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Trump, Ken. "Gangs & School Safety." //National School Safety and Security// //Services//. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2011. <[]>.

** During the mid-90’s gang activity hit its highest point, but the activity began to decrease and flatten out during the late-90’s. Gang activity has been rising throughout communities today and most of the gang protection companies have been disbanded due to insufficient funding from communities. Gang activity usually goes up then comes back down like a cycle, but when it goes up for the next time it usually comes with more violence then the previous time. **

=WHY TEENS TEND TO JOIN GANGS- = > Poverty stricken teens and young adults look for something to fall back on and that is where they find gangs. Dealing drugs and stealing (two highly used jobs in gangs) can make a lot of money for them which is why they fall into gangs. This is usually why gangs are in poorer areas. > Gang members are usually young. These young members are recruited into gang membership because they are highly susceptible to peer pressure. Many kids do resist joining gangs though too. If a person's friends are all a part of gangs and he is being urged on by them to join the gang he will sometimes say yes without thinking of the consequences. Schools with large amounts of gang members tend to pick the kids who look like they like to go with the crowd. > Teens who have nothing to do in their neighborhood tend to look for an outlet. This outlet is gangs. Communities don't always have swimming pools or libraries around so to do something they join a gang. > If a person is in poverty they sometimes have the feeling that they have no belonging and nothing to live for if they can't get out of the same community. Joining a gang gives the person a sense of belonging and even a family if they aren't close to their actual family already.
 * 1) **Poverty**
 * 1) **Peer pressure**
 * 1) **Boredom**
 * 1) **Despair**

Grabianowski, Ed. //How Stuff Works//. Discovery, n.d. Web. 3 May 2011. .