Scholarly+articles

"Gangs." //Current Issues//: //Macmillian Social Science Library//. Detroit: Gale, 2010. //Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context//. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.


 * Gangs can be a group just a group of friends or up to thousands of people. Gangs are filled with members who usually wear their gangs' clothing and are usually formed and run in bad communities. The majority of the members in gangs are young men. People living in an area with gangs often fear them. This fear causes tension and, if gangs are feared in school, it could result in many drug problems in that school.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. "Youth Gang Violence Is a Serious Problem." //Violent Children//. Ed. Hayley Mitchell Huagen. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2010. At Issue. //Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context//. Web. 17 May 2011.


 * Gang Members are more likely to commit crimes then their peers. The larger amounts of students in school, the higher the percentage of gang members. With that being said a third of public school principals report gang activity in their schools. The majority of youth gang members are males and of a minority. While taking a survey to see why people joined gangs 54% of teens responded that they followed a friend or family member, 19% said that it was for protection, and 15% said that it was for fun. Those 15% who said that it was for fun was the majority of the younger members though. A strong factor in high criminatality is guns.Gang membership has long lasting bad consequences because gangs cut them off from oppurtunities later in life.


 * This link will take you to a direct website about youth and gangs that is very helpful :** http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/167249.pdf