Effect of Gangs
When one hears the word “gangs”, many would start leaving the premises or speak in hushed whispers due to the threats attached to these groups. Some would argue, especially its members, that the perceptions on gangs are exaggerated considering that not all gangs are violent in nature. Regardless of these arguments, many often fear gangs as history and the media portray the violence and chaos brought by these groups when they are in their territories or fighting rival organizations. However, there are several sentiments being raised by people when it comes to the possible impacts of gang membership to the individual who become involved with these gangs. How much changes would these gangs bring to the individual and the community? Gang membership would change a member’s relationship with his family and his overall physiological state; whilst gang presence would trigger problems for schools and communities due to the onset of crime and violence.
Impact of Gang Membership on the Individuals
While many are enticed to join gangs for a multitude of reasons and intentions, membership has a lot of long-term impacts that these members would not realize unless it is too late. In terms of families, Sackville (2013) stated that gang membership is seen differently by family members. Some perceive it beneficial because gangs can bring in financial and material benefit, often turning to the other side and ignoring their child’s gang affiliation. Others even believe they would greatly benefit in the community given their affiliation to the gang. On the other hand, gang membership of family members often incite the increase in stress and worry considering the activities of gangs and the possibility that they would be hurt due to revenging gangs. Other parents would even feel powerless to stop their children and find themselves losing control over their actions .
Gang members are also prone in abusing their spouses and children, often times because of the influence of drugs or alcohol or gang connections. According to Brown (2007) and Ulloa, Dyson and Wynes (2012), women are often enticed to have a relationship with gang members based out of respect, power and status. However, as gang members often have the perception of being the dominant one in any given situation, they would be prone in violating and abusing their family members to fit in the gang. In some cases, it also drives gang members to offer their family to their gang so they can be abused or sexually violated. In some instances, gang members would often teach their children, especially boys, that there is a “traditional gender role” that must be followed. Gang member abuse also entails intimidation, physical, mental and emotional abuse and sometimes death. Should the spouse or children try to escape, the gang member would use intimidation tactics or kill them so they would not be able to fight them in court or reveal the secrets of the gang to anyone .
Physiological Impact of Gang Membership
In the physiological extent, gang membership would increase the prospect of drug and alcohol abuse, as well as the increase in aggression and self-esteem for some. Drug and alcohol abuse is one of the most common physiological impacts triggered by gang membership. According to Cepeda and Valdez (2003) and Decker (2000), gang members are more prone into substance abuse considering it is often used by gangs in their activities and sometimes, it is used as an initiation rite for gang membership. Gangs and substance use have long been associated with one another as many gangs sell these substances within the black market. Studies indicate that gang members do indeed understand the risk of bad drugs, but they see marijuana as an acceptable substance considering they can still control their use of the substance unlike other illegal drugs . In female gang members or those affiliated to gangs, they would use occasional drugs and alcohol use in order to become in with their peers. The more they are connected to gangs, the more these females become enticed to use drugs or drink alcohol .
It is also observed that gang members display higher bouts of aggression and deviancy, especially while in active membership. In the study done by Alleyne and Wood (2010), gang members often commit more crime against people in comparison to individual criminals as they are influenced in committing crime by their peers. Some of these gang members would commit crime to gain higher ranking within the gang, or use it as a means to prove their worth to the gang. However, amount of violence these gang members would commit would vary depending on their rank and status. Anti-authority attitudes are also developed by a gang member once he is a part of the group; however, this may vary in gravity depending on the experiences held by the member when engaging with the authorities. If they engaged with these authorities properly, it would lessen the degree of anti-authority. However, should their contact result negatively, it may instill further aggression towards the authorities. Anti-authority attitudes are seen by many experts as one of the common justifications and reasons why people are lured into joining these gangs .
On another note, gang membership also increase self-esteem according to several studies conducted regarding the issue. According to Hethorn (1994), gang members often gain confidence as gang membership permits them to express their selves freely, may it be in their actions or clothing. Gang members tend to use fashion as a means to identify themselves through their clothing and often times permits them to belong to their group. Sometimes, their non-gang friends would mimic them for their clothing and style to fit in. It is often observed that gang fashion were also exaggerated considering that the media only portrays it as a bad image .
Effects of Gangs to the Community
Gang presence in the community also showcases many negative implications: from the school, to the community in general. According to Gilman, Hill and Hawkins (2013) in an individual level, gang membership causes lower rates in educational attainment and studies showcase that these gang members often incite violence and terror. Some of them even absent in long periods of time due to the impact of substance abuse or gang activities . With regards to their presence in schools, the presence of these gangs affect the safety of other students. According to Alpert, Rojek, Hansen, Shannon and Decker (2001), this would incite the increase in gang membership as well and increase the risks of drug use and other dangerous activities. These gangs may even stop school activities as they would entice cutting classes and violence .
For the community, the presence of these organized and violent gangs has several consequences primarily due to the terror these groups can bring to the entire neighborhood. According to Howell (2006), neighborhoods would grow fearful over these gang members as they would cause several troublesome crimes such as intimidation, vandalism and drug sales. Many residents would become fearful over passing known gang territories or hang out spots as they fear that passing through these areas would put them at risk to victimization by these gang members. In larger cities, gangs often take dominion over public housing developments and even government programs, transforming these programs into their means of getting funds or entertainment. The safety of the residents would increase significantly due to the presence of these gangs as they are likely to get hit in the crossfire, especially in instances of turf wars or gang raids. Residents and neighborhoods may even experience the increase of crime and drug or alcohol abuse to grow rampant in their areas due to the presence of these gangs, as well as the onset of trafficking. Intimidation also grows within the community due to the availability of illegal firearms .
It is essential to understand the effects of gangs from an individual level to the community level in order to see the level of danger these gangs have to everyone in the community. In an individual level, gang members become more aggressive towards their families and love ones, sometimes becoming enthralled to using substances which fuels these behaviors. Membership also affects their performance in school and on another end, also gives them confidence. In a community level, gang presence is likely to increase the threats felt by the public as these gangs would host the black market, induce gang violence and crime to reign. It is important that these gangs are suppressed, preventing more people to become enticed by these groups as their presence may ultimately paralyze the entire community.
References
Alleyne, E., & Wood, J. (2010). Gang involvement: Psychological and behavioral characteristics of gang members, peripheral youth and non-gang youth. Aggressive Behavior, 36, 423-436.
Alpert, G., Rojek, J., Hansen, A., Shannon, R., & Decker, S. (2011). Examining the Prevalence and Impact of Gangs in College Athletic Programs Using Multiple Sources. Columbia: University of South Carolina Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Brown, V. (2007). Gang Member Perpetrated Domestic Violence: A New Conversation. University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class, 7(2), 397-413.
Cepeda, A., & Valdez, A. (2003). Risk Behaviors Among Young Mexican American Gang-Associated Females: Sexual relations, partying, substance use and crime. Journal of Adolescent Research, 18(1), 90-106.
Decker, S. (2000). Legitimating drug use: A note on the impact of gang membership and drug sales on the use of illicit drugs. Justice Quarterly, 17(2), 393-409.
Gilman, A., Hill, K., & Hawkins, J. D. (2014). Long-term consequences of adolescent gang membership for adult functioning. American Journal of Public Health, 104(5), 938-945.
Hethorn, J. (1994). Researchers look beyond the surface of "gang clothing" and appearance. California Agriculture, 48(7), 44-48.
Howell, J. (2006). The Impact of Gangs on Communities. New York: NYGC Bulletin.
Sackville, T. (2013). Blood ties: exploring the relationship between gangs and families. Families: Every Child Journal, 4(1), 34-40.
Ulloa, E., Dyson, R., & Wynes, D. (2012). Inter-partner violence in the context of gangs: A Review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 1-8.
