Gangs Essay -- Gang Essays

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 a... ...f supplied and to make your profit. The next step up from being a drug dealer is to perform acts of violence to keep your gang feared. These are the kids who nobody dare mess with because rumors and stories spread quickly which makes them seem more popular. When the gang kids hear about them they instantly try to recruit them bribing them with drugs and money. These kids then have to be ready to fight the gang’s battles if anything ever gets bad. Then there are the ones who are on the top of the gang life ladder who gives out all the orders, which the others will follow. These are the kids that normally don’t deal drugs or use violence to scare people but are very smart. I consider them to be the most dangerous because they are the ones who control all the other gang members and use their powerful minds to bring fear to those who try to defy them. Gangs will forever be in the media and as long as crime still plagues the streets gangs will be recruiting young kids for there evil deeds. Family and friends need to stop ignoring the younger generation because their lives aren’t as simple as everyone thinks. Growing up isn’t easy and to find comfort in this lifestyle is very easy.