Discuss the issues of gang membership. What are the recent trends in gang membership? Which youths are most at risk of gang-involvement? What is the underlying cause of gang involvement?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Gang membership and activity in
communities and schools grew throughout the 1980s and peaked during the mid-1990s.
Following a precipitous decline through 2004, gang membership has increased across
rural, suburban, and urban locations since; though some declines have been found
since 2012. Most of this gang activity has been concentrated in urban areas. Studies
have identified that approximately 8% of adolescents report belonging to or having
belonged to a gang, with typical length of involvement around 1 year. These
percentages are higher (9–32%) for cities with known gang problems. Peak age for
gang joining is 14 and 15 years of age. Some locations and reviews have found gang
membership to be disproportionately minority (Black, Hispanic/Latino), while others
have found membership to be fairly even across ethnicity. Historically, boys have
outnumbered girls in reported gang membership two to one; yet, more recent reports of
urban locations have found a fairly even split across gender, with both boys and girls
reporting membership around 8%. Involvement with gangs or gang activity is typically
the result of an accumulation of individual, family, school, and community risk factors or
difficulties. The more influential risks are when young people are involved with the
juvenile courts and delinquency at earlier ages, have numerous family and caretaking
transitions (a result of maltreatment, trauma, and/or poverty, for example), experience
school problems and failure, have friends who are delinquent or gang-involved, and live
in unsafe neighborhoods. In addition, children and adolescents who are delinquent with
more serious and violent offending histories are more likely to become gang-involved.