet others like they are which will lead them into gang life.
There are kids that one might consider a bad crowd, which are the wrong kids to become friends with. These kids are just beginning to start a life of crime, although some won’t grow up to be gang members others will and they will try there hardest to take you with them. It’s also very hard to stay away from these kids because the can be very deceivingly friendly and fun to be around but that’s just a mask to hide the evil underneath. It’s really